Automated new user introduction.

[Red Painting the town Red Posts:3,756 Threads:228 Reputation 92]

This is what I was thinking:

When a new user signs up, have their accounts restricted so they can ONLY make an introduction Thread in the Introduce Yourself section. After this Thread is created, the restriction would ease up and then every new user would only be restricted to making 10 posts per 24 hours, until they reach 50 posts or more. This requires the new users to come back each day to unlock content they want, and encourages better activity, much more organized. Once the 50 posts are made, all restrictions would be lifted.

I would probably consider altering the amount of credits earned per post too, for example, 1 credit per post instead of 2, this allows for more posts to be made (whilst maintaining the rules of the Forum). A new Thread would be 2 credits, and posting a useful resource could be 5 credits.

Also encourage new users to use the "Like Post" and "Rate" features a lot more.

[Aiad8dWSJKS DF Member Posts:943 Threads:369 Reputation 13]

Yea I agree, this is a very good idea.

[Nix Emerald Member Posts:1,779 Threads:174 Reputation 76]

I honestly don't see how restricting new users from posting would organize anything or make activity better. You're gonna have to explain to me the equation of how it'd take place. As for the credit suggestion, it was put in place as some kind of defense mechanism against leechers. I get that, but the only thing this would accomplish would be leechers posting more often with 'thank you bro' or something along those lines that could make up as a low quality post.

[Red Painting the town Red Posts:3,756 Threads:228 Reputation 92]

I honestly don't see how restricting new users from posting would organize anything or make activity better. You're gonna have to explain to me the equation of how it'd take place. As for the credit suggestion, it was put in place as some kind of defense mechanism against leechers. I get that, but the only thing this would accomplish would be leechers posting more often with 'thank you bro' or something along those lines that could make up as a low quality post.

If people spam, then it's our job to take care of them, as we have done and do already. As for restricting members, it makes more sense.

Don't restrict members = They can make accounts anytime and start randomly spamming, ignoring the rules of the forum and getting themselves an unwanted ban.

Restrict members = Force the user to actually read the rules and THINK about what their potential actions could cause, potentially avoiding future spam, not to mention It's nice to read introduction Threads, and should really be made by everyone, becoming an actual member of the community instead of a lifeless leecher.

Plus the post restriction would avoid them from spamming, as the limit would be 10 posts per day, meaning they would have to spend more time on Demon Forums to unlock what they want without spamming.

[Crow DF Member Posts:72 Threads:5 Reputation 0]

It'd certainly make the job of staff a lot easier, but even so I always disagreed with suggestions like this because performed poorly and they fail miserably.
I mean I understand where it's applicable and probably needed, but I'm not sure you'd want members who were forced and had to learn to post this way, it seems it'd just create a lot of bitterness.

Realistically if you'd want to improve posting quality and less spam (Reasonably) you should lock certain sections to amounts of post, but not restrict the ability to post threads in those as we've had many new members come along and post dumps and then leave as soon as they do.

Like "You can't start unlocking post in this section until you have 50 Post", but they'd still be able to post threads in that section..
I think something like that would be a better requirement.

Obviously we don't tend to induce any form of Stockholm syndrome on them, but this forum gets better as you spend time on it for what seemed (to me at least) as an overwhelmingly un-friendly forum at the start and now I'm far more comfortable on it.

People do need to spend more time here for things to grow, but it needs to be in a way that says "We're not making you stay here, only your curiosity is".
Good suggestion though, probably do need some form of change like this to ensure the survival of the forum.

[Red Painting the town Red Posts:3,756 Threads:228 Reputation 92]

It'd certainly make the job of staff a lot easier, but even so I always disagreed with suggestions like this because performed poorly and they fail miserably.
I mean I understand where it's applicable and probably needed, but I'm not sure you'd want members who were forced and had to learn to post this way, it seems it'd just create a lot of bitterness.

Realistically if you'd want to improve posting quality and less spam (Reasonably) you should lock certain sections to amounts of post, but not restrict the ability to post threads in those as we've had many new members come along and post dumps and then leave as soon as they do.

Like "You can't start unlocking post in this section until you have 50 Post", but they'd still be able to post threads in that section..
I think something like that would be a better requirement.

Obviously we don't tend to induce any form of Stockholm syndrome on them, but this forum gets better as you spend time on it for what seemed (to me at least) as an overwhelmingly un-friendly forum at the start and now I'm far more comfortable on it.

People do need to spend more time here for things to grow, but it needs to be in a way that says "We're not making you stay here, only your curiosity is".
Good suggestion though, probably do need some form of change like this to ensure the survival of the forum.

I mean, we wouldn't particularly FORCE users to read the rules as such, but we can place the option there for them to look them over. And I think locking all sections until they have made an Introduction Thread would be nice, mostly because not many new users do this. Making that Thread is a good way for them to see how friendly other members are here, and see that it's a good place for more than just Leaks. Limiting a users post count to viewing certain sections might be better.

[Nix Emerald Member Posts:1,779 Threads:174 Reputation 76]

I honestly don't see how restricting new users from posting would organize anything or make activity better. You're gonna have to explain to me the equation of how it'd take place. As for the credit suggestion, it was put in place as some kind of defense mechanism against leechers. I get that, but the only thing this would accomplish would be leechers posting more often with 'thank you bro' or something along those lines that could make up as a low quality post.

If people spam, then it's our job to take care of them, as we have done and do already. As for restricting members, it makes more sense.

Don't restrict members = They can make accounts anytime and start randomly spamming, ignoring the rules of the forum and getting themselves an unwanted ban.

Restrict members = Force the user to actually read the rules and THINK about what their potential actions could cause, potentially avoiding future spam, not to mention It's nice to read introduction Threads, and should really be made by everyone.

Firstly, I've done this on many forums. If the forum happens to have a post limit for new users, I make up to 6-10 posts and go from there - most of which is low quality, but not spam, which is why my posts would not be breaking any rules. After that, I'd come back and do some more spam until I eventually got what I wanted (mostly leeching logins and other nifty resources) from the forum. Come on now, how would restricting new users from posting give them the motive to read the rules? It just doesn't click together. It's not gonna solve the problem, it's just delaying the inevitable from users leeching what they want.

Secondly, we have low quality users, and I guarantee none of them would have any problem whatsoever for them to leech even if we were to abide by these suggestions of yours. I'm aware of the fact that there needs to be an outlet for activity, but there's no way any suggestions like restricting posts to new users would do any good for us in terms of activity. At best, we'd be getting shit (spam to LQ posts) on our frontyard and having to clean it up. It's been like this since day one, and these suggestions would only increase this problem. The only way we can increase activity while still reaching legitimate to high-quality posts would be getting users to do it in the first place. That's the only way, an improvement to a forum will do nothing to change that.

As for credits, like I've done on other forums (including this one), I'd be posting LQ posts that wouldn't even contribute to the topic at hand whatsoever, let alone even being relevant to it. Although I'm on the edge to breaking the rules, it's not like I'll be warned for it due to the fact that I'm not necessarily spamming. This is how it sits with this forum. As long as it's not necessarily spam, it's fine in our books. The example I said, post like 'thank you for this' or something along those lines, would only appear more and more if we were to decrease credit count for posts. And posts like these are fine but extremely low quality. But, like I said, that's the only thing we're going to be seeing if we decrease the credit count.

Remember, we're interested in activity to stick but we want to avoid low quality posts as well. Besides, at the end of the day, who wants to be the forum that restricts posting for new users? It just makes us look like we're trying too hard.

[Red Painting the town Red Posts:3,756 Threads:228 Reputation 92]

I honestly don't see how restricting new users from posting would organize anything or make activity better. You're gonna have to explain to me the equation of how it'd take place. As for the credit suggestion, it was put in place as some kind of defense mechanism against leechers. I get that, but the only thing this would accomplish would be leechers posting more often with 'thank you bro' or something along those lines that could make up as a low quality post.

If people spam, then it's our job to take care of them, as we have done and do already. As for restricting members, it makes more sense.

Don't restrict members = They can make accounts anytime and start randomly spamming, ignoring the rules of the forum and getting themselves an unwanted ban.

Restrict members = Force the user to actually read the rules and THINK about what their potential actions could cause, potentially avoiding future spam, not to mention It's nice to read introduction Threads, and should really be made by everyone.

Firstly, I've done this on many forums. If the forum happens to have a post limit for new users, I make up to 6-10 posts and go from there - most of which is low quality, but not spam, which is why my posts would not be breaking any rules. After that, I'd come back and do some more spam until I eventually got what I wanted (mostly leeching logins and other nifty resources) from the forum. Come on now, how would restricting new users from posting give them the motive to read the rules? It just doesn't click together. It's not gonna solve the problem, it's just delaying the inevitable from users leeching what they want.

Secondly, we have low quality users, and I guarantee none of them would have any problem whatsoever for them to leech even if we were to abide by these suggestions of yours. I'm aware of the fact that there needs to be an outlet for activity, but there's no way any suggestions like restricting posts to new users would do any good for us in terms of activity. At best, we'd be getting shit (spam to LQ posts) on our frontyard and having to clean it up. It's been like this since day one, and these suggestions would only increase this problem. The only way we can increase activity while still reaching legitimate to high-quality posts would be getting users to do it in the first place. That's the only way, an improvement to a forum will do nothing to change that.

As for credits, like I've done on other forums (including this one), I'd be posting LQ posts that wouldn't even contribute to the topic at hand whatsoever, let alone even being relevant to it. Although I'm on the edge to breaking the rules, it's not like I'll be warned for it due to the fact that I'm not necessarily spamming. This is how it sits with this forum. As long as it's not necessarily spam, it's fine in our books. The example I said, post like 'thank you for this' or something along those lines, would only appear more and more if we were to decrease credit count for posts. And posts like these are fine but extremely low quality. But, like I said, that's the only thing we're going to be seeing if we decrease the credit count.

Remember, we're interested in activity to stick but we want to avoid low quality posts as well. Besides, at the end of the day, who wants to be the forum that restricts posting for new users? It just makes us look like we're trying too hard.

Maybe I was too strong when I said to "force" users to read the rules. It would be better to just place a link as an option. It would be better if new users were forced to make an Intro Thread, as this would give the user warm welcomes from members here on Demon Forums, with replies which will contain Forum Rules links. This will also show the new user that we are friendly.

I've seen these restrictions on other Forums and they have done particularly well -- I won't go into mentioning names, advertisement for other Forums isn't my style. Done in the right way, it would most likely boost activity, I don't see an issue against it at all. In the end, not ALL members would be making LQ posts, it is something that the Admins can think about and put a plan into place that could work out for everyone. This is just the foundation of an idea in which it can be tweaked to suit everyone.

[Rizla Administrator Posts:1,011 Threads:26 Reputation 65]

Well the idea was thrown about to actually try and restrict new users from using the content unlock or even gaining credits until they are about 25 to maybe even 50 posts in.

There's not really a lot we can implement to restrict user spamming as people if they really want it they can find ways around it. Forcing them to post an introduction thread would just lead to a spam of introduction threads which would be super low quality if they joined for just content.

[Red Painting the town Red Posts:3,756 Threads:228 Reputation 92]

Well the idea was thrown about to actually try and restrict new users from using the content unlock or even gaining credits until they are about 25 to maybe even 50 posts in.

There's not really a lot we can implement to restrict user spamming as people if they really want it they can find ways around it. Forcing them to post an introduction thread would just lead to a spam of introduction threads which would be super low quality if they joined for just content.

There's always going to be a con to go with the pro. The thing is, what does this site need? It needs more activity and more members, and less spam and rule breaks. Of course, if something requires more posts, there's going to be some people who will force them to be super low quality, for example "thanksssssssssssss =DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD" multiple times. These spammers would be taken care of. Even as it currently is, there are still spammers, so that will never change regardless of an automated system being implemented or not. It's only stating the obvious. We could just really use something new and refreshing.