Members don't respond to agree to rules

[ZandraJoi]

Forum URL: holisticallysecular.proboards.com/

Like many forums, I have an automated PM that is sent to new people & it asks them to please read the Rules & post that you agree. What do you do if new members don’t? I usually give them a good week or two, to get familiar w/ the forum & set-up. How lenient should one be?
Some register & don’t post but what of those who do post but still didn't agree to those rules? Do we call them on it in a PM?
Thank you!

[Kami]

Jul 13, 2020 9:05:24 GMT -8 ZandraJoi said:

Forum URL: holisticallysecular.proboards.com/

Like many forums, I have an automated PM that is sent to new people & it asks them to please read the Rules & post that you agree. What do you do if new members don’t? I usually give them a good week or two, to get familiar w/ the forum & set-up. How lenient should one be?
Some register & don’t post but what of those who do post but still didn't agree to those rules? Do we call them on it in a PM?
Thank you!

How you handle that is up to you.

What I would recommend is to hide all content from people that have less than 1 post except for the board where the rules are. Then if they want to see the rest of the content, they need to make 1 post in that board.

Personally though, I find this too micromanagy. I would suggest instead having a disclaimer in your rules that states that by joining they agree to all the posted rules. That way you don't have to keep on top of your members, and if someone claims ignorance of the rules it's on them.

[bigballofyarn]

Jul 13, 2020 9:05:24 GMT -8 ZandraJoi said:

Forum URL: holisticallysecular.proboards.com/

Like many forums, I have an automated PM that is sent to new people & it asks them to please read the Rules & post that you agree. What do you do if new members don’t? I usually give them a good week or two, to get familiar w/ the forum & set-up. How lenient should one be?
Some register & don’t post but what of those who do post but still didn't agree to those rules? Do we call them on it in a PM?
Thank you!

Rather than having them explicitly type out that they agree, you could end your welcome PM with something like, "In making your first post on this forum, you are agreeing to the aforementioned rules."

[?adwoman?]

think about using this plugin support.proboards.com/thread/434050/yootil-lion-rules-system-v2
they have to agree to the rule before they can post. This is for NEW members only

[Kami]

Jul 13, 2020 9:38:34 GMT -8 ?adwoman? said:

think about using this plugin support.proboards.com/thread/434050/yootil-lion-rules-system-v2
they have to agree to the rule before they can post. This is for NEW members only

I would like to add the caveat that using plugins to prevent people posting is not fool proof and can easily be circumvented by using the mobile version of the forum or disabling javascript.

It would be far better, and far more universal to use the method I described above by restricting category/board access to people with at least 1 post with the exception of the category/board that houses the rules.

[Joshua Farrell]

I personally dislike joining forums that have a mandatory reply to the rules thread, as I personally read rules regardless. Perhaps there may be one of two reasons why someone didn't do this for your forum.

The first reason I can think of, is that the person thinks it is weird to reply to the rules thread, saying they agree. So they perhaps don't want to reply, because of it?

The second reason that I can think of, is that the person just doesn't care to read the rules, until they do something that is obviously against forum rules.

[ZandraJoi]

Kami My forum is only less than 3 months old, I have it open where guests can read but need to register to reply. That was one of the tips in PB, to be sure topics are viewable to guests when starting out.
bigballofyarn I like that but still doesn’t mean they’ll read it. But it is better than coming on & agreeing in writing.
?adwoman? I’ll keep that for future reference.
Joshua Farrell Some people don’t read the rules tho. They tend to jump right in. Either by excitement or wanting to advertise their own forum. The latter I have no problem with, but I had to revise the rules as people were joining just to promote or ask for help on how to do THEIR forum. I kept directing them to PB!
The agree to rules is one I saw when I was first on PB forums so that is why I implemented it on mine.
It’s nice getting others opinions here, so I thank all of you!

[Kami]

Jul 13, 2020 17:29:41 GMT -8 ZandraJoi said:

Kami My forum is only less than 3 months old, I have it open where guests can read but need to register to reply. That was one of the tips in PB, to be sure topics are viewable to guests when starting out.
bigballofyarn I like that but still doesn’t mean they’ll read it. But it is better than coming on & agreeing in writing.
?adwoman? I’ll keep that for future reference.
Joshua Farrell Some people don’t read the rules tho. They tend to jump right in. Either by excitement or wanting to advertise their own forum. The latter I have no problem with, but I had to revise the rules as people were joining just to promote or ask for help on how to do THEIR forum. I kept directing them to PB!
The agree to rules is one I saw when I was first on PB forums so that is why I implemented it on mine.
It’s nice getting others opinions here, so I thank all of you!

You can have content viewable but not postable!

All you need to do is make sure you have a Posting Rank set up for 1 post as your lowest post rank.

Then just adjust your settings to this in the areas you do NOT want people to post:
- who can view: everyone
- who can access: everyone
- who can create threads: custom > only members with minimum rank: [whatever the 1 post group is] + members in the groups [all your staff groups]
- who can reply to threads: custom > only members with minimum rank: [whatever the 1 post group is] + members in the groups [all your staff groups]

Do this for all boards except for the board that has the rules in it. This will make it so the only place new members can post if they have 0 posts is the rules thread, but still be able to see the rest of the content.

If you don't want them to create threads in that area, make sure to mark it as thread creation for staff only.

[bigballofyarn]

Jul 13, 2020 17:29:41 GMT -8 ZandraJoi said:

bigballofyarn I like that but still doesn’t mean they’ll read it. But it is better than coming on & agreeing in writing.

I understand, and I'm not trying to be difficult. I'm just giving you a different perspective.  Typing out "I agree" doesn't mean they read it either.

You don't have to answer this directly, but answer this to yourself. How many times have you clicked the "I agree" button when a website promoted you to agree to a very long terms of service that you never actually read?

[ZandraJoi]

Kami That’s doable! Thank you for that tip!
bigballofyarn Didn’t think you were being difficult Love hearing of different perspectives & ways people do things.
Frankly, I’ve skimmed those long ones lol
So, how would all of you deal with those who aren’t following the rules? I’m trying to give them time to look around, hopefully make their way to the Rules & correct it on their own.

[Nscalerr]

Also in Admin Home > Settings > Forum Settings > Login & Registration > After Registration Page you can place the link to your rules thread and once a user has registered they will be taken to that thread, (still no guarantee they will actually read the rules though).

[bigballofyarn]

Jul 14, 2020 18:20:29 GMT -8 ZandraJoi said:

Kami That’s doable! Thank you for that tip!
bigballofyarn Didn’t think you were being difficult Love hearing of different perspectives & ways people do things.
Frankly, I’ve skimmed those long ones lol
So, how would all of you deal with those who aren’t following the rules? I’m trying to give them time to look around, hopefully make their way to the Rules & correct it on their own.

I would make your forum rules as short, simple, and close to common sense as possible.  Most people already know that they should be respectful of serious topics, refrain from spamming, not hijack threads, and be kind to others.  Things that need less explaining should probably be briefer in the rules post. 

I feel like most rules are broken accidentally. I would PM the person rather than call them out publicly.

I went to your forum and got confused. There were FIVE threads in the Info board. I thought to myself, "Which do I read? All of them? Are there this many rules to read at 6:30 in the morning?" Haha.  I also think the rules board should be the top board to your forum.  If you want people to know the rules before they post, it should be the first thing I see before I scroll through the rest of the boards. If you have rules that are specific to different boards, maybe you can have a separate thread in those specific boards rather than multiple announcement threads in one board.

[ZandraJoi]

Nscalerr I added in the Rules link to the After Registration Page. Thank you for that tip. I also deleted the “Post that you agree” to the new member PM.
bigballofyarn Info Board had 2 threads that were Announcements. I figure About & Rules was self-explanatory lol I put Rules top now.
Advice- don’t read rules at 6:30 in the morning LOL I like your sense of humor!
Thank you all again for the wonderful advice & support. I’ll continue to learn & make mistakes on this journey

[Kami]

So, how would all of you deal with those who aren’t following the rules? I’m trying to give them time to look around, hopefully make their way to the Rules & correct it on their own.

This imo is something you have to play by ear, depending on what the nature of the broken rule is, as well as the number of times you've needed to discuss this with a particular member.

If it's something minor, like double posting or a little too much spammy replies, I would send them a PM and offer to discuss any rules they have any questions about.

If it's something major --  and I mean, like, bullying another member or posting intentionally inflammatory comments -- or if they are a repeat rule-breaker, I would delete or move the content to a staff-only area and disable the user's account, then send them an email regarding why I did so. In order to return, they would need to be put on probation and confirm they have re-read the rules (and the TOS if needed) before re-enabling their account.

If it's something completely horrible or 100% against the TOS, such as posting content exceeding a PG13 rating with the intent to break the TOS, or endangering my other members, then I immediately ban and delete the account, no questions asked.

[Kami]

Jul 15, 2020 20:22:21 GMT -8 @loverofcatsandfooty said:

Not a bad idea but i'd be tweaking it to make it sound less like it's being forced upon them.
My suggestion is that you also post the rules up in your suggestions section so that people can see it as well. But being made to like a PM means that somebody has made you fed up with their own behaviour. I'd suggest that with that person i'd globally ban them. Just so that they get the message that they are no longer welcome to your site.

You can't like PMs -- Not really sure where this is from, but "liking" is limited to posts only.

What OP is saying is that they receive an automatic PM upon registering that tells them to read the rules & then they are requested to post an acknowledgement in the thread when they are done reading (similar to an "I Agree" button, but more manual). They're not being asked to respond to the thread in response to a rule infraction, but rather as a condition upon joining the forum to begin with.