Aa
A queston for Medhelp
I have been reading this forum for many years and posting for two. I see a noticeable increase in deleted posts and the marked absence of many of the most helpful posters. I had disagreements with some of them, but their absence is my loss.
Why are you doing this? A forum can be moderated or not, but this forum seems in between and uses arbitrary rules.
Most of us take mind altering drugs; we need guidance sometimes when we are out of line, but threatening and banning are not helpful. This is a support forum for adults. Sometimes we are so overwhelmed by the drugs that we do not behave as adults, but that is rare.
If you apply arbitrary rules and let trolls post at will and you ban the people that complain about the trolls, you lose the respect of the forum members and you, medhelp, will lose in the end.
If you feel the forum has to be moderated, then supply a moderator that understands the forum and the problems of the participants.
Why are you doing this? A forum can be moderated or not, but this forum seems in between and uses arbitrary rules.
Most of us take mind altering drugs; we need guidance sometimes when we are out of line, but threatening and banning are not helpful. This is a support forum for adults. Sometimes we are so overwhelmed by the drugs that we do not behave as adults, but that is rare.
If you apply arbitrary rules and let trolls post at will and you ban the people that complain about the trolls, you lose the respect of the forum members and you, medhelp, will lose in the end.
If you feel the forum has to be moderated, then supply a moderator that understands the forum and the problems of the participants.
It's too bad you don't have a tracking mechanism on the Abuse button so that you can determine the source. Then at least you'd know if it's repeating from the same user or otherwise. I think it's a bit irresponsible to react solely on the basis of automated "abuse" reports - you end up being an unwitting party to someone's pettiness or personal vendetta. If you had a tracking mechanism, you could warn those that abuse the abuse reporting feature.
Maybe you need a Contact Us button for abuse so that people have to declare themselves. Seems a bit over the top but when abuse reporting is handled at face value and is obviously being abused itself, perhaps it forces people to really stand up for their viewpoint. It IS private after all. Not like anybody but the moderator is going to know.
I also don't get why we need to refer to banned members as "the name that shall not be mentioned". Seems just a bit silly, doesn't it? We can refer to them but not name them? What's your reasoning behind that? I simply don't get that.
Trish
Maybe you need a Contact Us button for abuse so that people have to declare themselves. Seems a bit over the top but when abuse reporting is handled at face value and is obviously being abused itself, perhaps it forces people to really stand up for their viewpoint. It IS private after all. Not like anybody but the moderator is going to know.
I also don't get why we need to refer to banned members as "the name that shall not be mentioned". Seems just a bit silly, doesn't it? We can refer to them but not name them? What's your reasoning behind that? I simply don't get that.
Trish
After getting some explanations from some people, it seems that MH was not being consistent. We didn't allow discussions of one banned member, but were allowing discussions of another.
In fairness to those who support and miss the members, we are deleting the posts that are strictly about a specific banned member in this thread. I do hope you understand. We are aiming for consistency here.
We apologize for the confusion.
Emily
MedHelp
In fairness to those who support and miss the members, we are deleting the posts that are strictly about a specific banned member in this thread. I do hope you understand. We are aiming for consistency here.
We apologize for the confusion.
Emily
MedHelp
Thank you.
As you are well aware some people have a “Trigger Finger” for the Abuse Button. This is causing frustration for the rest of us. The different personalities and view points, are at the top of my list of things I like about this Forum. I wish people would stop and think, is this the Riba, am I being over emotional, am I being petty, is this really abuse or just something that goes against the grain of what I think, before pushing the abuse button.
As you are well aware some people have a “Trigger Finger” for the Abuse Button. This is causing frustration for the rest of us. The different personalities and view points, are at the top of my list of things I like about this Forum. I wish people would stop and think, is this the Riba, am I being over emotional, am I being petty, is this really abuse or just something that goes against the grain of what I think, before pushing the abuse button.
You've asked for more communication from MH before deleting things, etc., so I wanted to let you know that we have had several of these posts reported as abuse this morning.
Most of these aren't actually abuse, and the 1 or 2 that were have been addressed. We do have limitations with our reporting system, as members don't have the ability to explain why a post is abusive, but upon checking these out, there isn't any apparent abuse. If whoever is reporting abuse would like to explain why, they can PM me confidentially.
I'd also like to add that no member is banned for one thread, as long as they aren't egregiously violating the Terms of Use by posting spam, porn, threats, etc. As Harry explained earlier, we do have a cooling down period, and warning system that we follow. We do appreciate that sometimes bannings result in a big loss for your community, but please understand that we don't like banning people any more than you like us doing it.
Emily
MedHelp Moderator
Most of these aren't actually abuse, and the 1 or 2 that were have been addressed. We do have limitations with our reporting system, as members don't have the ability to explain why a post is abusive, but upon checking these out, there isn't any apparent abuse. If whoever is reporting abuse would like to explain why, they can PM me confidentially.
I'd also like to add that no member is banned for one thread, as long as they aren't egregiously violating the Terms of Use by posting spam, porn, threats, etc. As Harry explained earlier, we do have a cooling down period, and warning system that we follow. We do appreciate that sometimes bannings result in a big loss for your community, but please understand that we don't like banning people any more than you like us doing it.
Emily
MedHelp Moderator
Jim is nursing his tendonitis, according to this thread he posted June 15.
http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Hepatitis-Social/Checking-In/show/975970?personal_page_id=8103&post_id=post_4564895
http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Hepatitis-Social/Checking-In/show/975970?personal_page_id=8103&post_id=post_4564895
Maybe...just maybe....Jim is finally getting a much-deserved life. I hope that's why he's not here so much. That's certainly why I'm not here as much as I used to be. Not that mine is well-deserved, just that it's why I'm not here as much as before. I can't imagine Jim just disappearing without a word, that's not his style. He did this before and it was coincidentally around the same time as a previous time of considerable unrest on the forums and it was conjectured then that he'd decided to leave. He came back and said as much that he wouldn't just disappear. He simply had some personal things that required his attention.
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