We could ban ips on the old UBB forums but we haven't had that ability since switching to IPB in 2004. We can request ip bans but an admin has to do it.

The spambot filter and CAPTCHA does block most ad spam but you're right that they still get through on occasion. The filter looks at the first one or two posts made by an account and if it has lots of links it's made invisible (which automatically flags it for us). Occasionally someone's first post is a bunch of screen shots and we have to re-enable it but usually it only hides the trash. For a while there we were banning ad bots a few times a week but lately it hasn't been much of a problem.

Personally I think it's the coffee, tea and cookies and the awesome company that comes to visit us.

ea I have to say its the best forum I have found.All other are just free for alls with an occasional mod appearing.

I think of it like a country. BGSF is a proud nation with a large population and strict government. Citizenship is given freely but at a cost. The citizen is asked not to break any of the country's rules that are written in stone on every city street, or they will be given warnings and repeat offenders will be deported. The law enforcement officers and heads of state are kind and fun to be around but cross them and you are punished. The country's population are more of a close knit community. New citizens are welcomed warmly. There is a rich culture in BGSF, citizens enjoy talking mostly but there is a national sport named werewolf a lot of good citizens enjoy. The community are caring to one another, giving advice and help to each other. At times even the law enforcement can be very warm and close friends with some citizens. The country works very well and with its continuing increase of population the nation thrives under the fun but strict government.

I am proud to be a citizen of such a great Nation among others.

Hungry Donner definitely said it right.

While the mods do a great job and rule with a somewhat cushy fist that both loving caresses its members whilst crushing the life out of the worst offenders, the community itself is what drives this overall sense of productivity, friendliness, and cooperation. If someone comes in that doesn't follow this trend, they either find a way to get themselves banned, or the community just doesn't deal with them, so much so they leave. The community itself is very good at handling trolls, flamers, and the like. It simply has to do with a level of maturity that's rare for other forums.

The thing is, however, I'm just not sure why Bethesda's forums got this community in the first place. Maybe Bethesda's games just draw a friendly crowd, as compared to say, competitive games and their respective forums.

For me I'm glad that the moderators keeps us on a tight lease; helps keep the undesirables out and allows for civility in a otherwise chaotic sea of chaos that is the internet.

Though small forums does have a place for more laxed rules providing the moderator ratio to regular members is kept to a good level.

Hungry donner , sorry about that part of naming another forum by name . Now that i think about it it does fall under one of the rules iirc ,again forgive me moderator for i have sinned, (lol) it will not happen again . I think thats where the other forum was going wrong they let to much slide from the start. And thats why i t was so bad its just IMO And i will remove the name right now from the post ok .

Also its funny someone mentioned Rough he /she was the first person to answer a question i had about he forum. Afeeter my first posting that warn thing showed up and i thought i had already did something wrong . And it was my very first thread lol. I was worry for a little bit till Rough explained it to me .

EDIT i removed the other forum name ,but it diddnt change it in the ones where people quoted me . if a moderator can change them feel free to do so .

The thing is, this forum is not really that strict.
This is a rather nice forum.

I have seen much worse.

Yeah, this is a good forum. Yes, the moderators can ban people, but hey, some people deserve it.
They are all fair and impartial here, which is a heck of a rarity on the Internet.

Honestly, I don't really consider the members here any better than the members on the two other major forums I frequent. Maybe it is because I don't use the "popular" forums or anything like that, but I've honestly never really ran into one of those forums which are horrible trash full of trolls.

and honestly I contribute most of the good behavior on this forum to compliance with the rules and banned topics.

Another reason I think BGSF is a great site is because every new person gets a complimentary http://img82.imageshack.us/img82/7906/fishystick2nq.jpg

I can think of three right off the top of my head.

I still say these forums are civil due to the iron hands of the mods.

Oh, I can think of some off the top of my head too, but I just never have used them There are plenty of at least as well behaved forums out there, at least from my own perspective and experience

and agreed. Though i am a a bit jealous because I want iron hands

Surprisingly, one of the more civil boars I can think of is actually the traditional games section of *site that shall not be named*. YOU all know what I'm talking about.

The folks over there are actually pretty helpful if you get into thick discussion, and they have a really good tendency to turn troll threads into pure gold. It's almost magical.

The mods enforcing rules strongly here is part of the reason, yet at the same time the members get it drilled in their heads so much the rules self perpetuate themselves in our habits. You just learn to never touch certain topics or ideas with a 10 foot pole.

It's easier for them to moderate when they're plugged into Bethesda's super computer.

Only one ever escaped and that's cause she can fly.

oh Your talking about /v/ right? That is what you are talking about if I guess right. Yea I heard it is good there. And yes there is topics we don't touch and hope never to touch heck I won't even mention them just thinking of the side affects.

I think this has a bit to do with it all or what makes us a bit different. We moderators try hard to take the time when we see someone is new to educate them rather than jump down their throats. We often send a pm first before we ever give them a warning unless it's just over the top bad. We try to do so in a thread as well. Often we will quote a rule and link it so folks can see they broke a rule. We have some rules that may seem fairly odd when one first arrives and different from what you would expect on a forum but all of those rules have a history and a reason for being a rule. And with the moderators taking the time to explain things or to send a pm to someone new or to let folks know about the rule and linking to the rules so often the members that have been here follow suit and also assist in pointing it out or with reporting things for us to take care of.

So again, it comes back to the members who help keep things in order by setting examples and educating and reporting.

No you don't. They have no feeling, and once one of my iron hands was resting on the stove burner... and of course I didn't feel it. So I went to pet Scout instead of taking a troll soul, and now she has a hand shaped section of missing fur from the burn.

The community here is absolutely the big reason why this forum remains a nice place to hang out. That may well have to do with the types of games gamesas develoops and the type of gamers it attracts. One of the things that I find really cool is the really wide range of ages of the members - it brings a lot of different perspectives to different issues.

Speaking of rules, I remember when there was this obsession with "I am not funny car drives you". HA! I bet that gets censored. Basically there was an overload of people using this Russian phrase.

I'm still curious as to what all is included in the auto censor.

I just snapped the skip song button on my keyboard just thinking of "them".

Enough no more mention of that "place"
I'd say just look at the rules before posting , wish I knew you couldn't have an alternate account before making a second one. Even something small as that can get you warning ......so watch yourself.

I think /v and /b and everything else on that forum aren't nice.
So, I don't think he was talking about them.

Saying that forum is nice is like saying Bill Gates owns Linux. It's just not true.
Although, Windows 95 was created on a Linux OS.

Anyhow, this forum is nice, that's the big thing.

Yep, and I am still friends with the fellow that sort of started all that. He doesn't come here anymore or if he does he uses an alt but he is one of my facebook friends and I occasionally drop by another forum where he goes. He deserved a spanking since he had everyone spamming it everywhere until it was censored. I wasn't a moderator then.

When I am not funny spam bans you.

:lol:

Yep, still censored. :rofl:

The fact that this is the friendliest forum I've ever been to is the reason it's one of the 2 forums I regularly visit!

Toodles, the teapot is boiling!

Speaking of the censor, they still need to bring back the old censors. The people that understand :spotted owl: and noble seamstress are getting far too few.

Also, the Russian Reversal censor is 10x funnier than any of the jokes ever were.