The "Do Nots" Of Your ProBoard

[Kami]

Dec 9, 2008 17:13:42 GMT -8 sinasin said:

A questions. I believe that something might have offended someone on my forum forbidnlust18.proboards80.com/index.cgi
it is gone. What do I have to do to get A copy of the archive. or what ever so I can have it reformatted, its for a Server online, and contains a lot of needed information in it.

Thank you please answer thru Private Message. Thank you Sin

Please post in the Support Board - Here. A ProBoards Administrator [he will have a red-coloured name] will be able to tell you what happened to your forum, and if it can be restored.

[Former Member]

Oh also what I noticed on do not's is:

-Do not go in the staff room and call a member a name. Its childish. If you want to call them a name, just pm them. Don't talk about them behind their back because one way or another they can know (and it happened in a forum I'm in.)

-Do not be rude to your members on the cbox by saying shut the f up or what not. The members are like family would you say that to your own family member?

Those are two I definately will NOT do in my forum but I had see it happen in a forum I'm in.

[~Skyfeather~]

I have only joined forums pretty recently, and I see jokes and abbreviations I have no idea about what they are and it relly makes me feel left out and alone.

[ChaoguyDX]

Ah,

So about flame wars, telling them to dish it out elsewhere could cause massive hurt feelings and such.

Things might get cyber-violent.

So what about extinguishing it right then and there?

[Former Member]

Relationship charts. I mean sure there are forums that do it but why should there be if there is a plot board already on it? I think those are sooo confusing.

[fantasmic]

Jun 19, 2006 15:59:15 GMT -8 natsxaxbandxgeek said:

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

Well that's not so hard to manage. The key thing is to surf the advertisement board some forums have, and look for something that triggers an interest of yours. For example, I'm big on Harry Potter and Twilight, as well as Writing and Role Playing. So I tend to look for literate RPGs for those series. But there are hundreds of kinds of Proboards out there.


Concerning the "Do's and Don'ts" of admins, I definitely have to agree that favoritism is the number one way to kill a site. Not even being sort of b!tchy, although that doesn't help. See, those sort of admins generally don't associate with the large majority of their members. As long as some of the other staff do, it sort of runs smoothly. Those are the instances where I stay on a site to talk to my fellow members only, and just steer clear of threads the admin frequently haunts to keep from triggering an argument. Because no matter how obnoxious they are, it's kind of difficult for me to justify telling off the admin. Not that that should encourage anyone to do it, or to imply that being a b!tch is a good thing. I'm just saying that favoritism happens to top it on my list of things that annoys me in admins.

What aggravates me the most is inactive admins doing activity checks, when their idea of member activity is every day. I'm a member of many communities, and as much as I'd love to cannot post in every forum every day. I just do not have that kind of time. And those activity checks kill forums. I think that it should be within reason. If the person hasn't been on for three to six months without so much as a message saying they were really busy, that's one thing. But because a person wasn't on for one week or shift or however your site counts time, that's no excuse to delete them or flame them. I've seen admins do that, and then not even tell their staff that they need to be more active. It's totally obnoxious.

There's also the issue of not taking responsibility for your board. It's annoying when it takes weeks for any staff to address an issue, answer a question, or get to sorting out a disagreement between members. And when they are breaking up a fight, they tend to side with their buddy whether they're in the right or not! I guess it branches back to favoritism, but I don't think I'm the only one tempted to quit a community cold turkey when that happens.

[Quaalude]

Most of my members are friendly and we don't have this problem - but i have had to perma ban more than once - so sad QC

i agree activity checks kill forums .

[Kami]

Jan 4, 2009 22:06:48 GMT -8 Quaalude said:

Most of my members are friendly and we don't have this problem - but i have had to perma ban more than once - so sad QC

i agree activity checks kill forums .

As per board rules, located here, please keep all posts four or more well thought out sentences.

Thank you.

[foxy9212]

Dec 12, 2008 17:18:19 GMT -8 ~Skyfeather~ said:

I have only joined forums pretty recently, and I see jokes and abbreviations I have no idea about what they are and it relly makes me feel left out and alone.

That's a pity. You should always ask questions if there's anything on a forum you don't understand. If you feel a little 'silly' about asking on the forum then PM a moderator; no decent mod would ever mind helping out in such cases. It can be very daunting joining an already flourishing board; just be honest about your limitations and I'm sure you'll find all the help you need; if not then there are plenty of other sites where you will be welcomed with open arms.

Fox

[condottiero]

The inside joke thing is a big problem in a lot of places, so I understand.

On my forum, there's something called the "Guide to the Inside Jokes of Dagera" which explains all the common inside jokes for the benefit of newcomers. That way, experienced members get to have their weird abbreviations and cbox references to old threads...and new members don't feel left out. The feature's pretty new to my site, but I hope it will work out.

[krystallight]

I think I can agree with all of your suggestions.

[Kami]

Jan 10, 2009 11:31:23 GMT -8 krystallight said:

I think I can agree with all of your suggestions.

As per board rules, please make sure ALL posts are four or more well thought out sentences, so as to contribute to the discussion. If you cannot meet this requirement, please do not post.

Thanks.

[fwboss]

I would say do not cuss at your members or staff. They are there to roleplay and to help you and your website. Cussing at them will make them feel not wanted. So try to respect your members as much as possible. Then they will want to come on your website.

[Storm]

Jan 10, 2009 15:55:21 GMT -8 @fwboss said:

I would say do not cuss at your members or staff. They are there to roleplay and to help you and your website. Cussing at them will make them feel not wanted.

Don't advertise your forum here please and read the rules. Your replies must be atleast 4-5 sentences long thanks.

[smexie]

Definitely don't be rude to anoyone on your board, especially if you're a member of staff. No one wants to hang around just to be insulted. I also say do not treat your members like 'members', if you get my drift. Treat them like human beings who, like you, enjoy the topic you are discussing. If you see them as real people, and become friendly with them, you have more chance of keeping those members.

With the subject of joking around with people, that's really hard (for me, anyway). If you've been a member on a board for a while, or an admin/mod of a board and your really good friends with someone on that board, you can't help but joke around with them, share private jokes other members don't get. It just happens, either because you've shared experiences, stories, whatever. But don't cast your other members out. if someone asks, explain the joke. Make sure you laugh and joke with other members. Relate things back to them. Again, members don't stick around to be bored and/or ignored.