 | Join Date: Sep 2006 | iTrader: (0) |
When Do You Start Banning?
I'm very active on my forum. I try to take part in every discussion even though the forum is FINALLY very close to achieving critical mass. I'm very picky about keeping a fun, friendly vibe in a particular topic that has a reputation for getting nasty (music recording) and my goal is to never let subjectivity and objectivity get confused.
My forum's topic is almost always very subjective. There are few absolutes. This past week we had a guy who was knowledgeable, but was VERY aggressively in stating that he was always right and seemed to have a know-it-all answer for everything. This may work on a math forum when 2 + 2 = 4 but it does little more than start fights in a world where everyone does "it" differently.
I knew right away that this guy was going to be a problem, but I thought if he chilled a bit he would be a very welcomed member of the community. Unfortunately, he got worse. He crossed the line, attacked some people VERY aggressively, and I had to ban him.
So here's my question: When you see a person who is you are 98% sure is going to be a problem, is it better for community activity to wait until this potential troublemaker really crosses the line, or is it better to weed out the bad guys before they get a chance to cause trouble? Is there something about a total jerk that unites the rest of the community afterwards or is his prescene just a total waste of time?
Brandon
My forum's topic is almost always very subjective. There are few absolutes. This past week we had a guy who was knowledgeable, but was VERY aggressively in stating that he was always right and seemed to have a know-it-all answer for everything. This may work on a math forum when 2 + 2 = 4 but it does little more than start fights in a world where everyone does "it" differently.
I knew right away that this guy was going to be a problem, but I thought if he chilled a bit he would be a very welcomed member of the community. Unfortunately, he got worse. He crossed the line, attacked some people VERY aggressively, and I had to ban him.
So here's my question: When you see a person who is you are 98% sure is going to be a problem, is it better for community activity to wait until this potential troublemaker really crosses the line, or is it better to weed out the bad guys before they get a chance to cause trouble? Is there something about a total jerk that unites the rest of the community afterwards or is his prescene just a total waste of time?
Brandon
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