Time to use the reputation system for good + antispam

Unknown

The reputation system is running for some time and had people of interest gain initial points. It is time to start using it for 'rights' for some operations. Actios that come to mind:

Open new topic : should require 5 or 10 rep at least, that would quite hose spamming. To allow absolute newcomers to ask something there may be a special forum group or one topic collecting questions and people reading it may go ahead creating topics for questions if needed.

And upvoting is also better require 5 rep what would allow it to eventually be an useful measure, also hosing easy exploits for spam thread inserting. As the system list the names of upvoters its easy to ban whoever ups a spam thread and soon it will run out of fuel.

Unknown

This boat is sinking... <sings>

Unknown

Would have prevented the current dump of movie spams too...

Dayv

Locking out new users from being able to start new topics isn't a workable solution, as they may have a unique technical issue or something they want to start a discussion thread on, and they shouldn't have to go be funny in five threads to earn the rep to post a useful new topic. New posters will end up derailing existing threads with issues they can't start topics on.

I think a good compromise would be to limit the posting rate on accounts based on account age and reputation points. Limit it moderately for replies, and strictly for new topics.

Unknown

DayvBang wrote:

Locking out new users from being able to start new topics isn't a workable solution, as they may have a unique technical issue or something they want to start a discussion thread on, and they shouldn't have to go be funny in five threads to earn the rep to post a useful new topic. New posters will end up derailing existing threads with issues they can't start topics on.

I think a good compromise would be to limit the posting rate on accounts based on account age and reputation points. Limit it moderately for replies, and strictly for new topics.

I don't see that many threads opened by complete newbies, do you? They could post the question on a single topic and that looks way less work if a dev routinely opened a topic on a question that looks like discussion rather than a single answer. Or it could just gain the needed reputation right there turning into self-service.

Even accepting the need I'd only allow a single tread opened per week.

In the meantime the devs enjoy the extra work it takes to nuke all those spam threads and the readers that they have skip a dozen of them before finding some actual topic.

Unknown

In the system suggested by pasa, an easy (and practical) way to handle the problem of a newbie needing to post about a unique technical issue is to have ONE general technical issue thread stickied in that forum.

It would be clearly visible to someone looking for where to post their issue, and cut down on the number of repeat threads created for exactly the same issues. I'm sure the thread could potentially get unwieldy but if the first post outlines the 'rules' for what to post there then hopefully the need for modding would be minimal. For example, I find the alliances threads (seeking an alliance + seeking a member) to be pretty hassle free. Some posts are weird, some are off-topic, but overall it cuts down on thread clutter and hassle enormously.

Just my opinion of course. I'm a big fan of reducing forum clutter and needless clicking/touching to read threads!

Unknown

How much flood we need until measures are actually implemented or everyone leaves even the forums?

MojoWild

pasa_ wrote:

DayvBang wrote:

Locking out new users from being able to start new topics isn't a workable solution, as they may have a unique technical issue or something they want to start a discussion thread on, and they shouldn't have to go be funny in five threads to earn the rep to post a useful new topic. New posters will end up derailing existing threads with issues they can't start topics on.

I think a good compromise would be to limit the posting rate on accounts based on account age and reputation points. Limit it moderately for replies, and strictly for new topics.

I don't see that many threads opened by complete newbies, do you?

No, I don't. So it's not really an issue to let newbies post...
I'm not too familiar with forum stuff. Isn't there a way to negatively rate a post away?

Nonce Equitaur 2

For spam, just use the tiny triangle icon to flag it. Or just ignore it if it's obvious spam from the title along. Sneakier spam, definitely flag it. There isn't much point in downvoting it.

I_am_Zero

It's a solution looking for a problem. Are we really drowning in spam? I think the current version works. It may be slower to remove spam than some people would like, but it eventually gets removed in a day. Will it cut back on people raging about new changes? Sure, but why? Simply ignore their rant or downvote. But just because I don't actively participate, or I participate but don't get rep, doesn't mean I shouldn't be allowed to create a topic.