The "Do Nots" Of Your ProBoard

[myke]

We have been discussing a lot of 'what to do on a ProBoard, but we really haven't discussed 'what not to do'. So below, I'll make a list of a few things and comment on them. Feel free to add your thoughts to the existing 'do nots, or feel free to post some more.


Showing Favoritism

Do Not Allow Public Fights/Flames To Remain

[/i], nothing can shatter that image more then seeing members fight on the boards. This is particularly important when it comes to staff. Staff should not publicly disagree with one another on important forum matters, and should never argue in the public.[/ul]

Do Not Go Rule Crazy On Your Members

Do Not Abuse The Warning Meter, and Make Sure The Staff Adjusts It Equally With You

Do Not Be Rude To Your Members

These are just a few examples of the 'do nots' on ProBoards. If you have anything you would like to add, or discuss, please post below.

[Artemis]

Those are great examples. Out of those the ones I agree with most are these:

Favoritism
-This is probably one of the worst things an admin can do. An admin is supposed to treat all members as equals; not giving priority to anyone over anyone else. That means treat everyone equally, don't let some people slip by the rules while punishing others, etc.

-The inside joke thing is pretty big too. Many forums I've seen have been subjected to this; the admin or staff saying something completely random, and some people responding with "lol!" "I remember that," while the rest of the members feel left out because they have no clue what's going on. It's a bad thing to do, it should be second nature to just say things that everyone will comprehend.

Public Fights
-That's a really bad way to go about running a forum. There shouldn't be any flaming going on at all; and if there has to be, there should be a single board for it. Fights going on everywhere can cause other members to run for cover, or leave completely, and it doesn't look good on a forum to have members going at each other all the time.

Rule Crazy
-I think the absolute worst thing an admin can do is create an outrageous set of rules; rules that are generally unfair, incomprehensible, or rules that are just plain stupid. The rules on a forum need to cover the basics, and fill in the loopholes about the common things like spam, double posting and flaming; there shouldn't be any rules about required posts per day or anything of the like. Rules like that just make guests and new members see an unfair and strict community, probably one that they don't want to be involved with.

Being rude to members
-This is exceptionally important. The attitude of the admin drives the whole forum, and it revolves around how he or she treats their members. If anyone gives the admin an idea, even if it's crazy, they shouldn't reply rudely; they should simply reply with their opinion and reasoning and explanation. It's really not that hard. Part of being an admin is keeping emotions and opinions in check; that's one of the ways a good forum is run.

[Raven]

Well I can say that you should always treat your members fairly and nice, no matter what their post count is or how long they've been there. Not only have my members followed my example, but I learn much from of my members as well. I have some truly intelligent members and I value their friendship. Respect goes a long way and post good content. Those are two do's that should always be present on your forum.

[Ímþ®óvîšâ†ó®]

Just responded to Charlotte's thread in GT and thought this might help ....

As an admin, what to do, what *NOT* to do

In terms of how they act towards members, some behave good towards them, where as others behave like total hot-heads. As an admin of my own forum. I don't necessarily punish people for the slightest things (I admit I used to lol) they do wrong, if that's the case, I'd just kindly point the way to the right path but if they continue to be ignorant of my advice even after many attempts of reasoning, that's when the fire burning, gradually burns brighter; and I begin to issue warnings and in rare cases, bans (this has rarely happened on my forum ). Overall, an admin should know when to issue warnings (or bans), and when not to. Example: If a member (who just joined or is still a member of your forum), who posted something that *wasn't* in the topic of the board, your reaction should in fact be something to the degree of.... Hey there, sorry to tell you this, but you posted this in the wrong board. In future can you post in this board. Thanks What you SHOULDN'T do in that situation, is say something to the degree of... How dare you post in this board. Hope you love your warning!! The reason why I'm saying this, is because they will just either leave, or continue to make havoc worse, and if the members see it as something that you've done wrong and you continue to keep up the charade, then they'll leave your forum, but (the following action shouldn't be recommended ALL the time) though, if the member persists in being a pain in the (you know what) - REGARDLESS of your instructions, then you can issue a warning. Now here's an example of when it is OK to use warnings: Example: If a member (who has either just joined OR is an experienced member of your forum), posted something that violated the ToS, your reaction should in fact be something to the degree of.... Excuse me, but that type of content is not allowed here. Please refer to the rules that you agreed to when you completed your registration. Thanks What you SHOULDN'T do in a situation like this is blast them, UNLESS they use profanity in their language and have no intention of stopping. The right thing to do there, would be to issue a COMPLETE BAN of their account. Alternatively, if you think that they **CAN** improve their behaviour, just give them a temperary ban (of say 3 months - maybe longer. That's up to you). The problem is that, if you forget to remind them the RIGHT way (either kindly or in rare situations, harshly), then you can say goodbye to your forum. Sadly

What I have to add to what I said, is...

• Hold competitions reguralarly where everyone can be involved, don't single members out unless you suspect that they'll "wreck" the contest in a real negative way.
  
• Although contests are meant to be fun, don't get TOO carried away, as the contest could EASILY turn into a flame war, if not controlled carefully. If that happens, immediately cancel the contest held for revision
  
• NEVER EVER allow guests to post unless you are *certain* that your board won't get spammed by unknown guests or spam bots from certain search engines. Best to disable guest posting until you feel confident again
  

Any queries by anyone ?

[webmaren]

On the topic of guest posting, as mentioned above... I set up my forums so that there is a "guest board" and that is the only place that they can post in. Of course they can view basically the rest of the forum, but I would only let them post in that one board.

[natsxaxbandxgeek]

wow...thxs so much for those great tips....see...i only joined this thing so maybe i wasnt always on xanga and myspace and i have a friend on here....but since i'm new...maybe you know someone or you would like to help me get used to proboard...well yeah thx.
natalie

[Drewz]

A big "Do-Not" for me is, do know create a ProBoards forum if you've never been to at least one other forum (and been a regular poster) beforehand. Otherwise you won't have a clue on how a forum is run, how to act/behave, and you won't have a leader by example. This might all be more under "Admin Ettiquetee" though.

Rule Crazy: A forum should only have a few basic rules. You might want to make sure how tollerant you are of mis-spelling, double posting, etc, etc. Temporary bans for, say 3 months for example, are way to long in my opinion. Either a full ban or a couple of weeks temporary ban.

Addressing Broken Rules: When a member breaks a rule, inform them nicely what they've done. If they continue doing it, THEN issue them a % on the warning bar. Giving newbies a warning bar just doesn't work.

Favortism: If you know a member in the real world, don't make inside jokes on the forum.

Leave Forum Open: Others don't agree with me on this, but an open forum where guests know how the place works is alot better than a mystery forum.

[Ímþ®óvîšâ†ó®]

drewz said:

A big "Do-Not" for me is, do know create a ProBoards forum if you've never been to at least one other forum (and been a regular poster) beforehand. Otherwise you won't have a clue on how a forum is run, how to act/behave, and you won't have a leader by example. This might all be more under "Admin Ettiquetee" though....

I would only agree with that, if a user has NEVER been on a forum before in their life. Otherwise, I would have to say that, it won't exactly make much difference because if they have been on a forum before, and they have a record/history of bad behaviour, then those types of members *SHOULD NOT* (and I emphasise that word again and again) be allowed to register, as it would be those members that can cause your forum to get shut-down, by the ToS

If you were someone that wanted to start your own site on proboards, because you were sick of certain members bossing you around on proboards, you would HAVE to *follow the ToS*, otherwise, you'll soon wonder why you were not welcomed on the forum you were last on and as a result, your forum could in fact risk deletion.

webmaren said:

On the topic of guest posting, as mentioned above... I set up my forums so that there is a "guest board" and that is the only place that they can post in. Of course they can view basically the rest of the forum, but I would only let them post in that one board.

That's the way to go mate good work , but if you allow guests to post in a particular board (whether it is just in one board or not), you risk the issue of having to delete guest posts that could be spam or such posts that may infact violate the ToS if not deleted sooner .

[laidbackfella]

Would this be a do or don't in your opinion?

Should an Admin create a totally separate login to maintain equity?

Like have one (business) Admin login and then a separate personal login just to post and respond to messages

[James]

On the seperate accounts -

If it is a secret account of sorts, no. I'm fairly sure that actually violates the ToS? However, for a 'buisiness' and 'personal' account that everybody knows, it seems to me to just be beaurocricy (sp?), I can't see a whole lot to be gained from doing that. It could create much confusion, also.

Going overboard on Staff-only Boards -

I think having too many staff-only boards can cause a forum to become inactive. Staff categories should not have general discussion just for staff. It should be used to discuss upcoming events on your forum, important new updates, to help each other out, to plan surprises (though you shouldnt keep everything secret) or to give rules and resources for staff members of, for example, an RPG site. Having too many staff-only boards will drive discussion of staff there, and have them wander away from the main public boards, which causes inactivity on a whole, and you lose non-staff members, because there is little discussion on the main boards.

Most sites should only have one staff board. If you are starting a general conversation (eg. "Do you like Black Eyed Peas?") then put it in the general areas.

EDIT: Thought of some more:

Dont Have Too Many Annoucements/Mass PMs/Mass Emails

Nobody likes spam in their email inbox. The same goes for PMs, especially since many people use email notification for their PMs on forums they like.

Annoucements should be restricted to important current news or maybe a set of rules. Too many annoucements clog up the boards. Set aside a special board for news instead, put your rules there. Old unimportant announcements should be taken down.

Mass PMs should be only used for vital updates, such as a change in the rules. They are more permanent than announcements, because (as above) most annoucements go away, and if a member does not visit the site for a long period of time, then they might miss the annoucement and end up breaking a change in the rules. I once was on a forum who put every tiny update in a mass PM, and it was very annoying, inboxes filled up very quickly.

Mass Emails should only be of the utmost importance, for example, if you plan to delete members who havent made any posts, or if the forum is reopening after a period of inactivity. People do not like having their inbox flooded, and many will leave the site and delete their account because of it.

Newsletters through mass emails can be okay, especially now that there is an opt-out option for mass emails in profiles. If you decide to have these newsletters, make it known to members about the opt-out members, only email members if there is actually something to say, and keep them infrequent. Maybe even poll members to see what they think.

Don't Have Too Many Codes

While a code may seem clever or cool, before adding it to your forum, ask yourself:

• Is this really nessicary for my particular forum?
  
• Will people use it? (If you have a forum about cars, then you probably dont really need a dice roll code )
  
• Is the change significant enough to make a difference?
  

Those answers should all be yes. Too many codes can cause them to conflict with each other and mess up your forum, as well as just generally make it go slower. As a dialup user ((>_<)) this can be an issue for me.

Keep the Quick Reply a quick reply. You dont need colors and tables etc. in your quick reply, otherwise it isnt quick. Just click the reply button instead. On my forum I have Bold, Italics, Underline and Center-align, and I wouldnt even have any if it werent for Italics (it's an RPG forum, and when a moderator is in-character, except as their own regular character, they reply in italics.) I could afford to get rid of center and underline also, probably.

Also make sure your codes are all unique. If you have two codes basically doing the same thing, get rid of one. If it gets out of hand, use a code to manage them. I think Ross has one in the database called Hack manager.

Don't clog your headers and footers.

Similar to the two things above, having too much in your headers and footers can really make things messy and slow the forum down. Use a table to neaten things out if its too long. Restrict news to the main header/footer, and same for topsites/affiliates if it gets out of hand. Clear out links of broken affiliates or topsites.

[James]

Good. I was thinking you had the impression that I said all codes have a negative effect on your forum. Thats not the message I was intending to give at all, just that you need to think about whether the code will have a positive effect on your forum, or just something that might have a small impact once a year. In other words, you need to decide whether the positives (the actual intentional use of the code) outweigh the negatives (slower forum, maintenence, risk of bugs etc.)

[papalia]

Do-Nots from my experience

---

1. Making Rules
If these anything I hate about forums or website services (such as web hosting, etc) it's a big essay of rules which in my opinion comes form an official legal framework (ie. EULA). Apart from not reading them, but skimming them, I just hate them. I think the rules should be a simple list that takes little or no time to read, and should not be boring to read. One of my rules on my forum is to use common sense and know what is right and wrong in general. For example, everyone knows it's wrong to harass, make profanity, etc. They don't need to be told, they ought to know anyway. These things are just a fact of life. On my forum, there's only about 3 or 4 rules, but everyone is expected to use common sense.

2. How far do you enforce the rules
When it comes to things people might not be so familliar with, suich as advertising, or arguing on a forum, I tell the user in question that this is causing a problem, and tell them they should not continue to behave in such a way. It's only when I feel the user is not listening when I give a warning level. However, with low level offenses like minor arguing, I retract their warning level within 4-8 days of them refraiming from their bad ways. For bigger offences, I use higher warning levels which last longer. For higher warning levels, I'd only decrease them a little bit every so often anyway, like 5% every 2 weeks or something like that.

Also, I sometimes I don't react if a user slightly breaks a rule, but if it's becomming a problem, I WILL do something about it. I'd never go crazy over a minor thing, especially spellings. If someone makes spelling mistakes in their posts, I don't consider it a breach of the rules, nor do I even suggest correcting it, just as long as their post is readable and their message gets across fine. I've been on a forum where the admin has gone mad at people who make spelling mistakes and modify their posts saying every little thing they've changed (even when they make spelling mistakes themselves). This just doesn't work, and it annoys the members. I for one can't be bothered to spellcheck my posts, its annoying and takes up time, that I dont really want to waste.

So the point here is, don't go crazy about every little thing, but do show bad members that you mean business if they think they can abuse the forum.

3. Warning levels
Any smart admin would make full use of the warning level system, especially if they have members that just push the rules often. If a member breaks a rule, they get some level of warning, and until they stop breaking the rules, their warning level doesnt go down. When the start behaving, their warning level slowly drops. A member may face temporary ban at 50% warning (in my opinion 50% is serious and 75% is VERY serious). I wrote out what punishments go with what warning level, but haven't written actually what warning levels go with certain crimes (although I do plan to make a list of crimes and deserved warning levels in the staff only board on my forum).

Also I allow everyone to see everyone else's warning level as this adds to the pun ishment of members who are sbreaking the rules, and it shows other members what warned or even not-warned members are really like.

4. Codes
Not much to say, the more codes, the better. I haven't yet had any problems with codes that I haven't easily solved.

5. Announcements and mass PMs/email

Announcements: I try to keep these to as few as possible. I have a board for announcements aswell so users can easily find the old announcements that no longer display on every board. I try not to have any more than 3 announcements showing on all boards at the same time, and even 3 seems like too many for me.

Mass PM: I'd only use this for important announcements that are vital. It works better than mass email because people can opt-out of mass email.

Mass email: I'd rather not use this. I know what it feels like to get spam. I'd rather not add to the problem with pointless emails in which it's no less beneficial for the user to log on the forum and see their new messages or the announcements.

So far I have never used the Mass PM or Mass email feature on any forum I've had those powers on.

That's all for now. I might add more (I might not).

[papalia]

I agree. That's what the rank system is for. People aren't required to post, but if they the more they post, the better rank they get. As for what I said about common sense and profanity and stuff, the profanity bit was an example. Although I'm a christan and don't like it when people say stuff like "oh my god", I wouldn't punish members for that as too many people do it and to disallow blasphemy on a forum would be rule crazy to many people. However, if someone breaks a rule like if they make a new topic in the suggestions board advertising their site, although they might not have known this was wrong, I'd just point them in the right direction, which is why a long list of rules is not necessary in my opinion.

Also with the rank system, I made it so until your post count reaches 1, your rank is "inactive member". However, this changes on getting 1 post, although there's no rule (on my forum) that tells a member they have to post.

[curtiswwe]

Favoritism

You can still thank people when they do something good!

[∞ ConqueringWolf ∞]

curtiswwe said:

Favoritism

You can still thank people when they do something good!

Try to be a little more detailed in your responses please.

Your posts should be at least 4 sentences long. Anything less shows that not enough thought was taken in the post, and is most likely not productive towards the conversation.