General Chat

Hi Elaine I agree with you 100% regarding if a member misbehaves that bad and gets banned then their ip should be blocjked despite other family members using the same address. It may make them think before they come to cause trouble if their rellie was on their case because of it. Elaine x

The size of the site ...... I've been a member for 3 yrs now, and a part from maybe 2 incidents on Records, I can't say that anywhere other than General board needs moderating ..... the IP addresses can be collected at membership and checked along the way as and when it needs to be. OK, the odd eye on Success board wouldn't go a miss ... and certain posts deleted within minutes ... but they really are few and far between in comparison with the General Board. Moderators would have to use their common sense. This is a big site and no one can expect us all to get on with each other, but there is a difference between two people having a difference of opinion .... and the nastiness that does rear up and get out of hand. Elaine ;-)

Yep, me, I do.

a site of this size, without ' experienced ' moderators, is simply asking for trouble. bryan.

I agree with Paul there, they have to be 100% neutral.

Hi Elaine, I think it's a good idea in principle but I think GR would have to make the guidelines more clear, they are a bit fuzzy round the edges at the moment. I didn't see your thread, Roxannne, so I can't comment but it doesn't seem to have been around long before someone got it lifted. I've seen horrible, abusive threads left on here for hours. I believe ebay is probably a bigger site than this and they have mods on the community boards 24/7 so it can be done if the will is there. I also believe that, as well as IPs, GR should use the credit card records to check that banned people are not re-registering. They must keep them else how can they operate the continuous membership? It's so long since I registered that I can't remember what details they ask for but I also think we should have to give our proper names and addresses which are kept on file. Then if a particular member seems to be 'trouble' it would be simple enough for GR to check they are who they say they are. Far too many fakes are registering here. And certainly no boards should be accessible to anyone who hasn't paid the fee. Gwynne

This thread is turning into a debate thread rather than the intended simple 'We want Moderators' thread ..... but it doesn't matter .... if enough people have their say, then it all helps GR get the message at the end of the day ( or when ever) ...OMG just realised ...its Friday ..... Elaine ;-) The Moderators would HAVE to be impartial .... maybe we could hire someone in China to answer a 'phone in' for abuse !!! .... abit like they do for Utilities ! .... just trying to lighten the load a bit - no offence meant :-))

yes, but NOT if they are existing members, we need total impartiality

Something needs to be done if they can't a full time moderator Errols suggestion of a checker would be the way to go. I am sure though that someone got an email off them saying that this isn't possible because of people using different computers. (Cop out comes to mind). Stand corrected if I am wrong. Germaine x

Elaine, I see what your saying about 'family' members ..... but then surely, the IP ruling would then make doubly sure that ANY member of the family using the site, would have to behave in an adult fashion.... or they ALL get 'suspened' together ... like each of them checking on each other and making everyone behave. I know if my daughter was a member of this site, using this PC or another PC at this address, then I would make sure we BOTH abided by the rules and if she was to get me kicked off I would blinkin well kill her. :-) .NOT that ANYONE is allowed on MY PC ..its MINE and no one is allowed near it :-0) (apart from looking on the job centre when she is unemployed !) If there are thousands and thousands of members ... all paying approx £9.00 each .... (forgive my ignorance) surely there should be enough money to pay for extra staff working 8 hour shifts ... Elaine ;-)

YES,YES,YES!!! Its getting way out of hand now.

Errol, no, it didn't come across as a correction .... and if it were, I really wouldn't mind as I was wrong in the first place :-) Appreciate the information. Always eager to learn. Elaine ;-)

I say yes But it wont happen as this is a massive site compared to other much smaller sites (and ive seen the very few posts a day on smaller sites compared to the many on this site ) What is needed is ip checker of some kind, so those who are banned on a permenant basis cannot return. But even then Genes wont descriminate (so called) family members of a banished person who according to them still have the right to use genes.(even though often its the same person pretending to be a family member) Elaine x

Sorry Elaine - I hope it didn't come across as though I were trying to correct you. If you're interested, basically an ISP is your service provider such as BT, AOL etc whereas an IP address is a uniquely identifying number assigned to your connection when using the internet. On dial up this number changed every time you connected so wouldn't be much use in this case but with broadband the number (in the majority of cases) stays with you because it is an 'always on' connection. It is also quite possible to track other information about individual users (such as where they are in the world, who their provider is, what browser they are using and so on) - I do this regularly with clients' websites to provide feedback and stats and build an 'average user profile'. Of course, there would be nothing to stop a person accessing the site from a computer at a different location and there is not a lot that can be done about that.

Errol, Thankyou for your input. The info about the IP addresses is what I was referring to .... but I am no PC techy, and got it wrong. I don't know what Isp or IP's are. ! I just know there IS a way to trace PC's. You have spelt out what I was unable to Elaine ;-)

If they're 'proper' mods and not just trigger-happy, then yes I want them :)

Yes we need something 24/7

I know Lesley and you so right ,it is great on this board when people are having fun, but then it gets personel! Dx

The reason that many 'smaller' websites are able to moderate is precisely that - they are small so there are fewer potential postings to monitor. The problem with moderating is that a site can lose a lot of its spontaneity whilst postings are checked - consider how many and how frequent postings are on here at busy times. There is also surely a cost factor - a small army of impartial moderators would need to be employed 24 hours a day and that cost would inevitably need to be passed on to fee paying members or covered through increased advertising revenues - something I am sure would prove unpopular amongst many! So, what does out current membership fee cover? Well general site maintenance doesn't come cheap and there are staff costs. Then there are the hosting charges and GR probably pays a premium for its monthly bandwidth too. And what is the answer? Logging ISPs certainly isn't because that information is largely meaningless. Surely it would be better to log IP addresses so that if a member is suspended or banned they would not be able to rejoin from that individual computer again.

I think that the knowledge that moderators were about might make people less likely to be antagonistic for sure. I did actually ask a question about this fairly recently and was told by some long standing members that GR staff did regularly 'patrol' the boards. My suggestionat the time was that these members of staff should be somehow identified - It would be a little like seeing a traffic warden when one is contemplating parking in a naughty place - the site of him would definitely be a deterrent !