B
bOB
Guest
The situations guide can be considered a supplement to the Moderator Guidelines. Where the Moderator Guidelines outline how to do the job this guide deals more with how to handle specific situations. It is not a do as I say guide but more of a general guide of how to consider your options in dealing with a give situation.
It will be added to and updated over time.
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ACCIDENTS, DUPLICATES, AND CROSS POSTING
Accidental duplicates are identical posts posted to the same thread or identical threads started within the same forum within a short period of time. In these cases, remove the duplicate post or thread to the trash bin and make a note of it in the Bridge that it was a duplicate.
If the time frame between the posting of identical posts or threads exceeds a short period of time, say longer than 5 minutes, it should not be considered an accident and should be considered a post that is in violation of the guidelines and should be documented and handled as any other violation.
Cross Posting is when the same post or the same thread is started in two or more locations. This is a situation that can not happen by accident so should be looked at carefully to consider if it a poster trying to make sure that everybody has access to legitimate information or if it is a spammer/advertiser trying to get maximum exposure. If it is the latter it should be treaded as a guideline violation and handled accordingly, if it is a post by an established community member, consider the source in making the decision, established members should always get the benefit of doubt unless a violation is blatantly obvious, the time frame between posts is not important.
BANNED USER CONTACTS YOU
If a user that is known to be banned contacts you with a site related matter, do not respond (if you feel you must respond, refer them to John) Document their message in its entirety in the Problem User Forum and it will be handled.
BANNED USER SIGNS UP FOR NEW ACCOUNT
When a banned user signs up for a new account and it becomes plainly apparent that it is in fact a user that has been previously banned, this new account must be banned as well. Their posts must be removed to the trash bin but do not make contact with them, simply remove the posts and document the removal in the Problem User forum. If they attempt to make contact with you, do not respond but document their message in the Problem User forum and John can take appropriate action.
CREATING NEW TOPICS FROM EXISTING TOPICS
There are times when an existing topic will take a turn way off topic in a way that would be deserving of its own topic. To create a new topic from these posts, pick the proper point that deserves recognition as a new topic and split the thread off into its own topic.
INAPROPRIATE LINKS/BANNED LINKS
A link is inappropriate when the content displayed at the site is determined to be inappropriate for our userbase. The site does not have to be quite as clean as us but if a site features excessive vulgarities, nudity, illegal content, etc. the post needs to be removed, in a very rare case would you edit the post to remove just the link.
From time to time there will be links banned from being mentioned on our community. When users try to post a URL the address will usually be blocked internally and will have a portion of the link replaced by some other character. Any posts like this should be removed based on featuring an inappropriate link. Attempts to circumvent a link ban should be treated the same way and removed.
INFLAMMATORY COMMENTS
An inflammatory comment is generally an unnecessary remark made on a thread and usually doesn’t serve much purpose other than angering people or inciting a negative emotion. Often times, people will say something that the thought behind would normally be alright, but they say it in a way that is inflammatory. Examples would be:
 You don’t know what your talking about
 Your crazy
 Don’t talk about things you clearly don’t know about
 Well, if you had actually done any research
 Cruising sucks
 All travel agents are stupid
 Only an idiot would say something like that
 Micro$oft (example of inflammatory substitution)
This is just a small handful of examples as an illustration. We know they can get a lot and an insulting comment is an inflammatory comment. We don’t want people to say something sucks, we want them to say why it sucks, as well, we want people to attack the point, not the person making the point.
Short negative statements can also be inflammatory. For example, one person posts their view on a subject, and then someone else posts something like “That’s wrong†or “Uh, no†and that’s all they say. If people are going to disagree with someone and say that something is incorrect or wrong, we require that they describe why the person is incorrect with a little elaboration, not just saying that it is wrong. Otherwise it adds nothing to the thread outside of hostility.
LINKS IN INTRODUCTIONS
Links in introductions are perfectly fine (as long as they follow our user guidelines). Many people have personal website documenting their travels. However, the whole purpose of the introduction cannot be to send someone to another website. They can mention their personal ventures and links as part of their introduction but if they beg for users to go to their site/register at their site, or if the link is to a site that is obviously promoting a travel agency or travel ventures such as tours or tour guides or if it is promoting a competitive forum it should be considered advertising/promotion and should be removed.
NEW USER ASKS IF ANYONE HAS HEARD OF A SITE AND WHAT THEY THINK OF IT
If a new user, or a user with only a couple of posts creates a thread asking our users if they have heard of the website/what they think of a website (even if the don’t appear to be affiliated with it) the post should be considered advertising and removed. The only exceptions to this would be if they are asking about a site that is either one of our advertisers or a known product like Shore Trips, Captain Marvins or something similar that we know is not a spammer or runs a boiler plate affiliate program.
Once a user becomes a little more established within the community and posts something similar and they appear not to be affiliated with the site they can be given a little more benefit of the doubt.
For the very same reason, anyone who joins and immediately starts posting links to outside sites should require similar attention, maybe even a little more.
REFERENCING ADMINISTRATIVE DECISIONS
Most typically, posts are removed for referencing administrative decisions when they comment on administrative decisions/activities or potential decisions/activities. Here area some common examples:
“My thread was removedâ€ÂÂ
“Well, I had already tried to post this once but it was removedâ€ÂÂ
“They banned Ralfâ€ÂÂ
“Why did you remove my threadâ€ÂÂ
“Why was Ralf bannedâ€ÂÂ
“I was going to post a comment but I’m afraid they will remove itâ€ÂÂ
These sort of comments need to be removed. Sometimes, as with comments line, “Why was Ralf banned?†a post can be considered both referencing administrative decisions and site-related (more on that below) and should be treated as such.
REPORT, DON’T RESPOND
When someone directly responds to a serious or obvious violation of our user guidelines, we send them a report, a don’t respond private message and document it in the bridge. We do this to encourage them to help us by reporting these posts instead of responding to them while still making it clear to them that this type of stuff is not permitted here.
Here are some of cases when we would send a PM:
Disrespectful comments directed at them (i.e., “You are an idiotâ€ÂÂ)
Racist comments
Illegal activities
Advertisements that are obviously junk, actually all advertisements
Excessive use of vulgar language
And here are some cases where we wouldn’t
Simple site related question ( How do I change my avatar)
Postings of personal real life information (phone numbers, addresses)
Postings in a language other than English ( we do have foreign member that do sometimes post words or comments in their native language, this is acceptable)
Advertisements that are sneaky where it is not really clear that it is an advertisement
Duplicate posts or cross-posting
However, if the person mentions in their post that something is a violation of our user guidelines, they are always sent a report, a don’t respond private message, no matter how serious the violation, or even if there is no violation, because we do not want regular members attempting to enforce our guidelines, this just creates an alternative problem.
REPORTED POSTS
When users report posts, you should always consider the report with a discerning eye. If the report was made through private message, you should thank them for reporting it and assure them that we will handle it appropriately. Appropriately does not always mean that you will do anything. If action needs to be taken, take it. But, if it doesn’t, don’t. Don’t ever do something just because it was reported, do something because it is a problem.
SIMILAR THREADS
There will be times when users will start threads to cover a subject that is similar or exact to the same subject covered in another recent thread. In these cases, you should close the new thread and leave a final reply politely directing users to the other thread that previously existed and create a link to the thread. But do this only if the threads are identical or very near identical. For example, why is sky blue, and what makes sky blue are identical, whereas who likes apples and how much fiber is there in apples are not. If there is an exact or near exact thread but it is not recently active say more than 4 months since the last reply, allow this thread to proceed, it will very likely produce new more current information and in this case a new thread is like a new face, give it a chance.
SITE-RELATED
Site related means anything to do with the website itself. We do not allow comments related to the site, whether it be how it works, how it’s run, etc. Some examples would be:
“Why was my post removedâ€ÂÂ
“Would it be alright if I post thisâ€ÂÂ
“I would like to suggest a new featureâ€ÂÂ
“I think the site should have different colorsâ€ÂÂ
“Why was Ralf bannedâ€ÂÂ
“I think the site should have such and such – who’s with meâ€ÂÂ
These should be removed, documented and a private message sent, preferably using a contact template. If you are able to answer the question, do so within the template. Make a note that you answered the question when you document the issue. Questions that can be answered are those about how do I upload avatars, how do I change my signature or other non technical or internal issues. Any questions pertaining to features, why someone was banned usually will not receive a reply and any questions that you do not know the answer to or do not feel comfortable answering, but if you feel that it is pressing enough, refer the issue to John.
If someone makes a duplicate post or topic, and then edits it to say duplicate please remove, or something similar it is not a violation, simply remove the post, mark it as duplicate and that’s it.
As mentioned above certain questions, such as why was Ralf banned, are considered both site related and referencing administrative decisions, and should be handled as such.
SPAMMING AND TROLLING
We should never tell people that they are spamming or trolling. These terms, while probably accurate, give a negative connotation that we do not need to use. Instead of spamming, they are violating our user guidelines concerning advertising and promotion. Instead of trolling they are violating our user guidelines by being inflammatory and disruptive, or they are making remarks that are not relevant to the thread to incite disruption.
USER WANTS A COPY OF A REMOVED POST.
Sometimes a user will ask for a copy of a removed post. If it was a post that made valuable contributions to the community but had to be removed because of a small thing or two or was caught up in a large thread removal, it would not hurt to provide it. If it was more serious or it was part of a flame war or something similar it would be better to just tell them that the post is not available.
VIOLATIONS IN PRIVATE MESSAGES
If a violation in private messages it reported to you, please document it and make a note for John to investigate it.
VULGARITIES
We don’t want to be considered absolute purists, so using good judgment and evaluating the tone of the post or thread, words such as, damn, hell, crap, freaking and anything as or less severe can probably be given the benefit. LMAO and other such acronyms will usually fall into this area as well but ars*, shi*, bastar*, or anything in that class should be considered more severe. This goes for abbreviations as well, WTF or a-hole, should unquestionably considered violations. Self-censoring, such as f*** and various other attempts to circumvent our word censoring features are violations as well.
WHAT IS TOO RELIGIOUS
In the case of sigtures and avatars, the use of some basic related terms or items can be allowed. This is not an easy area to define but here are some ideas, objective judgment prevails in making the best decision.
Allowed:
A cross as an avatar
Most quoted scriptures as part of a signature but keep it short, no “Lords Prayersâ€ÂÂ
Not Allowed:
Signing off
Yours in Christ
He died for you
You need God
The exceptions to this would be posts in the “Safe Harbor†but they should not be allowed to drift out of that area into the mainstream forums.
WHAT IS TOO POLITICAL
Anything that attempts to sway an opinion concerning an issue or a political person. General comments that are not pointedly opinionated such as a statement that affects both sides of an issue or in most cases types of political satire can usually slide by unless they start a debate, then it is best to just remove the entire thread since it will become politically motivated and removing individual post can give the impression of taking sides.
It will be added to and updated over time.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ACCIDENTS, DUPLICATES, AND CROSS POSTING
Accidental duplicates are identical posts posted to the same thread or identical threads started within the same forum within a short period of time. In these cases, remove the duplicate post or thread to the trash bin and make a note of it in the Bridge that it was a duplicate.
If the time frame between the posting of identical posts or threads exceeds a short period of time, say longer than 5 minutes, it should not be considered an accident and should be considered a post that is in violation of the guidelines and should be documented and handled as any other violation.
Cross Posting is when the same post or the same thread is started in two or more locations. This is a situation that can not happen by accident so should be looked at carefully to consider if it a poster trying to make sure that everybody has access to legitimate information or if it is a spammer/advertiser trying to get maximum exposure. If it is the latter it should be treaded as a guideline violation and handled accordingly, if it is a post by an established community member, consider the source in making the decision, established members should always get the benefit of doubt unless a violation is blatantly obvious, the time frame between posts is not important.
BANNED USER CONTACTS YOU
If a user that is known to be banned contacts you with a site related matter, do not respond (if you feel you must respond, refer them to John) Document their message in its entirety in the Problem User Forum and it will be handled.
BANNED USER SIGNS UP FOR NEW ACCOUNT
When a banned user signs up for a new account and it becomes plainly apparent that it is in fact a user that has been previously banned, this new account must be banned as well. Their posts must be removed to the trash bin but do not make contact with them, simply remove the posts and document the removal in the Problem User forum. If they attempt to make contact with you, do not respond but document their message in the Problem User forum and John can take appropriate action.
CREATING NEW TOPICS FROM EXISTING TOPICS
There are times when an existing topic will take a turn way off topic in a way that would be deserving of its own topic. To create a new topic from these posts, pick the proper point that deserves recognition as a new topic and split the thread off into its own topic.
INAPROPRIATE LINKS/BANNED LINKS
A link is inappropriate when the content displayed at the site is determined to be inappropriate for our userbase. The site does not have to be quite as clean as us but if a site features excessive vulgarities, nudity, illegal content, etc. the post needs to be removed, in a very rare case would you edit the post to remove just the link.
From time to time there will be links banned from being mentioned on our community. When users try to post a URL the address will usually be blocked internally and will have a portion of the link replaced by some other character. Any posts like this should be removed based on featuring an inappropriate link. Attempts to circumvent a link ban should be treated the same way and removed.
INFLAMMATORY COMMENTS
An inflammatory comment is generally an unnecessary remark made on a thread and usually doesn’t serve much purpose other than angering people or inciting a negative emotion. Often times, people will say something that the thought behind would normally be alright, but they say it in a way that is inflammatory. Examples would be:
 You don’t know what your talking about
 Your crazy
 Don’t talk about things you clearly don’t know about
 Well, if you had actually done any research
 Cruising sucks
 All travel agents are stupid
 Only an idiot would say something like that
 Micro$oft (example of inflammatory substitution)
This is just a small handful of examples as an illustration. We know they can get a lot and an insulting comment is an inflammatory comment. We don’t want people to say something sucks, we want them to say why it sucks, as well, we want people to attack the point, not the person making the point.
Short negative statements can also be inflammatory. For example, one person posts their view on a subject, and then someone else posts something like “That’s wrong†or “Uh, no†and that’s all they say. If people are going to disagree with someone and say that something is incorrect or wrong, we require that they describe why the person is incorrect with a little elaboration, not just saying that it is wrong. Otherwise it adds nothing to the thread outside of hostility.
LINKS IN INTRODUCTIONS
Links in introductions are perfectly fine (as long as they follow our user guidelines). Many people have personal website documenting their travels. However, the whole purpose of the introduction cannot be to send someone to another website. They can mention their personal ventures and links as part of their introduction but if they beg for users to go to their site/register at their site, or if the link is to a site that is obviously promoting a travel agency or travel ventures such as tours or tour guides or if it is promoting a competitive forum it should be considered advertising/promotion and should be removed.
NEW USER ASKS IF ANYONE HAS HEARD OF A SITE AND WHAT THEY THINK OF IT
If a new user, or a user with only a couple of posts creates a thread asking our users if they have heard of the website/what they think of a website (even if the don’t appear to be affiliated with it) the post should be considered advertising and removed. The only exceptions to this would be if they are asking about a site that is either one of our advertisers or a known product like Shore Trips, Captain Marvins or something similar that we know is not a spammer or runs a boiler plate affiliate program.
Once a user becomes a little more established within the community and posts something similar and they appear not to be affiliated with the site they can be given a little more benefit of the doubt.
For the very same reason, anyone who joins and immediately starts posting links to outside sites should require similar attention, maybe even a little more.
REFERENCING ADMINISTRATIVE DECISIONS
Most typically, posts are removed for referencing administrative decisions when they comment on administrative decisions/activities or potential decisions/activities. Here area some common examples:
“My thread was removedâ€ÂÂ
“Well, I had already tried to post this once but it was removedâ€ÂÂ
“They banned Ralfâ€ÂÂ
“Why did you remove my threadâ€ÂÂ
“Why was Ralf bannedâ€ÂÂ
“I was going to post a comment but I’m afraid they will remove itâ€ÂÂ
These sort of comments need to be removed. Sometimes, as with comments line, “Why was Ralf banned?†a post can be considered both referencing administrative decisions and site-related (more on that below) and should be treated as such.
REPORT, DON’T RESPOND
When someone directly responds to a serious or obvious violation of our user guidelines, we send them a report, a don’t respond private message and document it in the bridge. We do this to encourage them to help us by reporting these posts instead of responding to them while still making it clear to them that this type of stuff is not permitted here.
Here are some of cases when we would send a PM:
Disrespectful comments directed at them (i.e., “You are an idiotâ€ÂÂ)
Racist comments
Illegal activities
Advertisements that are obviously junk, actually all advertisements
Excessive use of vulgar language
And here are some cases where we wouldn’t
Simple site related question ( How do I change my avatar)
Postings of personal real life information (phone numbers, addresses)
Postings in a language other than English ( we do have foreign member that do sometimes post words or comments in their native language, this is acceptable)
Advertisements that are sneaky where it is not really clear that it is an advertisement
Duplicate posts or cross-posting
However, if the person mentions in their post that something is a violation of our user guidelines, they are always sent a report, a don’t respond private message, no matter how serious the violation, or even if there is no violation, because we do not want regular members attempting to enforce our guidelines, this just creates an alternative problem.
REPORTED POSTS
When users report posts, you should always consider the report with a discerning eye. If the report was made through private message, you should thank them for reporting it and assure them that we will handle it appropriately. Appropriately does not always mean that you will do anything. If action needs to be taken, take it. But, if it doesn’t, don’t. Don’t ever do something just because it was reported, do something because it is a problem.
SIMILAR THREADS
There will be times when users will start threads to cover a subject that is similar or exact to the same subject covered in another recent thread. In these cases, you should close the new thread and leave a final reply politely directing users to the other thread that previously existed and create a link to the thread. But do this only if the threads are identical or very near identical. For example, why is sky blue, and what makes sky blue are identical, whereas who likes apples and how much fiber is there in apples are not. If there is an exact or near exact thread but it is not recently active say more than 4 months since the last reply, allow this thread to proceed, it will very likely produce new more current information and in this case a new thread is like a new face, give it a chance.
SITE-RELATED
Site related means anything to do with the website itself. We do not allow comments related to the site, whether it be how it works, how it’s run, etc. Some examples would be:
“Why was my post removedâ€ÂÂ
“Would it be alright if I post thisâ€ÂÂ
“I would like to suggest a new featureâ€ÂÂ
“I think the site should have different colorsâ€ÂÂ
“Why was Ralf bannedâ€ÂÂ
“I think the site should have such and such – who’s with meâ€ÂÂ
These should be removed, documented and a private message sent, preferably using a contact template. If you are able to answer the question, do so within the template. Make a note that you answered the question when you document the issue. Questions that can be answered are those about how do I upload avatars, how do I change my signature or other non technical or internal issues. Any questions pertaining to features, why someone was banned usually will not receive a reply and any questions that you do not know the answer to or do not feel comfortable answering, but if you feel that it is pressing enough, refer the issue to John.
If someone makes a duplicate post or topic, and then edits it to say duplicate please remove, or something similar it is not a violation, simply remove the post, mark it as duplicate and that’s it.
As mentioned above certain questions, such as why was Ralf banned, are considered both site related and referencing administrative decisions, and should be handled as such.
SPAMMING AND TROLLING
We should never tell people that they are spamming or trolling. These terms, while probably accurate, give a negative connotation that we do not need to use. Instead of spamming, they are violating our user guidelines concerning advertising and promotion. Instead of trolling they are violating our user guidelines by being inflammatory and disruptive, or they are making remarks that are not relevant to the thread to incite disruption.
USER WANTS A COPY OF A REMOVED POST.
Sometimes a user will ask for a copy of a removed post. If it was a post that made valuable contributions to the community but had to be removed because of a small thing or two or was caught up in a large thread removal, it would not hurt to provide it. If it was more serious or it was part of a flame war or something similar it would be better to just tell them that the post is not available.
VIOLATIONS IN PRIVATE MESSAGES
If a violation in private messages it reported to you, please document it and make a note for John to investigate it.
VULGARITIES
We don’t want to be considered absolute purists, so using good judgment and evaluating the tone of the post or thread, words such as, damn, hell, crap, freaking and anything as or less severe can probably be given the benefit. LMAO and other such acronyms will usually fall into this area as well but ars*, shi*, bastar*, or anything in that class should be considered more severe. This goes for abbreviations as well, WTF or a-hole, should unquestionably considered violations. Self-censoring, such as f*** and various other attempts to circumvent our word censoring features are violations as well.
WHAT IS TOO RELIGIOUS
In the case of sigtures and avatars, the use of some basic related terms or items can be allowed. This is not an easy area to define but here are some ideas, objective judgment prevails in making the best decision.
Allowed:
A cross as an avatar
Most quoted scriptures as part of a signature but keep it short, no “Lords Prayersâ€ÂÂ
Not Allowed:
Signing off
Yours in Christ
He died for you
You need God
The exceptions to this would be posts in the “Safe Harbor†but they should not be allowed to drift out of that area into the mainstream forums.
WHAT IS TOO POLITICAL
Anything that attempts to sway an opinion concerning an issue or a political person. General comments that are not pointedly opinionated such as a statement that affects both sides of an issue or in most cases types of political satire can usually slide by unless they start a debate, then it is best to just remove the entire thread since it will become politically motivated and removing individual post can give the impression of taking sides.
