• Welcome to the Cricket Web forums, one of the biggest forums in the world dedicated to cricket.

    You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join the Cricket Web community today!

    If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us.

Trolls and Moderation Policies

Status
Not open for further replies.

FaaipDeOiad

Hall of Fame Member
This is an issue that's been bugging me for a while, and presumably some other people, and I figured a site discussion thread is the best way to air it.

A month or two back we went through a period in which a number of posters copped bans and warning and so on in what was apparently a major crackdown on certain kinds of behaviour on the forum. When people complained about the harshness of this and the regular contributors who copped it, we were told that it was part of a new direction the site was taking and that we should accept it.

For a few weeks now, there's been an aggressive and annoying troll in the Ashes subforum, called BingLeeElectric. The guy is obviously anti-England, but I'd say he annoys Australian posters just as much. He's also obviously a duplicate account of another troll who was banned 18 months ago during the last Ashes, and despite several hundred posts nothing has been done about him. I've tried reporting posts, I'm sure other people have too, and there's nobody on the site who would shed a tear at him going, and yet I haven't even seen him warned yet. If we're to deal with bannings and warnings any time anyone posts a line of asterisks, is it also possible that people who actually deserve to be banned and make the forum a less enjoyable place to visit get banned as well?

Posters who do nothing but post flame bait and abuse other people add nothing to the forum and there's no harm at all in removing them, or at least warning them to behave in a more reasonable manner. As far as I'm concerned, genuine trolls like the one in question damage the atmosphere of the community far more than a few swear words ever could.
 

PY

International Coach
I completely agree but we have to prove that he's actually the same person (even though it's certainly him) and they have different IP addresses. Only slightly but the different, all the same.

Anywho, it's certainly being discussed at the moment (albeit rather slowly) and should get resolved soon.
 

pasag

RTDAS
Yep, the Ashes thread is pretty big but I'm fairly sure stacks of his posts have been reported. He annoys both Aussies and the English, most people find him infuriating. I really can't believe stacks of long term posters were banned for what was nothing more than banter IMO (although arguable), but his clear baiting and trolling has been left completely unnoticed. You say '****' and you have 20 mods down your throat, but you can systematically kill the forum atmosphere and nothing happens.

Same applies to BhupinderSingh, who still continues with abuse and constantly play the racism card in nearly every post and not even a warning.

I think quite a few people feel this way tbh.
 

PY

International Coach
:laugh: As much as I love a bit of anger as the next man, what does that have to do with it?

Only one person can ban users. I apologise on my behalf for not dealing with complaints as I've been very busy with exams in the past 2 weeks.

Oh and BhupenderSingh is also being looked at as well.
 

Adamc

Cricketer Of The Year
PY said:
I completely agree but we have to prove that he's actually the same person (even though it's certainly him) and they have different IP addresses. Only slightly but the different, all the same.

Anywho, it's certainly being discussed at the moment (albeit rather slowly) and should get resolved soon.
I think you're missing the point. I don't see why it's necessary to prove that he is someone who was previously banned in order to ban him; rather, he should be banned, or at least warned, for trolling, which as Sean mentioned is a lot worse for the forum atmosphere than swearing and the like. The fact that it's taking so long to do so while other minor infractions are pounced on suggests a problem with the moderation policies.
 

PY

International Coach
Fair enough, I was just trying to explain why it's taken so long for something to be done about it but I did miss the point.
 
Last edited:

James

Cricket Web Owner
I've been flat out with numerous things around the site the past couple of weeks plus my job so I've had a tonne of stuff to catch up. Rich Twyman being un-available at the moment and the news coverage I've had to pick up has unfortunately meant a few things like this have had to be moved down my priority list.

As PY said, it is being discussed in the moderator forum, and I'll make the time now to follow-up on it.

I can't answer why general moderation has dropped off recently. I haven't heard from any mods that they're busy with something else so I presume they're all around fully. I'll follow up on this too.

Anyone is welcome to air concerns directly to me at james.nixon@cricketweb.net
 

_Ed_

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Good to hear that it is being discussed, his posts are driving me away from the Ashes forum.
 

FaaipDeOiad

Hall of Fame Member
Please note I'm not trying to criticise anyone directly. People may have reasons to be busy or whatever, and that's fine. The problem is, as others have said, more about the priorities of moderation policies. We've seen people banned and warned for swearing, while BhupinderSingh and BingLeeElectric haven't copped warnings yet, after weeks and weeks of the same crap in the most active section of the forum. IMO, this should be a much bigger priority than language issues and so on.

To paraphrase someone on MSN the other day, you swear or make light-hearted fun of someone in OT and you're out the door, but troll aggressively and call people maggots or racists instead of ****wits and you're safe.
 

James

Cricket Web Owner
FaaipDeOiad said:
Please note I'm not trying to criticise anyone directly. People may have reasons to be busy or whatever, and that's fine. The problem is, as others have said, more about the priorities of moderation policies. We've seen people banned and warned for swearing, while BhupinderSingh and BingLeeElectric haven't copped warnings yet, after weeks and weeks of the same crap in the most active section of the forum. IMO, this should be a much bigger priority than language issues and so on.
I don't normally publicity comment on specific members but he has been emailed and given an official warning so if it does continue, we'll be a position to ban him.

FaaipDeOiad said:
To paraphrase someone on MSN the other day, you swear or make light-hearted fun of someone in OT and you're out the door, but troll aggressively and call people maggots or racists instead of ****wits and you're safe.
That's 100% incorrect and I think you know that. I'm not sure what but some things could well have been missed due to my in-activity in forum matters the past couple of weeks.

If someone feels strongly about something the best course of action to guarantee a response is to email me and/or the moderators.
 

Matteh

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
James said:
That's 100% incorrect and I think you know that. I'm not sure what but some things could well have been missed due to my in-activity in forum matters the past couple of weeks.
It's how it appears when people like Chaulk are given an outright 7 dayer for one post which was a line of asterisks and other people can make posts which are clearly repeatedly baiting and which generally lower the atmosphere without any noticeable action.
 

marc71178

Eyes not spreadsheets
Matteh said:
It's how it appears when people like Chaulk are given an outright 7 dayer for one post which was a line of asterisks
For the record, it wasn't a line of asterisks though...
 

marc71178

Eyes not spreadsheets
It wasn't all "child's play" - just like it wasn't the supposed line of asterisks that have made people pretty much declare martyrdom...
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Top