MyBB Community Forums

From time to time, MyBB administrators will inadvertently add a moderator to their forums that goes rogue and abuses their position. In this thread, I'll outline some tips for you if you ever encounter a "Rogue Moderator".

This guide is for the "not so good" administrators of MyBB Forums: people like labrocca, and several others are not likely to benefit from the content in here

1) Demote them straight away.
Nobody will want to be a part of a forum that has an owner support abusive mods. Demoting an abusive moderator straight away is the best thing to do.

2) Give out a 50 point warning.
By giving out such a high warning level, you're showing that you mean business and that such abuse isn't tolerated on your site.

On a site I admin, someone went power crazy and spammed the warning system. I managed to get rid of that mod and gave out a warning of similar level immediately.

3) Announce the demotion
Always let the members of your forum know that the mod has been demoted, and give the reasons as to why (although mods will likely have left some impression on your community). To prevent the mod you've demoted from posting in the thread, close it. Although this might prevent people from commenting in your thread, at least you'll be safe somewhat from abuse.

4) If more abuse occurs, give a ban
If the mod continues to break your rules, spam you, spam others and so on, the thing to do is to immediately give a permanent ban. Nobody wants idiots like this spamming up your site in retaliation for being demoted.

Further more, you should ignore any kind of "power" demands the mod might send to you via MSN, AIM, or email. Likely, the user just wants the position to abuse it and ruin your site.

Lastly, if the user continues to create havoc, then I would suggest installing a Proxy Killer plugin to prevent him using proxies to get on your site. I'd also ban his IP range from viewing your site.

5) Restore a DB Backup
If you are unlucky to have a moderator that deleted all your content, then you'll need to restore the latest copy of your database. If you don't have one, you're screwed and lost a lot of content.

If you didn't understand a word of the above tips, then just do this:
Ban the moderator!

Hopefully, this helped and I'll be glad to hear feedback and suggestions in this thread

1. Obviously.
2. Why warn them? You should just ban them period. Abuse of moderation is a serious problem. And you're defining this as a "rogue" moderator.
3. I don't bother. I just remove staff and move on. Who needs the extra drama. Even if threads are started I'm likely to close the thread. Most rogue staff do it for the lulz and want the attention. Don't give it to them. They are trying to create trouble. Remove them, close the account, and move on. This let's them know their actions didn't effect you and were meaningless.
4. No...ban immediately. Someone that abuses mod privs is never going to be a good member.

IMHO never give moderation to anyone that asks for it. NEVER.

You know that you can get members that are good as members but suck at moderating and abuse the position.

Thanks for the comments.

(2010-09-20, 08:56 PM)Kyuubi Wrote: [ -> ]From time to time, MyBB administrators will inadvertently add a moderator to their forums that goes rogue and abuses their position. In this thread, I'll outline some tips for you if you ever encounter a "Rogue Moderator".

This guide is for the "not so good" administrators of MyBB Forums: people like labrocca, and several others are not likely to benefit from the content in here

That shot at Labrocca was uncalled for (Even if he and I don't care for eachother much.)!

And why not just do what Labrocca did and use a DB backup and ban the moderator?

(2010-09-22, 12:04 AM)Claire Wrote: [ -> ]

(2010-09-20, 08:56 PM)Kyuubi Wrote: [ -> ]From time to time, MyBB administrators will inadvertently add a moderator to their forums that goes rogue and abuses their position. In this thread, I'll outline some tips for you if you ever encounter a "Rogue Moderator".

This guide is for the "not so good" administrators of MyBB Forums: people like labrocca, and several others are not likely to benefit from the content in here

That shot at Labrocca was uncalled for (Even if he and I don't care for eachother much.)!

And why not just do what Labrocca did and use a DB backup and ban the moderator?

???
I didn't attack labrocca, I just mentioned him as an example. God, people are so jumpy here.....

And I'll add that in.

(2010-09-20, 10:00 PM)labrocca Wrote: [ -> ]1. Obviously.
2. Why warn them? You should just ban them period. Abuse of moderation is a serious problem. And you're defining this as a "rogue" moderator.
3. I don't bother. I just remove staff and move on. Who needs the extra drama. Even if threads are started I'm likely to close the thread. Most rogue staff do it for the lulz and want the attention. Don't give it to them. They are trying to create trouble. Remove them, close the account, and move on. This let's them know their actions didn't effect you and were meaningless.
4. No...ban immediately. Someone that abuses mod privs is never going to be a good member.

IMHO never give moderation to anyone that asks for it. NEVER.

Agree with all of this 100%, especially the last part. I always approach people I want to be staff. If they ask to be, I likely don't want them.

Quote:IMHO never give moderation to anyone that asks for it. NEVER.

Quote:IMHO never give powers to anyone that ask for it. NEVER

Fixed

(2010-09-20, 10:00 PM)labrocca Wrote: [ -> ]1. Obviously.
2. Why warn them? You should just ban them period. Abuse of moderation is a serious problem. And you're defining this as a "rogue" moderator.
3. I don't bother. I just remove staff and move on. Who needs the extra drama. Even if threads are started I'm likely to close the thread. Most rogue staff do it for the lulz and want the attention. Don't give it to them. They are trying to create trouble. Remove them, close the account, and move on. This let's them know their actions didn't effect you and were meaningless.
4. No...ban immediately. Someone that abuses mod privs is never going to be a good member.

IMHO never give moderation to anyone that asks for it. NEVER.

This. If this post isn't common sense, I don't know what is.

It might be common sense but often a rogue moderator causes an emotional response from the admin and then logic is thrown out the window. The rogue moderator might have seemed like a friend even. I avoid this false sense of friendship with my staff. I might like them and certainly give them enough trust to be on staff but if you think someone on the internet who you've never met is your friend then you're mistaken.

(2010-09-23, 11:30 PM)labrocca Wrote: [ -> ]I might like them and certainly give them enough trust to be on staff but if you think someone on the internet who you've never met is your friend then you're mistaken.

aaaaand now i disagree