The heading made me think you were talking about crap posters for different shows.

In theory, I like the idea. The downfalls are obvious, though. For something like this to work, you would need to make a couple of major changes to the way the forum works - both of which have been bandied around before.

1 - Registered users only be allowed to post.
2 - A number of Mods to control the forum.

Having said that, most online forums that I am aware of operate this way, and I would have no problem with this one doing the same. I know our administrator has very different views, however, and seems determined to keep this site operating in the same egalitarian way it always has.

www.meltheco.org.au

And I think the position of the ITA and the site supporters in general are generally agreed.

The concept of banning posters is in theory, very attractive. It is, however, somewhat more difficult to implement this in practise. The difficulties rest in the following;

• Requires high level of security when registering - formal identification through checking procedures
• Being able to uniquely tag users so that when banned they do not have avenues to sign-up under a different identity
• Being able to restrict users to a single sign-on account
• Having a legally tight policy of User Removal and a strict set of guidelines to adhere to, lest one gets sued for defamation
• The time, cost and effort in establishing such a system as well as the addition resource required to monitor and maintain it
• Having all of the above while still maintaining an open policy which is the essences of the ITA's Web Site
• Others I haven't yet thought of

Registration will do nothing to hinder those that are intent on disruption. Banning them is but a hurdle they will have to jump and only serves to give a short reprieve at most. There are a number of extremely closed groups where moderation and banning are implemented and interestingly enough, they are far more abrasive, abusive, slanderous and troll-like than this site has ever been.

I personally would not want to risk the open door policy that makes this site so great for a complex and potential legal minefield that a more secured site would offer. This site has demonstrated time and time again to be a fantastic place to find old colleagues, new theatres, interesting discussions, lively debates and generally a vibrant theatrical culture. If a small number of antagonists make their noise from time to time, then isn't that a small price to pay?

Now that moderation and voting is getting used to more reasonable capacities, the overall level of disruption and nonsense has dropped right off. This site is for the fans and now is truly by the fans. It is now working as it should.

In finalising my soap-box stand, I will restate that the POV of the admin and creators of this site have been made clear many times - they are unlikely to change that stance anytime soon. What good it would do to change is unclear anyway. Banning users is somewhat more complex than it may first appear and would possibly work to the detriment of this site. Current security facilities, previously under-utilised, are now maintaining content levels. Overall, I think we have it pretty good just the way things are.

Absit invidia (and DFT )

Jeff Watkins

Home Page
Yahoo Blog Page

SN Profile

I understand all the points made. I just thought it was an interesting way of dealing with that sort of thing and that it was worth mentioning.

Round head foam puppet pattern at
Puppets in Melbourne

My only comment on all this is that the site has been strangely quiet and strangely well behaved for rather a long time. No trolls as such but also no spirited discussion and statements of opinion. Where are the debates and arguments?
Where have you all gone?

Is that all there is? Well if that's all there is my friend, then let's keep dancing.
www.tonymoore.id.au

Maybe my recent explosion sent them running away... we can only hope.

It could also be it's nearing the end of the year and people have better things to worry about. Like Christmas bonuses.... or some other thing.

Round head foam puppet pattern at
Puppets in Melbourne

Hmmm...... I borrow Labrug's soapbox, stand on it, take a good look around at what has been on in Perth theatre lately, and note a (mostly) distinct absence of shows with a large Generation Y cast.

You do the math.

www.meltheco.org.au

I agree that there should be an enforced registration system in place. It's not all that hard to tap in an email address, username and password, and as Jeff said, most forums require registration. It's nice to be able to talk to someone (even if you only know their handle) as opposed to an onslaught of faceless Walters who are not accountable for their postings.

As for users having multiple accounts - as long as we can restrict it to one account per email address, it should be fine. It may not completely stop people from posting when banned, but at least they have to go to the effort of acquiring a bunch of Hotmail addresses if they spam the forums.

---
Louisa Fitzhardinge
University Dramatic Society
http://uds.asn.au

Something like the Whirlpool sin bin can work very well - when you have 254,848 members, 14,337 visiting daily, and a substantial team of moderators.

Our community is somewhat more modest in size.

Labrug's largely right too. I don't know that the ITA has had much to do with it, but moderation by the community is far more effective than requiring registration at encouraging constructive contribution and limiting exposure to rubbish.

Regards
Grant 

--
Director, actor and administrator of this website

I don't know about anyone else, but I have been too blimmin busy to go near the site.
To be honest, I was suprised how little craziness there was.

But I hope that as stuff eases off, I might get back to checking stuff out. Even have a couple of reviews to submit.

But maybe everyone is busy as well...?

Nev

It's the simple things stupid...