Forum behavior

[MikeBCda]

Hi,

We're uncomfortably aware of a quite recent flaming episode, and they've happened in the past too.

Most of us agree on what's proper, although it seems to be essentially a combination of common sense plus courtesy and "gentlemen's agreement", with occasional reminders -- or stronger action -- if necessary from Pavel and/or the mods.

Do we have posted anywhere here an official set of Terms of Service, that we can refer folks to when problems arise?  They're pretty standard (at least in that they're posted prominently somewhere) just about everywhere else I go, but I'll be damned if I can find them anywhere here.

Best to all,
Mike

[.: Mac :.]

I dont rember one being posted but I would Imagine it would be simialr to the V1ru5Help.org's rules which can be found below

http://www.v1ru5help.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=46

[techie101]

Mike,

Here is a start....I will patch in the other shortly.

http://forum.avast.com/index.php?board=9;action=display;threadid=5626

[MikeBCda]

Hi techie,

Thanks - I'd already seen that one back when you first posted it (unless, of course, the link's wrong).

Part of the problem here is that our board setup is rather unusual.  As you probably know, on most boards there's a forum right up at the top of the "home" or main list for admin announcements and similar items, and typically Terms of Service (or a link to a separate page with them) is one of the very first sticky-and-locked topics there.

'Twould be nice, of course, if we could get by with nothing more than common courtesy and respect -- but alas, we're in the real world, and sometimes it does unfortunately become necessary to point out -- and if necessary enforce -- the rules.

Best,
Mike

[techie101]

Mike,

It took me awhile to find this one from Pavel which says it all.
I think these are fair guidelines.

See the second reply in the thread....

http://forum.avast.com/index.php?board=9;action=display;threadid=4653;start=msg33994#msg33994

[Lisandro]

Mike, I think your idea is wellcoming  
Let's wait for Pavel to know something more...  

[MikeBCda]

It took me awhile to find this one from Pavel which says it all.
I think these are fair guidelines.

Pavel's post was certainly a good solid starting point for what I had in mind.  But it's in a rather out-of-the-way location for someone who's quickly scanning the main list, and in particular is unlikely to be spotted simply because it's in a more or less unrelated topic that he specifically had to step into to clean up.

When we added "Off-topic" it wound up at the bottom of the main list, which is fair enough.  But surely YaBB must permit adding new forums at the top as well, and that's the obvious place for a "Notices and Announcements" sort of thing.  And if that's set up as sticky-and-locked, it wouldn't even need moderated.

So hopefully Pavel and/or whoever will see this (I'm too modest to bother IM-ing him or, say, Vlk) and think about it.

Best,
Mike

[techie101]

Mike,

I can as a Moderator put the thread at the top of the Off Topic, but it won't appear in every forum.

Maybe there should be a "button" that will display the guidelines of maybe they can be put into a footer.

Pavel would have to do anything more than that.  If you think it would help, then I can put Pavel's thread at the top of the Off Topic and lock it.

 

[bob3160]

Hi Techie 101,

If you think it would help, then I can put Pavel's thread at the top of the Off Topic and lock it.

Unfortunately the offender probably doesn't care what you post as long as he/she gets their 2cents worth in. In most cases all they want to do is disrupt the forum anyway.

[MikeBCda]

Unfortunately the offender probably doesn't care what you post as long as he/she gets their 2cents worth in. In most cases all they want to do is disrupt the forum anyway.

True enough, Bob.  But if we have clearly posted rules (most places like this they're called Terms of Service) then Pavel plus anyone he designates can if necessary cut them short or even ban them for flagrant violation of the TOS.

While I don't always agree with the policies over at Wilders (Paul W. likes to run a very tight ship), they do clearly warn that not only will flagrant violators have their membership-registrations cancelled, but all postings the person ever made will be deleted.

[techie101]

Bob,

Yes, I agree with you.  THOSE users will do what they want no matter what until they get kicked off.


Mike,

Pavel has that authority now to ban users, but the policy seems a bit too liberal and therefore users do as they wish.
I have no control over that other than what I can do on the Off Topic (which already caused me to get my wrist slapped once or twice... )

Maybe you should PM Pavel and make your ideas known to him.  He may decide to come up with some guidelines that are more clearly spelled out.

[MikeBCda]

Mike,
Maybe you should PM Pavel and make your ideas known to him.  He may decide to come up with some guidelines that are more clearly spelled out.

Just done, thanks Techie -- essentially I just asked him to take a look at this thread now that we've kicked the idea around a little.

[S.Z.Craftec]

OK, here is what I think... Sometimes it really make me sick when I see the language that people are alowed to use in these forums. They come in here for the first time, everyone in these forums wish them warm welcome, like we always do, and as soon as they start to post - bam... Flaming, cursing and nothing good. I've seen messages like this one few times:

"Hello, I just installed avast! and in the beginning it was great. Now I'm experiencing so much problems, my hard disk is so slow, my icons changed colors without any reason, my PC won't shut down as fast as it does before... I'm disapointed and I've never seen such messy product, so I just switched to Norton... I hate avast!"

Common, that doesn't sound like constructive comment at all. If someone says different, it's a fib...

He didn't even ask for help, he just posted in forums to let us know that this antivirus sucks, and all he expected from us was to reply to his post, so that way he would be able to start with flame...

Sometimes it's really sad, and I mean REALLY, REALLY sad, how those that are responsible for keeping peace in these forums, like to take neutral position... Common, we are not Swiss... they don't wanna loose potential customers or something else maybe that I can not understand... but, that's OK... keep those with bad language, those who are not able to make friendships and to be of any good to anyone in these forums, but only to start flaming and abuse everyone who doesn't think like they do, and let those who love these people, this software and atmosphere around here, leave these forums like they never existed... no matter they helped alot in any field, no one wants to see that. And don't tell me those people brings us constructive comments by talking bad things about avast! Open your eyes people... just take a look at other forums. People are getting banned out of forums for much less. No one is saying we have to abuse our privileges like someone said it once, and keep his friend's side even if he is not right that particular time, but some boundaries must be set. Few, just few people helped me few times, even my intetions were good and nothing else but good, I was defending avast! and I was defending common sense.

People don't like to feel alone and abandoned, especially from closest friends...

My 2 cents...  

[Gene Johnson]

Sometimes the frustration level gets quite high after an install doesn't seem to work. I installed some security progs on a friends computer the other day. Spent a couple of hours at it. She calls me up a day later and says she sent it all to the recycle bin because she couldn't get her emails. She was blaming me! I told her she was on her own from now on. We have since resumed talking but it left a bitter taste. WE ALL MUST BE TOLERANT OF THE NEW PEOPLE, DESPITE THEIR FLAMING. Not always an easy thing to do.  

[Vlk]

Hi,

let me just add something to this topic: all of you forum veterans are really very nice people loyal to avast. However, from time to time I have the feeling that your fidelity is somewhat exagerated or annoying to the newbies. avast is not perfect and when someone posts a new topic that this or that does not work as it should, there's a big chance that he/she is actually right. At least on his/her HW/SW configuration.

Therefore, I'd like to ask everybody for refraining from answers that suggest the user is basically doing it wrong (unless it is obviously the case). Please note that the forum rank does not reflect the actual expertise of the user -- even if he/she is an absolute newbie on the forum, his/her knowledge of the matter can actually be vast...

In the purely technical threads, it may be also worth asking yourself: do I really know the answer? Or is the stuff I'm going to post really relevant? If not, it's usually better idea to not respond -- otherwise the threads grow indefinitely and are very hard to navigate for the original posters.

Thanks
Vlk