Future of General Discussion forum

Discussion in 'Forum News / Announcements' started by Administrator, Sep 25, 2011.

  1. Of late there has been some disconcerting and disappointing changes in general posting behaviour on Silver Stackers, to the point where I've had to take the unfortunate action of temporarily or permanently banning members. The increase in the number of complaints received privately is also escalating, to the point where I'm having difficulty in keeping up with responding to the requests for apologies for personal attacks or insults, or slander complaints, or vilification complaints. By far the vast majority of these complaints originate in threads posted in General Discussion.

    Silver Stackers is a precious metals, numismatics and investment discussion forum. The very reason this forum was started in 2009 was because of the general anarchy in other gold and silver forums on the internet - Silver Stackers was meant to be a website where you parked that crap at the door, and we got back to the basics of talking about PMs (precious metals, not the redhead variety).

    We've become like those "other" forums.

    Of particular concern are the recent religious vilification threads. This forum is hosted in a state where "promoting hatred" of a religion on the internet is a crime - apart from it being simply unwelcome on the forum (and against forum rules that membership is conditional upon), you're creating a legal exposure for yourself (and the forum) when you vilify a religion, whether it's Christianity, Islam, Judaism or Flying Spaghetti Monster. There's been two particular instances in the last few weeks where only by the good grace of the aggrieved there hasn't been a complaint made to the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission.

    Of similar concern are the personal attacks between members who can't engage in a discussion without resorting to personal attacks or insults. These have also recently generated several valid formal complaints of defamation, and one of these instances has contributed to a member being permanently banned.

    I'm currently the only administrator on the forum - three other members have minor moderation permissions in specific forums, but that's it - I'm only human - and am regularly accused of not applying moderation even-handedly - the simplest course of action is to simply shut the General Discussion forum down, and I am currently evaluating this. It has not been visible to anonymous visitors for a long time, new members cannot post in it for the first week, the next step is complete removal. This forum needs to get back to the heart of what it was, and the General Discussion forum has become a blight on Silver Stackers.

    In the meantime, there will be much less tolerance for disruptive behaviour on the forum. A decision on General Discussion will be forthcoming, however in the meantime, a moratorium on new threads being created is in place as a temporary measure.
     
  2. Iluvnumbers

    Iluvnumbers Member

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    Exactly!
     
  3. boston

    boston Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    Perhaps a selectable ignore function may also be timely.
     
  4. hiho

    hiho Active Member Silver Stacker

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    please ignore my PM then GP :)
     
  5. RetardedMonkey

    RetardedMonkey Active Member Silver Stacker

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    I'll admit, I rarely post in General Discussion nowadays. It has gone to shit.
     
  6. boneyard

    boneyard Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    Thanks for your awesome efforts GP.

    Religion has got a lot to answer for.
     
  7. thatguy

    thatguy Active Member

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    A voting system to move a post to a off topic subforum which can only be view by going there?
     
  8. fishball

    fishball New Member Silver Stacker

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    Suggestions to this counter the problem (may or may not be feasible):

    1. Zero tolerance to any religious discussion, atheist inclusive. Two weeks temporary ban and permanent ban on second offense.
    2. Have a discussion area where it is hidden from everyone who does not meet a standard threshold, much like whingepool's karma system (which I hate, but it's a suggestion nonetheless).

    Worky?
     
  9. renovator

    renovator Well-Known Member

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    Yeah i agree theres some good stuff in there sometimes & a place for a little humour when PMs just get a bit boring . theres only so much you can talk about metals before you become a one faceted lunatic that talks about nothing else. Ive noticed the same thing people pushing barrows of all sorts of crap that dont belong on any forum not to mention this one.
     
  10. thatguy

    thatguy Active Member

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    Is global warming a religion :p

    p.s. pls don't answer the above question
     
  11. goldpelican

    goldpelican Administrator Staff Member

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    This doesn't solve the problem of the nature of the posts though - there is a "read before posting" sticky thread on the General Discussion forum, it's barely got 400 views - people just don't bother reading it and think it's a free-for-all forum to post any subject in.

    If a post contained a heated argument that resulted in vilifying or slanderous remarks being made, simply moving it to somewhere else doesn't make the problem go away.
     
  12. Butch

    Butch Active Member Silver Stacker

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    Two strikes and your out.
     
  13. renovator

    renovator Well-Known Member

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    Guys i dont think the boss wants new ideas he just wants a bit of peace & harmony .
     
  14. kaz

    kaz New Member Silver Stacker

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    I would propose the above but add a suspension, then if reoffend then out for good.

    I have watched with some sadness the decline of the forum in recent months to the point that I have not visited , and I heartily give support to you GP and believe that a firm line needs to be taken which I am sure would be supported by members.
     
  15. goldpelican

    goldpelican Administrator Staff Member

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    This is exactly the sort of feedback I've been receiving from a number of people, and also feedback from one member who was chewed out by a professional investor for wasting their time by recommending the forum as a place to visit for precious metals information.
     
  16. renovator

    renovator Well-Known Member

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    That seems a bit harsh. Theres always good information on metals here If you look for it. I dont think theres a question that can be asked that hasnt been answered to do with metals .I agree with the sentiments changing but there has always been a great source of information available on any given day i log on .I would say said investor was a bit lazy to use the search function &/or a bit quick to judge .
     
  17. Trichter

    Trichter Member

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    My humble suggestion would be that GP delegate all moderating duties except for the sales forums. This way the moderation and administration side would be easier and a better quality forum could be ensured. In my opinion there are too many double threads which are not malicious in nature, but people are a little too ready to click that "Start a new thread" button without further thought. There seem to be a lot of threads started by a) newbies and b) people with thousands of posts. It would be better to see a braod crosssection of posters. Some more thoughful stuff is being drowned out in the torrent too. If more threads were consolidated and deleted by more moderators then the quality of the forum would go up. A lot of the problems are natural side effects of a growing forums which cannot be avoided only fairly commated. Delete threads and posts aggressively like a ref asserting himself at the start of a soccer game with a few yellow cards; after a while people will self regulate more. Any deletion need only be accompanied by a PM to the person will an appropriate reference to the relevant section of the forum guidelines or "Read before posting" text.
     
  18. Big A.D.

    Big A.D. Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    Out of interest, did the professional investor offer a better source of information on precious metals?

    I know from meeting a lot of stackers in person that we're a very diverse bunch and that means there are going to be a lot of different opinions among the group, but in terms of actual information about specific products or sources of information I'm not sure I'd agree with that assessment.

    We might look like a bunch of bickering fruitloops sometimes, but we're also a very knowledgeable group as well.
     
  19. lucky luke

    lucky luke Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    Painful for you to set up, but easily maintained once it is to set up is an "answer a number of questions correct document as part of the registration process before being allowed to post". Sort of like Comsec has in place when one wants to trade options. The answers to the questions of course would all be contained in the "read before posting " sticky thread. That would ensure you get not only more than 400 views, but at least some sort of concrete confirmation that the member understands what he or she should be abiding by. Whether they later abide by the expected behaviour code is a seperate issue, and is NOT confined only to the general discussions thread. As GP points out though, the general discussion threads tend to attract the most negative attention. Ending the general discussion threads will not end either the troublesome behaviours or solve the poor viewing of the "read before posting" sticky.

    The majority of people will always play to the full extent of set boundaries. When the boundaries are vague or not enforced, then most people will "range" as far as possible/acceptable, some more so than others. The "smart" trouble makers however purposely push to the maximum of what is acceptable (irrespective of thread type) at almost every opportunity. The "not so bright" will break the rules whether the boundaries are tight and close or loose and distant. Another concern though, and very difficult to enforce, are the "smart" troublemakers who push the boundaries to the max without clearly breaking them but in doing so baiting the "not so smart" ones to respond inappropriately. I think a 3 strikes and your out system would work for both target audiences. That way the "baiter" can also be given a message that his/her habit of pushing the boundaries has been noted, and action taken if he/she continues being troublesome.

    While definitely not generalising here, I would like to point out that a members posting score does not automaticly positively correlate with acceptable pro-social forum posting behaviour. The "not so bright" posters simply get banned very fast and hence don't get the opportunity to build up their posting score. The "smart" trouble maker survives and continues making a nuisance of him/herself.
     
  20. fishball

    fishball New Member Silver Stacker

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    Chances are, the traditional investor expected everything to be handed to him on a silver platter and when presented with a forum did not know what to do :|

    Considering how General Information and Real Estate (the angriest areas!) are hidden from public view, I just don't see how these could contribute to his negative view of the forums?

    There's some pretty crazy stuff and heated discussions that go on but that's what happens when you have a forum, people discuss! Not everybody agrees with each other, it'd be scary if they did.
     

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