on expatica, check this out, talk about tough cookies!

Dear Readers:
A few weeks ago, in response to continued illegal activities on our forums, we posted a notice for all our readers. At the same time, we took steps to stop the most serious abusers from using our forum, including notifying their employers of their activities. This has been met with some success, and we hope you've noticed that some of the worst offenders are, for the moment, gone. Others are being investigated by their employers and the police, and will be acted upon when sufficient evidence is collected.

We would very much like to keep these forums open, as we believe in the necessity of free speech in a democratic society. The level of abuse, however, has made it difficult to do so.

We do not monitor the forums for two reasons. The first is that we simply do not have the personnel to monitor over 1,000 posts per day. The second is that a monitoring policy that satisfies everyone is impossible. We would quickly be accused of censorship by some and laxity by others; it's a no-win situation. Volunteer monitors must be trained and managed, and from the experience of other sites, they generate an entirely new set of issues.

Almost every method of online identification is flawed and can easily be circumvented. The solution we have come up with — the only one which offers us a way to catch the worst offenders — is to charge a nominal fee for using the forums, thereby collecting credit card details which include a real name. In this way, we would be able to quickly remove those posting offensive comments.

We understand the intrusiveness of this solution, and therefore believe it appropriate to ask for our readers' opinions before making a final decision. You can help us by answering the following voting question:

Which of the following do you agree with?

** I support Expatica charging EUR 1.00 for unlimited forum use. This will allow Expatica to quickly track down abusive posters and remove them from the system by referring to the credit card details when necessary. (The fee will be waived for Expatica Passport members).

** I think the forums should stay the way they are, open and unmoderated.



We will publish the results of this poll and report back on our progress. Thank you for helping us keep our forums a lively and intelligent place for open discussion.

The Expatica Team

**********

so folks, what do you think of this?

Its a thought. Something does need to be done.

A problem I have with a "fee" is you pay for providing advice to people. Years ago Prodigy offered unlimited monthly use for a fixed fee. They changed to a limited number of monthly hours with a charge for additional hours used. I calculated that my additional monthly cost, based on average use, would have been $60. Needless to say I stopped using the NY forum when the alloted time ran out and soon thereafter canceled the service.

As I posted on the Europe forum (where you also posted this), why is a fee the only alternative to unmonitored open forum? What happened to the idea of registration?

they need to do something...some of the people who post here are disgusting

Gee, Mike, either you or someone posting as you, has been one of the worst offenders in the past.

I have been sarcastic many times but rarely use profanity...

many others post under my name for some reason

Somehow I doubt that, Mike: here is a post from another thread to your "credit" just five minutes before your first post here:

Author: Mike Hocksbigg ([email protected])
Date: 06/22/2002, 10:39 am
Message: they notice the bulge in my pants for starters

What illegal activities have been going on? I wouldn't mind a small fee to keep out this sort of activity. I've been attacked several times from mean spirited people on my comments or question.

Just a little tidbit about what can happen if you're registered on a forum...

A friend of mine was a frequent poster on a forum (related to a certain TV show) and he was abusive with his words, and got "kicked off" the board. When he tried to go on again with a different username, his employer (because it was on his office computer) was contacted about his activities. The employer went in and checked his internet usage, and it amounted to 5 hours or more a day! He was fired a few days ago.

With all the abuse I see on this site, I wouldn't mind a few nasty people getting banned...or canned. I'm all for registration. I don't understand why there has to be a fee, though.

guilty of a little humor....hardly profane though

That's not particularly humorous, Mike, and I suspect a number of people might find it objectionable -- and exactly the sort of throw-away sophomoric comments a lot of people would just as soon have filtered out.

I think the nominal fee only relates to the fact that they would then have to take your credit card info, which presumably means a true identification, instead of people making up 30 different user names, to register...

maybe as objectionable as some of your posts that badger anyone asking repetitive questions?

Making any forum fee based would quickly make it fall to its death. Forums are not regular web sites, there is no staff doing reviews or write-ups. It's the collective knowledge of the users who make a forum useful or perhaps even entertaining. Destroy the user base and you end up with nothing. Sooner or later, another site will open up that is free. Most users here like to save money. Do you see any posts asking for advice on what the most expensive travel destination is?