Tackling Trolls

by Aceviper Sun 21 Mar - 16:53

Well, I'm not exactly the Founder of my forum - just a friend of the founder who made me admin. But that's not the point. Well, we have this idiot Troll who we don't exactly wish to ban. So what we decided to do, was to put him in another Group by himself and just let him be able to view the entire forum, yet at the same time disable his permissions and make him unable to post. Something parallel to what happened to Tantalus in Greek Mythology.

Most famously, Tantalus offered up his son, Pelops, as a sacrifice to the gods. He cut Pelops up, boiled him, and served him up as food for the gods. The gods were said to be aware of his plan for their feast, so they didn't touch the offering; only Demeter, distraught by the loss of her daughter, Persephone, did not realize what it was and ate part of the boy's shoulder. Clotho, one of the three Fates, ordered by Zeus, brought the boy to life again (she collected the parts of the body and boiled them in a sacred cauldron), rebuilding his shoulder with one wrought of ivory made by Hephaestus and presented by Demeter. The revived Pelops was kidnapped by Poseidon and taken to Olympus. Later, Zeus threw Pelops out of Olympus due to his anger at Tantalus. The Greeks of classical times claimed to be horrified by Tantalus's doings; cannibalism, human sacrifice and infanticide were atrocities and taboo.

Tantalus's punishment for his act, now a proverbial term for temptation without satisfaction (the source of the English word "tantalise" - US "tantalize"), was to stand in a pool of water beneath a fruit tree with low branches. Whenever he reached for the fruit, the branches raised his intended meal from his grasp. Whenever he bent down to get a drink, the water receded before he could get any. Over his head towers a threatening stone, like that of Sisyphus.

So I tried editing his permissions via the "Forum Permisson Control" but it didn't really help since if "Member" is selected, all Groups are automatically selected. I was wondering if someone could help me do what I am unable to perform. (That is, if you have understood what I'm asking for). Like I mentioned earlier, we don't want to ban him - just sort of "punish" him...

by finnysgirl Sun 21 Mar - 17:22

so what your saying is you just want him to be able to NOT post at all right?

by Aceviper Mon 22 Mar - 11:17

Yes, that is what I'm saying. Any help?

by BloomStellaFlora Mon 22 Mar - 11:40

Aceviper wrote:Yes, that is what I'm saying. Any help?

I want to help but I don't understand what you mean, Aceviper.

by Aceviper Mon 22 Mar - 13:28

-_- *facepalm*

Any Forumotion Team help?

*looks in the general direction of the residing Forumotion Team*

by oliverio Mon 22 Mar - 16:05

I think I understand...

You want him to be able to view as a member but not contribute.

I think it might be possible with enough tinkering of group preferences in each category to set up some sort of temporary sin bin that prevents users in that group from posting, but I can't help but think a far easier option would be to just give him a temp ban?

by Aceviper Mon 22 Mar - 16:19

oliverio wrote:I think I understand...

You want him to be able to view as a member but not contribute.

I think it might be possible with enough tinkering of group preferences in each category to set up some sort of temporary sin bin that prevents users in that group from posting, but I can't help but think a far easier option would be to just give him a temp ban?

Temp ban is what I wanted to do - but what I want to do is make him suffer a bit XD

Anyway, I got an idea. I made a Group and activated Auto Subscribe for that group (say, called "Forum Members"). So all new members joining will automatically move into that group. Then, by arranging group preference, I can make it such that the Troll Group can't do anything I wish them not to be able to do. Thanks for spending time to pass by my thread Smile