Should Admin Disable The Shoutbox?

[Winston]

Maybe the permission setting didn't work because I didn't purge the cache after making the changes? I'll try to do that now.

I also see a feature to disallow new members and guests and lurkers from seeing the shoutbox altogether. Is that a good idea? What do u all think?

[Pixel--Dude]

Maybe the permission setting didn't work because I didn't purge the cache after making the changes? I'll try to do that now.

I also see a feature to disallow new members and guests and lurkers from seeing the shoutbox altogether. Is that a good idea? What do u all think?

I've just deleted another account spamming the shoutbox with shit. I couldn't even be bothered to read all the shit he was waffling about. Try what you've suggested Winston, if he comes back spamming again then just delete the shoutbox.

[Winston]

I just purged the forum cached. Let me know if the trolls are still posting there after this. They shouldn't be able to. I don't know how they are getting past it. If this doesn't work, we can just disallow new members and guests from seeing the Shoutbox altogether.

[kangarunner]

@Winston I voted no to disabling the shoutbox. This forum is one of the last bastions of free speech. Censoring or banning others goes against that noble purpose. Winston, please allow ALL people to contribute here and let's have a policy of banning members for the most egregious of violations (ex: threats of violence, discussing anything illegal).

Winston, please take a stand for free speech.

[Pixel--Dude]

@Winston I voted no to disabling the shoutbox. This forum is one of the last bastions of free speech. Censoring or banning others goes against that noble purpose. Winston, please allow ALL people to contribute here and let's have a policy of banning members for the most egregious of violations (ex: threats of violence, discussing anything illegal).

Winston, please take a stand for free speech.

Free speech and acting like an unbearable asshole are not the same thing. Nobody is stopping free speech here. But we draw the line at people like Mercer and PAG who act like unbearable assholes! These clowns were given several opportunities to calm their shit down and stop behaving like dickheads, but they can't help themselves because spewing shit is always the nature of an asshole.

They aren't coming back and they don't have free speech here because they are no longer welcome here on the forum. So they'll continue to be banned and censored.

[Winston]

I've disabled the shoutbox for now. Somehow the trolls got back into it even though the permissions settings shouldn't have allowed them to do so.

[Winston]

I just opened a support thread on phpbb in the Shoutbox extention board about this issue. See here:

https://www.phpbb.com/customise/db/exte ... pic/245182

[Winston]

Wait. Let's try something else first. I set the permissions to NEVER instead of just no, for the guests and new users to post in the Shoutbox. Maybe that will work this time, since never is more strict than no. If it doesn't work, then I will disallow guests and new users from even seeing the Shoutbox for the next step. If that fails, then we will disable the Shoutbox entirely. That's the new plan. Hopefully it will help save the Shoutbox until there's no other choice but to disable it. Keep me updated.

[Pixel--Dude]

Wait. Let's try something else first. I set the permissions to NEVER instead of just no, for the guests and new users to post in the Shoutbox. Maybe that will work this time, since never is more strict than no. If it doesn't work, then I will disallow guests and new users from even seeing the Shoutbox for the next step. If that fails, then we will disable the Shoutbox entirely. That's the new plan. Hopefully it will help save the Shoutbox until there's no other choice but to disable it. Keep me updated.

So far so good, @Winston! That asshole Mercer hasn't been back in the shoutbox as of yet since you changed the permissions he may of course just be busy, and it's too much to hope for that he just wandered into the sea.

[Winston]

So no more trolls in the shoutbox? My last fixed worked? If so, great. That means we can keep the shoutbox!

Of course the trolls could always pretend to be legit posters for the first 5 posts, to get past the moderation queue. However that requires patience and the trolls probably don't have that.

[WanderingProtagonist]

So no more trolls in the shoutbox? My last fixed worked? If so, great. That means we can keep the shoutbox!

Of course the trolls could always pretend to be legit posters for the first 5 posts, to get past the moderation queue. However that requires patience and the trolls probably don't have that.

No trolls, only one who post in there often is just me, but I don't troll the SB at all. I usually just post whatever article I come across there vs making a thread for it unless I just feel like getting a conversation started around that specific article I found.