Hi Junk ked here,

I need some advice about running a forum.

I was upset to discover that somebody posted racially abusive remarks on a forum that I am testing.

I deleted them as soon as I saw them but I still have two problems.

The first is the most serious problem. I actually know the person, in real life, that posted the abuse and I don't know how to handle it. For some reason they thought I would think it was funny even though they know my views on the subject. I am still in shock from discovering this complete lack of regard for other people.

The second problem how to stop it happening again. I did not really give it much thought but there is a facility on the forum to censor bad words and usernames. Is there somewhere I can get a standard list of words to ban.
I don't want to leave this to chance.
Also how do I inform people about the rules I would like to impose. To be honest I have never read the rules for posting on any forum including this one.
I have always assumed that I should treat people with respect even if I never meet them face to face but I guess you just can't trust everybody to behave.

Another thing, if I ban somebody from a forum where do I stand legally, if they didn't read the rules can I still say "you broke the rules" and make it stick.

If this sounds like a rant, it probably is, I am still furious.

If anyone here has been in this situation please let me know how you handled it or didn't handle it.

I have already sent them an email explaining exactly why I deleted the postings and my opinion of their lack of regard but I was very calm and polite.
I already regret being so resonable, should I let them have it full on or should I just ignore them and forget the incident.

Junk ked

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Junk Ked
www.domain-names-registrar.com

One way to make sure they see the rules is to have a "splash" screen listing the rules on the account setup or login screen. You can't make them read them, but then they can't say they didn't see them.

You can run a censor-bot that automatically scans the postings and modifies them, but then you run into free-speech boundaries. For example, if you had a censor-bot that looked for "sex" words, then someone who wanted to discuss breast cancer or prostrate cancer might be censored unnecessarily.

If it's your forum, you own it and can pretty much do what you want. If you want to ban someone, it's your perogative as the forum master. If they don't like it, they can go somewhere else or start their own forum.

I wouldn't stress this incident. If they thought it was funny, and thought you would think so too, then they probably didn't mean it malicously. If it happens again, then feel free to banish him to the fiery mountains of Mordoor. In all likelihood, he didn't think it would be such a big deal; if he apologizes, then I'd say forget it. Just make sure everyone knows the rules and consequences of violation and you should be fine.

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Join the club! There will always be someone like this if you run a forum.

I cannot stand racism and I will not tolerate it from anyone in any shape or form, whether online or offline. This is why I frown everytime someone on this forum attempts to stereotype a people (e.g. Nigerians are conmen). However, I also realise that people, right or wrong, are entitled to their opinions (and beliefs). They are free to create their own websites to spread thier hate messages but I will not allow my forum to be abused like that, friend or not.

You cannot actually stop someone if he/she is determined to cause you trouble, especially online. You can however make it very difficult for them in the hope that they simply give up eventually.

You could start by banning the username / account. You should require that all email addresses be validated/activated upon registeration. You should not accept email addresses from popular webmail services such as HOTMAIL|YAHOO|EXCITE|AOL and the like. There are other little things you can do to deter such abuse but the ones I mentioned are already good enough to a certain extend.

If you want to ban someone, don't think about it - just do it! It's your forum, you (and your management team) make the rules. If you are fair, no one will fault you.

I don't suggest you explain anything to someone who is abusing your forums. Don't give them any "air time". Completely ignoring them is maybe cruel but it's easier on your blood pressure.

Finally, anyone abusing your forums KNOWS exactly what he/she is doing, people rarely read the rules and even if they did, it won't stop them if they are bent on making your life miserable.

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J de Silva
Learning Journal | GIDForums™ | GIDNetwork™ | GIDWebhosts™ | GIDSearch™

Can you explain why ?

reason being is that after a protracted problem with my normal ISP based mail I decided to create a yahoo account so that I could register on these very forums, only to find the domain banned.

I am sorry this caused you some inconvenience Viz.

In a sentence, this keeps the riff-raff out of the forums.

We do on occassion, manually add members who write to us with their hotmail or yahoo accounts wanting to use the same email address to register - so you could have contacted us via the "Contact Us" page with such a request.

Otherwise, I have GMAIL invites coming out of my ears - if you are interested in the service.

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Hey its no problem, I did infact start a mail for you, but decided to give my site webmail another shot and got it working .... thus it was kind of a mute point, so never sent it, I was just interested.

I've had people like this on my forums. I've banned about 10 of his IPs, which means that wherever he lives, there's his computers, his friends' computers, and probably some public computers unable to access the forum. There is no legal problem with banning someone; it is your forum, if they don't like it they can start their own. Ban any sex words or such, in legitimate discussion the context will tell the user what the stars mean. Otherwise, you can soften the swear filter.

I've been on plenty of decent sites with no filter; every so often the mods have to attack and quarantine a person, but really they aren't that necessary if a swear ban is explicitly stated in the rules.