New Recommendation for Gnet.

[Aaroneet]

I may have just started on this site, but I had an idea as to how to improve this site. I already put it in the "Improvements to Gothic.net" thread, but I also wanted a general consensus as to whether the following will work. Let me know (and please, don't flame me if you think that this is unnecessary. Remember, I'm only trying to help).



I think that there should be a way to clean up the site. I've read too many complaints about trolls and the like invading the site. Since there seem to be no more moderators, there should be an unelected, "unofficial" moderator.

The system should work democratically. There should be a post asking everyone who they think would be best suitable for the job with a five person maximum. Which ever five receive the most nominations will become the new "moderator". As "moderator", he or she will have the power to act against any one (mostly new members) who does not contribute to the site. The first act will be an ultimatum issued against the person causing trouble. With enough ultimatums, (three maximum), the "mod" should then be allowed to go to the people asking for consent to ban a certain member in the form of a poll. If there is a two-thirds majority in favor of banning the member causing trouble, then the person can be banned. However, the person who was banned can be judged by a trial of peers if he/she thinks that the ban should be lifted; there is one trial per person.

Also, when a new member joins, there should be a check box at the end of the thread by Empty_Purple_Stars saying that the new member has read the rules and will follow them to the best of his/her ability.

There should also be a disclaimer saying that if a new member catalyzes conflict, the other members cannot be blamed for continuing it. It is your responsibility, as a member, to contribute to this site. If you fail to uphold your duties, then you have every right to be flamed.


Democritization, one place at a time.

[HumanePain]

I am glad to see members suggesting new ideas, but this particular one has already been tried ("auto-moderation" or "member-moderation"), and the Gnet Admin's responded that they need mods that are disconnected from the member population, mods who are impartial, rather than active members with bias, who may tend toward "ganging up" on someone etc.

[Aaroneet]

Oh...I didn't know. That's true; there probably will be bias. From what I understand, however, other mods who have been hand-picked turned out to be corrupt. Anyway, so I guess this one wasn't meant to be.

Thanks for taking the time to listen, though.

[the-broken-harlequin]

We need some kind of grammar checker in the post thingy.
Also aroneet, what apart from my birthday happened 6/20/07?

[biohazard]

Well this sounded like a good idea, but unfortunately as HumanePain said, it has already been tried. But the idea of having to read certain rules before joining should be kept, and also the idea of having a spellcheck an/or grammar check as well.

[Aaroneet]

Originally Posted by the-broken-harlequin

Also aroneet, what apart from my birthday happened 6/20/07?

Oh...that's personal. I just wanted to make a reminder for myself of the date...

[Aaroneet]

Originally Posted by biohazard

Well this sounded like a good idea, but unfortunately as HumanePain said, it has already been tried. But the idea of having to read certain rules before joining should be kept, and also the idea of having a spellcheck an/or grammar check as well.

And there should also be a check box that says you agreed to the rules before you join.

[Clockwork]

Originally Posted by HumanePain

I am glad to see members suggesting new ideas, but this particular one has already been tried ("auto-moderation" or "member-moderation"), and the Gnet Admin's responded that they need mods that are disconnected from the member population, mods who are impartial, rather than active members with bias, who may tend toward "ganging up" on someone etc.

Put in that perspective, I think that's the best form of moderation I've seen yet.

[Methadrine]

It won't work with disconnected moderators. The way a forum develops is that the sitekeepers know the ebb and flow of its users, how the discussions tend to be and what mood that spans the forum. Throw in someone who has to moderate on the whim that hasn't seen the internal jokes etc and it's a recipe for disaster. (I know. Having co-runned four rather large forums, a few portals and some more projects is the way I cut my teeth on moderation.) In the end the moderators themselves are going to get much more abused by the members of the site.

ofcourse, the above statements aren't always true. It depends on forum to forum. Say, a forum geared to discussing computers is rather easily moderated since computers have specs etc, but moderate a forum which deals with philosophies, politics and other topics where the members feelings toward a subject is the hardest thing to control... well... it ain't that easy anyways.

Good rules, with no "loopholes" and an active communications between moderators and members usually fix most of the stuff.. not all though.

[Aaroneet]

Thank you. That was very inciteful.

[Extraordinary]

Does anybody even know any of the admins or owners of this site? I'm pretty sure this place only exists for those Google ads on the side and top of the page. I don't think they care too much about trolls.

[Aaroneet]

Yeah, everybody complains about that...There's gotta be a crackdown.

[HumanePain]

Originally Posted by Extraordinary

Does anybody even know any of the admins or owners of this site? I'm pretty sure this place only exists for those Google ads on the side and top of the page. I don't think they care too much about trolls.

Read the upgrade recommendation thread, they do care about trolls, but their defnition of a troll may be different than what the members may think.

[Gothic.net]

We appreciate productive suggestions and thank you for thinking about suggestions to potentially improve your experience here. I wanted to take a moment to address a few of the issues you brought up.

I think a grammar checker would most likely go unused by the people who need to use it the most, and if it were a forced feature it would just irritate people who have a good handle on their own writing style already.

I don't really think trolls are currently a big problem here. There was a period where there was a supposed 'troll invasion', but it was pretty artificial and was more about some people's bid for more power within the community, to be totally straight forward about it.

Cultural forums, particularly in areas like writing, horror genre fiction, Gothic lifestyle, etc. are always going to have a few trouble makers and a few juvenile instigators, but on the whole, it isn't really a massive issue here right now. There was a bit of a spambot problem for a little while, just like on a lot of forums, but that hasn't been too bad since we addressed it a while back.

There certainly is some room for upgrades and improvements, but for the most part, the site is here to serve the core community and give people a fairly open place to congregate and share mutual interests and such, and to that ends, I think it does a decent job.

[Aaroneet]

Thank you for taking the time to respond, Gothic.net Administrator. I very much appreciate the insight.

[the-broken-harlequin]

T-shirts!
We need to start making t-shirts!

Perhaps ones with classic conversations or ones with gothic.net written in fancy writing!

[Methadrine]

Yeah. We could have a few choices of slogans on them too:

"Gothic.net - Don't forget your grammarbook!"
"Gothic.net - The warmest, chilly place you'd ever see."
"dat Gothikz.netz place- I trolled at de goddik.net & al I got waz dis tshisrt!!1"
"Gothic.net - We're not goth, we're just lovers."

etc.

[HumanePain]

"Gothic.net: we only appear murderous!"

"Gothic.net: Brains required"

"Gothic.net: where the women are hot and the men slowly rot!"

"Gothic.net: you get what you pay for!"

(ok, that last one was uncalled for, but hey! Goths know how to make fun of themselves! )

[the-broken-harlequin]

I know!
The gothic.net letters are made out of all the pictures of the users!

Then again we could just be more billboard-like and just have the site banner on our chests.

[Vyvian Blackthorne]

Gothic.net-We don't take care of trolls!
Gothic.net-Beware of Maggot!
Gothic.net-We're only in it for the money
GOTHIC.NET-Goth.net actually has goths!
Gothic.net-Bloopie is our president!
Gothic.net-SELLOUT!
Gothic.net-Were sadly people like MollySak are in control!
Gothic.net-We don't listen to Vyvian!
Gothic.net-We waited for Bloopie to spam, troll, and insult before taking care of it!
Gothic.net-We let people use Leet!
Gothic.net-We have a dictionary in Leet!
Gothic.net-|-|3y d00d! w3 m33n \/\/|-|4T \/\/3 24Y!
Gothic.net-Only three members are actually goth!
Gothic.net-We let woman have their asses for their avatars!
Gothic.net-1ST GEN. SURVIVOR
Gothic.net-We're not listening!
Gothic.net-Big Brother is Watching You!

Goth Forever
Goth Forever
Goth Forever

[HumanePain]

"Gothic.net-We let woman have their asses for their avatars!"

Haha! So you have seen Empty Purple Stars avatar eh? Heehee!


"Gothic.net: There is no known cure!"

"Gothic.net: bet you can't post just once!"

"Gothic.net: banned in 37 countries around the world!"

(ok, the last one isn't true, but hey, it will sure help recruit more members!"

[the-broken-harlequin]

How about...
Gothic.net: Do not come here!
(Only cool kids)
Gothic.net: We lost track of how old harlequin is.
Gothic.net: Sending you a pm.
Gothic.net: If you enjoy pain, have a vampirefreaks account and like papa roach
gtfo
Gothic.net: Block Vyvian.
Gothic.net: houw dou ie mayike an goowds grammers?
Gothic.net: Home of Nigerian schemes and Andrew eldritch.

[HumanePain]

"Gothic.net: hugs and hangings!"

"Gothic.net: hot kisses from dead Misses!"

"Gothic.net: join Godslayer Jillian's harem or lackies!"

[the-broken-harlequin]

Gothic.net: Sending you a pm.
This might have only made sense to me.

[Aaroneet]

[quote=HumanePain]"Gothic.net: we only appear murderous!"

"Gothic.net: Brains required"

"Gothic.net: where the women are hot and the men slowly rot!"

"Gothic.net: you get what you pay for!"

I liked these...