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October 28, 2006 at 5:56 am #25403TigerbladeParticipant
I’ve noticed a new member, dacton, posting several messages in several forums that add absolutely nothing whatsoever to any of the discussions. my hunch is that s/he is just trying to get into the arcade, or simply trying to boost their post count as quickly as possible.
just as a heads up to any staffers who notice this person leaving worthless messages in their sections.
October 28, 2006 at 7:59 pm #153921DrBroccoliParticipantI saw this thread from the forum view, then I saw “Last Post By: dacton” and I just knew this is who you were talking about :P.
October 28, 2006 at 9:23 pm #153926NessaParticipantYeah I think he just spammed to get into arcade most likely. I’d delete the one in the Yahoo! section but you gave him a good explanation on how he is looking like a spammer, so i decided to leave it, so that your post wouldn’t seem out of place. Good explanation you gave him though! Thanks 😛
Oh and maybe his other posts should be deleted, since he has access to the arcade now through spammy posts. That way he has to go back and post real posts to regain arcade access? Just a thought…..
October 28, 2006 at 11:00 pm #153916SpikeMemberI’ve deleted all his posts and explained in the delete reason box that he shouldn’t post useless content just to have 10 posts. (I deleted them before reading this thread) If the problem persists, I suggest a 3-day ban (if warnings don’t have any effect, I consider the deletion notices a warning).
October 28, 2006 at 11:37 pm #153922princeGParticipantI deleted one of him as well in msn, explaining that his post didn’t add anything useful to the subject.
Guess he needs to try harder to enter the arcade =pOctober 29, 2006 at 3:24 am #153910detn8rParticipantTell me again why we have the 10 post minimum for the arcade? If it’s to encourage people to post on the forums, this is clearly an excuse for those who have no interest in the contribution in posts, but would rather play a game.
October 29, 2006 at 4:39 am #153917SpikeMemberWe’ve had no problems that I can recollect to in the past regarding this, and I see no reason whatsoever, persoanlly, to change it because one lowly member decided to do what he did. Now, if it were happening more frequently, I would indefinately say otherwise, but a small incident need not be blown out of proportion.
October 29, 2006 at 4:57 am #153905Jeff HesterKeymasterThere is no 10 post minimum required to get into the arcade.
Frankly, I didn’t see the harm in his posts, especially his introduction! Sure, he didn’t add a lot, but some people just don’t have much to add. Should we chase them away and only allow the “good” members?
October 29, 2006 at 2:26 pm #153912OreoMemberLooking through his posts, the only one with any merit seems to be the intro post. It seems like he just does not get the idea of a forum. Maybe if he decides to come back, I will send him a PM with the forum guidelines. Maybe he just felt guilty looking at the site and not contributing. When I first started to used forums I certainly did not get the whole concept. Maybe if he’s not a spammer and decides to come back all of us can help him get his feet wet? If he turns out to be a spammer….so be it. But if he’s some one who just needs a little bit of direction…then we’ve done a good thing. 🙂
October 29, 2006 at 3:51 pm #153914TigerbladeParticipantJeff Hester;209657 wrote:Sure, he didn’t add a lot, but some people just don’t have much to add. Should we chase them away and only allow the “good” members?but surely anyone, even someone who’s never used a forum before, should know that adding “i agree” or “i can’t help you” doesn’t add anything whatsoever. i’m not saying we should chase away people, but there has to be some sort of common sense from these people.
October 29, 2006 at 5:58 pm #153906Jeff HesterKeymasterTigerblade, first, not everyone is that sharp. Secondly, saying “I agree” does help. It establishes consensus. It doesn’t help much, but it does help. And it’s certainly not spam in the sense of advertising.
I think the better way to handle people like this is to leave their posts, and send them a PM gently guiding them toward the light. 😉
October 29, 2006 at 6:34 pm #153918SpikeMemberI wasn’t aware that the 10 post arcade minimum was taken out of effect, but I still think some of those posts should remain deleted, especially the “what are you talking about” or “i don’t know” posts, which really don’t add anything (unlike the “i agree” posts). If someone wants to un-delete them, by all means do it, but I definately think that if this person wants to continue to use this site the quality of their posts should increase.
October 29, 2006 at 7:37 pm #153907Jeff HesterKeymasterI’m not suggesting un-deleting their posts. At this point, the damage has been done. I was simply stating for future reference — there is a big difference between someone like this and a spammer.
October 29, 2006 at 7:45 pm #153911detn8rParticipant@Spike 209655 wrote:
We’ve had no problems that I can recollect to in the past regarding this, and I see no reason whatsoever, persoanlly, to change it because one lowly member decided to do what he did. Now, if it were happening more frequently, I would indefinately say otherwise, but a small incident need not be blown out of proportion.
As the arcade as one example, post count minimum’s are a pain in the ass. It makes people post in circumstances that they probably wouldn’t, or don’t even want to, just to take advantage of what they can’t when they initially join (avatars etc). Comparing this to other sites that have been posted (to download things from other sites), I’ve seen many staff here and established forum users be very angry or annoyed that they had to register on a forum, or post a minimum number of posts just so they can take advantage.
I think BigBlueBall has gained its high reputation from its strict staff policies. And one of them is being a zero tolerance for unsolicited, unwanted, irrelevant, or inappropriate posts. It’s worked well for us. But, if someone is going to take advantage so that they can have privileges, maybe we need to focus on them specifically.
Also, I think as Jeff said, you don’t always have to remove posts that are irrelevant. If they cause an off topic discussion, then perhaps then you should consider removing them.
As Oreo said, every one of us was new to forums at one time. And probably most of us didn’t know how one was run. We had to learn, sometimes hard ways, sometimes easy ways. Pumping up forum post counts by posting in irrelevant forum areas like the introduction section (no purpose to the site), or posting irrelevant posts in forums that obviously serve no purpose to the discussion is almost the same thing (in theory).
After saying all that, perhaps the member had no intention in mind other than just wanting to jump into discussion, regardless if it was irrelevant or not. We just have to remember that not all forums have our same policies (or are not able to enforce those policies) on zero tolerance. Don’t label everyone in a bad way.
October 29, 2006 at 8:24 pm #153915TigerbladeParticipantI guess I should perhaps have used a different title — I didn’t mean to imply that I thought this was advertisement-spam. To me, spam comes in both the form of “hey buy this!!!!” messages and unnecessarily short “yep.” messages that seem to be aimed solely at achieving xx posts. I have no problem with someone adding a brief message to a thread, so long as it’s worth reading. It doesn’t help me or anyone else to read someone say “i dont know.” Now, before anyone jumps on me, I know I’ve posted my share of “i dont know” messages, but if I don’t know, I will at least try to provide some sort of helpful pointer — directions to a better place to post the question, targeted search engine results, a member who knows more about that problem… I don’t just say “i dont know” and leave it at that.
I understand that occasionally “i agree” or “i dont agree” can add to a discussion in which members are seeking a consensus of some sort, but nine times out of ten it’s unnecessary and annoying.
Sure, perhaps deleting the posts is one way to do it, but since we’ve clarified that there is no minimum post count requirement, should we (in the future) just notify the person somehow that they should try to actually put some real content in their posts? I dont know how you’d like to phrase that, but…
And like I said before, by no means do I wish to scare off new members by yelling at them for posting like this, but… the point of a forum is to encourage meaningful discussion of whatever topics may come up. “i dunno” doesn’t help work towards that goal.
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