Here Comes Trouble

JimCR120

Got Lobstah?
Site Moderator
So I completely forgot this was here. I came across it dealing with some... trouble this morning.

I'm curious if we'll get a notification if anyone posts here. If so this might be a better suited place to discuss problems (like todays blog spammer, almost 10000 posts!, Uff!)

Anyway, if you get this I would like to know and then maybe we can share thoughts/strategies on maintaining the forum.
—Jim
 

Craftydan

Hostage Taker of Quads
Staff member
Moderator
Mentor
Forgot to share thoughts and strategies?

How selfish of you Monkey!

(BTW, I saw this pop up in the "new posts" search, not a fancy notification. I suppose we could subscribe to this thread and have a running conversation in it)
 

makattack

Winter is coming
Moderator
Mentor
You all are far too quick for me. I get the email notices, try to check, and the spam's already deleted! :)
 

JimCR120

Got Lobstah?
Site Moderator
So glad this is working. Now we can put out notices of things. I would ask that we keep it professional of course. If we must discuss a person, we need to keep things factual. I don't want this to be a smear thread but a place where mature men and Fred too can discuss things professionally.

For example:

We have a member who has sporadically been a concern. Aspieman, has PM's me and at least one other member (a few weeks ago) language of a bigoted nature. I told him language like that will not be tolerated and he should consider that his warning. I haven't seen him post since.

Another poster yesterday, Jason 1, a relatively "new member" who had only made blogs, nearly 10000 of them blitzed spamming with nothing I could see that was even remotely rc related (though I didn't read all the blogs). Of course he's banned but now the issue is how to delete copious pages of blogs at once. I only know how to do 5 at a time. 10000 / 5 = 2000 rounds of deleting, yehNO!

Lastly Konrad, who is capable of posting excellent content, also has an abrasive side. I banned him for a week and he's been directed several times via PM's that his posts need to convey respect and dignity. While I'm hoping he will comply with the guidance I consider him have had enough warnings.
 

FlyingMonkey

Bought Another Trailer
Staff member
Admin
Konrad

Hi guys.

Just a heads up, We have finally decided it was time to ban Konrad.

We have worked with him repeatedly, but unfortunately his antagonistic posting is something can not curb.

He has received multiple counseling PM's, and takes each of these sessions as an opportunity to turn it into an argument.

He's also tried to claim that some moderators have attacked him. Feel free to review his threads, you will see this has not been the case. Just the opposite in fact. All of you guys that have worked with him have shown incredible patience and restraint.

He doesn't see it this way and has taken any corrective actions as an attack on his right to battle the evils of whatever vendor or manufacturer that he's currently upset with.

His constant use of the forums as a platform to try to attack these businesses has also exceeded what I felt was proper for this site. This is another topic we have discussed, but as referenced above, he feels he's on a quest to right perceived wrongs by these companies, that only he sees, and only he can shame them into correcting said failings.



If you made it through all of that, thanks!

We can likely expect blowback from him in the form of sock puppet accounts, emails, and complaints on other social media sites.

These will be somewhat limited, because it seems he is often removed from forums, likely for the above reasons and more.

~Fred
 

JimCR120

Got Lobstah?
Site Moderator
It's sad that there are people so prone to inflammatory interactions. I suppose I will have to hope that now having been banned in different forums he will somehow get the message that he needs to do something differently. As for us and how he was handled, I have no regrets how he was handled by our moderators or our general community. I PM'd him several times on the side to try to help him learn to play nicely but I guess he just couldn't help himself. Some people just need to learn the hard way.
 

makattack

Winter is coming
Moderator
Mentor
Thanks for the background Fred, yah, I should have looked for this thread before I replied to his PM complaint. Oops. We seem to have been hit with a rash of folks who are ... persistently negative. Aspieman comes to mind, but he's sticking to PM to communicate with people. I do have to wonder... esp. in light of some experiences I had with folks at FliteFest this past week, that maybe it is just my lack of understanding with autism or other conditions that people have, and my lack of awareness/empathy/experience to handle these cases results in miscommunication or conflict.

Then again, I'm often left feeling socially awkward in many cases myself, so maybe I should be more self-aware...

Working with "Chris from Delaware" aka "Flight Risk" on the forums was interesting. He is a great guy, but was prone to over-work himself and others working with him. I was at one point really worried about Bill (Air Force retiree, former chaplain) as they were doing cleanup work on Sunday as Chris was taking him around doing all sorts of stuff requiring a lot of lifting somewhat heavy things. Again, I have nothing but admiration for Chris, but sheesh, it's like his motorcycle accident caused him to run on overdrive all the time.
 
Last edited:

FlyingMonkey

Bought Another Trailer
Staff member
Admin
It is unfortunate, but we've been very fortunate, especially compared to other forums.

I have felt that Flite Test has been it's own filter though for the typically problematic folks found on other forums. The show has been so wholesome, and upbeat that it's turned away the pessimistic folks and "trolls" before they migrated to the forum.

The rest is due to the community, moderators and mentors. Folks here just don't encourage the type of arguing that leads to the hurt feelings. They also often try to help the trollers, instead of falling for the bait, which I think often frustrates them into leaving. In addition to all of that, the patience and understanding that the moderators show when working with forum members.

I've checked the banned accounts recently, and I'm impressed that in the 6 years the forum has been around we've only had 4 or 5 people banned for behavior issues. There's more names in the list than that, but several of them were because the banned people created new accounts.

Aspieman (several associated accounts)
FNHScar17s
Kingbird
Konrad
Sailorjohn

The rest of the banned accounts were either made to circumvent bans or spambots.

All in all, it's been impressive I'd say.

banned.jpg
 

JimCR120

Got Lobstah?
Site Moderator
Any reason to not delete the thread?

OK so soundpresets is postingelswhere like so many but his thread wasn't deleted. Why? Was it because a forum member had also posted? If so I'll either touch bases and then deleted or maybe just delete it and explain it to the affected users.

Thoughts?
 

Craftydan

Hostage Taker of Quads
Staff member
Moderator
Mentor
When in doubt, soft delete. It can always be undone.

. . . or to misquote Arnaud Amalric: Soft delete them all, let Mod sort 'em out.


No idea why the person got a ban but the thread didn't, but if it looks banworthy, I'm all for making it go away. If someone replied but it doesn't benefit the forum (e.g. answering a spammer unaware), your plan seems sound to me.
 

JimCR120

Got Lobstah?
Site Moderator
Aspieman

So Aspieman posted again and it was reported again. The post was already soft-deleted but I read it and more of his typical banter, maybe slightly softer, but certainly looking to stoke a fire. I pm'd him and I'm sharing the text of the message below.

Why bother? Part of what makes me tick is trying to get in peoples heads and helping. I work in the autism program at the local public school and find I do well. Aspieman let on that he has Asperger's syndrom which has been called a higher functioning form of autism. Additionally, he seems to have picked up some supremacist type thinking.

So as a Christian man and an educator I just want to try to do what I already like doing and all I ask from my moderator comrades is a little grace for his sake. By all means edit and delete his posts as appropriate. They're few enough at a time at the present. Just please don't ban him, not yet anyway.

Thank you.
—Jim
(Below is the text to Aspieman)

Hello.

I noticed you only post once in a while and seem to prefer to engage in political discussions. While I too enjoy discussing heavier subjects and how they relate to our culture, I find myself having to engage in those discussions elsewhere since this is a hobby forum geared around flight.

I would like to offer a suggestion. I think if you were to focus more on the topics of the threads I think you would find your words going much farther.

If you would like someone with whom you can discuss politics, religion, or other issues I welcome it.

I think if you follow these simple guidelines you will find yourself heard by more people and might find it pleasant.

Respectfully,
—Jim