[Debate] Staff Abusing Powers

[The Dark Knight]

Depends on what you call abusing their powers really, sometimes it's just a misinterpreted joke and staff members get in trouble for that. Personally, I wouldn't assign anyone a staff position unless they were trustworthy and I knew that they would never abuse their powers. If they do genuinely abuse their powers, add things to signatures people don't want, edit karma, then they should just be removed as staff.

[Xcellence]

Uhh.....I only let FEW if ANY people become Staff members. I made y best friend irl just a Mod.

[yankees26]

well i would say abusing powers is breaking any of the rules of ur forum or going overboard banning for no reason i dont care if a persons staff they still have to follow the rules

[Obama/Biden08]

Thats a very good point but make sure u can trust a member before u giv e them any powers

[inedifix]

What do you guys think of this scenario:

The forum:
Is described on its home page as being: "primarily a Catholic one", but with no rules on who can and cannot be a member.

The member:
Was a 'full member' of this small, newly formed forum for 2 months
Was one of the forums main contributors with 162 posts
Never broke a single proboards rule or reg
Never broke a forum rule or reg
Behaved politely, courteously and by and large patiently with all other posters
Was an atheist who had been invited to the forum for his contributions by a forum admin

The moderator:
Without a single warning
Without one pm
Without any prior, or subsequent explanation to the rest of the forum
Without any prior, or subsequent explanation to the member in question
Without even a e-mail notification to the poster
Without any channel for redress

Deleted the member's ID
Deleted all threads started by the member, including all contributory posts by other members
Deleted all 162 posts by the member

Effectively eradicating the member from the forum entirely.

Any views?

I

[filipina4u]

I had joined a site before who's administrator so arrogant and bossy so i no longer exist on his site... Oh well it's not worth to be there!

[demoneyes]

this is a completely different topic but i keep daily threats from two members who i have sinced banned from my site, they are threatening to turn me into proboards stating that I have broken rules, they have tried to hack into my site, harrass me, break into my email etc. It is only a little fanfiction site that is nonprofit and just for ppl to write without harrassment. what can I do? they keep using different Ips- so its hard to keep them from making another account? suggestions? anything? Help? Im at my wits end.

[38special]

Oct 18, 2008 9:24:52 GMT -8 38special said:

Jun 23, 2008 7:24:51 GMT -8 Enchant said:

Staff Abusing Powers, This seems to be a huge issue for many members.

There seems to be a continuous struggle regarding what the rights of a member are and the responsibilities of a staff member. When do you think a staff member has pushed the boundaries of power on a forum?

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. Please keep in mind, that this isn't cyber bullying I am talking about, that is a whole different issue. This is about staff stepping over the line.

I'm not a staff member only a user of the forums.
What about staff members that do not enforce the TOS. What about staff members who let abuse continue and use their power's to inform other members of private information to be used in abusive and threatening post's? Who is going to police the staff's and keep them under control? I'm not pointing fingers at anyone but it does happen and it's definitely a problem on one board I visit.
I'm not effected by this,at least not to my knowledge, but I know it is happening as we speak. This is my purpose of joining this board, to find solutions to our problems.


Correction: I am being effected. It seems that a member is checking my IP along with others on the board.

Update: I have been perma-banned from the forum I mentioned earlier. I checked with a mod who looked through all of my post and he said I never broke any rules.
This is the reason I was banned and we cannot figure out how this is happening.
I was invited to join by a member of this board who has been a member for a long time. He has an issue with one of the members on the board. This member had a mod check our IP address' and came to the conclusion that we are the same person because we are located in the same geographical location while at home. Different service providers.What does that prove??........My friend and I work overseas in the same company and we are presently at work. The administrator checked our IP address at work and it comes through as the same address. We even had a mod from another board check this and he told us it does show up as the same address Subnet possibly? I'm told this could be the cause of the mistaken identity. I do not know how it happens but I was banned for being the second identity of my friend. If anyone can help me figure this out I am more than willing to give the board url, my user name and some other info needed to get this straightened out. Any suggestions??

[halenite]

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

One main thing I noticed very recently is an admin deleting an account when they were informed at least a week ahead of time that they would be inactive and had every intent of returning. People DO have lives outside of the internet that often gets in the way and punishing the members for that, in my opinion, is arrogant and is a good way to drive away potential members.


Is a disagreement grounds for a warning or banning?

Absolutely not. If a staff member warned or banned a member over a simple disagreement, that person would no longer be a part of my staff. I refuse to allow arrogance like that on my sites.


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

Again, I think not. Once again, that staff member would be removed from the staff status and would likely get at least a warning themselves if they were to do this.


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

Once again, I find a huge problem with this. People disagree, that's a part of life.

Were you ever accused of abusing your powers or a member who was a victim of an abusive staff.

I was a victim of the first thing I mentioned. Ironically, the perpetrator was the head admin. Realizing I was deleted AFTER I told the person I would probably be inactive for a bit because of school, I left the site for good.

[rh2006fan]

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

I think a staff member has pushed the boundaries when they get power hungry. I was on a forum where a g-mod's power got to her head and she seemed to be in control of nearly everything

Is a disagreement grounds for a warning or banning?

I don't believe disagreement should be grounds for a warning or banning. Everyone should agree to disagree.


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

I believe this is very wrong, especially if it's the staff of a forum. Everyone's different in this world, and that's the way the world works.


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

I ve had a post edited because the mod in question badmouthed about an ad i made for my forum.

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 was a victim of it. The staff of the forum all ganged up on me and sided with the mod; and the g-mod was power hungry. I was also picked on by the g-mod(or at least it felt that way) and instead of maybe giving person A who was talking about spoilers(it's a fan-forum) a warning, she bluntly explains another rule- quoting what i said in response to person A; and she was doing it right when we members were just joking around at one point. She didn't even do it through pm's.

[Owl]

i guess i always get lucky ^.^ every time i make a forum, i make the few few members staff. But they always turn out to be nice, polite and helpful.

Staff members have pushed the limit of their power when they thing that their more important than the members. members are just as much important to a site as staff is. because without members staff wouldnt be needed.

If a staff member banns a person it should be for an obvious reason. There should be no banning if a person has no good amount of evidence.

you really shouldn't push amember to do something because everyone has their own believes and i respect that.Its a shame some people dont and thing that their believes are the right way and everyone else is wrong.

On some sites other MEMBERS would chew me off for doing something wroung so i Pmed the people to leave me alone and they got the admin to bann me. On another site an admin banned me because they didnt like me AND I HAD OVER 1000 POSTS, so that pissed me off that i wasted all that time getting those posts just for me to be bannned.

I was never acused of abusing my members. all comments i've gotten from members or staff are that i am running the site nicly and i am very polite and helpful.

[Mr.Serious]

Going back on the note you left with about when they do ban someone...

When they do ban someone they need to of cource give them a couple warnings, then make it known to everyone that they are breaking the rules and the reason for the banning, lastly discuss it with other mods...


If they do none of that, it's abusing power..

[condottiero]

When they do ban someone they need to of course give them a couple warnings, then make it known to everyone that they are breaking the rules and the reason for the banning, lastly discuss it with other mods...


If they do none of that, it's abusing power..

I seriously disagree. There are many situations where a person ought to be banned immediately. Someone who obviously just joined to spam or advertise, for example.

Giving one warning is nice, but after that someone repeatedly breaking a serious rule is a problem. Of course, it largely depends on the scale of the crime too. Someone who was posting porn on my forum is simply gone immediately, I am sorry. I don't care if that is abuse of power really, it is something that is harmful to the forum as a whole and it is something a good member shouldn't have done in the first place.

On the other hand, if a post is simply in the wrong place or something minor, I'm just going to say gently what was wrong. A more moderate offense requires a more serious warning.

As for abuse of power, I think this requires a "smell test"
Does it smell like abuse of power? If so, it probably is.

[smexie]

When do you think a staff member has pushed the boundaries of power on a forum?
If they go power-mad. If they start treating other members like dirt, or as though they are better then them. If they start taking liberties by changing rules, and goin over their power to get someone banned or something.

Is a disagreement grounds for a warning or banning?
I think that depends on the scale of the disagreement. My friend runs a forum and she had/has a member on there that is continually harrassing members, despite being warned, is being nasty, is being rude, and is generally a nightmare. And, despite continual warnings and chances, she refuses to modify her behaviour. So know she doesn't get a chance. Her IP/s are banned, her username/s have been banned, her email/s are banned.

What about idle threats to warn or ban a member in order to forced them into submission with their own beliefs?
I think this is wrong. A nice, informal warning to a member that their behaviour could get them a formal warning or lead tothem being banned is fine. But idley threatening people and either not following it up, or trying to nobble someone into changing their opinion isn't right.

What about deletion of your post and threads because they disagreed with what was posted?
No, that should never be used, except in exceptional circumstances, e.g. the posts are spam, something that breaks the rules and they have been repeatedly warned about, or if it's just generally nasty. I always tend to air on the side of caution though, and go for warnings and modification to remove nastiness.

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?
Not that I'm aware of. If I'm a staff member on any board, I tend to go about the place as I always did, having a laugh with members and casually warning people of the rules if they mess up. Half the time people messup because their not aware of the rules of the site, so if we just give them a nudge in the right direction, it works out better. I've never, yet (fingers crossed) had to throw my weight around, as people (I hope) feel they can come to me with a problem, or don't mind me warning them, as I dont act any differently.

[Sirie]

Oct 31, 2008 19:31:20 GMT -8 inedifix said:

What do you guys think of this scenario:

The forum:
Is described on its home page as being: "primarily a Catholic one", but with no rules on who can and cannot be a member.

The member:
Was a 'full member' of this small, newly formed forum for 2 months
Was one of the forums main contributors with 162 posts
Never broke a single proboards rule or reg
Never broke a forum rule or reg
Behaved politely, courteously and by and large patiently with all other posters
Was an atheist who had been invited to the forum for his contributions by a forum admin

The moderator:
Without a single warning
Without one pm
Without any prior, or subsequent explanation to the rest of the forum
Without any prior, or subsequent explanation to the member in question
Without even a e-mail notification to the poster
Without any channel for redress

Deleted the member's ID
Deleted all threads started by the member, including all contributory posts by other members
Deleted all 162 posts by the member

Effectively eradicating the member from the forum entirely.

Any views?

I

I think if the moderator banned you, and you didn't break any rules. Then you should somehow get in touch with the forum's main admin, and explain it to her/him. A church forum should try to invite "sinners" ( ) in, and brainwash "convince" them to stop what they are doing, not ban them and keep them away for doing it.