Topic: Possible restrictions on newbie accounts. - page 2. (Read 484 times)

Your idea isn't bad, but I think it will effect all newbies who will join this forum with good intentions. Just for couple of abuser we shouldn't prevent all newbies from learn & constructive discussion. I have noticed as well newbies spam has been increasing nowadays. To prevent them we should use report button and moderators should more careful about handle reports. Locking thread after got answer will prevent others newbies from get lesson from it. So only obvious spam thread could be trashed or locked. I don't think theymos is going to do something like that suggested by OP.

A member can cook up a half baked reply to a random thread on the forum much faster than they would if they went through the route of creating a new thread on an alt and then replying to it. I think the idea behind that action is fishing for merits rather than increasing post count.

I am also against newbie restrictions, there is already quite a handful of them aimed at reducing spam.How will newbies learn in a board dedicated just for them without seasoned members to answer their questions and queries? I can already see scammers opening newbie accounts and filling such board with lots of scam traps for newbies to fall into.

Report to moderator should be enough. If the topic is still valuable, request the mods to lock it. Else, ask them to trash it if possible.

I also share the same thought that the 5 post (or whatever number it is) is not necessary. What we need is an active engagement to report if something has already been answered. Not prolonging the discussion or adding a bunch of unnecessary stuff, or even worse, repeating what others already said.

I remember a discussion in one of the technical boards not long ago were a seasoned member speculated that the newbie who started the thread might be an alt of someone wearing a signature.  Posing a question with an alt, then engaging in the discussion to increase his post count.   I consider myself fairly skeptical and suspicious, but that suspicion seemed darn cynical to me.  I understand your concern, but the restrictions you're proposing seem like "throwing the baby out with the bath water."



A dedicated newbie board would become cluttered pretty darn quick.  We have boards dedicated to specific topics for a reason, a board like the one you're proposing would be all over the place with no structure.



This is a discussion board, and restrictions and limits on discussions would be counter-productive in my opinion.  I'm not saying that I think you're wrong, but what your proposing would only hurt legitimate newbies' ability to ask questions.

The other thing to keep in mind is there very well might not be a malicious sig-spammer behind it at all.  This isn't the only forum I've seen where newbies show up, ask a question, and never return to acknowledge a resolution.  There could be many reasons behind such behavior.

Imagine all of the insoluble negative problems just leaving newbie jail would have prevented.

Imagine how much better if sigs didn't exist the forum would be.

I will support your original proposal, if we reset the forum to operate under 2012 conditions free of merit cancer and the corrupt and faux " decentralized" trust.

Noob jail is (what you are essentially suggesting) would work great.  Those sig bans for X period are not being put to optimal use either.

The second solution would create enormous work and be very subjective.


Edit - I see a member already recognized you were describing noob jail which worked great. If now combined with sig bans upon release for x period if reasonable standard was not maintained could be great. Only if merit cancer was deleted as no longer required.

Default trust can be activity/ trade history determined.

There is also a trend of newbies who start threads in an effort to advertise a site by asking some kind of "innocent" question about the site. The site invariably turns out out to be a scam, and the newbie is never seen or heard from again.

This is essentially a newbie jail, which theymos has stated clearly he will never re-introduce.

Users who are asking questions so they themselves can answer them will already have scripted the answer they are going to post. Locking the thread after 5 posts won't stop them from posting with their main account.

I don't think there is a way you are going to be able to combat this without catching honest newbies in the crossfire.

I have noticed that some members have expressed doubts about the credibility of newbie members who open the topic, ask a question and then no longer participate in the discussion. It is certainly not logical to say that all such cases are actually alt accounts that start a discussion in which they then engage with their signature accounts, but there is no doubt that some members are doing just that. How to prevent such behavior while at the same time not deny newbie members who really need help to ask legitimate questions?

The first proposal is to create a board dedicated only to newbie members, and that board should be signature free, but the question is how to force newbies to post there, unless they were denied access to post anywhere on forum. This is probably a bad idea, but it may have potential with some modifications.

The second suggestion focuses more on a topic opened by a newbie member to be automatically locked in let's say 5 answers in the event that the topic launcher does not ask a new question or reply in any other way. I know it is possible that the answer to a question is not given in 5 answers, but if we look at the Beginners & Help board a specific answer to the question will probably be in the first 5 posts.

Would such a measure (or something similar) make any sense at all, does it limit the forum's freedom of expression and whether it can prevent the abuse of a newbie accounts?