So, uh... what changed?

[waboom]

So last week Derwin took the site down, citing spammers galore, toxic postings, and various other issues. After a moderators meeting, the site's back up & running.

So my question is... what really changed? Are the changes only on the mod level, so us regular folks don't need to worry and just go about posting as usual? Or have there been changes in terms of usage and "the way things are done" that us regulars need to be aware of?

[ziggy951]

Its probably a combination of both. The major things that changed are probably backend support and spam filters. I know when I initially launched a site it was hell trying to deal with the spam in my email box, blog, and forums. I had to litterally monitor it constantly so that blog replies like "Hey nice site..****** at www.bigstuff.com. Come check out my site too its great!" werent actually posted. I didnt know much about it all in the beginning but I am well aware of it now. There are ways to limit all of it and I am guessing this is what was implemented. I really dont think the toxic posting was a reason for putting the site down temporarially. That was just a reson for some bannings.




Z

[Jack Willard]

Yes ziggy951, that and more.

The spam and **** thing is really overwhelming. The site is obviously on an international list and new users are registering constantly from other countries, mostly in GMT -12:00 zone. We are looking into filters and trying to ban them as fast as we can.

Some new Administrators have joined, myself included, and we are trying to help. Some things are just too hard to find, like the Terms of Service (rules) are located at the FAQ button on the top horizontal navigation bar. Derwin and I both couldn't find them! LOL

The negativity is really bothering everyone, especially us Admins. With people attacking one another and making disparaging remarks, it is often quite difficult to remember to advise or direct people to take their problems to the side and work them out privately via PM or email or something. Seems that some people just never learned how to behave civil with one another. We don't want to discourage open discussion. There's nothing wrong with disagreements. Everyone has a different point of view on things.

It's not easy to moderate with "consensus" (discussion and agreement) when some member gets flamed by some other member. It takes time. No Admin wants to hammer someone from emotional reaction to even obvious nasty behavior alone.

Now, more than ever, we need to do what we can to make this site a friendly and inviting place to visit and participate. The FTR site is in flames. :mad:exploding: