Banning

[sakuchan]

Okay..since there isn't a pre sales forum here..

How good is the banning system? Can you ban usernames, IPs, e-mails, etc?

Another related question.. do you guys use your forum hosted with this software as a community forum? Meaning members from around the world can register and talk about whatever they'd like.

Or do ya use it as a company related forum board?

[#2]

Yes you can ban by username, IP address, email, user ID, or any combination and you can set bans to be indefinite or for a specific period of time.   It's reasonably robust.

We use the software to host a set of forums that are generally related to literature, as we sell books, though some discussion boards are a little more open, topic-wise.    

[#3]

Yes, but a forum like yours wouldn't require as much moderation as the open discussion forums. General community forums..

As long as members follow the forums rules, I wouldn't see a reason to ban them.

[#4]

sakuchan,

We've found the ban functions to be flexible and robust as well, but use it as a last resort.   Our community is open to a world wide audience, reflective of our customer base.  Our discussions are focused on our business rather than freely associative discussions.

We added a location field in our registration process to easily allow members to keep up with where one another may be participating from,  (this is displayed under their name, rank, and avatar) and this has been helpful in several ways:

1) Allowing company and community participants to offer advice and suggestions that may be country specific - phone numbers to call, specific websites to visit, ways to engage the company in the course of normal operations, sales, service ect without having to first ask where a member is from.

2) Provides opportunity for discovery as members can be alerted to potential cultural or other engagement considerations.  It also helps engender some additional understanding of what another member has written, when English may not be a primary language and what might be otherwise misunderstood as rude or direct comments may simply be a reflection of language.   The emoticons can help a lot on this.

3) Provides consideration of relative time zones and when further responses are likely.

In terms of moderation, I think that a well thought out set of participation rules, and pragmatic avoidance of potentially divisive issues of politics and religion keep most discussions fairly productive and working in an orderly fashion.

Could you tell us more about some of your thoughts in advance of your community?   Do you foresee moderation of your community to be particularly challenging due to subject and scope?    How can we better answer your questions?

Best regards,

Mark

[#5]

Also, besides banning..

Would you think this software would fit a web hosting provider?

Giving away web hosting at a reasonable price..

Customers and the staff could get this web hosting..

Also, is this software good for just a video gaming type forum?

[#6]

The lithium forums are used in all community types. Here is a customer list: http://www.lithium.com/customers/.

I would say a web hosting provider could certainly use Lithium. You could set it up as a "support" forum, and users can visit to help one another with the many questions that are involved with installing and running a website.

[#7]

Still don't understand why one can't just buy this software on the main site.

[BrianO Lithium Oracle · Accepted solution]

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sakuchan wrote:

Still don't understand why one can't just buy this software on the main site.

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sakuchan,

Lithium provides solutions on a Service as a Sofware model (SaaS). In other words, you can't simply purchase our suite in a box like other software. We host and maintain the software for our customers, which reduces the need for upkeep and maintenance.

If you are interested in partnering with Lithium to deploy a community for you, you can inquire here.

Hope that answers your question.

[#9]

I've done so before. It doesn't seem to even work really.

[#10]

Sakuchan,

Could you tell us a bit more about what you are trying to accomplish?   Since this thread was originally about how the Lithium platform supports banning, perhaps it would be best if you started a new thread explaining a bit about your situation, your needs, and then members of this community may be able to provide some suggestions to you.

From your other postings, it seems that you want to set up your own forum and are exploring different platforms to do this.  Is this the case?

Best regards,

Mark

[#11]

Yep, it is.

And you never get an answer from anyone so yeah..