A ban-free environment

LOL, just picturing a little hangman under the persons name instead of how many point they have. First the head, body, arm, ect......

Hah! You know, that hangman icon is not a half bad idea at all!

I believe the majority of the people here are adults, and as adults we all know that life has rules and that breaking rules means paying the consequences. Consequences are what make us (well most of us anyway) think twice before we do something that has been deemed unacceptable.

My personal opinion is that there is no need to indulge anyone who has broken these rules, especially to a point where they have been banned. They chose their actions knowing full well what the consequences were, and their actions are not dependent on anyone else other than themselves. And with this point system, it isn't like they aren't given plenty of warning/chances to redeem themselves.

I think "un-banning" has sent the message that the consequences aren't real/serious, therefore, they can continue their unacceptable behavior because they can then turn around and say "sorry" or "it's not fair" and they will be let back in to do it again. In fact, I find unbanning very unfair to those who are very carefull about respecting the rules. If these people are going to be allowed back time and time again, why should anyone pay any attention to the rules? And if the rules don't matter, then why be here because the purpose of these forums is lost.

I understand that this is not a simple issue for you Rich. I realize that this forum has taken on a life of it's own since you started it and like any child, it can be difficult to keep up with at times. Perhaps if you enlisted the help of a couple more moderators it could help relieve some of the burden that comes with being Cult Leader.

Speaking of which, is it time for oreo cookies yet?

Wendy, I hear what you are saying about adding moderators, but I have seen far too many examples of hiring bad moderators being much worst than no moderators at all.

I think temporary bans will be the way I will go, unless I see the reason to change my thinking. Of course, if someone is a pain in the butt enough, I can just ban them every month until they get tired of it and just go away.

Heck, if I were smart about it I would make the requirement be that a request to be unbanned would need to be attached to a $100 PayPal donation...... Maybe I need to smack myself alongside the head and become a bit more mercenary in nature.

Rich, speaking of money. I think you should have a $10 yearly fee to post here, or at least the BOI. Hell, if I were you I would do it just to see who would stay and who wouldn't.

Come up with a fee for something, stop being stupid about it all. Time to get greedy

Well Adam, I have thought of this as a possibility when things got kind of slow with the banner advertising a while back. But I figured this would be just another can of worms.

What happens when someone has a bunch of negative stuff said about them on the BOI and wants to respond, only to find that they have to PAY in order to defend themselves there? They will be screaming bloody murder that it is extortion for them have to pay for that right to post a rebuttal. They will absolutely demand that I let them get on there and post for free.

So what do I do? Tell them no? Yeah, THAT will go over real well, I am certain.

As far as the numbers of people that would remain? Heck, it probably would look like a fox had jumped into the hen house!! LOL!!

Hadden't thought of that! Rich, I think you're just funked no matter what you do!

I think then you need to work on other ways of getting income. I'll think about this..

while i understand your point in having people gripe about there "right to defend themselves" to post in the BOI here is how i look at it .

If someone is doing buisness and puts them self in the postion to have to defend them selves ,chances are that they plan on selling more then just as a one time thing.I would say that it is no different then that person paying to have the right to sell there stuff on a paying classifieds ( you know where ) so i think a $10 fee to be able to come on here to defend your self would serve a good thing.If someone plans on staying around in this buisness as a good person they would have no problem in paying the $10 fee to defend / protect there name in there defense. The person that is not willing to pay the $10 to do so more then likely really doesnt care what people think of them anyway so the fact of not defending themselves doesnt matter , and probably must know what was said is true so why should they pay $10 to come in to lie about it anyway.I think if you set up something like that to let people know as of 1/1/04 that this would go into effect you would be surprised in a good way in the number of people willing to do so.
JMHO
Alan

Alan, if you check, you will see that many of us donate regularly to this site. Not only dollar amounts, but time and energy promoting the site and helping out "behind the scenes" so to speak. I think if it were to become a mandatory pay site, alot of that support may disapear.

You could look at making an "Idiot tax" or fining someone a set monitary amount for certain infractions however I am not sure that would work either.

There would be only one way to enforce it = banning until amount was paid

This might be a plus, but there would be people who would be breaking the rules simpley because they only have to pay a few $$ for it so not much detourant there.

It is any of our responcibilities to teach people how to behave in a public forum. We are adults and we should all know by now. If someone can't behave, why should the rest who can, have to deal with them?

Personally, I weed these types of people out of my personal life as well as my business life. Why would I do all that just to come "hang out" with them on a public forum? If I wanted that, I would just move to a trailer park and get cable tv so I could watch Jerry Springer.

well i guess back to square one Webslave... its your site drive it how you see fit .

Respectfully Alan