[Debate] Staff Abusing Powers

[T A C K L E]

When I owned a website, a long time ago, I didn't create the rules yet and I made a few people moderators and one of them asked me to give them the rules so they can put them in. On another website there is a mod that refuses to let the website live. It died after we moved it, and no one logs on except for me, that mod, and another mod. I offered to revamp the site and she flipped out and deleted my account.

Sometimes I get so confused with who's the admin.

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[scums]

if you are an administrator and someone abuses their staff powers it isn't difficult to admonish them (in private) and lessen the powers they have abused.

[President of WEW-Wrestling]

That is bad for a GM or Owner to Abuse there powers. Come on now they already own the Forum why tell the members what to do like that. What is the url for that forum. Because i would love to know. That is a interesting story there. I was in the same predicament. The owner of the site was abusing his powers and i filled a report so he banned me and never let me on the site ever again. Since he was the owner he got what he wanted. So someone from Proboards deleted me from proboards and i never got back on. But years flew by and something went wrong and he lost his site to a girl and so i was able to get my position back.

[demoneyes]

Unfortunately I have had this happen to me on different boards and while I am a complete newbie, One thing I would advise for the webmistress is be careful who you trust with power, because I have had ppl I gave power to turn around and send emails to all members to join their board and not tell me anything about it, while this is not really against any rule, its in poor taste. Now I belong to a different Board and I am more cautious who I want in power with me and careful who I discuss any problems or potential problems with. Hope this helps someone.

[Taylor]

When do you think a staff member has pushed the boundaries of power on a forum?

If they create rules, then bend them in their own favour. There's an admin - let's call him Jack - and he wants all members to log in and post once a week. If Jack himself then lazes around and doesn't post for months, meanwhile banning or deleting inactive members, he's a hypocrite. And of course, that's just an example. Other things such as voicing opinions when others are not allowed to, ect, would also count, in my opinion.

Is a disagreement grounds for a warning or banning?

Most of the time, no. For me, it depends on what the disagreement is about, how long it's been going on, and whether or not they've been asked to and have refused to stop. If it's a disagreement that is sensitive (usually race, religion, politics) then I'd merely ask that everyone keep such opinions to themselves if they couldn't debate it in a calm, easy-going manner. If they continued to blatantly and rudely call others out for separate beliefs, then yes, I would warn or ban them - depending on the severity of the offense.

What about idle threats to warn or ban a member in order to forced them into submission with their own beliefs?

No way. Not acceptable.

What about deletion of your post and threads because they disagreed with what was posted?

Well, for me that depends on what was posted. If it's adultery or other extremely graphic text or images, I'm against that. Of course, it's against the ProBoards TOS as well, so I've got nothing to worry about, but even if it wasn't... I would delete topics and posts that contained things of that nature.

A simple disagreement? I'd ignore the thread, or voice my opinion in a mature manner.

Have you had experience with this? Were you ever accused of abusing your powers or a member who was a victim of an abusive staff

Accused of it? Once, but it was a misunderstanding. The member thought I was calling them out on something they'd done, when I was really just curious about why they'd done it. I apologized via PM for giving them the wrong idea, and we're good now.

I've definitely had experience with it. I owned a forum way back when I couldn't make good graphics for a skin, and a fellow member I got along with volunteered to help with the skin. She seemed fine at first - she made a lovely skin and credited us both - myself for the plot, herself for the graphics. I let her keep the admin powers as a show of thanks and trust.

I had to go away for the week. JUST a week. I let people know in advance, and trusted her to look after stuff while I was gone.

I came back to a COMPLETELY changed forum. She'd let in her friends without them posting good quality applications, CHANGED the application, made up a new canon list, allowed people to take multiple canons (which was against my original rules) changed quite a few rules, added new ones, and just threw the place upside down.

So basically, I gave her power to make graphics, and she took complete control when I wasn't there to stop it. I deleted the forum a while after, when it died.

[jaedyn69]

I am GLAD to see this issue come forward. In my proboards forum experience...the TOS itself is a bit ambiguous and if read as is, allows for staff members the authority to make whatever judgments they see fit as it is their forum....that proboards only runs the servers that host said forums so they are not responsible. I have had this said to me when making contact with support. It won't stop until the TOS is better defined and forum staff are held to the higher standards they "say" they are exhibiting when unfairly judging others behavior against their own.

When I was banned....I got 3 progressive suspensions that I was not made aware I would be getting....allowed to sign in for a day....and then banned completely. I still go to the site because I can at least read news there from other fans....when I go, I find "quiet" but unfair references to myself......example...

Other members who have been banned still have their original ID's show up in posts by them that were quoted by others....when I see posts quoting me...the ID says "Gone"...if you click on "Gone" it goes to my profile....I asked support to look in to it as I saw it as a form of harassment.....nothing has been done.

A shame really.....as it lets the admin of that site know that it is okay for them to treat anyone associated there the same way if they want. The admin actually went to 2 other site admins of forums I belong to and "warn" them about me. I don't think that my opinion, being different from others, was a proper reason to allow moderators to be confrontational via pm, allow other members to get away with the same things freely that I was being chastised for, or proper reason to twist a members words to ban them and then ridicule them afterward with no opportunity to defend.

if you are an administrator and someone abuses their staff powers it isn't difficult to admonish them (in private) and lessen the powers they have abused.

So who admonishes the admin if they are abusing their authority in the same manner they allow their staff to do if no-one else clamps down?

[Troxy]

When do you think a staff member has pushed the boundaries of power on a forum?
» When they use their powers to force actions not stated in the site rules, or in ways that are uncalled for or biased.

Is a disagreement grounds for a warning or banning?
» If that disagreement has caused disruption on the site, such as arguments and side-choosing, yes, ALL PARTIES INVOLVED should be warned or banned, depending on the severity. Regardless of being staff or otherwise.

What about idle threats to warn or ban a member in order to forced them into submission with their own beliefs?
» This is never okay, and is obvious abuse. Now, this doesn't count when say, a member believes they should be able to post porn in the cbox, and says they will, when in the admin's opinion, it should not be allowed, and isn't.

What about deletion of your post and threads because they disagreed with what was posted?
» If they're presented civilly, then it shouldn't be deleted, but no matter what, is a post is rude, hateful and demeaning, it can be deleted without a moderator or admin being accused of abusing powers.

Have you had experience with this? Were you ever accused of abusing your powers or a member who was a victim of an abusive staff?
» I've never had either happen outright. While no obvious power pushing was going on, I've seen admins who were power drunk, not only in pushing around newer members for asking questions etc. but getting way over protective of people they think of as "theirs". This has occurred many times to me and several of my friends. We're part of the staff team on Site A, but our friend starts Site B and wants some help. So, me (1) and my two friends(2 and 3) go to create a layout for Site B, just as we did for Site A. Now A, the admin, feels betrayed, saying Site B has Site A's styles and that they were stolen, accusing 1 2 and 3 of backstabbing or slacking because they chose to help a friend.

Maybe this isn't power abuse as much as it is just treating people like items, but flat out if that person wasn't the creator or admin, the issue would have never occurred.

[bridgetgirl]

When do you think a staff member has pushed the boundaries of power on a forum?» I think whenthey ban people that get reported; but don't take the time to acually find out why they got reported. Take the rules too strictly just so they can ban people. Think they can do what they want...

Is a disagreement grounds for a warning or banning?
»Neither. Disagrements aren't bad at all, unless they be mean about it, they should get a ban or warning..

What about idle threats to warn or ban a member in order to forced them into submission with their own beliefs?
» Staff members who do that abuse their powers. I think that they should get a warning/ban, or at least their powers tooken away.

What about deletion of your post and threads because they disagreed with what was posted? » Like I said above, staff members who delete posts/threads for that reason abuse their powers.

Have you had experience with this? Were you ever accused of abusing your powers or a member who was a victim of an abusive staff?» I've experienced this many times. Staff members banning me, because they disagree with my beliefs, or because they simply do not ask me questions if I really did 'it', or if I was false reported.

[[ saga ]]

I think, when they are being too harsh and strict with people, forcing too many rules upon them. Of course, they can force the rules of the forum that are written there, on them. :3 Also, too much modifying of others' posts and banning them for no reason, or inactivity; if they are only a moderator or global mod, perhaps.

I think a warning, first off. It depends if they keep doing it or not. Often, if you give a warning, they will stop. . although not in all circumstances. Some people who are new to a forum, sometimes come in and spam all over the place. Then, I think it's cause for a ban.

I've never had an experience with this. Not being abused, or abusing anyone. I'm not the main owner of any site, but an admin on many, and I if there is any problem members, I will usually only warn them and let the main admin deal with the punishment.

[thordryc]

interesting.....

[Short of Daybreak]

I have, thankfully, never experience my staff abusing their powers nor been a victim of such. At the forums I have been apart of, so far they've all been nice and seem to use their powers wisely. Same with all the staff I have had. Well, I think there was once a member went a little overboard with how he edited, and he kept requesting to be an admin. That's the most I have ever had, but it was probably a mistake in the first place to let him be a Junior Gmod. Thankfully, that's all I made him. And that's why I don't give Juniors the power to modify anymore.

[kgunblue2]

I have to say there was only one site where I joined when i was about 17 or 18 in that area where the Bio mod and I had our disagreements, i stuck around for awhile and played my character's until we were in a thread and i accidentally power-played against his character/team.. I had an issue with the power-playing before and hadnt really gotten the hang of not doing that, the admin and staff had seen this and given me some advice on how to not but I had not Rp'd for a year or so and was just getting back into the swing of things again.. Well sorry to say but my mistake ended up in his asking for a power-play from the admin and was given the ok, at this point me and the Bio mod were at odds end. We were right in the middle of the thread when my computer was attacked and my computer became a hassle to fix, with no other computer around besides the library (which i dont use cause its slow as funk) So I ended up not being able to get on the site until i got a new computer.. well about a year later I did return to the site and seen my characters in the graveyard, So i moved to a different site, Rp'd for another year or so and went back.. new computer.. new i.p, new found skills and a good understanding of power-playing and God modding..

I joined the site, created a new character and was gladly going to explain the situation that had happened and why i had disappeared so suddenly.. but before given the chance to do so i was banned from the site? It aggitated me for a moment before I realized that maybe they just didnt want me around? Or maybe the bio mod had found out who i was through my email and made a note to the admin im not sure but to this day i am still banned from the site and I dont agree with that at all.. Granted i was 17 and a little cocky and over zealous when it came to Rping but still, things change, i grew up and I have a new outlook at the people online.. We are just people and everyone has a breaking point with some, but I dont think that personal matters should be used against someone to get them banned (if thats what happened) once again im not sure..

This is just my take on the subject

Always around
Kgun

[andy12345]

I'm the moderator of a tiny little yahoo group site which I practically built (about 2 bricks and some mortar was all that was needed ) and I recently caused a bit of a reaction by suggesting some changes. After a few of the reactions I offered a democratic vote, which I learned that I should have offered in the first place based on common sense.

I would never be a mod if asked though, again. lol

Someone was very rude as a result and I decided after 5 hours, as it was an adult site, to remove and ban him.

People like him might learn from such activity. If he wants to re-visit he only needs to create a new account and pretend he is someone else, but he will have learned a lesson.

Like I said, its a tiny, barely active site anyway but is no use to about 99.99999 percent of the world population, so that's my bit done.

The website does not need to grow so I'm not even looking for new members, so I could smash anyone down if I was the type to.

Anyway, to be a good moderator is a tricky task for sure, especially when some people do not interpret the words, even if used correctly and precisely.

[xfinityx]

This is an interesting topic. Is it possible that the actual admin can have a board that's password protected so that regular members and all other admins can not see it, if they are the Admin, and not someone who is promoted as an Admin? Would it be possible that they can hide things about others with abuse of power?

[🎶Sossity🎶]

Mar 28, 2011 7:33:34 GMT -8 xfinityx said:

This is an interesting topic. Is it possible that the actual admin can have a board that's password protected so that regular members and all other admins can not see it, if they are the Admin, and not someone who is promoted as an Admin? Would it be possible that they can hide things about others with abuse of power?

Hi

I have sent you a pm.