Only once and it fell apart when bickering and infighting became publicly acceptable.
Quite frankly I think this is the best administered board I've ever been on. The mods do not interact with the general populace and, when they see an infraction, they merely delete the post, thread, or replace it with 'see rule #whatever. Keep in mind this is not a kissa## to HTC I just think they do a good job of running the board and the game in general. Not perfect but pretty good overall.
I have, in fact, linked other board admins to this site as an example of how to moderate boards.
My personal rules of board behavior is when it's almost to the point of name calling and flinging insults take a moment and think about what you are saying. It takes conscious thought to type and hit enter or, for that matter, to hit the transmit key. If it's considered acceptable on that board then go for it. Kind of the 'when in Rome do as the Romans rule'. If you think someone is 'calling you out' for lack of a better phrase it's best to take it to pm's. We all tend to be defensive when we're called out in front of our peers whereas a behind the scenes conversation could reduce a lot of drama.
When I was modding and admin'ing sites I always approached the member in pm's first before I made a decision on them sticking around. That said, if they ignored me and continued to troll I punted and ip banned them.
I'm not saying I'm some tree hugging 'we are the world' singing humanitarian. Far from it in fact. Unless I 'know' you I'm pretty standoffish in real life. I do, however, always try to understand the other persons point of view before I lambast them for being uninformed dolts. The problem is once I label them as uninformed dolts I realize they are not worth my time arguing with or bothering to flame.
I'm not going to call any names here but there were members that I was warned about when I joined this board. Most of them have turned out to be ariticulate, intelligent, and generally engaging personalities. Perhaps not someone I'd go out of my way to visit but certainly people that make my grey cells move around a bit.
I'm also not going to say that there aren't some members I'd just as soon not read their drivel or see them in the air but that's the choice I made when I put my credit card on the line and joined this board. Frankly I just ignore them. Generally speaking they disappear fairly quickly and the core group of players stick around regardless of if they're actively flying or not.
I said once in the TA and I'll say it on the board. I don't particularly care if I'm the hottest stick in the game. I'll try to get better with practice and time. What I DO care about is my reputation with a group of people I've come to know and respect.
Of course that's just my opinion
