How do you deal with members that always complain on your forum? Do you give them a warning?

Are their complaints legitimate? Ae they on topic?

 

If they’re not on topic and it’s just a bad vibe, ask them if they’re OK. Assume that on the other end of the line is another human being with thoughts, feelings etc. and it just might be that they’re having a bad day/week/month/year.

 

The real question is whether it is fundamentally disruptive. If so… consider moderation but probably don’t reach for it as the first, last and only measure.

It depends on why they're complaining. If they're complaining about staff decisions after they got in trouble for breaking a rule, then I will give them a warning and possibly suspend them. If it's for something else I would listen to them to see what's going on, and perhaps then I could help them with whatever is bothering them.

I had one particular member on my forum that used to cause me a real headache when he was having a "bad day". He'd commit several intentional low-level rule breaches, wait for a moderator to take action against him, and then submit a complaint/appeal about the moderation decision and start quoting aspects of law and everything.

 

I reached out to him on one of the first occasions he did this (when our forum was still relatively small) and managed to discover that he was suffering with bipolar disorder, and when he did these things usually he was in the middle of an episode and couldn't really help himself.

 

In the end, because the guy was actually a really good member and a great contributor to our site when he was fit and well, I came up with a novel solution. I had a quick plugin created that'd allow staff to "switch off" this member's posts. So essentially, when we recognised he was having a bad time, we'd "switch him off". He wouldn't be banned, and he'd know no different, but his new posts would only be viewable to staff while he had this status set, which generally avoided problems. I don't think he ever worked out what we did in the end, and we rarely had problems from him after this. (apart from the one time he PM'd me demanding to know why I'd contacted the devil about his posts...)

In the end, because the guy was actually a really good member and a great contributor to our site when he was fit and well, I came up with a novel solution. I had a quick plugin created that'd allow staff to "switch off" this member's posts. So essentially, when we recognised he was having a bad time, we'd "switch him off". He wouldn't be banned, and he'd know no different, but his new posts would only be viewable to staff while he had this status set, which generally avoided problems. I don't think he ever worked out what we did in the end, and we rarely had problems from him after this. (apart from the one time he PM'd me demanding to know why I'd contacted the devil about his posts...)

That is actually brilliant.

i had one member come on and complain about everything but he only had a few posts. i didnt even stress it after that.

How do you deal with members that always complain on your forum? Do you give them a warning?

What would the warning be? Stop voicing your concerns and opinions or else? Lol :P

What would the warning be? Stop voicing your concerns and opinions or else? Lol :P

They would be gone right after that comment lols.

Are their complaints legitimate? Ae they on topic?

I like this response.

 

If the complaints are legit, they might be the best thing for your community.

 

If they're just negative Nancy about everything, it's best to cut them out because they're going to eventually turn the community into a toxic cesspool.

 

I have even implemented rules against being constantly negative.

 

Some people are miserable and that's just who they are.

What would the warning be? Stop voicing your concerns and opinions or else? Lol :P

I had members do a little worse than complain like curse at me. I give them a warning expecting them not to comply, but I like to give at least a chance first for a member to change their attitude.

I had members do a little worse than complain like curse at me. I give them a warning expecting them not to comply, but I like to give at least a chance first for a member to change their attitude.

 

Giving opportunities to improve their behavior is always the best way to go.

Giving opportunities to improve their behavior is always the best way to go.

It they act out again, it doesn't hurt the forum to ban them, but I've also had members I've unbanned that started to contribute.

What were they complaining about?