How 5 Star Affiliate Marketing Forums Work

[Larwee]

This thread will provide you with lots of information about what goes on with the 5 Star Forums. I won't be revealing any confidential information, but a few things you might be curious about will be discussed.

I have had a lot of private message correspondence with members which have made me aware that there are many things members would like to know about 5 Star. This thread will help you to have a better understanding of the 5 Star Affiliate Marketing Forums.

[Larwee]

I don't like the Infraction system. Actually it is called the User Infraction System. A number of communities use it to automate management of members who do things that they shouldn't.

An infraction is when a member does something they shouldn't. Each infraction has a point value that is given to a user. At certain levels, users are given infraction groups. The infraction groups restrict the permissions of the users.

It is also possible to have automatic bans with the User Infraction System with the bans being based either on points or the number of infractions the member has.

At 5 Star we believe human judgement works a lot better than automation in deciding how to deal with a member who does something wrong or when to ban members.

It is possible to ban a member for a certain period of time or permanently whether the infraction system is used or not.

Our policy here at 5 Star is to ban a member permanently. If we feel there is a reason a member should be banned, then we don't want that member back again.

Some people do things that leave no choice but to ban them right away. Others might do something in which we feel a warning is appropriate. There are times when a member does something wrong that we feel is an honest mistake or they just didn't understand what they were doing. We help them by explaining matters to them. In all cases, it is human judgement that makes the decision. There is no automated banning.

If a member reads the rules and/or uses common sense they usually aren't going to have any problems.

[Larwee]

We are interested in your suggestions.

How do you think we could make the 5 Star Forums better?

Would you like to see any changes or new features?

Is there something you dislike about the 5 Star Affiliate Marketing Forums?

Do you have any helpful ideas?

We are interested in your ideas and suggestions. Whenever you have any, you may post them in our Suggestions Thread.

Here is the link to the Ideas or Suggestions Thread http://affiliate-marketing-forums.5s...ggestions.html

[Larwee]

A couple users from other communities that have the User Reputation system have said they like it and wanted to know why it isn't used at 5 Star.

With the User Reputation system members can leave comments about the posts made by other members. This contributes to their overall reputation.

There can be various reputation levels and titles for those levels. The member is then given a reputation title when they reach a particular reputation level.

Users can gain or lose reputation depending on how their posts are scored by other members who are using the User Reputation system. Members can give or take away points by approving or disapproving a particular post. The system is subject to abuse.

The User Reputation system can cause bad feelings among members and has the potential to lead to feuds. While the reputation system can be set to anonymous, it is still subject to abuse to cause members to either gain or lose reputation. It can cause more harm than good.

We do not have any plans at the present time to use the User Reputation system at 5 Star.

[Larwee]

If you want to contact any of the forum leaders of 5 Star Affiliate Marketing Forums there are several ways to locate them and contact them.

One way to do this makes it easy because it has all the forum leaders in one place. You can find it on the forum homepage by scrolling down until you see "View Forum Leaders." Then click and you will see the full list that makes it easy for you contact any of them.

Here is a link to the listing of forum leaders http://affiliate-marketing-forums.5s...showgroups.php

[Larwee]

Some members have asked me a few questions about private messages during some private message discussions.

A couple have asked if it was possible to increase the number of messages they can store.

It is possible but there is no real need to do so at this time. Right now members are allowed 50 messages. That is the total of your inbox and sent messages. When you reach 50 you would need to delete some of your messages.

You can also download all private messages as: XML | CSV | Text

There are very few members near 50, so at the present time it looks as if 50 is enough for most members. We will increase it if it reaches a point where it looks as if there are a lot of members who need to be allowed more than 50.

[Larwee]

I have a lot of private message correspondence with members. Often this involves members who have done something they should not have done.

A number of times I've been told by members that they don't want to get banned and they wanted to know how to avoid being banned or what would cause a member to get banned.

I hate to ban members. I really wish it were possible to never need to ban a member. However it is just something that must be done at times.

There are some situations where there is just no choice but to ban the member because the rules violation is serious and/or it is obvious that they just don't care and feel they can do anything they want no matter what the rules say. Spam posters would be one example.

Some communities are too stict and will ban members for the slightest violation of any rule. That may not be the best way to do things in every situation.

I mentioned in an earlier post in this thread that we don't use infractions and there are no automated bannings. We use human judgement and common sense.

If a member makes what is felt to be an honest mistake, even though it might be something that is against the rules, that doesn't mean the person will be banned. It depends on what was done. When possible we like to work with members to help them better understand the rules and what they should and shouldn't do so they can avoid making the same or similar mistakes in the future.

This doesn't mean that we allow members to get away with anything they want or that they can violate the rules and not receive warnings or get banned.

All that we ask is for our 5 Star members to try to do their very best to be good members and to be cooperative when informed that they have done something wrong. If you do these things and don't make any flagrant rules violations, you probably don't need to be too concerned about being banned.

But please don't test just to see how much you can get away with. You probably won't get very far.

[Larwee]

As a 5 Star member, you are entitled to a signature. Your signature is displayed in the signature section at the bottom of every post you make. If you don't have one and you want one, you can use the Control Panel to setup your signature. You will see it called both the User CP and the Control Panel.

You may not say or do anything to get people to notice your signature. You should not say such things as: check my signature, see the link in my signature, click the link in my signature. In other words, do not talk about your signature in your post.

There are some rules for signature use and some members make mistakes at times. Most of these mistakes are because the member didn't know the rules.

The most common mistakes are: Signatures that have too many lines, signatures with too many links and signatures containing images. Here are the current signature rules:

Signature Restrictions:
• Maximum length: 5 lines (breaks between lines count as lines)
• Maximum font size permitted is size 2
• No images or image files allowed
• No cookie dropping allowed
• No more than 3 links per signature
• No re-directs in signatures. Only direct links. Just like the search engines we want our users to only end up at sites they intend to go to with no tricks.

• CERTAIN TYPES OF SITES ARE PROHIBITED IN SIGNATURES or ANYWHERE ELSE ON THE FORUM:
NO GAMBLING, ONLINE PHARMACIES OR ANYTHING THAT DEALS WITH MEDICAL PRESCRIPTIONS, ADULT, ACTIVE X, ADWARE, DISHONEST LINKS, ANYTHING ILLEGAL or ANYTHING ELSE WE DEEM UNETHICAL or INAPPROPRIATE.

• NOTE: Administrators, moderators, 5 Star clients and paid forum sponsors may have longer signatures

Signatures that don't fully comply are fairly common. We work with members to get them corrected.

I read every post and every signature. I check every link in signatures. So, I am the person who handles most of the signature problems.

There are people who spam and think they can get away with it. Most members know that we take care of the problem posts.

There are also people who try to do things with signatures that they know they shouldn't. We want it known that signatures are also checked. They aren't only checked once and never checked again. Changes are made in signatures. A member could have a signature that is in compliance at one time but not in compliance later. Signatures and links in signatures are checked on a regular basis to try to keep them in compliance with the rules.

Rules are necessary. But we don't want rules to get in the way of having a useful community. However rules violations which are ignored can lower the quality of a community.

If you are trying to be a good member and you happen to make an innocent mistake, we understand and we will work with you to resolve it. However, we handle matters a lot differently when it involves people who simply don't care.

[Larwee]

A constant problem is people linking to their own site or blog in a post, or posting the domain name. Some members don't know they are doing anything wrong, others sometimes just forget and there are those who do it on purpose to try to get away with it.

You may only link to your site or blog in The Marketplace Forums, when needed, according to the rules of any particular forum in The Marketplace Forums.

Link drops (links to your own site) or name drops (mysite.com without linking) are prohibited in ALL discussion forums. There are no exceptions to any member for any reason.

[Larwee]

A few people have asked me how we select moderators for 5 Star Affiliate Marketing Forums.

First, you don't ask to become a moderator.

Secondly, we don't ask people to apply to become a moderator.

We look for certain things in 5 Star members. When we need a new moderator we will contact a person we feel has what it takes to be a moderator and we will ask them if they are interested in being a moderator.

They will then be made a moderator if they are interested and we are satisfied with them.