VBulletin or ProBoard Forum Discussion

[Pat58]

Sherry, I'd also hate to see VF break up. The thought of having to move is sad enough.

[Vantreesta]

I am on Tapatalk at VF Roost and TotalFitness. I would hate to see VF split up all over as well, but I'm not comfortable posting on a forum where there is no approval to join. The internet is a big scary place and I like having some level of comfort that the people I'm conversing with are actual people interested in fitness. Yes, I am paranoid! I know this forum is public for all to read, but I like that we had to be approved to post. Just my two cents.

[Karla25]

Originally Posted by Vantreesta

I am on Tapatalk at VF Roost and TotalFitness. I would hate to see VF split up all over as well, but I'm not comfortable posting on a forum where there is no approval to join. The internet is a big scary place and I like having some level of comfort that the people I'm conversing with are actual people interested in fitness. Yes, I am paranoid! I know this forum is public for all to read, but I like that we had to be approved to post. Just my two cents.

Please explain what damage can be done to you on a forum where anyone is allowed to join? I’m clueless since nothing bad has happened to me. I’ve had zero reports of any problems. The only people joining are people that are members here. It’s a small forum.

If you can please provide some facts as to why I need to approve people I will consider doing approval based membership. I want people to feel comfortable.

[Karla25]

Originally Posted by counterclockwise

Has someone asked Wendy if we can transfer VF to a new site and take it over, and just got no response?

I think someone asked. I thought about asking her and might do so, but I doubt that Wendy would just give VF away because it does produce some revenue for her.

If we could do the VBulletin that would be great since it would be identical to what we have now. I don’t see how to set-up reviews, check-ins, video exchanges, etc. in the same format as here using the proboard website. Personally, since the other formats (excepting VBulletin) are so different from this one, I think this group will end up dissolving. It won’t be the same.

[Leonana]

Karla, if you want to set up VBulletin, I’m willing to contribute.

[Vantreesta]

Originally Posted by Karla25

Please explain what damage can be done to you on a forum where anyone is allowed to join? I’m clueless since nothing bad has happened to me. I’ve had zero reports of any problems. The only people joining are people that are members here. It’s a small forum.

If you can please provide some facts as to why I need to approve people I will consider doing approval based membership. I want people to feel comfortable.

Hey, Karla! Well, like I said, I am paranoid in general, but especially on the internet, which is why I never use my real name anywhere that I can help it and never post that I will be away on vacation bc people who really want to can learn things you don't want them to know. I'm not interested in real people being excluded, just wanting the riff raff kept out. If you take a look at what used to be the Collage forum (if it can still be found) it is full of spam junk. I realize it looks worse bc there are no people posting there anymore but still. Without anyone making sure people joining are real people I just worry that could happen. But that's just my comfort level and it doesn't sound like anyone else is really worried about it. Thanks for asking!

[Buzzer]

Originally Posted by Vantreesta

Hey, Karla! Well, like I said, I am paranoid in general, but especially on the internet, which is why I never use my real name anywhere that I can help it and never post that I will be away on vacation bc people who really want to can learn things you don't want them to know. I'm not interested in real people being excluded, just wanting the riff raff kept out. If you take a look at what used to be the Collage forum (if it can still be found) it is full of spam junk. I realize it looks worse bc there are no people posting there anymore but still. Without anyone making sure people joining are real people I just worry that could happen. But that's just my comfort level and it doesn't sound like anyone else is really worried about it. Thanks for asking!

I agree with Vantreesta. You can get spammers, bots, people who are selling their fitness thing/workout that jump in everywhere exclaiming how wonderful the workout is (and they get paid for every post). You will get random people who jump in to shame people or say rude things, and even rambunctious teens and adults who will start drama just to watch it roll out. Without any sort of vetting, it will be the Wild West... check out reddit or any of those open forums. It gets nuts and all the old VF'ers will disappear and the idiots and bots will take over. If people can advertise their product for free, no matter where it is, they will advertise it for free. I am a moderator for a Facebook group in my area, and the amount of people that want to advertise for free, or "duct cleaners" if you will, is insane. Plus the people who want to start drama. There is bannings constantly. We have 6 moderators for a community of 1500. We need that many too!!!

Anyhow, I am all for vetting contributors. It's a crazy world out there.

[fatkat555]

Honestly, isn’t the bot problem part of what contributed to what’s going on here at VF now? That’s why there are no new members approved. Before I understood about trolls, I couldn’t understand all the drama that occurred in the General Discussion here. Some of it was just so mean and of course now I know it was s**t stirrers. For years, I retreated to the check-in only and then disappeared for several years from VF as a regular poster (I did lurk). Although our group is small, it’s nice not to have the dust-ups of the past.

I do wish Wendy would at least let the moderators take over the updating and running of the board even if she retained monetary control over the subscription aspect.

[Leonana]

It doesn’t make sense to me that Wendy won’t give up VF because it brings in income. If the forum dies, she won’t receive any more income. If she lets us run it, then she could have more income, right? Of course, none of her actions have made sense to us, but this one is a real head scratcher for me.

[BunnyHop]

Originally Posted by Karla25

... If you can please provide some facts as to why I need to approve people I will consider doing approval based membership. I want people to feel comfortable.

I'm not certain I understand where you're coming from with this.

You've set up a forum without having any prior knowledge of the sorts of problems that can crop up when running a forum from day to day, year to year?? I can't help thinking you've maybe bitten off more than you can chew.

I was a moderator on another forum for a while, and even though I didn't see ALL the stuff that can happen, I've got a pretty good sense of how much work it can be to keep the community functioning. Making the time to approve those who can post seems mostly to be about weeding out the applicants who are just planning to use their interactions as a way to reach a larger audience without themselves being actual members of the community.

People use their knowledge of coding for all kinds of reasons, some benign, some greedy, some toxic, some unapologeticly fetishy and weird. Respecting other people's boundaries isn't always a consideration. IMO, the people in charge of a forum have an obligation to screen the membership to lessen the volume of problematic members and posts.

Sometimes people join online forums for reasons that have nothing to do with the subject at hand. Some of them are simply not sane enough to conduct themselves appropriately when interacting with online communities.
If the people in charge of a forum don't have any idea how to manage such things, the community is going to suffer.

IMO, forum management is all about being able to keep your cool even as you interact with people who aren't at their best.

In my experience, the majority of the day to day problems tend to come from an eventually predictable set of regulars who think the rules shouldn't apply to them, for whatever reasons. Even so, endless numbers of bots will try to sneak past any screening process just to gain access to the forum.

How would you cope if someone were clearly having a mental health crisis started posting a lot of angry rants all over the forum and lies about the forum elsewhere online? What if you got sued by a company who objected to product reviews that are anything but uncritical and glowing? What about people who claim to be scholars doing research, who would find it useful for you to let them use your membership for study?
Would you find it dispiriting to realize that some of the regular trouble makers had no interest in changing their behavior, and present a falsely friendly persona to the membership at large so they can make money from them, no matter how much nuisance they make for the moderators?



I've seen more than one forum fade away because the mods just got exhausted and handed the reins off to others who didn't manage things as well.

The work involved in running a forum is far more stressful than most people realize. Software updates have been a major issue for some groups I've seen, eventually there's just too much that needs to be done to keep things rolling smoothly.


What the membership sees on the surface is just a tiny bit of the work that goes on behind the scenes.