Forum Moderators: rogerd
There's lots of swearing and name-calling involved (moron, idiot, etc). So far I've stayed out of it and neither has reported each other for personal abuse yet (in which case I would probably take some action, not sure what yet but I'd think about it).
Should I step in and tell them to stop taking things so seriously and personally? It's starting to get pretty ugly.
>>moron, idiot, etc
Those are altogether unacceptable, IMHO. At times there can be some degre of somewhat respectable "name calling" though not with words like those, that's quite accurate and makes a valid point. But those are just meaningless epithets and really don't describe anythiing about what the OP is actually doing or saying.
There should be TOS stating that members be respectful of others, but on occasion calling someone exactly what they are can be accurate enough to make it unfair to other members (who may feel the same way) to remove the comments.
With names like "idiot" and "moron" I'd nuke them without hesitation, and if something applicable wasn't in the TOS I'd add it that very day.
Does the forum have TOS or moderators? If so email them to step in and put
a stop to this nonsense or it could pull the whole forum down...KF
If you aren't a mod, then I would only intercede in the mildest terms if at all, because, as King Fisher said, its the peacemaker who will get clobbered
Personally, I think an unmoderated forum will cause many good members to leave (or not join at all). A quality member may put considerable time and thought into crafting a helpful post. If he gets flamed for the effort, that may be his last post. In addition, newbies may be afraid to post out of fear of being attacked or told they are stupid.
I'm sure that a key part of the success of WebmasterWorld is that the TOS requires courtesy, and that the mods ensure that happens.
One of the more common questions here is, "How do I get my lurkers to start posting?" Being friendly to first time posters and creating a non-intimidating environment are key answers to that question. Ever visit a forum where a newbie question is greeted with, "RTFF, noob!"? Does that seem like the kind of place that will attract a lot of new posters?
That said, you may wish to create special "no holds barred" forum container, move their thread there, and explicitly allow flames in that forum container. Some audiences really like to fight, so why not let them, and this way you don't lose people who might be put off by rough tactics.
I actually recently was warned on a hockey forum. They are very strict and i told someone to calm down (using a drug term, think of towlie from south park) and within a minute i was warned by 2 admins via private messaging. The first person did not allow me to view that particular forum that i posted in, while the other gave me a "warning" that showed by my name. I like how i could not have access to the post, because it instantly solved the problem of quieting a poster without others seeing you do it. Not only do you punish the person doing something wrong, you prevent yourself from having to monitor that particular person on that post.
'Discussion is an exchange of knowledge... argument is an exchange of ignorance'
... and the motto of the forum is to encourage intelligent, useful debate in our niche. The TOS also make it quite clear that this has proven successful in our search engine performance (i.e. the search engines are disinterested in pages of nonsensical argument and casual visitors are far more likely to stcik around if they can learn from what they read).
Don't be afraid to knock nonsense on the head... and if you lose a member because of it... you're probably better off without that member.
IMHO.
