Today's banning of someone who hasn't the faintest idea of HTML and yet trying to setup a web server just got me thinking. I remember looking at a list of banned people a while ago. And one always pops up that I remember seeing. Hmmmm going downhill huh? Enough said . Another topic this dude posted in was about the "Windows 98 will install on NTFS!!!!11" one. That guy cracks me up.... And today's banned member QOTD: lmao telling AT to get off HWFs. I didn't see him helping members much, or was it just the regulars/staff duties to do that?
Actually, I'm glad this came up. I'm not a big proponent of flaming volunteer staff on any forum so I probably would have meted out some form of appropriate moderation on his ass. But that guy just couldn't handle not getting his way. What actually got him banned wasn't the flames but when he started spamming the forums. Hmm, good riddance. Oh yeah, here's the thread for reference: http://www.hardwareforums.com/win-2003-help-8915/
He had what was coming, no doubt, but I've always felt a ban doesn't do anything. Sure it stops them coming back, but you can't really mess around with them, AT knows what I mean , but IMO, and I know we don't need the kind of crap he was pulling, it would have been fun to toy with him a little, like maybe outsmart him or give him a chance to reply to what was posted, and then beat him in to the dust?
I'd tend to agree Waffle, and I didn't have any special plans for his account until he started spamming the forums out of anger. After that I deleted his spam threads and banned him without a second thought.
BTW, who tacked "Owned" onto the end of my post on that thread? When I noticed that I literally laughed out loud.
I would assume waffles did that. I read that too and thought it was you AT, I got a good laugh out of it.
I thought I banned that Lynex assclown a few years ago. He seemed to have a personal vendetta against me in particular, but a few other sites I could find him on had him causing trouble, and eventually banned (for screwing people over in trades) at one of them. Things he's claimed: A Voodoo 3 was better than a GeForce 2 series card. It should be noted that the Voodoo 5 5500 was more comparable to the original GeForce. That all reviewers must have the absolute latest hardware. Heh. I wish. And of course what's been pointed out already... He's there for the sole purpose of causing trouble, and not someone who's missed.
Exactly. If you look through that Lynex person's posts, you'll clearly see that each and every one of his posts were unhelpful and abusive. People like those are the primary reason you need moderators to begin with. That Curtis20 guy wanted me to teach him what web servers are and what they do as he was setting one up... this isn't the purpose of peer support forums, it's the purpose of tech schools, tech literature and the like. C'mon, it's like demanding somebody else get educated and do your homework for you so you don't have to do any of the hard stuff, then getting pissy when they refuse. Give me a break. Sure I'll gladly help somebody on a peer level, as everyone here would and does on a regular basis. But actually training somebody from the ground up on demand is way out of the scope of these or any forums. Get bent.
All I can say is, thank you for the good moderating and getting rid of the spammers, and helping us all. I for one appreciate it
Everyone gets pissed off at some point or other. It's when you go on a rampage afterwords that gets you booted out. We've had other instances where there was some frustration with a member, but that one took it up with an admin over PM and got it sorted out with another staff member that he was running into trouble with. It was some miscommunication, but I'd like to make note how that was the proper way to do it. For the most part, this is a pretty pleasent forum and really hasn't needed a ton of moderators. We'd like to add more in the future, but we're not pressed for them. We've made the rules clear and put it in the member's court. This is my hobby that I love to do, but it's unpaid. We don't pay the staff, and if we got to the point where anyone would get paid, it'd be Sniper first thing, since he started the site. Needless to say, since people are helping out and not being paid for their time, the least we can do is not put up with crap from some troublemaker. The goal is to help people help themselves, not be spoon-fed step by step instructions all the time.
Good moderating I'd say! I got so miffed on a forum once, I blew out at one of the users. Got banned straight away. I really wanted to appologise but couldn't. To this day I feel really bad about it. There is really no reason for such behaviour. As AT so rightly wrote, this is not a :swear: class room. And you cannot expect the forum to give you everything already chewed (eeewwww ). One thing I have to say - Good ol' AT has got his way with words LOL . He does not hold back when he gets going..... hahaha. More power to ya! :good: Serve the :swear: :swear: right...... go play with someone else you little :swear:
Everybody has a bad day where they do stuff they regret. Maybe that day was curtis20's, and perhaps he would have done things differently given the opportunity. To be totally honest I find no joy in banning somebody. But I think at least part of the reason this site has such a great atmosphere is because we, as a little web community, have lines which we don't tolerate being crossed. I make mistakes too and I've apologized for them publicly more than once on these very forums. Quite a few people here have done the same. But how one reacts to being corrected says a lot for a person's character, wouldn't you say? And character, your character to be precise, is what makes this site worthwhile. Consistently going above & beyond for people you don't know and will likely never meet every day is a commendable thing. I hope you continue to make hardwareforums.com a great place to be, like an oasis in a great desert. Perhaps I've overdramatized a bit, but the essence of what I'm saying is true and I mean every word. All the best, -AT
*wipes tear from eye* Beautiful AT!! It's true... I for one accept criticism and comments because I know I don't know half as much as most people, and because I like the forums I just wouldn't act like that as it's a waste of time and pointless, you get no-where, and then you get banned, where's the sense in that?! Anyway, well said Anti-Trend and I also hope that everyone continues to make HWF a great palce to be!
While our responses may differ, I think that most people who are helpful understand what it was like to be a n00b---at least for me that's the case.
Well I gues I'm gonna have to be the different one. :swear: everybody here I hate you all. (And uhhh yea just to over-clarify that was a joke so don't ban me)
