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Topic: Let the Newbies back in? (Read 4494 times)

hero member
Activity: 504
Merit: 500
June 16, 2011, 04:41:31 PM
#48
Everything you write makes the case to keep noobs in the playpen stronger. Hell, I wouldn't even trust ME if I were an old-timer. That Black Friday crash was a coordinated attack and the trolls scared many people out of their money.  We needed a correction, but that stampede was stared deliberately.

We are better off if people stupid enough to lose money based on thoughtless newbie rants lose their money. All the money that was 'lost' was simply transferred to smarter hands.

By the way, I am honored that you are such a dedicated follower of my posts to have had read them all. Thank you.

Don't worry, I'm not expecting you to reply  Cheesy

I didn't sell a single BTC, but the value of my stash dropped over 30% from the highs. Not all the rants were thoughtless. They were targeted misinformation. Scaring players and dollars out of the Bitcoin economy isn't good for the Bitcoin economy, is it?

If you had been smarter with your bitcoins you would have recognized a pattern occuring and you have sold high, bought low, not sat idly by and watched others do so while you lost value. Luckily, father logic was here to punish the fools and reward the clever so that uncle progress could get on with his work.
legendary
Activity: 1106
Merit: 1007
Hide your women
June 16, 2011, 02:13:04 PM
#47
Everything you write makes the case to keep noobs in the playpen stronger. Hell, I wouldn't even trust ME if I were an old-timer. That Black Friday crash was a coordinated attack and the trolls scared many people out of their money.  We needed a correction, but that stampede was stared deliberately.

We are better off if people stupid enough to lose money based on thoughtless newbie rants lose their money. All the money that was 'lost' was simply transferred to smarter hands.

By the way, I am honored that you are such a dedicated follower of my posts to have had read them all. Thank you.

Don't worry, I'm not expecting you to reply  Cheesy

I didn't sell a single BTC, but the value of my stash dropped over 30% from the highs. Not all the rants were thoughtless. They were targeted misinformation. Scaring players and dollars out of the Bitcoin economy isn't good for the Bitcoin economy, is it?
legendary
Activity: 1260
Merit: 1031
Rational Exuberance
June 15, 2011, 09:27:16 AM
#46
This is certainly not the best solution, and I never intended it to be permanent. I have a long-term solution in mind: A new jr. moderator position is added with no moderation ability over established posters. Newbies can post freely, but their posts are subject to more strict moderation by the many jr. moderators. All newbie posts are additionally available on a single page for review by all members for moderation/reporting.

The reporting system also needs to be enhanced, and moderation needs to be made easier.

This requires extensive modifications to SMF, so we'll have to make do with the "newbies" section until I get time to code it or someone contributes the code. I think the section has been pretty successful in containing trolling, spamming, and repeat questions: the only downside is that it is annoying and drives away potential contributors.

I've never been annoyed by newbie posts. I'd much rather ignore the occasional display of ignorance than create an elitist/unwelcoming atmosphere.

Personally, I read a ton about bitcoin before I ever posted even one comment. I think that is probably the more common scenario.
full member
Activity: 138
Merit: 100
June 15, 2011, 07:06:46 AM
#45
We are better off if people stupid enough to lose money based on thoughtless newbie rants lose their money. All the money that was 'lost' was simply transferred to smarter hands.

+1
administrator
Activity: 5222
Merit: 13032
June 15, 2011, 12:11:12 AM
#44
This is certainly not the best solution, and I never intended it to be permanent. I have a long-term solution in mind: A new jr. moderator position is added with no moderation ability over established posters. Newbies can post freely, but their posts are subject to more strict moderation by the many jr. moderators. All newbie posts are additionally available on a single page for review by all members for moderation/reporting.

The reporting system also needs to be enhanced, and moderation needs to be made easier.

This requires extensive modifications to SMF, so we'll have to make do with the "newbies" section until I get time to code it or someone contributes the code. I think the section has been pretty successful in containing trolling, spamming, and repeat questions: the only downside is that it is annoying and drives away potential contributors.
hero member
Activity: 504
Merit: 500
June 14, 2011, 11:45:36 PM
#43
What about Captcha to combat the trolls, at least give them some headache.

presumably, anyone smart enough to be able to make sentences that can scare people out of their money, is able to crack even the trickiest of captchas.
hero member
Activity: 504
Merit: 500
June 14, 2011, 11:41:59 PM
#42
Everything you write makes the case to keep noobs in the playpen stronger. Hell, I wouldn't even trust ME if I were an old-timer. That Black Friday crash was a coordinated attack and the trolls scared many people out of their money.  We needed a correction, but that stampede was stared deliberately.

We are better off if people stupid enough to lose money based on thoughtless newbie rants lose their money. All the money that was 'lost' was simply transferred to smarter hands.

By the way, I am honored that you are such a dedicated follower of my posts to have had read them all. Thank you.

Don't worry, I'm not expecting you to reply  Cheesy
hero member
Activity: 931
Merit: 500
June 14, 2011, 11:38:41 PM
#41
What about Captcha to combat the trolls, at least give them some headache.

legendary
Activity: 1106
Merit: 1007
Hide your women
June 14, 2011, 11:34:10 PM
#40
Everything you write makes the case to keep noobs in the playpen stronger. Hell, I wouldn't even trust ME if I were an old-timer. That Black Friday crash was a coordinated attack and the trolls scared many people out of their money.  We needed a correction, but that stampede was stared deliberately.
hero member
Activity: 504
Merit: 500
June 14, 2011, 10:59:10 PM
#39
Has anyone else noticed a correlation between price stability and the noobs/trolls being gone?

Now that you mention it...yes.

anyone else notice that the price staying roughly the same for a couple days has been happening over and over for the past year? I'll tell you what i noticed, my neighbor had a different maid come by right when the price started to dip from 30. coincidence? I think not!
full member
Activity: 126
Merit: 100
legendary
Activity: 1106
Merit: 1007
Hide your women
June 14, 2011, 10:52:27 PM
#37
Has anyone else noticed a correlation between price stability and the noobs/trolls being gone?

Now that you mention it...yes.
hero member
Activity: 504
Merit: 500
June 14, 2011, 10:51:43 PM
#36
I know this could probably be gamed if the question pool was too small, but it would be an interesting experiment. My suggestion is this:

What if to shorten your wait time by 'n' amount, you had to answer correctly some factual questions about bitcoin? That would serve two purposes, educate those that need to learn, frustrate any potential troll since you are forcing them to read about the subject and comprehend it.

I suppose you could formulate some questions based on the wiki and serve them up randomly from a given pool. Just a thought. Not sure if the forum could even support that kind of functionality.



+1
hero member
Activity: 504
Merit: 500
June 14, 2011, 10:50:46 PM
#35
The issue of when and how to moderate has been brought up many times before; I remember in particular a big debate about a month and a half ago.  The conclusion I think was live and let live. 

Better to have the forums match the user base of bitcoins than to get into the quagmire of a few individuals choosing how to shape the reflection of the bitcoin user base I say.  Information about bitcoin has been posted in many places where trolls abound, thereby attracting them.  Too late now. 

Applying a lens across the people who post here distorts the real picture of the market; that's not any better for business. 

whats this!? uncensored society!? somebody stop this man before he starts saying i should be able to put whatever i want into my own body! this is an outrage!
legendary
Activity: 2408
Merit: 1121
June 14, 2011, 10:50:05 PM
#34
I know this could probably be gamed if the question pool was too small, but it would be an interesting experiment. My suggestion is this:

What if to shorten your wait time by 'n' amount, you had to answer correctly some factual questions about bitcoin? That would serve two purposes, educate those that need to learn, frustrate any potential troll since you are forcing them to read about the subject and comprehend it.

I suppose you could formulate some questions based on the wiki and serve them up randomly from a given pool. Just a thought. Not sure if the forum could even support that kind of functionality.

newbie
Activity: 42
Merit: 0
June 14, 2011, 10:44:17 PM
#33
I had been lurking for a while and when I finally got motivated to post I signed up and saw the newbie restriction. It was a bit disappointing, but 5 posts and 4 hours isn't so bad. It helped me learn about the myths section. However, if I had to make 50 posts in the newbie section that may have been difficult Wink
sr. member
Activity: 337
Merit: 250
June 14, 2011, 10:31:11 PM
#32
Yes, also so they can spam the forums till no end.
full member
Activity: 138
Merit: 100
June 14, 2011, 10:29:22 PM
#31
The issue of when and how to moderate has been brought up many times before; I remember in particular a big debate about a month and a half ago.  The conclusion I think was live and let live. 

Better to have the forums match the user base of bitcoins than to get into the quagmire of a few individuals choosing how to shape the reflection of the bitcoin user base I say.  Information about bitcoin has been posted in many places where trolls abound, thereby attracting them.  Too late now. 

Applying a lens across the people who post here distorts the real picture of the market; that's not any better for business. 
full member
Activity: 210
Merit: 100
June 14, 2011, 09:12:39 PM
#30
I think restricting newbies is a good idea. They tend to always post the same topic (Bitcoin is a scam LoL!), and usually don't understand bitcoin yet. Restricting them to a nice place with a few motivated people to teach them about bitcoin is a good idea, and it leaves this place for people with interesting things to say for people who actually understand bitcoin.

While I agree that you can learn a lot at this forum, I would be extremely interesting in the for opinion of for example people working in banks, stockexchanges, or with high degrees in Economics or Business etc etc even if they just learned about Bitcoin

I'm not sure they get the concept of Bitcoin...and seeing as they view anything that opposes feeding the banks I doubt most will have any more valuable insight. 

I had a friend who works at a private country club tell me that some members were discussing Bitcoin the other day...he said how "...if they are talking about it then it should get big...", I replied "...it already is big...they are late to the game...as was I".

Then lets get into this whole "Bitcoin black friday"...only to the sheep...currency traders love that kind of volatility, most markets don't allow that kind of movement in a day...the only real problem is depth...tough to make millions in a day but easy to double a small amount if you play the market right.
legendary
Activity: 1204
Merit: 1015
June 14, 2011, 08:08:03 PM
#29
The issue with people not speaking English is a valid one, though ... maybe new people should be allowed into those forums ... and people posting English in those forums be banned after second warning ;-)
The local forums are exempt from the restrictions.

Honestly, the Newbie forums have been a very positive change for the forum. The newb posts outside of that forum have dropped to levels we haven't seen in weeks, and the newbies are actually getting the help they need instead of being chastised by the old forum members.

Don't have 4 hours to kill and you want to announce the launch of a new Bitcoin business? We'll whitelist you. Personally, I've been whitelisting around 20 people per day.

The system works.

we still have issues like bitcoin7.com not being able to reach the proper audience and so he had to wait for 2 hours until i got his PM to post his new exchange site. I have posted the new exchange in general now though, hopefully he will be permitted to post so he can talk about it himself.
Huh? I whitelisted him a few hours ago. He can post it himself...
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