BLOG PIECE: Nexus moderation system overhaul, etiquette and ethos

[selenameeka]

Yay! While I'm all for letting sites/users/people manage themselves, there are always those ones who will abuse the privilege and then blame everyone else when they get in trouble. I personally love how tough you are on trolls and the like - it's why I now avoid other sites with forums unless they're mostly private. I'm too busy to deal with stupid crap and too busy to put things in front of my life. I don't want to waste time on needless dribble from people spamming when I can come to a place like Nexus and get what I want right away. Yes, sometimes the comments and topics get off hand, but that's easier to sort through than trolling and spamming.

 

As for logging IPs/not logging IPs: it's easy to see if an IP is being used for a dummy account or an account that is otherwise legitimate. When I lived at home my brother and I shared an IP address because we shared a computer and frequented the same sites. Only once was this ever called into question and a simple explanation satisfied the staff. We both logged hours on these sites and while had similar interests, it was easy to see from our conversations and who we associated with that we were different people. If someone is scared that their friend's account/sibling's/whatever will be banned because the IP address is the same and they like the same things, then maybe something wrong IS going on (telling said person to endorse the file just because - and it happens frequently). If not, then I'm sure the staff will work with it.

 

In the outside world there are laws in any country you live in/travel to, why should a site like Nexus not have laws? These rules aren't that harsh, but because some people somehow think they've got some kind of right to do stupid things and get away with it then there needs to be this kind of moderation.

[james234]

no matter how many troller/spammer/flamer have been banned they will continue to appear. they seems never understand the rules no matter how many times they told they ignore it. when the trolling/spamming/flaming habit will stop. no one knows........... also ripping content from another game and post it on images section/ add it in the file sometime happen too and most of the ripped content seems come from halo/mass effect, right? Edited November 21, 2012 by james234

[Jamez820]

The rules have always been fair and continue to be fair, you cant please everyone and you shouldn't have to, keep up the great work Moderators. :)

[bben46]

Did I read correctly? Private messages will now get people banned for having private conversations using a public site? That's interesting. How does this work? Are private messages no longer private, or does it take a person involved in a private conversation simply to get a moderater's attention about inappropriate private messages on a public site? I don't get it 100%. :)

 

No, we are not reading every one's PMs. However if a member is being harassed by PM and requests help with it, an admin can check the PMs to decide if action is appropriate.

[Dark0ne]

Did I read correctly? Private messages will now get people banned for having private conversations using a public site? That's interesting. How does this work? Are private messages no longer private, or does it take a person involved in a private conversation simply to get a moderater's attention about inappropriate private messages on a public site? I don't get it 100%.

 

If someone is getting harassed by PM and reports the PM to moderators, the moderators can then jump in and see the entire conversation. And yes, of course, we'll ban for content of private messages if it breaks our ToS.

[rekuli]

A note regarding IP based watching/banning:

 

Generally, a good thing to get rid of such cheaters. But:

 

This might not always work. There are DSL dial-ups, like mine, where one gets assigned a random available address with each login to the provider (which, in fact, is also a security measure protecting the internet user from being tracked permanently or trapped with an IP that is for some reason or other banned on some sites, without its current User being responsible). Worst case is that an IP gets banned and the user that currently has it doesn't know why and gets frustrated. I know that this is an issue not easily resolved, but the Nexus team should keep this fact in mind.

 

You see, what I want to say is, you're not guaranteed to get rid of those „abuses”, and are at the same time likely to indirectly punish other, „innocent” users.

 

Edited November 21, 2012 by rekuli

[d181sp1]

I've been a member here a long time and much of that is due to the way this place is ran. You guys do an outstanding job policing and developing the community. Many thanks to you.

 

 

[MysteriousMrBear]

You are the man, Dark0ne. I used to like the idea of self moderation, and still kind of do, but I can see how it wouldn't work now...

[Kalell]

This all sounds great. I was a moderator on GamePro.com for around five years. Compared to most gaming sites it was fairly lenient, but for most of the time I was a mod there I didn't have the tools I needed to do the job properly (it also didn't help that for several years I was the only mod on the site). Having tools like this would have made things so much easier. Towards the end of GP they did start rolling out tools that helped a lot, but I never got the chance to get familiar with them. It's really cool that you're doing so much to make things easier for your moderators.

[Grimoa]

Nice blog post! Always love to read about side updates.

And although I never had a comment I'd wish to hide / report so far I think the idea that it gets reviewed and mod authors can leave a note to the reviewer is a very good solution.

Edited November 21, 2012 by Grimoa