What do you want changed/added to this forum?

[TheMediumDog]

Btw, skwpt, we try to keep a pretty tight boat in terms of N-talk. The word "Nase" has some peculiar physical properties when typed on this forum. It seems to draw towards it comment from all over the net (actually, its all fair enough, given what happened). Anyway, like any hygine policy, it has to be vigorously enforced if its going to work at all. So... well....Nase-interest is a solo thing. We tend to lock threads with the word in.

[skwpt]

I understand. I purposely refrained from spelling out his name in my first post because the forum is public, thus searchable, and I thought it might bring out the dingbats.

If you're worried about people calling him by name, I bet your forum software has a filter option. If anyone types **** or *-*-*-* or whatever, the software can replace it with a word chosen by the mods.

At my forum, a former admin left on bad terms (we banned her when we caught her reading PMs). She waited a year, and then she hacked us using a SQL injection. She deleted every one of her posts from the back end (SQL Server). It really messed up the forum because it looked like people were having conversations with themselves in some threads.

We created a filter for her and called it Gollum.

And, oh yeah, I had a backup, so her attempts to bring us down were foiled.

[Peter]

Yes, 'something bad' did happen here a while ago (just before my time, though not before that of some others around). Namely: a key person involved when the forum originally got started was a doctor

I believe this Forum was actually set up for him.

Long story short, after a while it was discovered that he was involved in lots of scandals, and was eventually banned from the Forum.

There were several reasons but a contributing factor were his many lies which included blatant scaremongering about treating rosacea with RLT.

Well, since this doctor really seemed to know his stuff, and seemed to be selflessly contributing to this Forum and helping loads of people, understandably, there were a large number of forum members who were very attached to him. The whole thing completely polarized opinion, and there were massive arguments etc.

He duped everybody and I mean everybody at the start but then it started to become obvious that he was a fraud and a conman. Sure he had many supporters to start off with and some were more resistant than others about accepting the truth. The rosacea community owe a lot to the formation and continuing existence of the debunking site. http://www.debunkingnase.org/index.php?title=Main_Page

Upshot was that a whole slew of people got banned. Then these people would re-sign-in under different names, and the arguments would start again.

Some of his supporters were banned - one of them has re-joined here under a different name, still posts on here and you know who he is. Banned should mean banned in my book. The so called Doctor himself re-joined several times under different aliases usually to promote his later business venture.

Thankfully, this is all in the past, and its been pretty quiet here for a while. Claims that there are 'dark forces lurking' are overblown.

It wasn't so much as a claim as rather a warning. You give him a chance and he will try and get back on here, especially as he needs desperately to shift his latest "wonder" product.

Yes, IP addresses of banned members are noted, but of course its pretty easy to sidestep.

Sure is but you have been given the full details of the "banned" member who has sneaked back on via the back door. He is not a reformed character either and he was banned for fanatically defending the Doctor and also telling lies.

The Forum is owned by Warren, who pays for the space, does the techy stuff, and otherwise keeps a low profile...and to whom great gratitude is owed for all this.

I'll second that.

[redhotoz]

it would be helpful if one of the mods created a sticky topic along the lines of "Meet Your Forum Staff."

There is a link “View Forum Leaders” towards the bottom of the main page. Guess that could be a start for an Admin to up-date.

What is the role of the moderator? What are the forum rules (not the legal boilerplate we click when we sign up)? If I say something controversial will it be deleted?

I believe the Forum Policies are being up-dated. The original Forum Policies used to be spammed a lot on Wiki. The original words were replaced with all sorts of negative words and some pretty awful photos. Hopefully this is fixed soon.

I've read some unsettling posts the last few days, particularly about the threat of some evildoer and his henchmen chomping at the bit to "infiltrate" and take over. I have also seen threads get locked and/or disappear, which seems a bit Draconian on a forum where registration is instantaneous (e.g., not moderator approved).

Personally, I feel it is important to warn new-comers of the past dangers and I spent a great deal of time trying my best to clean it up when I was the only person managing this forum. Not a job I wanted to take on but I did none-the-less. In the past, I believe it was necessary as there were a massive amount of posts made that were harmful to innocence people. Now-a-days, I believe this could be relaxed a little but that’s just my opinion.

I get a sense Something Bad happened here a couple years ago, but is there really a possibility that a banned former moderator and/or owner will be able to moderate again?

Something bad did happen on the Rosacea Forum. Sadly, it was way too close to being closed down or ‘taken over’ by this previous Mod. He was the one who was perma banned – as a Mod and a member. The only other banned Mod would be me! Perhaps I gave too many warnings about the dangers of the Internet. Mmm! Apparently I was seen as a danger to the Mods. The Mods whom I recruited when I had nobody else to help me, not even the owner of this forum. As far as I am aware, Warren has been the only owner of this forum. Some of us old-timers have offered to help him pay the costs of running this forum but he would not accept. Instead, he gave money away in one thread, just for helping him up-date the forum policies!

IP addresses tracked and/or banned? Clearly someone must own this place. Even though the software that provides the forum interface is free, domains and ISPs are not. I know; I am an admin at another forum, and the the thought of unscrupulous people running rampant with full control makes me less likely to stick around here.

I used to spend a huge amount of time checking IP/ISP’s, matching up etc etc. Warren is the owner however he entrusts his Mod Team and his Admin (the person I requested to be promoted). Warren used to trust me to run this place alone. Mmm!

I am so glad this forum is actually useful. And friendly.

Thanks! For quite some time it wasn’t a friendly place. Vigilance – keeping up with the ‘bad guys’. But of course, I was banned as a Mod so can’t keep up this vigilance myself.

As for the debunking site, I looked at the edit tab and saw only Admin. Someone wants to be anonymous, which would detract from the author's credibility if the content hadn't been so well organized and (so far anyway) well written.

Anonymity is something that I believe necessary. I am sure whoever runs the debunking site would be scared out of their wits and want to remain anonymous.

If you're worried about people calling him by name, I bet your forum software has a filter option. If anyone types **** or *-*-*-* or whatever, the software can replace it with a word chosen by the mods.

I do believe there is. In the RSC, the N name is replaced with “not allowed”.

At my forum, a former admin left on bad terms (we banned her when we caught her reading PMs). She waited a year, and then she hacked us using a SQL injection. She deleted every one of her posts from the back end (SQL Server). It really messed up the forum because it looked like people were having conversations with themselves in some threads.

We created a filter for her and called it Gollum.

And, oh yeah, I had a backup, so her attempts to bring us down were foiled.

Thank you!!! What you say is so true. Wish the Mods believed me when I said it was not a good idea to have so much personal info written in the mod area. Thank you!!!

[Twickle Purple]

Warren,

It would be handy to have the links which appear at the top of the page also show up at the bottom of the page.



This way instead of having to scroll to the top, we could click immediately to the main page or move instantly to the section main page. It really makes a difference when a lot of posts are viewed. Or, perhaps a simple "Top of Page" link?

Thanks.

[shrimpy]

Is it possible for the search function to exclude signatures? Recently I was searching for info and reviews of "Born to Be Mild" cleanser but with it being in some signatures, it was really hard to narrow down the posts I wanted to look at.