The "Do Nots" Of Your ProBoard

[Timothy]

After reading the previous messages, I thought of something else to add to the ongoing list of "do-nots": Do not violate your own rules.

Now, I realize that this sounds self-explanitory, but I've been a member of boards (Proboards and otherwise) where the administrator(s) would spew rhetoric regarding free speech or the posting of banned topics, while they proceed to violate their own rules by posting (insert concept/ topic here).

[Ichi..Ni..San..DEATH]

Just wanted to say that rude admins really suck..I went to a board once, and made an offhanded remark about the admin not being online to accept profiles (it was an RPG), and I later appologized because I realized she was in a different time zone, but when she came on she freaked out at me, gave me a really high warning (it was either 50 or 75%), and when I tried to talk her down, and say I didn't know she was so far from my time, I got banned. 0____o Moral of the story: don't be rude to members, even if they're being n00bs. If they appologize, accept it, don't give insanely high warnings for small stuff.

[gimel]

this reminds me...speaking of arguements...i have to go clean up my forum....for the first time ever, theres actually been a problem between members on it. luckily i have good mods on it who resolved most of the conflict before i even logged on.so i just have to do the clean up.
its nice to know i have a reliable staff, i have to say...

[Starlight*]

Here is another thing I´ve been itching to say:

DO NOT FORGET TO PUT UP A BOARD DESCRIPTION !


Almost every forum I rate makes this mistake !

With most of them, it is not apparent at first glance what the forum is about.
The guests sees a vague banner, a title like Purple Realms, and then the first top boards which are usually "forum rules", "news and updates", "introduce yourself", "general discussion", etc.

Most of the time you really have to scroll all the way down to see the main boards about the forum topic, which are stashed away below a ton of introductory boards.

As most of you know, guests are not that patient, mostly they just take a glance at your forum, and if not everything is clear and inviting, they are quick to move on to something else (in this case, another site or forum).



So, here are two advices:

# 1

Write "coding and graphic board" (or whtvr) either on the banner, or below the banner but above the boards, or on a welcome table. Make it clearly visible ! And make it understandable !
For example: is your board a Pokemon discussion board, or a Pokemon RPG ? It should be clear !

# 1

If possible, put the main boards (the ones that are about the main topic of the forum) on the top.
Ok, you can put one or two introductory boards above it if you must, but try to limit it to the rules and the new members boards. All other boards can go to the bottom. Your members will find them anyway.

[mort666]

not to toot my own horn but i seem to be conforming well to these ideas

I suppose most of this is just common sence and decent behaviour

heres another one
dont know if its been said or not

do not make anyone feel unwanted on your boards
i always try to talk to them on msn or something and it helps

[stam2]

I think what you have said is really true because on my ProBoard even though there are only a few members we all treat each other fairly which makes it a great board.

[Remis]

This is something that is personal for me. Because the admins kicked me off the site:

Dont treat new members like they are stupid. Especially if they are active members, because their active that means they want to be a part of the site. So if yell at them and call them names they will eventually get mad and go off.

Dont judge new members by their indruduction post or (for RP's) how they make their Bio.

[Black Angel]

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.

Power abuse is somethng that really ticks me off.. not just online, but, in general.

There was this one full house board I visited (because someone asked me to join), on this service, which, to be honest, would have been better served if it were run by poop slinging monkeys, rather than the immature teens that were running it..

Anyhow, they were talking about how they were going to protest COPPA, and sue ProBoards because they said that it was age discrimination to not allow underaged kids on the forum.. so I laughed (to myself), I read further down, and saw some logical, and intelligent responses from people in favor of using COPPA and then left.. without the intention of returning..

About a month later, I was pmed on a different forum I advertised my [PB] forum at, from a member asking me to join that site.. so I had completely forgotten that I had visited the site, and did so once again..

When I realized that I had been there before, I went to the topic where they were talking about COPPA, and saw that the logical and intelligent responses from those in favor of using it, had been editted by the staff to agree with what they were saying. One of the mods there had went as far as saying "he he I feel soo powerful." (I assure that I am not making this up.)

I left that site in disgust, and I never went back.

All of the boards that I have visited that have had that in their rules, have all had frequent cases of power abuse by its staff..

So I have never, and will never join a forum, whose staff deem it necessary to point that out, just like I will never eat at a restaurant pointing out that they reserve the right to refuse service to anyone.

While I realize that it is their board, and they can do whatever they wish because of it, I find it very unnecessary to point that out.. to me, it is similar to when your annoying sibling says "it's my ---- and i can do what I want."

[HoudiniDerek]

Black Angel, I have to agree. I am a member of a number of different forums that have basic rules that talk about being polite and the like. Some have different warning levels and such for rules violations, but overall, the forums tend to pretty laid back and that helps the forum get and retain new members.

However, some members on one forum decided I should be banned for some imagined wrong. (I am still not sure what it was). So, they set out a campaign to do just that when they knew one of the admins was not around. It failed, but it triggered a schism on the forum where they went to set up their own forum. On that forum, they had rules exactly like what you are talking about...and rules that specifically banned me. Not by name, but every member on that site who knew me claimed that they worded it that way just to be safe in case it violated the TOS somehow. Even the admin staff admitted it, which I found sad.

Now, they have isolated the majority of their members and have gone crawling back to the other forums to get new ones. I have to agree with you that if they had looked at the situation and realized that they should create forums for fun and not power, then they might have been better off. {Sadly, these are women probably 40+ who decided to act worse than teenagers).

Of course, on another forum, I am on...the rules change daily and that makes it hard to post and the admin tries hard, but seems to relish in the power spot and will not take questions to his running of the site seriously. After all, I am of the school of thought that says if you have an opinion, ask the admin if they would consider it. No harm in asking, right? One would hope so, but that is not always the case. This instance fits more with your example because it is a teenager who I think just wants the power over the forum (and while it is a fun forum overall) and it is getting less enticing to be there with every unannounced update and the like.

On my forum, we try to keep it as community property (very communist I know), but that way everyone can be in on most of the discussions and the like. Some we change and wait for feedback...others we ask first and then decide a course of action. That way all the members feel involved and the power angle is not necessarily how it is looked at.

[zathura]

The only thing I don't deal with are flames and fights. I just move it to the designated board and usually, it's obvious who's wrong, who started it, etc. etc.

Thankfully, it hasn't happened yet, but if it does, that's what my rules outline.

[Star Trek United Forces]

With one of the boards that I have created, about an actress, I have one board where both guest and members can post on. While I have the others fixed to where you have to join. Plus, I've added a cbox on the site as well.

Some people do like to post to where they do not have to sign up right at first. So, if I give them an opportunity to post, they might want to join later.

[Wyatt]

The username itself

Something I made the mistake of doing was choosing a... cruddy username for my first proboard. It was about gaming, and a certain game in particular, and I called it "dudemaster95.proboardsxx.com". (Can't remember the exact address, and I don't want to advertise anyway). If I'd called it "gamingworld.proboards" or "gameszone.proboards" then people would be more likely to view the website and also, know what it was about.

[Dana]

I have experienced favoritism...
I have experienced this on many forums I have joined. I feel ignored, and unimportant, like the staff doesn't care that I joined or if I don't understand something. If I PM staff with a question on most forums (not PBS, of course, but others), most of them respond with a "Read the rules" or something, and I ALWAYS read all informative threads on a new forum that I join, so the only reason I would be PMing them is to ask them something that I did NOT find in the rules.

I have played favorites as well...
I have to admit to some guilt here, because now that I read through most of this discussion I realize that on a forum that I previously administrated before it went inactive, I did play favorites with a few good members. But, though I was a bit more friendly with those members, I still PERSONALLY sent out a welcome PM to most new users, unless they failed to read the rules and follow instructions. No, I did not use one of those codes that sends out an automatic welcome PM, i typed each one up myself as the time came.

Not everything should be displayed to all users...
Also, as an experienced administrator, I know that all arguments and fights or inappropriate or personal topics should be discussed through Private Message only. Arguments drive guests and maybe even memnbers away from the forum that the fight is taking place on. I can recall on one forum that I am a member of, the users on it went through a big fight, well, actually, many big fights and it caused many members (including me) go pretty much inactive on that forum, though it was very successful. I think it was because these arguments were displayed in public, in open threads that even guests could view. DISAGREEMENTS SHOULD BE HANDLED IN PRIVATE; EMAIL, PRIVATE MESSAGING, INSTANT MESSENGERS, DO NOT MAKE THEM VIEWABLE TO ANY USERS WHATSOEVER WHO DO NOT HAPPEN TO BE INCLUDED IN THE DISAGREEMENT.

You have to consider the wants and needs of the members...
You should always go with the common "majority rules" thing. NEVER MAKE A DRASTIC CHANGE ON YOUR FORUM WITHOUT FIRST INFORMING OR ASKING THE OTHER USERS, INCLUDING STAFF AND MEMBERS. Trust me, it does not turn out pretty. This forum that I am a member of, the one I told you that had a lot of fights displayed in public, had all these changes made without notification to the members:
- First of all, it was a ForumUp message board. It was great, it was my first forum ever to be a member of. I had never known what a mesage board was. Then, I went on vacation with my family and when I returned--BAM--it's moved to ProBoards. Don't get me wrong, ProBoards is the best forum service I have ever found, but I was so disappointed that nobody was informed, and I was a loyal and good member and not even the admins who became my pals (over the computer, not in real life) told me.
- So, the forum was moved to ProBoards, and I got use to it and I loved it. It lasted awhile. Then, all the boards were deleted and only one was there that said "WE MOVED" and I was really mad. The forum was now still on ProBoards, just a whole new forum. It was terrible. Then, that one was pretty inactive, so the forum moved to another forum service called InvisionFree. Every user I asked hated the forum on InvisionFree. Everyone wanted the old on back.
- Finally, the admins recreated the one that they had first made on ProBoards. As a matter of fact, they just came back to the same exact one (the same URL) on ProBoards, the one right after ForumUp. It was everyone's favorite. It's still there now, but everything is all changed and it's not the same as it use to be. I still visit it but I haven't posted in a long time. There's way more details, like this petition about getting things back to the way they were that was passed on through PM, but I can't tell you all about that because it would take way too long. Then one of the admins posted a thread about it and how they were working hard and stuff, a bad idea considering all the members pretty much hated the staff by then. Admins and staff on other forums, please notify all users before making drastic changes!!!!!!!!


There's many other things not to do, but my fingers are pretty sore now. Merry Christmas

[Advent Axl]

myke said:

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.

Do Not Go Rule Crazy On Your Members

funny story about the rules i got banned from flamezero about advertising my board which is advent axl

[Koran]

Arguments
I saw one forum where they had a board specificly devoted to arguing. It meant that the Staff could ppost their opinions and help resolve the problems. It wokred pretty well, and the rules for it mentioned although it was an argumetn forum, NO FLAMING.

A pretty good idea imo.