at the moment i have a particular member who is bothering other members. he isnt doing anything against the rules, but every post he makes is somehow about religion and god, even in off topic. our forum is about the paranormal, so we are discussing the afterlife a lot and religious discussions are welcome.....but every post this guy makes is somehow about religion, and our staff have recieved messages from users saying they are concerned this guy is some kind of religious extremist and is trying to convert us, and that his constant talk of religion is annoying. how do i deal with this? i know people are very sensitive about their religious beliefs.
Well, everyone is entitled to their own opinions. If it is so bad he is hurting/insulting other members or talking about doing crazy things like harming others, ask him to stop, and if he is mentioning God and religion in other posts that don't have anything to do with it, ask him not to mention it there. But other than that, I don't see why you should ask someone to stop posting about their beliefs. Everyone should be able to promote their own beliefs, and having a Bible verse or something like that in the signature is basically like talking about religion or God in all of your posts.
Oh god.. I hate those kind of people, not for being religious as I myself believe in some sort of god or higher ruling but because they are constantly in your face about how god will smite thy sinners with his holy wrath and crap like that If I was you I would ask him to please stay on-topic while discussing things pertaining to your forums niche and that if he/she keeps derailing threads with religious discussions when they most obviously do not belong there that his/her posts will be put on moderation until you are comfortable that their posts are of relevance to the discussions they are posted in. Don't be afraid to message them about it, You'd be surprised as to how people will cooperate with you if you just ask
If it's annoying for your members, you need to privately discuss it with the member and have him tone down the religious stuff. You can't risk an entire community over one guy.
We simply let the sensitive threads/topics to go under the forum, I think there is an option in vbulletin, where you can make a specific forum to not show up in latest topics
Talk with him privately and remind him to do not post more about any religion. if he/she do it again then banned him.
Very interesting indeed, sorry that I don't have a solution to your problem but I see what you are trying to achieve with this.
This sounds harsh but I don't baby members that are bothering others. I know you said they haven't broken any rules and that makes it harder. Last week I had a constantly try to pick a fight with another through pm's. Now she doesn't have access to pm's. I would tell them that him being keen on Jesus is bothering people and the forum and in the end you have to do what is good for your forum and community. I would remove their access to certain forums and sub-forums if they can't work it out.
I would issue a warning. It is one thing if you have a religious forum or a topic about religion but mentioning it in every topic is out of order.
Over heated topics like discussion on religion should not be allowed and if you have allowed maintain a tandem to limit it, if any member is getting over heated on this topic, discuss with him personally, if still he continues, warn him for the same and finally if he doesn't stop then you may ban him, but you can't ban him upfront as he is not violating any rules on your forum.
