As many of you may have seen or experienced, when certain members feel a certain need to leave BZPower and let everyone know why, they tend to do something extreme to do so, or "renegades". While it's always nice to see the reaction we get from members, who for the most part see that this is clearly not the right thing to do, there is sometimes confusion as to what to do.

This is a serious entry, speaking as both a Forum Assistant and as a member.

First of all, if you...

...get a PM with an inappropriate message/image.

A very common response is to post something in New Member Q&A asking "What's up?" I do not recommend this, for two reasons. Number one, what the person wants is attention, so creating a topic will only give him that reward. And number two, I've seen on more than one occasion where members feel that they must see what they did or that you do not have sufficient proof, the reposting of which would not be appropriate.

The best thing to do is to PM a Staff Member you see that is active, showing them what you have received and giving them the name of the member who did it and a link to their profile. The best member to PM would be an Administrator of some sort, if one is on, but if not, you can also PM another Staff Member. Even if you can only PM an FA, they're capable of making the rest of the Staff aware. The important thing is that the issue gets dealt with quickly and, what's best, quietly.

...see a topic with an inappropriate message/image.

Most people see a need to post that it is against the rules and the following member will get in trouble. To be honest, the posts are quite pointless, due to the fact that the member probably doesn't care all too much about the rules. There are also the members who feel the need to say "DON'T POST HERE", which are also fairly pointless. The best post you can make in a topic of this nature is no post.

Your best method of action? Report the topic immediately, and if possible, PM an active Staff Member who can deal with the topic.

...see multiple topics massed with similar/multiple inappropriate messages/images.

First check to see if a Global Moderator or Administrator is on. If they are, PM them immediately and inform them of the situation. If they are not, report the topics, and get the word out to other Staff Members capable of closing the topics.

...see a renegade planning (whether in a chatroom or IM or whatever) his attack.

Inform a Staff Member, preferably an Administrator, of the situation and give them some sort of physical proof of the incident (chat logs, emails, etc.). You can attempt to dissuade the member before doing so, but if they fail to listen to you, the best thing you can do is help prevent it from happening.

...see a renegade with an inappropriate avatar/signature.

Do not PM them, as it will generally get you nowhere fast. The best thing to do is PM a Staff Member of some sort who is active and inform them of the situation.

Do you see a pattern here? Whenever a renegade goes on a "frenzy" of some sort, it's always best to let the Staff know. It's part of our job to deal with things of this nature, and commonly taking the matter into your own hands will do very little. Do the right thing and get it dealt with efficiently. Report and Inform.

This is a shorter, very Staffesque entry, I know, but I think that it needs to be confronted more than it is at the moment. Please consider what you've just read.

With Regards,

Dr. Bionicle