# Keeping this place useful, positive, constructive & fun.



## TTonyTT (Apr 24, 2006)

There's been another thread going which has been aggressively and negatively critical of the forum generally, how it's not like the good ol' days, how it's infested with idiots who can't spell, how spam is getting more prevalent, how it's always raining, etc.

Rather than moaning negatively, I tried to put some more constructive suggestions forward, via a PM to one of the mods. Who suggested that I post them here. So here they are.

My perspective is that a lot of people here helped me when I was thinking about getting a TT about 9 months ago. Helped me positively, helped me make the decision, and have helped with advice and suggestions since. o me, that had and has a value which I genuinely appreciate. I'd like for the TT forum to remain as a place that is and remains as good as the good ol' days ... not that I was here then.

Firstly, "inappropriate" postings by forum members, whether that be their words, images, sigpics, etc. I'm pretty sure that we all signed up to some form of appropriate use policy when we joined. Can't actually say that I remember what was in it, nor that I'm 100% sure that it was there  . But I'm still here, so either I haven't broken the policy, or no-one noticed.

Anyways ... the mods are here to keep the place relatively free of rubbish, bad smells and the stuff that really is completely irrelevant to a "TT" forum. And they get as much thanks as most of the refuse collection and disposal operatives.

So maybe we should formalise the rules a little. Which is where the constructive (hopefully) suggestions come in ...

1st contravention gets you a warning PM (from a mod) which should explain how & why whatever you've done has broken the forum rules. I guess 80% of the time, that already does and will continue to sort it out.

If that doesn't prompt a deletion / edit / apology (or whatever), a second message goes out, reminding of the forum rules, which would allow for ...

A temporary ban of a day, a week, a month (or whatever). And maybe a reset of the offender's post count :wink: Get banned - say 3 times? - and that's it, you're out. Don't want to play by the club rules ... then find another club where the rules are different.

Oh, and bad spelling or punctuation is not justification for a ban. It just means that you should have payed more attention at school. (Yes, I know).

With the increasing use of static IP addys, the mods can easily identify those who re-appear with a different name to get around the ban. AKA those with nothing better to do.

As for spammers ... make joining the forum a little more difficult. You need to apply to join, with a valid email addy. The application goes back to the provided email addy with some form of "authentication" question ... like "when did you get your TT" and "what model is it". OK, easy enough questions to answer ... but not if you're sixteen and sat in a shed in Siberia - they'll go on to the next target.

All of the above is more work for the mods. Sorry guys. Hopefully a lot of it can be relatively automated with standard emails. It's also only intended as a starter-for-10, and intended as constructive suggestions. So, please comment - constructively.

Of course, it doesn't tackle the key question ... "what is inappropriate". We'll never define that in such a way that it will be perfectly clear to everyone. And we probably shouldn't even try to. It is (isn't it??  )defined in the usage policy of the forum, and interpreted by the mods, who get to be as popular as the guy in black in the middle of the field on a Saturday afternoon.

FWIW ....


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