Time to 'raise the bar' on The Skyrim Blog?

• Posted by Paul February 10, 2013 - 838 views

  Everyone knows that websites, forums and blogs attract their fair share of spammers, trolls and - frankly - just plain stupid people. When you start a website I suppose you accept that it kinda goes with the territory....

  However, I think that it has become far too prevalent on this site. And the time has come to get a grip of this.

  As most people know, we appear to have attracted the attention of the Elder Scrolls trolls. This was bound to happen - its well documented that most websites that focus on Elder Scrolls have this problem. For a long time we seemed to fly under the radar. But this is no longer the case. For this reason I have had to implement strict checks for all prospective members before allowing them onto the site. I'm now routinely blocking and banning suspected trolls. Eventually, I hope, they'll give up and just go away to some other site...

  Of course, that doesn't help with the 4000 members we already have - the vast majority of whom joined when the door was wide open. The tools that Ning provides for dealing with existing accounts are rudimentary at best, so even a mass purge is harder than it should be. So, we have to be vigilant and deal swiftly with any miscreants. Here are a few things you can all do to help:

  1. Take another look at the posting guidelines. Even if you read them before, read them again. I am going to start imposing these much more strictly. We have far too much inappropriate language, spam posts and just plain pointless junk. It's dragging the site down, and we need to set the bar higher. Site Hosts are going to be instructed to clamp down in their areas, and I'll be patrolling myself. anything I think contravenes those guidelines WILL be deleted. No discussion. No appeals. It will just be chopped.

  2. Existing members need to remember that the rules apply to them as well - and, yes, before anyone asks, they apply to Site Hosts as well. I've noticed that far too much junk is getting posted via Status Updates - some Status Updates have ended up with many, many pages of (usually pointless) comments. Again, its dragging the quality of the site downwards. If it doesn't stop then I am prepared to switch off the ability you currently have to be able to reply to Status Updates. Or even switch Status Updates off altogether...

  3. Obviously I cannot be here 24/7, and I can't read everything on the site, so I do rely on people letting me know if things get out of hand. If you come across inappropriate comment or breaches of the site rules, then send me a message and I will deal with it.

  The Skyrim Blog has built its reputation on quality content and respectful posting, and I am quite clear that this ethos needs to protected as we move forward. Please help me to do that. 

  Thanks in anticipation for your co-operation