Everyone,

Over the last several months I (and many members) have noticed that there have been a couple of users who have chosen to dominate almost every discussion on the MCO forums as well as wildly increasing their post counts. During this time these users have not only created their own threads but cleverly split their initial post into multiple posts. Often many follow up posts have been made by them before any other member has responded to the initial post. Furthermore these users have at times been very confrontational with other members on the site and then have turned around to ask sympathy to support their point of view.

It is my personal preference to give everyone as much latitude on the site as possible given that they do not violate the posting guidelines, drive away members, and/or damage the friendly/welcoming communication style that MCO has come to be known for…this is to support the long-term viability of the site. With this in mind, when issues do occur, there are several processes that occur:

In this case I, unfortunately, have been forced to remove MightyMiniz and Red03MiniS’ posting access to the site. Over the last several months both users have at times been confrontational with members of the site, radically increased their post counts (often posting more than 120 times in a single day) through split-posting, use of post signatures for advertising, and sought to dominate threads throughout the site. This has generated a high level of intolerance for these users by other members of the site and has caused the site to lose its feeling of friendship and camaraderie. I have contacted each user multiple times in an attempt to ask for their cooperation only to have been given a “No problem” response or a counter to every issue that was mentioned…often directing it to other users on the site.

As MightyMiniz provided many members of the site with image based signatures I request that they be changed to a non-advertising use. MightyMiniz is not a sponsor of the site and as such can no longer use signatures to advertise his interests. I would appreciate your assistance by removing any of these advertisements that may currently be in use.

[09/23/03] Clarification - based on feedback I have received regarding signatures I want to clarify the above statement to state that club-based signatures and/or signatures including information about your car is fine. That said, any signatures that advertise a product or service (without being a sponsor of MCO) are not allowed. Additionally any graphic used must also adhere to the site posting guidelines. Thanks for everyone's feedback and the opportunity to further clarify this point.

Going forward this specific instance has indicated the need to further improve the site posting guidelines as well as development of a clear set of moderation guidelines. These guidelines can be used to select potential moderators as well as the membership of the site to ensure consistent and fair moderation of the forums. I accept the blame for not having these in place earlier and will be starting an effort to develop these and have them published for comment within the next four weeks.

While I regret having to take this course of action I feel that I have been left no option, and I do not want to see the site continue to be harmed by this behavior. I appreciate everyone’s patience while I have sought to find a way to resolve these issues.

Best regards,

Mark

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MINI COOPER Online.com

mferguson@northamericanmotoring.com :: Send me a PM

 

Knowing this is your site; I see little reason to have this thread open for comment. Mark please lock it.

Anyone wishing to make comment to your more than liberal guidelines will make them in their own thread.