I recently deleted a member's comments from the message forum because they were politically inflammatory (i.e., gun control, alien immigration, abortion, etc.). The irate member called and aske to be removed from the class list, which I was more than glad to do.

He threatened to sue, saying I was infringing his freedom of speech. I have held off making any replies and must note that said member has a history of PTSD (which doesn't excuse his behavior in my book) which he so likes to remind everyone on the website about.

I am seeking general advice on how to state policy regarding comments allowed on the website and how to deal with those who violate those policies.

Hi Jake,

I had an old class message forum where I posted these guidelines on. We had problems with anonymous posters. I wanted it to be clear that I had zero tolerance for such nonsense. Fortunately, with this new format, everyone is accountable for their posts because they need to be logged in. I have not had any problems since or now.

The (insert your HS here) Message Board is intended for reconnecting with old friends, and making new ones as well. The reunion committees of (your graduating years) welcome and encourage the sharing of memories and stories from all (HS) Alumni, as well as the latest updates in your lives. Please use discretion when posting messages. Personal attacks, political and religious messages, as well as abusive and anonymous posts will be removed. Abuse this privilege and you will be denied future access to this site. Period.

Well said, Dawn. I think that your disclaimer covers it...then no one can say that they weren't warned.

Thanks Dawn.

I'm all for free speech rights, but technically nobody has the right of free speech on your own private web site that you built and pay for. You run a moderated forum just like this forum here that I'm moderating. You have the right to remove inappropriate posts that may jeopardize your site. If he ever did sue, a judge would laugh it right out of court.

I, too, have a jerk of a classmate who seems to enjoy this tyoe of activity. He still hasn't grown up enough over the past 30 years to put the past in the past. He doesn't attend reunions and has nothing good to say about the class, the school or the town. He posted something on the "In Memory" page of a classmate who had just passed away. I, along with many others, thought it inappropriate and in poor taste. I told him that people were offended by his hurtful comments and offered him the opportunity to edit himself. He removed the first posting but the second was even worse. I printed it out for my own records before deleting it.
He seems to want to provoke people into a debate about this and that. I have advised others not to respond to him as that is just what he wants. I am hoping he will get bored and go away quietly. He even offered to have me removed his profile but I will not do that. He does have a right to his opinion but so do the others in the class. I have to consider everyone's feelings, not just his.
I do have a plan should he continue his miguided missives. Surely, I won't elaborate on the plan.
Sorry to see that all it takes is one bad apple to make so many have sour faces. The site will go on, with or without him. Tam

In my opening/welcome statement to classmates, I included the following: "Welcome to the Brookfield Central High School Class Of 1963 forums. Please press "Post Response" to start or participate in the discussion. All of this should relate to high school things. No politics and such, please." So far, no problems and we've been up and running for over 3 months.

I also have a Veteran's page and opened it with the following: "No matter what your politics or feelings on anything military, many of our classmates served us and their country in a time which did not bring them the honor they deserved. This page honors those classmates." I decided to short-circuit problems before they started, and it seemed to work.

Good luck,
Diana

I don't have a rude member, but I think I have a phony one. I just noticed when I sent an email to the entire class about the photos finally being online. It seems this guy put in a fake email address with no other contact info. I don't know if it is the real guy or not, but since his email is bouncing I want to delete him.

Brad - if I hit delete from the manage classmates list, will it just delete his profile info and registration or will it also delete his senior photo that I uploaded to everyone's profile in that manual uploadfest several months ago.

It will also delete his senior photo. Just right click his photo, save it to your hard drive, delete Profile, readd name, reupload photo. Yea I know it's kind of a pain, but that's the best way to do it.

Often people view "online" as different than "real life". Would this person's rants be tolerated in your home? Would this person's comments be tolerated at the reunion? I'm guessing they would not be welcome and that the person would be asked to refrain or leave. I don't see the site as being any different - the classmate doesn't get to act poorly just because it's online.

I haven't had any problems on my ClassCreator site but I did choose to delete some comments on our first class site which was a MySpace site. I made the decision that classmates should feel safe viewing the site with their kids - and that meant vetoing some of the usual racy picture comments that are often posted on MySpace. I must have a good bunch of folks because no one said a peep about the comments that vanished - I think they got the idea.

Hope your situation is resolved soon,

Kim Feiler

Kim Feiler wrote:

Holy cow that's the truth! Brad and I probably know this better than most, as we've been involved in large online communities since the mid 80s. The system we used, unlike the large online systems like compuserve, was community based in Ann Arbor, so a lot of us met in "real life", and the differences - at least in some cases - were distinctly noticeable.

Some people would be complete, arrogant, $@#$@#'s online, and you'd meet them at happy hour and they'd be quiet and reserved.

At any rate, I suggest, in your general forum, you create a "Rules & Regulations" topic, lock it (so nobody can respond to it), and make it "sticky" so it always appears at the top of the forum's list of topics.

If you delete someone's topics or responses, send them a private message telling them why, and asking them to abide by the rules.

If they continue to be abusive, edit their user account and set their access to "moderate all posts", which will cause the system to send *ALL* of their topics and responses to you before they appear on the site. The user can still access the forums, but they effectively can't say anything that you don't approve of.

Brad Switzer wrote:

OK, thanks.

How do I lock out and send all those rude responses only to me for preview?

Please help, I am drowning in verbal abuse.

Thank you!

I can't find "moderate all posts" and don't see anything (yet) listed as a user account. Could you please clarify this because I need this function?

Jake (Kelly) Tidmore wrote:

This isn't available yet - only the BETA forum. In order to moderate, you need to be a Beta Tester of the new forums. These new forums should be released to everyone else about the middle of February.

my bad, I thought we were talking about the beta forums! =)

In the meantime, can I use the "Verify" function to handle this type of problem?

Sure.

Brad,

I see that the option to "moderate all posts" is only in beta right now, but what about the option to post a comment and make it "sticky" so that it shows up at the top of the forum forever? If that is available to do right now, can you explain how to do it?

Thanks!

Vicki

At the bottom of any thread, you should have a title "Thread Moderation." Under that title you should see "Make this thread sticky."

I don't see either of those options; could it be because my disclaimer is the only post at this time?

Ah, I thought you had the Beta Forums. My answer above only applies to the beta forums, which should be launching sometime late in February.