WARNING: LONG POST

Hi everyone,

We want to thank everyone for giving their opinions on the other
moderator topic I posted a few weeks ago. We got a lot of good
feedback.

Today, I'd like to talk about the system that we'll be implementing to
help keep the community fun and enjoyable for everyone.

The system we're going to implement will allow MANY users to have a say
in what/who is acceptable and what/who is not acceptable. Users will be
able to vote positively or negatively on both topics and users. Not all
votes are equal. Brand new users have almost no influence, while forum
veterans that have good reputation will have the most influence.

Votes can cause topics, individual posts, and even users to be removed
from the forums.

Examples:

1) A topic is started solely to "flame" other users. Members can vote
on the topic and have it deleted

2) A topic is started that really belongs in another forums. Members
can vote and have it moved to the appropriate area.

3) A particular user is being insulting/abusive to other members.
Members can vote on this user and have his/her posting priviledges
suspended

We're basically creating a system to let the community moderate itself
and manage itself. Obviously we can always step in to correct things
that go wrong and things will go wrong in the beginning, but they will
improve as we tune the system over time.

Answers to common questions:

Q1) How do you keep people from creating a bunch of accounts and abusing
the system?

Creating multiple profiles is a grounds for banishment. We also have
systems in place to detect this and several people have already been
banned. We've been lax about this in the past, but going forward we
will take this very seriously.

Additionally, creating multiple accounts for the purpose of voting off
users or topics is not going to work. New users have essentially no
influence. Only users that are real, have history and have a good
reputation can make an influence.

It's very easy to detect "real" users. "real" users send messages,
click on ads, invite friends, search, have normal log in patterns, etc

Q2) What is reputation?

A user's reputation is value we store for each user. There are many
ways to increase one's reputation (inviting friends, clicking ads,
logging in daily, posting, etc). These things let us know its a real
user that is active. Reputation can also be increased or decreased by
other users. Users can approve or disapprove of other users. For
example, if you get a report abuse, your reputation will down. How much
it goes down will depend on the reputation of the reporter.

The more reputation you have, the more "power" you have. It is possible
to have such high reputation that you can single handedly move/delete
topics or keep users from posting. At this point you are effectively a
"moderator".

Since the power is granted from the community, the individuals with the
power have it because they provide the most good for the community.

Everything will be logged in our system so we can review what went down.

Q3) How do you keep people from creating multiple accounts to increase
or decrease reputation?

see the answer to Q1

Q4) Why are you doing this?

We believe this system is the most ideal way to moderate the community
as we grow. Our goal is to be the largest dating destination in the
world. With that size population, there needs to be a system that can
work as we grow. This works.

We've also done a lot of this in the past and it worked very well.

Q5) When will this happen?

Most likely in late Feb. I'm going on vacation and it will be the first
thing I do when I get back. :)

Mike is working on the more fun stuff for you guys :)
--------------------------------------------------

Please ask questions/comment.

Thanks for listening and hope you are enjoying the site.

these will be much appreciated improvements. people relogging on with
new profile names just to harass forum users is seriously getting old.

I think this can work effectively Vanchau I really do. Looking forward
to seeing it implemented.

good stuff van i think thats a very diplomatic way to go about it:D

after last night, I for one am all for this. hopefully it will help to
make the site a much bettrer place.

IM FAIRLY NEW WITH NO REPUTATION ..LOL..BUT THIS SOUNDS GOOD TO
ME.NOTHING WORSE THEN A PERSON WITH MANY IDENITIES!BUT IT IS THE
INTERNET.DO YOU THINK THIS WILL EVER REALLY BE SOLVED? JUST A QUESTION
THANKS RALPH

ONE MORE THING.HAPPY VACATION VAN! RALPH

Vanchau,
How will it be determined if it is a multiple profile of the same person
or another person on a shared computer? I personally live in a house
where all the pcs in the house are shared occaisionally.

For us to know... :)

Don't worry, if you're using your account from multiple computers in
your home that will be fine.

Van, Great idea...thanks..Great job on improvements and implementing new
ideas to the site...Hope it all works effectively...
Enjoy your vacation!

This just might work. *checks her reputation* :o)

I like it, it will make things a little simplified. Nice way for the
site to regulate itself.

:)

G

nice Vanchau, I think this is the correct way!! well
you guys are doing great work thanks !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sounds cool Van....

I have a question along the lines of Kevins, I logg on via Three
different Computers and my Treo ....will that cause a problem?

Great idea. Hope it works out well here. I guess I probably don't have
much of a reputation either but it's good to know that could come with
time.

Have a great vacation! If you are like most of us, it is well deserved.

Verb

Ok lil ol CCP has a question Vanchua & MIke....what ad's are yall talkin
about?? the ones in our emails or the ones up top? Cuz some of the ones
up top are for other sites I have no desire joining much less looking
at.....

amen to that CCP...c'mon, the soulmate calculator? i don't think so lol

bleh the soulmate calculator bahhahahaha it just makes me giggle...or
the Boston dating thing..dudes I so do not live in Boston lol

I tried that soulmate thing.... it wants my cell phone number... I
REFUSE to give THAT Out to some place that will just sell my # to more
calls I do not want.... *S*

Ad clicking is just one way we know that accounts are real. Any kind of
ad. We don't choose what ads are shown, Google does most of that.