Over the past few weeks, we’ve banned a record number of users from our forum. Some people think they’re clever when they create more than one identity and try to make it appear that multiple people have a complaint about company or when they complement their own posts with other like posts from “other” users. What these not-too-smart-people don’t realize is how easy it is for us to figure out when this is happening!

There’s no faster way to get banned from our forum (and get your posts deleted) than to make up fake indentities and pretend to be a legitimate person with a real complaint. Also, stooping to a five-year-old’s level and personally insulting someone as a means to publicly humiliate them will also get you banned faster than you can click your mouse button.

There’s also no faster way to completely lose your credibility on the forum and in the entire online writing community. Once someone portrays even a smidgen of evidence that they’re hitting below the belt, we no longer give their posts, or their emailed pleas for mercy, any consideration. They’re instantly blacklisted and remain that way for eternity. Apologies don’t help. And, we often tell other users when a post has been removed and why the person was banned. We post these notes on the public forum because everyone partipating in a thread has the right to know when someone else has broken the rules.

If you truly want to remain an active and respected participant on the biggest writing forums online, don’t do something dumb and in haste that ruins your reputation and future credibility. If you truly must be dishonest in your posts, there’s obviously something wrong with your side of the story…and everybody can see right through your fa