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Topic: A Wildly Unpopular Suggestion
| Author | Message |
| Mirage | Posted – 6/24/2008 9:41:29 PM | show profile What about requiring all users to sign in using not just an e-mail address, but a credit card as well? The card will not be charged, but will be used to verify the user's identity. I'm thinking that something like this may be the only way to cut down on the personal attacks/hiding behind multiple screen names issues that seem to be prevalent on the board as of late. I'm also thinking that people will bitch and moan about it, but it's pretty much guaranteed to keep a reign on all the psychos who are driving away the helpful, thoughtful posters here on MB. |
| hawkmail | Posted – 6/24/2008 10:54:19 PM | show profile I'm not sure if that's the answer, but something needs to happen, as attacks and nonsense are getting ridiculous. Who are these people that have taken over the board? It's been downhill since the Not Privileged fiasco. Greg or MB - any help out there for your long-time site devotees? You're going to lose people. |
| dribbledrive1 | Posted – 6/25/2008 3:20:35 AM | show profile Most people wouldn't do it and this board would simply shrivel up and die. I know I wouldn't give them my credit card information. --What about requiring all users to sign in using not just an e-mail address, but a credit card as well? The card will not be charged, but will be used to verify the user's identity...-- |
| foodlit | Posted – 6/25/2008 9:05:57 AM | show profile I'd love to see something change, as now I'm the brunt of psycho attacks. I've always been open here about who I am as well, and am now regretting that since this latest psycho is attacking me professionally, making false statements about my business. It's like a slap in the face, frankly and I know I will be less apt to come here if this kind of behavior continues. |
| Mirage | Posted – 6/25/2008 11:15:52 AM | show profile That's the thing...the boards have gotten out of hand because there's no real way to keep the @ssholes in check. Anyone can create multiple free e-mail addresses and register again and again -- and the main reason for doing so, it seems, is to harass others. I wouldn't mind providing my credit card for verification...AG members do it all the time. |
| Nikongirl | Posted – 6/25/2008 11:36:34 AM | show profile Just this morning I was thinking to myself how nice it has been around here since the peeps that caused all the trouble were banned and it seemed like everyone is behaving. I usually just hang out in the OT section and occasionally the Current Events. I am wayy out of the loop about any recent trouble. Can you fill me in? Which topic section are you guys talking about? |
| hawkmail | Posted – 6/25/2008 12:27:06 PM | show profile The thing you're not supposed to say Hi, Nikon.... Unfortunately, this thread is a prime example of how out of control things have gotten. The attack on poor Pam is disgusting. I ask again, who the hell are these people??? If MB wants this site to remain viable and not lose it's long-time followers, who have many years of experience and real advice to offer, something needs to happen. |
| snappiness | Posted – 6/25/2008 12:33:23 PM | show profile What about if we're all forced to use our real names? That would certainly put a bit of a kabosh on some discussions. I, for one, wouldn't be at all candid about the jobs I'm doing, pay, contract details or anything else like that. But, yeah, there has to be some kind of accountability here. When I first showed up I was completely appalled at the tenor of the discussions here. Fortunately some of the old hands encouraged me to try to look past that and keep coming back. I did, but honestly sometimes I wonder if it's worth it. |
| Nikongirl | Posted – 6/25/2008 1:18:10 PM | show profile Thanks Hawk, I have seen the title of the thread and noticed it was long but have had little time to read it. I will have a quick peak. Shame this type of nonsense has filtered up to the beginner issues topic. |
| mkelly | Posted – 6/25/2008 1:44:21 PM | show profile C'mon, folks, let's get with the program. Laurel Touby has 23 million reasons no longer to care about the quality of this board, and Jupiter Media would probably be delighted to shut down this drain on their bandwidth, and focus on revenue-generating parts like the job listings and the classes. Let's dispense with the wishful thinking about cleaning up or improving the discussion boards, because that's just not going to happen. No way will I give credit card information to this board. (To what end, exactly, anyway? Will someone at MB put a fraud alert on my credit card next time I make a potshot at Columbia?) If you don't like it here, there are plenty of other boards you can use. And no, I'm not telling you to buzz off if you can't stand the heat-- I'm just reporting the facts. It is what it is. |
| dribbledrive1 | Posted – 6/25/2008 2:20:57 PM | show profile That would be counterproductive, methinks. Part of the benefit of people being anonymous is that they can be candid. If I had to use my real name, I wouldn't bother to post here because I wouldn't want dashed-off thoughts associated with my professional name. You'll be hard pressed to find many Internet forums that require people to give their real names, because the consequence is so many people would refuse to do so that the forum would die. MD would much rather have a few rabble rousers here than a forum of six or seven buddies, using their real names, and chatting among themselves. The bottom line is an Internet bulletin board is never going to be a tidy place. That's life. Rather than go through all the rigamarole of trying to censure or vet or unmask people, it's best to simply ignore the ones who bother you. --What about if we're all forced to use our real names? That would certainly put a bit of a kabosh on some discussions. I, for one, wouldn't be at all candid about the jobs I'm doing, pay, contract details or anything else like that. But, yeah, there has to be some kind of accountability here.-- |
| Scottie | Posted – 6/25/2008 2:30:35 PM | show profile MB stilll needs its forums as they're UGC and give it web 2.0 cred. They also help feed traffic to the job boards. What I don't get though, is why MB doesn't just ban the troublemakers' IP addresses. Sure, they could sign in somewhere else but that gets to be a pain and eventually they'd just go away. In the mean time, though, I agree with those who suggest ignoring the belligerents. |
| Rocky Mountain Writer | Posted – 6/25/2008 4:16:00 PM | show profile I think giving a CC or giving a real name is a BADDDDD idea. I like anonymity when I'm having a hard day at work and need to vent. I'd definitely seek out another site. But having the ability to block someone (hide a post, sort of like they do at fool.com or amazon.com) would be wonderful. That way you never have to read what that angry poster wrote. I hate to say it, but most of the attacks are coming from the newbies when you don't tell them what they WANT to hear. Sometimes I wonder if giving advice is worth the trouble you get from it. However, there are a few posters who have been here for a while and get under my skin. CE is a prime example of some misguided passion. There's one poster there who everyone loves, but he/she always has to one-up my idea or shut me down, which is typically followed with 10 "atta boy" posts stroking this person's ego. Who needs that. |
| snappiness | Posted – 6/25/2008 4:25:30 PM | show profile Yeah, I pretty much avoid giving the newbies advice anymore. Sometimes they suck me in, but I'm developing an attitude of, "if they can't figure it out then great, that's more work for me." |
| Agirlwalksintoabookstore... | Posted – 6/25/2008 6:39:57 PM | show profile Yikes, Pam. I had no idea all that was going on. I'd hate to see you leave because of some psycho things people say. Like other people, I'm not sure that giving out CC information is the best way to go. And as someone else pointed out, anonymity allows people to say things that they might not otherwise. Of course, that paves the way for those crazy trolls. Things are compounded by the fact that you can't go back and edit or delete your posts. So here's something for MB to think about, if they ever decide to do something about the message boards: create a "edit/delete post" option. Or have a helpful/not helpful" function like Amazon.com, where if a comment is overwhelmingly "not helpful," the post is hidden. There's something to think about. I think that, if someone bothers you, or something they say to someone else bothers you, the best thing is just to ignore it. Eventually, they'll go away of their own volition. That said, there are a number of newbies who really make me mad, for asking the same questions over and over again. And whine about not being employed. And then wonder why no one will ever hire them. It got to the point where I snapped at one of them to stop being so bitter. |
| rochelle, rochelle | Posted – 6/25/2008 7:05:46 PM | show profile Hey guys, did you know that when you change your screen name, your NEW screen name appears on all your previous posts? For instance, I was sick of being "flummoxed" and wanted to see what it would be like on that erotic journey from Milan to Minsk. Now all flummoxed posts are on that journey. I might be wrong, but unless people are re-registering again and again under completely different identities, it's not that easy to hide behind multiple screen names--though I haven't spent a whole lot of time researching the subject. Besides, what would a credit card number do? Every time you posted something deemed nasty, MB would fine you $5? Seems to me, the best way to handle these creeps is to ignore them and notify MB of their presence. Responding just seems to egg them on to greater depths of idiocy. Well, back to my erotic journey! |
| Mirage | Posted – 6/25/2008 8:59:01 PM | show profile I don't think I was clear. I meant using a credit card during registration to confirm identity -- that's it. No charge, no real name necessary on the board. The CC suggestion was just to dissuade the freaks who use multiple e-mail addresses to create different aliases here on the board to mess with people...because, presumably, even if you tried to log on with a different e-mail address, your CC info would still be the same. But I agree that all this is probably moot. Trolls will be trolls, and the lack of an ignore/squelch feature will eventually drive many of us long-timers from the board. It was just infuriating to see one of the only people here who has the guts to be open about who she is personally attacked on this board. There is just no reason for that. This is supposed to be a professional site. |
| Mirage | Posted – 6/25/2008 9:00:01 PM | show profile P.S. Rochelle, Rochelle -- great name. You should talk to Sue Ellen Mishke in OT. |
| Rocky Mountain Writer | Posted – 6/26/2008 1:06:17 PM | show profile I'd like to see a Grammar Check section, too, where we could post q's about grammar. I'm sure we've all had that problem at one time or another. But I do think the blocking feature would work well if MB could find a way to implement it. I have several people blocked on the message boards at fool.com and I love it. I never have to see their post, although I do see that they posted something and can unblock to read if I choose. |
| WordyBird | Posted – 6/27/2008 1:57:45 PM | show profile "Yeah, I pretty much avoid giving the newbies advice anymore. Sometimes they suck me in, but I'm developing an attitude of, "if they can't figure it out then great, that's more work for me." Same here, Snappiness. Call me a curmudgeon (and apparently on these boards, I've been called worse!), but some of the things the newbies ask indicate that they'll never make it as a journalist, anyway: Half of those questions have been asked and answered several times over in recent months, and if they are too lazy to click through old messages before asking, then chances are they are going to be lazy about background, too. And heaven forbid you don't "there, there, poor child, you're wonderful, someone loves you" them, then you're just a big, blue meanie. I can live with that, though. |
| abqwriter | Posted – 7/9/2008 11:06:21 AM | show profile I am a forum moderator on another website and can say that most of the snarkiness and attacks come from a handful of posters - and a few of those are all the same person using different screen names. They don't realize that the computer id comes up allowing moderators to see who is using multiple id's. When someone won't clean up their act, they're usually banned by computer id, making it more difficult for them to continue their bad behavior. Until this morning, I was using my real name. I finally figured out where to change it, so now I'm anonymous, too. Ha. I promise - no snarkiness, though. Sad to see it's been a problem here. |
| beachbum | Posted – 7/9/2008 11:15:06 AM | show profile that's ridiculous. i would never give out my cc info on this board unless i was buying something. this is a blog after all, and anything goes. as long as there are no profanities, i don't see why it's such a big deal. oh boo hoo, someone had his/her feelings hurt. toughen up! |
| mb_greg | Posted – 7/9/2008 6:11:29 PM | show profile | email poster Sorry to be jumping in late on this. Yeah, I don't see us asking for credit-card information for activities that don't require payment. In fact, I would worry that doing so might actually hurt our credibility for the times when we are asking for payment. As for forcing people to reveal their names, as this thread has shown there are fairly strong feelings on both sides of the issue. For the time being, I don't see us changing the status quo. Anyway, we appreciate all the suggestions. Thanks. ------ Greg Membership Director mediabistro.com |
| seamus.mediabistro | Posted – 7/14/2008 11:15:38 PM | show profile | email poster Forums Experience & User Reputation We do need user reputation to be part of the forum experience. That does not necessarily have to be the revealing of names, but something similar to current commenting systems where good comments are rewarded, bad ones voted down. In my opinion we need to do our best to remove the element of anonymity. The major issue is that are forums are not part of a software product. They were built from scratch a long time ago. We have made some back end improvements that enable MB to disable and ban users, but I am of the opinion that more power needs to be given to you. The hurdles are lack of resources. I would much prefer to use some great conversation tools currently available like FriendFeed, but I understand that that comes with a feeling of detachment from our site. One option that has become available is using the API of a service like FriendFeed and integrating it into our site, essentially replacing the current system. This will take time and effort, but no more than it would take making more upgrades or buying "forum software." It's not hard to figure out our forums need to be drastically overhauled. We are planning to grow our FreindFeed and Twitter presence, and hopefully integrate it into the website experience. For now, we will do our best to moderate the forums as best we can given the time we have to do it. Please continue to give us feedback and suggestions. Seamus -Community Manager |
