I just told the truth.
John,
We have implemented many checks to make it hard for banned users to re-register under an alias, all of which have failed. People who want to get back on can register using an anonymous proxy, using a new, fake, e-mail account, and a name that no one would question. They may even take the time to submit a few useful posts to throw people off. We have a number of checks already in place (most of which haven’t been mentioned so that those banned users can’t avoid them as easily), but in the end it’s proved that the only effective way to clean up is to moderate on a post-by-post basis. I wish there were another way, but there simply isn’t.
No time was given. When a member takes unilateral effort to let us know that he/she wants to quit, we usually process the request within hours.
I’d like to hear what you guys think can be done about “fake accounts”. I’ve exchanged emails with Chris about methods that he has tried and I’ve used on my MB. You can’t simply block IPs as they are easily changed. As many others have mentioned, when you complain about a problem, you should have at least one educated suggestion about how to fix it.
Chris beat me to it.
I can appreciate that, it just sounded like you were speaking of someone else who started this conversation. For the record, I am on your side on this issue.Thanks
I wasn’t talking about the member who decided not to renew, I was talking about the one who offended the staff.
Staff taking “offense” to it wasn’t the reason.
Kevn writes:
Thank you. I’ve been saying this over and over.
Kevin, I particularly like your statement that:
Thank you.
Nick / Chris,
I hope that you and Chris have taken EVERY precaution to protect NACHI’s members from these outside attacks!
Last year the New Hampshire State chapter of NACHI had the highest membership per capita than all other chapters!
I am proud to say that we beat states that were two to three times larger than we were and that had 4,5, 6 and even 12 million more people than we had.
- In spite of all of this only 2-3 NH members posted on the message board!
- Why? Because our members told me that they were disgusted with the way that non members and especially expelled members could come into OUR house and trash us out!
- They did not want to be sucked into a fight where their names could be Googled and all of the TRASH on the message board would be FOREVER linked to their names!
Hopefully after today they will no longer have to worry about these attacks!
Hopefully after today…. They will come back!
Once I see that the New Hampshire members are TRULY protected from outside attacks as the President of the New Hampshire State Chapter I will send them ALL a NH Newsletter and tell them that it is “Safe” to come back!
Regards, Frank Carrio CMI.
President, New Hampshire State Chapter.
Who are the moderators?
I could be wrong, but I think it’s safe to say that most of the membership agrees that the bashing/attacking type posts should be squashed. The difficult part is having to moderate helpful non-members as they will probably not be as helpful if they have to wait in “queue” to be heard. I suggest a “helpful non-member” status that would not be moderated. They would need to meet a certain criteria to acquire this status and it could be stripped if they “turn” and become a “basher”.
And just for the record (again!)… after realizing that it created a problem I put an end to all behind the scenes vendor negotitations by releasing a flat-rate, publicly-viewable affliate program www.nachi.org/target.htm. Situation resolved.
We earlier rejected the vendor’s offer of 25% on new business we’d have to pay to generate for the vendor, and it appears that the vendor has rejected our offer to participate in our affiliate program. No problem. Not all deals are meant to do. Such is business.
It seems to me that a replacement for a “helpful non-member” status would be “member.” We provide a TON a free information and free access to non-members. If they want full access to the message board, I think $289 isn’t too much to ask (since they’ve already got more than $289’s worth from the free stuff on our site).
That said, if it becomes clear that we need to tweak the system, we will.
Not for experts who help us out who are not inspectors.
They’re giving much, much more to NACHI than they’re taking.
Dominic, Marc Shunk and Speedy Peety come to mind off the top of my head.
If members didn’t see the message board as their opportunity to share their religious beliefs in a negative manner which has caused anger, strife and derision, moderation would not be needed.
I agree there, Richard. Definitely non-members who are not inspectors would fall into a different category. We’ll have to look at that in a case-by-case basis, but we certainly will make sure they can continue to contribute.
Why would a non-member want to pay $289 to help out members?
Thanks Kenneth, great points