Do you ever wonder who sits at that computer reading our reports? What makes them decide to send out that email that we've been reported and are now getting chastised? Why they allow more and more and more ads in the answers and even more people posting "questions" that are obviously regarding a money making scheme?
To me it seems we see more and more and more of these "My sister makes money by going to this website...." or "Essay writing.....".
And these questions and comments stay on there and aren't removed nowadays. Why?
I report those comments and questions, don't you too? Why do they remain?
But if "I" comment that I think the person posting the question needs to stop acting like that and take a look at their own reflection when "they" report me for being negative "I" get an email from mamapedia that "I'm" going to be blocked if I don't stop being mean??????WTH? I sit there and think "That person that reported this is an idiot and doesn't have any idea what a grown up is".
That's not an actual situation per say, I've been reported and got that lovely little email a couple of times.
On almost every one of them I got a BUNCH of flowers for my answer AND I had some nice messages stating they felt that way too.
So if we're blunt, maybe could have tempered my answer a bit but still, it's one of those times when that person really did need to see the bigger picture.
TO me it seems like the person sitting behind that computer has a job to do but how they do it is a mystery to me.
Why do YOU think they let the people posting/commenting obvious ads or solicitation stay but send us emails stating we have to follow the rules?
Well, one of the times I was reported I probably should have been. Sad as it is sometimes It doesn't come across like we mean it through the written word.
The other time I was reported I was surprised and went back to read it. I couldn't see anything wrong with my answer and sent back a message about why I thought my answer was in line. It wasn't any big deal one way or the other. On that one I got about 12 flowers and one of the mom's who had seen my answer had messaged me to say my answer meant something to her. So who knows?
Since those 2 reports I've tried to write it all out then go back and proof read what I wrote. I try harder to look at it to see if the person will take what I said defensively or will it offend them so much they won't get the gist of it.
As for the reporting I don't know. I tend to pass over the posts about the sister who's found wealth by working at home. I'd never go to one of the links either. It's silly of them to think we're dumb enough to fall for that. But then again, they fell for it and perhaps they're smart mom's too.
When I worked in a call center for DSL on MAC computers I didn't learn much about the workings of a computer inside. I did learn a bit about how the provider works though.
As far as "I" remember there are basically 2 kinds of internet sold by providers. Static and Dynamic. Static is the same all the time and dynamic is changing. Both have good points. With static a customer has the same IP address all the time. It Is very stable and those using it have more of a constant rate of connectivity. They don't have problems like most of us do. It's usually the higher priced business style provided. Dynamic is always changing, each time a person logs on they get a new IP address. Most providers use this service. what's good about this is that you can't be traced as easily. You come to places like mamapedia and you can make a dozen accounts by having a dozen email addresses and all from the same computer and they can't do anything because you are always getting a new IP address assigned.
It's very hard to follow through with any sort of banning or anything else because they really can't trace you to a particular IP address if you have dynamic.
The only way they can block someone it to block an email address from logging on.
That happened to me one time, or so I thought....I tried several times to log on and it denied me each time. So I went and used one of my alter email addresses, the one I use specifically for online shopping, and made a new account. It wouldn't log on either so I knew it was a glitch that was going on. That was years ago though and I've never had any issues again.
I enjoy seeing all you wonderful parents and hearing things from your life, your point of view, and it makes my world a little better. I take things from each post and answer I read. Thank you everyone.
I've been active on this site for years and I think I've only gotten one or two emails saying I'd been reported for being negative (and I can be very blunt!) Maybe you need to honestly look at how you're responding to questions if you're getting reported so often.
Re the answers that are clearly ads? Meh, I just ignore them. To me they're no different than the pop ups on the side.
i don't think they have time to investigate each report in depth. and the site gets hammered with spammers on school breaks and weekends, so i guess they have a lot to wade through.
but yeah, they seem awfully arbitrary sometimes.
on a slight tangent, i almost wish people would NOT report all the violators. that chick who was heaving and tantrumming yesterday was hella entertaining, and i was looking forward to seeing all the responses today. just report the 'my aunt makes $5000 a week working from home' people, folks!
khairete
S.
I run a message board, on average I get 50 bots a day trying to gain membership, if allowed they would go about doing whatever they are programmed to do. In this case post on every question about their amazing new found wealth. This site is set up that there is no approval so they are on every time they try. At this point the merchant/predator knows this and just has it set to send a new one at a set point. Pathetic really.
It takes me time to go through all of them weeding out potential real people but that is preferred to having a funked up site like this.
Never in my life have I seen a site like this where the admins are so removed from the dynamics of the board. Never! I have been on huge boards! and they still make sure there are moderators on the ground that know the people and feed the information to the admins.
I used to think that this was automatic, many did, that you had X reports and your answer/post was pulled and a stock email, you are such a bad person, sent. Nope, it is humans that care so little that they appear to be machines. They seem to be more concerned with traffic than whether the complaint has merit. So if they see X number of people are upset they pull your post.
So far as traffic goes hasn't anyone else noticed the number of one hit wonders since late last year perhaps the beginning of this year? All questions that have been asked and answered before but usually created traffic. Their user names usually mirrored someone who is active, one question, poof gone. This didn't happen years ago and frankly I think they have hired people to ask these questions to gain traffic/$$$$.
And that brings me to the huge difference between this board and any other large board I belong to, this was created 100% to be a business, to make money. Sure it addressed a need but they saw the need as a commodity that could make money, they have no emotional attachment to this board.
This is as good as it gets here. I wish the advertisers would take a good hard look at this board because it doesn't make them as much money as the numbers would lead them to believe. Anyone who has been here any length of time has put adblock on their computers, the rest of the traffic isn't real.
Veruca, they don't even care enough to properly block a person! ;p
Per your what happened I don't think you get platforms at all. This one does not log IP addresses at all! It does not even have the ability to block anyone. All they do is change your email address and password so you can't log in again. That is why all the posts of "blocked" members are still visible.
I've had responses reported and pulled, but no posts. Sometimes I'm flip. Sigh.
Anyway, twice, I was NOT flip, did not break any specific rules, and still my response was pulled. So I answered the email with an explanation of why my response was wrongly pulled. Both times, admin emailed back, apologized for the misunderstanding, and stated I was free to re post my response.
The line between "blunt" and "flaming" is blurry, and open to interpretation.
The bots are are whole different issue. The site is administratively archaic. If a bot is reported, there may or may not be a live admin at that moment to delete it. Same as any other "reporting". I'd imagine there are programs/soft ware to automatically scan for and block each bot, I'm sure it's not cost effective for the site. Since if members don't click on it, shrug, no harm done.
The site banks on regulars (like you) to keep plugging along making it happen for them. Without regulars......yeah.
:)
You've been threatened with being blocked? Wow! I think I'm one of the more controversial responders in that I'm pretty blunt and have been harassed on here by posters who don't like me, but I've never been threatened by the admin. I don't think the admins actually read the reports closely, but maybe I'm wrong. I just assumed it was in the numbers. One person reports you, your post gets pulled. Multiple people report you, the admins figure there's something to it and threaten you. Jo is the only one I know to actually have been blocked.
Julie - their loss, our gain!
They remove ALL of these ads when we report them. A couple of months ago, MP wrote here addressing the robo spammers. They are trying hard to keep them off of here. They thanked us for reporting, told us that they need for us to report them, even going as far as to say that we only had to report ONE of someone's spams - they are deleting anything that they write, and that gets rid of all of them. (These spammers usually post on 6 or 7 at a time.)
Anything that appears to be an ad is thrown out when we report it. MP sells ads and they don't allow any to come on here for free. Plus, they really want to block these spammers because they don't want every thread to be full of them. The thing is, usually no one is working on the weekends, so it takes a while for weekend ones to be pulled. I think that most of the moderators are living in CA, so they are on Pacific Coast time.
Now, about your answers. It's according to who's working. Some just pull an answer because a couple of people reported it. Some actually read it. Generally, you can't name the person you're fussing at. Sometimes they make sense about what they pull and sometime they really just don't.
By the way, they will never block you. There have been the meanest, nastiest people here whose answers or questions have been pulled a multitude of times, and MP has never blocked them. (Too bad.) They will only block you if you fuss about them too much or threaten to start your own MP. (Big Brother doesn't like competition.) They may even pull this thread because they don't like questions about them on the board. They would rather you write them privately than bring something up in front of everyone. Then they can send their canned response...eyeroll. This even happened one time when someone wrote in asking if anyone else had had trouble buying something that was advertised. Ridiculous.
I used to get "thank you for reporting" emails from Mamapedia but have not gotten one in a very long time. I don't know how it works these days but it does seem arbitrary. I have never gotten anything that says I'm being mean so I don't know why that's going out to some people. That's got to be a tough one to read especially when more flagrant posts are allowed to stand.
I always debate whether to report when it's clear others have done so, but I usually report so that they see there are a number of irritated members. On the other hand, does that overwhelm the administrator?
I do usually post a "you can't do this" response so that others (especially new members who don't know how it works yet) will see that they shouldn't click on the link. On the other hand, I'm very slow to call "troll" if I think someone is new and just confused about what they can and can't do. I've seen some members really lash out at a new person who MAY be a troll but who also MAY be someone legitimately overwhelmed in their life. I tend to try to clarify for that new person how things work lest the Mamapedia administrators delete/block someone who legit but inexperienced. Maybe I'm naive sometimes and am being too kind to someone who is just a troll, but I try to be cautious. There's always time later to get indignant.
I'll be interested to read what other members think about this.
Don't forget this site was founded by a man. And is run by men. This site exists to make money, as most forums/message boards do.
This site is highly automated. There is a pre-set number of clicks for something to be reported/flagged that generate a response or removal.
That's why some of the troll posts that we egg on forever and ever stay up and the ridiculous offensive ones get pulled quickly.
The 'my sister makes...' come from automated troll bots, same principal as the phone calls you get when election time rolls around.
Bottom line, there is no concerned group of women somewhere sharing coffee and experiences hinging on every word from here, hoping to gain insight... or deeply concerned about someones husband not coming home for dinner on time.
Perhaps this comes under the same category as the person who is consistently mean, nasty, downright ugly all the time and then you finally get up the nerve to squeak out some sort of rebuttal and everyone complains about you for a week (ok me LOL). And here's the response all the time: that's JUST THE WAY that they are. I remember one time getting one of those emails and was absolutely floored. I truthfully try to respond in a diplomatic way at all times, simply sharing my own life experiences with anyone I can help out there. Then there are people who are straight out blunt and well, not very nice and I guess there we go again. THAT'S JUST THE WAY THAT THEY ARE. wish I could figure out how to give you a flower Gamma G. I look for your answers all the time.
I think they are just swamped with lot's of spam bots, they can't get it deleted fast enough, they don't/won't/can't come up with a way to block it and there's no one minding the shop on weekends.
I seldom get any notes from anyone official from Mamapedia anymore for any reason good, bad or indifferent.
Considering they can't seem to manage to block rule breakers, I don't think they could block you - just start a new account if they try.
As for advertizes breaking the rule - try not to respond (hard for me to do sometimes) and just report them.
Additional:
There are some real people for monitors but they don't work on weekends.
I'm not even sure if they are paid positions or volunteers.
I bookmarked a moderator awhile ago, and she was active as of last Feb 2014) but I can't tell if she's still working.
http://www.mamapedia.com/public_profile/7872144743051034625
Because they are losers. :-)
*Are* there admins? There must be. I don't want to be reporting all that spam for nothing.
Or is it all computers and no people? Hm - there's a possible story line in that.
Why do they pull some posts that seem not qualified to be disqualified? Or send warning messages (actually, I didn't know they did that)? I guess it's... because it's their site and they get to be the bosses of it. Maybe it's like being on a television talk show: you don't argue with the man or woman who holds the microphone.
Maybe if those invisible people weren't there, the site would be outrageously worse. I don't know.
Like you, I wonder why those ads are allowed to remain there all the time. You'd think they'd be immediately deleted.
To answer your question, I have no idea. I still don't think my post about the movie Earthlings should have been (reported? and) pulled, but it was. Oops, I mentioned it.
This site makes money via advertisers.
That's the only concern of MP.
The "stock" emails? Lip. Service.
You'll never be blocked.
And you can always create as many new accounts as you'd like.
Never confuse the "site" with the members/personality/mission.
I think it's probably more automated than you think; rather than a person sitting there reading our posts all day and deciding what's appropriate or not there's probably an algorithm that automatically sends out those messages when so many users report a response or post. I know I stopped bothering to report the "my sister's brother's cousin makes 8 million..." posts long ago since I don't pay attention to them anymore. If others do that too, then they won't be flagged for further review.
I hate those "my sister makes a million dollars an hour" ads, too! I have reported them, too, but still see them all the time. Mamapedia has no way to know about those scam replys unless someone is reporting it every time. I'd like to think they remove those scam ads once they get the report about it.
I have also received a couple of those "lovely" threatening emails from mamapedia - but it's been a while, pfew! So many people leave the rudest replys, and it doesn't seem like they get reported. Once, I replied to a really bitchy post. It was one sentence, and I was reported and it was pulled! All I said was, "I am glad you are not my friend." Well if the shoe fits!!! It was a mean post, so that was my reply. Oh well.
I am surprised you were ever reported. All of your reply are always very nice and civil.
I know it is frustrating trying to pick the brains of the people who reported you, and of the mamapedia admin team. Don't waste your time - it's not worth the stress!
Lol! Once, my comment was removed after having been reported. I questioned it and was told that after reviewing it they realized that they'd made a mistake and should not have removed it. I asked for them to put it back and was told that they couldn't, nor could I reply a second time. That's how it's set up. It's annoying. I just laugh and go kiss my baby.
