Bad Moderators

[MisterBobbyPin]

I've seem my fair share of (let's just say) brats on the internet. How should a forum respond to one of these brats becoming a moderator on a forum? I think you've should have done your research first, but now you gotta remove them before they get too far.

 

[brad.smith]

I had multiple situations where a Co-admin or Moderator wanted to take over the community as their own and run everythng the way they wanted. That which ended in removal from site before they did any damage,

 

[PGen98]

I had someone I considered a trustworthy person as my co-admin at one point, they hijacked the site, banned my account and deactivated the forum until I paid them $1,000 for "graphics work" he'd done, which consisted of downloading the vB2 graphics kit that they used to have in the members area, changing the background colour of a few buttons and re-uploading them. Fortunately I knew how to get back into my database, change mine and his account roles, sign back in and IP ban him. That taught me to be more careful about who I pick as staff, but when you find out someone isn't who you thought they were, you definitely have to move to sort the situation ASAP. Letting it linger leads to problems.

 

[brad.smith]

I had someone I considered a trustworthy person as my co-admin at one point, they hijacked the site, banned my account and deactivated the forum until I paid them $1,000 for "graphics work" he'd done, which consisted of downloading the vB2 graphics kit that they used to have in the members area, changing the background colour of a few buttons and re-uploading them. Fortunately I knew how to get back into my database, change mine and his account roles, sign back in and IP ban him. That taught me to be more careful about who I pick as staff, but when you find out someone isn't who you thought they were, you definitely have to move to sort the situation ASAP. Letting it linger leads to problems.

Ive had something simular happen, then removed that person from site then he started his own forum copying my setup, Some people have no respect when it comes to this.

 

[PGen98]

Ive had something simular happen, then removed that person from site then he started his own forum copying my setup, Some people have no respect when it comes to this.

Oh I had that happen, as well, I don't know why people think mimicking a site is going to make it better or successful, it's just a copy and that's going to come out when they try and run their site and all they do is copy content.

 

[Nebulous]

I had someone I considered a trustworthy person as my co-admin at one point, they hijacked the site, banned my account and deactivated the forum until I paid them $1,000 for "graphics work" he'd done, which consisted of downloading the vB2 graphics kit that they used to have in the members area, changing the background colour of a few buttons and re-uploading them. Fortunately I knew how to get back into my database, change mine and his account roles, sign back in and IP ban him. That taught me to be more careful about who I pick as staff, but when you find out someone isn't who you thought they were, you definitely have to move to sort the situation ASAP. Letting it linger leads to problems.

Had something similar when I was using MyBB, but the person who banned me was a hacker. Figured out how to take control and override them, but it was a pain. Never really had an issues with admins going rouge though.

 

[PGen98]

Had something similar when I was using MyBB, but the person who banned me was a hacker. Figured out how to take control and override them, but it was a pain. Never really had an issues with admins going rouge though.

It's horrible when it happens, it's your baby, something you've put a lot of time and effort into, and for it just to be taken over by some bad actor is terrible and terrifying! I'm glad you haven't had any issues with bad co-admins, can speak from experience that's not a fun thing . Got an amazing co-admin at the moment in Webby

 

[Nebulous]

It's horrible when it happens, it's your baby, something you've put a lot of time and effort into, and for it just to be taken over by some bad actor is terrible and terrifying! I'm glad you haven't had any issues with bad co-admins, can speak from experience that's not a fun thing . Got an amazing co-admin at the moment in Webby

yeah it’s no fun bit I took it as a learning experience. Now I have better security practices.

For example I never use the same password twice, I have a unique one for every website I’m on. I keep all the passwords stored in an offline program / database.

On this forum I password protect the /admin.php page and /install directory. So basically you need a separate username/password just to get to the screen to input your regular username and password.

Little things like that make me feel more secure I suppose.

webby is awesome!

 

[PGen98]

yeah it’s no fun bit I took it as a learning experience. Now I have better security practices.

Yep, I have 2FA enabled for all staff, as well as restricting access to certain parts of the ACP, so damage can all be undone easily if ever it were.

For example I never use the same password twice, I have a unique one for every website I’m on. I keep all the passwords stored in an offline program / database.

Same here, nothing better than strong passwords on every site!

On this forum I password protect the /admin.php page and /install directory. So basically you need a separate username/password just to get to the screen to input your regular username and password.

Very smart! It can be annoying having to login to login again, but it's worth it.

Little things like that make me feel more secure I suppose.

Yep, 100%

webby is awesome!

He sure is! We luvs you @Webster

 

[Webster]

webby is awesome!

He sure is! We luvs you @Webster

 

[PGen98]

 

[Vaeve]

All of you. Literally all of you are bad. Give the controls to me.

 

[Nebulous]

All of you. Literally all of you are bad. Give the controls to me.

 

[Elvira]

FLUFFY!

 

[Webster]

All of you. Literally all of you are bad. Give the controls to me.

 

[Nebulous]

FLUFFY!

He came through my area, tried to get tix to a stand up show but it was sold out already.

 

[Elvira]

He came through my area, tried to get tix to a stand up show but it was sold out already.

Not surprised with his being able to pack a stadium.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

I set expectations from the get-go.

If my expectations aren't met, I de-mod pretty quickly.

The best way to deal with a bad actor is to take away the tools of power from that bad actor.

I've become pretty picky of who I want to make a moderator these days.

 

[PGen98]

I set expectations from the get-go.

If my expectations aren't met, I de-mod pretty quickly.

The best way to deal with a bad actor is to take away the tools of power from that bad actor.

I've become pretty picky of who I want to make a moderator these days.

Exactly as you should be. They're representing your forum, your baby, it's important they're good ambassadors.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

Exactly as you should be. They're representing your forum, your baby, it's important they're good ambassadors.

Yep, that's kind of how I look at it, too.

You put in most of the work on your forum. Toxic members can ruin a forum but a toxic moderator can ruin your reputation in the niche.

No one wants that.