Where am I going wrong with this site?

Rich, you definitely have a lot on your hands. The BOI has done a wonderful job informing people about future business dealings they may have, it has exposed scammers as well as great people to do business with. Being able to participate in the BOI, though not a participant in a certain transaction, makes a big difference. Without the third party questions many would have been able to get away with ripping someone off. On that same note, without the third party questions, some would have gotten away with false accusations. These question also help others to learn about proper customer service and better business. I have been questioned pretty tough myself, but I have learned from the insight of others.

Sure there are those who have come here to annoy and disrupt others, all the warning points and suspensions are not going to work. An idea is that you ban them for a certain amount of time, they cannot participate and view the threads they like.

The hell forum is interesting, that is one that should be kept around, removing it will result in the garbage spewing over into the other forums.

I am just learning about the other forums you have here, the Laughs Forum, this one, cryptzoology, paranormal, and etc. These are enjoyable and give the opportunity to share the stories and laughs that do not involve only business transactions.

You have a wonderful website and this is not an easy thing to control, the ideas and opinions here give you and us a lot to think about. I hope I was of some insight, if not than I can move on and get myself a Dr. Pepper to drink.

I hope this is not off topic as it pertains to this site. Is there a new change to the Rep system you have set up? I was off for a bit and when I came back I saw a change in my rep points.

Rich answered this in the other thread:

Originally Posted by WebSlave

I made some changes in the reputation system concerning how the reputation power is calculated. The numbers were getting way too bloated to be meaningful, plus the way I previously had things set, a snowball effect was taking place that was getting out of hand. so I simply scaled things back. The change should have been proportional. In other words if three people had reputation powers of 100, 200, and 300, the weighting will be more like 10, 20, and 30.

Same for the total reputation points. The totals will be less, but the relative rating will be the same. The way things were headed, it was going to require 100 or better of those green squares for some members, and that was more then was realistic for the display area for each post.

I also made a change to try to reduce abuse that I have noted recently. Some people are acting as stalkers towards other members and bombarding them with negative points at every opportunity, even if the post itself is basically harmless. There may be warning points and suspension in store for those people, btw. So what I did was to limit anyone from giving more then two members ANY reputation points in a single day, and you must give points to 20 members before you are able to give ANY additional points to the same person. Hopefully this will help to limit the "tit for tat" reputation point trading that I have noted in some instances. Since you can only dole out two helpings of reputation points per day, I think people will be much more circumspect in how they allocate it's usage.

Sorry, but sometimes I just have to take stock of the way things are going and try to make accommodations for what is reasonable and prudent for this site.

I think it was a good move. I was actually going to suggest it, but I didn't want anyone to take offense.

As far as where this site is headed, I see people commenting on how certain abuses are made. Ironically, it seems some of these complaints are coming from members who knowingly instigate such abuses and then sit back waiting for their target to respond, and then complain to Rich about it. I think we need to police ourselves a little more, and avoid leading others to the temptation to stray from the rules.

I am feeling kind of awkward posting here...Hopefully there will be noone Offended by me speaking my mind
But i feel that i must point out this

Maybe there should be warning points for Insulting others on this site
I mean what Good do the insults do?
Are they needed to catch bad guys?
I Think Insults are what led to my Misguided Trolling Behaivior
Everytime i got an insult whether it be from Reputation or Posts with my name in them...And even some other creative places, I felt the need to respond to them in like

I see how those insults have started Pissing Matches with me and OTHERS... And i cant think of a single reason to do it


I believe that this site would be Alot more pleasent without the insults

excuses excuses excuses........

I can think of several things that would make this site more pleasant. Most of them involve removing trolls at the outset of their investiture here instead of waiting weeks or months to decide that they are indeed the WORTHLESS creatures some of us labeled them at the outset of their "coming out" of the closet, so to speak, of those who read only but don't participate.

There are other improvements that could be made but addressing this issue, the length of time one is allowed to feed before something is done, should be pretty close to the top of the list.

Originally Posted by WebSlave

If anyone engages in any personal pissing duels or feuds in this thread or ANY thread within this particular forum, I will be pleased to escort you out of the door. So please bear that in mind. That doesn't mean you can't name names, but be extremely cautious in how you do so.

A little reminder.

I speak of no one in particular here, though I can see how one might incorrectly guess, not ASSume, that I was given the recent abuse heaped upon this site but I am NOT addressing that particular individual in particular at this time.

I speak of all trolls, past, present and future. When it becomes obvious what they are something should be done at THAT time, not thousands and thousands of posts later.

A little clarification on my post. It was NOT directed at any one particular individual. It was meant as a general reminder to everyone.

Originally Posted by Wilomn

I speak of all trolls, past, present and future. When it becomes obvious what they are something should be done at THAT time, not thousands and thousands of posts later.

I could not agree more.

And leopards do not often change their spots. Certain people need to be banned outright. I refer to no one in particular (though I could name some names if asked to do so). The "Oh, my bad, I'm sorry, I'll never do it again" line is all well and good but they should take it elsewhere and behave better there.

Again, not to name any names or to speak of anyone in particular, but when someone is suspended for trolling and returns after paying a fine, why warn them again for trolling (especially when it starts again immediately)? If they do it again then they should be sent away again, the FIRST time.