The "Do Nots" Of Your ProBoard

[Former Member]

I've been a proboards user since... 2005 maybe... so I've been everything from an Admin to a Gmod to a Mod to a member of many different sites (Mainly RP) and theres quite a lot of things I have learned.

But the one BIGGEST thing I have learned is this...

Remember that you used to be a member too (Unless you were hired straight into staff as soon as the site started or as soon as you joined - but maybe you were a member somewhere else).

It's easy to forget we used to be members, it's easy to like the kind of power we get when we become staff and start behaving differently to what we were like before that. We forget to be fair and forget to use appropriate judgement and start doling out greif on every one and so on.

Sometimes we even get ranty, moody, not-approachable and generally just too proud and stuff...

Sometimes we even end up being in the staff position for too long and start acting out cause the pressure is too much...

We forget to talk to eachother and start going off on our own and not share decisions and so on...

We need to stop sometimes and think about what it might be like for the members who look to us to hold the site together... and think about what we might feel like if we were in the shoes of the members being treated unfairly by the staff...

[Nefa]

Favoritism:
Everything that you mentioned here is something I have experienced firsthand. I am surprised by how many popular forums show obvious and unfair favoritism.

Do Not Allow Public Fights/Flames To Remain:
I prefer to put fights in Staff Archives rather than deleting them, but fights should be hidden from members to avoid them from starting again.


Do Not Go Rule Crazy On Your Members:
This is one rule that I have had much trouble with. One rule that I have seen on sites is "Do not copy our site." They would take things from my website and then accuse me of stealing. I was banned for having a "Forum Games" section on my forum. It was ridiculous.

Do Not Abuse The Warning Meter, and Make Sure The Staff Adjusts It Equally With You:
This is not something I have had trouble with, thankfully.


Do Not Be Rude To Your Members:
Easily the worst and maybe the most common problem I have seen.

Respect and fair treatment towards everyone is the most important thing a forum could have. It gives a forum a good reputation, minimizes fights and forms a close knit community. Follow the Golden Rule and everyone will follow you. Usually.

[Nitro]

This is really good for new users, thanks!

[Cazzie]

In regards to the cliques and in-jokes thing... I think that's inevitable in any group of people who get on well for long enough. The secret is to be willing to explain in-jokes and memes to those who ask. As for cliques, you'll probably find that as long as enough people are willing to make the effort to be welcoming, you'll get a bunch of overlapping cliques with members drifting between them. (Those are the members to scout for future moderator positions.)

Although, my own board only had 20 regulars even at its busiest, so the clique-ishness is hard to avoid, unfortunately. They're a welcoming enough bunch , but if there are no open games when a new person joins, it's understandable if they get bored and leave. (I have yet to solve this problem. Beyond having 20-odd RPs going at once, and I don't have enough members for that to happen.)

[Cazzie]

Dec 22, 2006 10:49:15 GMT -8 Black Angel said:

One thing that has always bothered me, was how some admins, and gmods are quick to point out that they reserve the right to ban, or punish anyone at their discretion, with or without good reason.

To me, that is a red flag, indicating that because they have power over their members, they can do as they see fit, even if it means abusing that power.

Usually what that rule means is "There is probably bad behaviour we haven't thought of. Just because we haven't thought of it doesn't mean we won't ban you for it." It's a "cover-your-bases" thing to shut down people who like to cause trouble and then spend hours arguing that "it isn't in the rules you can't do anything to me!"

For example, my forum does not have a specific rule forbidding harassment of other members via PM. We're a group of friends so none of us would do it and most people understand that cyber-bullying and harassment are not appropriate. The "at mod's discretion" rule allows the moderator to step in if somebody does turn out to be the kind of person who would do that. (I also don't have rules against racism/sexism etc because my forum is a group of friends and I am not friends with bigots. If somebody turns up dropping the N word, they'll be banned so fast their head will spin, rule or no rule, and I don't think any one of my members would disagree.)

Usually, using common sense is enough to avoid falling foul of it, but if mods are banning people for fun/no reason then that's not a board you want to be on in the first place and tbh it's probably not going to last very long.

EDIT: Whoops! Sorry for the double-post!

[rohan]

Flamboyant Showcase : If you are an admin of a newly created forum, do not put excessive features simply for the Admins. Like having Multiple Banners, Many Stars, Rainbow usernames, etc. Keep the group simple and do not make it too flamboyant. This deters potential members as they would think that you want to keep all the benefits to yourself, so why bother joining. Make sure that the members get something unique too like colored stars, banners, etc.

Multiple Boards : If you have few members on your forum, you should never add too many boards. Doing so, divides the members into many boards and this decreases member to member interaction giving off a sense of inactivity to whoever who views the Forum. Also, many boards get very few or no replies at all. Instead, have fewer boards or make Sub-boards in your Forum. Increase the amount of boards as your members increase and member suggestions are a must in this. If you don't ask for their suggestions, you would simply add a board where no one will even bother to post.

[Stern]

Sept 18, 2014 21:29:54 GMT -8 rohan said:

Flamboyant Showcase : If you are an admin of a newly created forum, do not put excessive features simply for the Admins. Like having Multiple Banners, Many Stars, Rainbow usernames, etc. Keep the group simple and do not make it too flamboyant. This deters potential members as they would think that you want to keep all the benefits to yourself, so why bother joining. Make sure that the members get something unique too like colored stars, banners, etc.

This! It's very disconcerting when only the admins have colored names/stars/whatever.

Which is why our site has a rainbow of name colors and every character is assigned to at least one group. Yes, our admins have their own name colors, but everyone else is colorful too.

[rohan]

Sept 19, 2014 21:10:26 GMT -8 Stern said:

Sept 18, 2014 21:29:54 GMT -8 rohan said:

Flamboyant Showcase : If you are an admin of a newly created forum, do not put excessive features simply for the Admins. Like having Multiple Banners, Many Stars, Rainbow usernames, etc. Keep the group simple and do not make it too flamboyant. This deters potential members as they would think that you want to keep all the benefits to yourself, so why bother joining. Make sure that the members get something unique too like colored stars, banners, etc.

This! It's very disconcerting when only the admins have colored names/stars/whatever.

Which is why our site has a rainbow of name colors and every character is assigned to at least one group. Yes, our admins have their own name colors, but everyone else is colorful too.

I have the same thing in my Forum too and the overall response is very nice. It's important to give a sense of Equality to all members, especially if you want them to stay and participate in your Forum.

[Beyonder]

No staff abuse!

[Cuethelaugh]

I would say our 'Do Nots' on the board that I am on right now are as follows:

- Respect all members and be kind. This goes hand in hand. RP is not RL don't treat it as such. It's meant to be fun!
- When bans happen it's for a reason. Don't question it as when people do that it's usually because they want to cause more drama. If you try and kick up drama more than twice you're banned. 3 strike rule. By that point you're not there to play you're there to be an awful human. (I've found that sticking to that rule in particular really makes for an AMAZING, no OOC drama site which makes everyone happy). Remove the problem and everyone will come around or even come back! It's definitely kept our site more active (for nearly 8 years -we moved once-) and way more active than the other sites those banned members create because they end up being lousy, negative leaders who only do it for the attention.
- No spam.

[Himms]

Sept 19, 2014 21:10:26 GMT -8 Stern said:

Sept 18, 2014 21:29:54 GMT -8 rohan said:

Flamboyant Showcase : If you are an admin of a newly created forum, do not put excessive features simply for the Admins. Like having Multiple Banners, Many Stars, Rainbow usernames, etc. Keep the group simple and do not make it too flamboyant. This deters potential members as they would think that you want to keep all the benefits to yourself, so why bother joining. Make sure that the members get something unique too like colored stars, banners, etc.

This! It's very disconcerting when only the admins have colored names/stars/whatever.

Which is why our site has a rainbow of name colors and every character is assigned to at least one group. Yes, our admins have their own name colors, but everyone else is colorful too.

Or make it so none of the ranks/groups have stars. It's not that hard to place a zero for stars. My site doesn't use them, if my site did all the ranks/groups will have random number for stars to be used.

[Stern]

Oct 7, 2014 1:09:40 GMT -8 Himms said:

Sept 19, 2014 21:10:26 GMT -8 Stern said:

This! It's very disconcerting when only the admins have colored names/stars/whatever.

Which is why our site has a rainbow of name colors and every character is assigned to at least one group. Yes, our admins have their own name colors, but everyone else is colorful too.

Or make it so none of the ranks/groups have stars. It's not that hard to place a zero for stars. My site doesn't use them, if my site did all the ranks/groups will have random number for stars to be used.

Yes, that works too.

But colorful names are fun! And stars are amusing, especially if they're horses. :- P

[Himms]

Oct 7, 2014 6:50:47 GMT -8 Stern said:

Oct 7, 2014 1:09:40 GMT -8 Himms said:

Or make it so none of the ranks/groups have stars. It's not that hard to place a zero for stars. My site doesn't use them, if my site did all the ranks/groups will have random number for stars to be used.

Yes, that works too.

But colorful names are fun! And stars are amusing, especially if they're horses. :- P

@bold.....O.o I'm not even gonna ask

[Stern]

Oct 7, 2014 12:57:40 GMT -8 Himms said:

Oct 7, 2014 6:50:47 GMT -8 Stern said:

Yes, that works too.

But colorful names are fun! And stars are amusing, especially if they're horses. :- P

@bold.....O.o I'm not even gonna ask

Equestrian site. X- P We have horses instead of stars.


^This thing.

[The girl who waited]

1) If you're a troll, don't bother. Because I am meaner than you.

2) Do not bother other members about posting. ONE time in Cbox, or a note to staffer is fine, but we all have lives, too. Respect that.

3) Do not fail to read the rules; they are there for a reason, and I WILL summarily ban you if you poke the bear. My rules are simple and easy to follow. Just read them.

4) DO NOT, under ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, post things in neon yellow or orange. It hurts!!