[jeffgrant]

In other boards that I moderate, we don't tolerate it. We have a very harsh moderation policy whereby the moderators remove posts that aren't on topic, and if the posters don't get it, they get a time out.

We also eliminate all discussions of religion and politics. Period, end of subject. It can be interesting when discussing things like Bin Laden's elimination, but we tell them up front that we'll be overreacting and responding disproportionately to anyone who tries to fling any political poo at someone. Talk about the situation, but don't bring up the classic "bush sucked" "obama sucks" crap. It doesn't add anything of value, so we don't want to hear it. If you do, you get a day/week/whatever time out.

Sure, it's a bit of work initially, but you'd be surprised at how quickly the posters toe the line after they get a few time outs.

Show a zero-tolerance moderation policy, and be ruthless about it, and it works wonders. We place a premium on being funny and smart, and providing interesting information. We disdain "me too" or "+1" posts. If you have nothing of value to add, then don't add it.

We also have a reputation system whereby members can give people red or green dots for a post, along with a short little message. When people post stupid or crap, they get red-dotted, and learn to not do it again. We have a very few who don't really care, and constantly live in a negative rep status, but they seem to thrive on that, and are actually part of the character of the board.

It's funny, too, because the other board I'm talking about has a huge number of professional people and posters, including some fairly well known authors, etc. and we all take the piss out of each other. We're crude, we're incredibly politically incorrect, but at the same time it's with respect and no vitriol. If someone steps out of line, everyone comes down on them, and the community as a whole shows that they won't tolerate their crap.

It's a rather different headspace for a forum, which is why our initial instructions are to lurk around a bit and get a feel for it before you come in and thrash.

We also force people to type in proper grammatical English; no short forms, no emoticons, etc. We're crude, rude, but we're educated and literate.


I guess you could say we have active moderation, not passive, if that makes sense.