Topic: Signature Probation: Newbie-friendly alternative to Jr. Member Merit requirement - page 2. (Read 607 times)

OK, thank you for your replies.

@Barcode_link, I understand your point is that there are too many posts (and new threads) that do not violate forum rules but are "spammy" and trivial, and the users posting them would not be punished even under the proposed rule (report->deleted post->signature removed) because the moderators could not delete them, because there is no rule with respect to this kind of posts. Is that what you basically mean?

In this case, I would propose a new forum rule allowing moderators explicitly to remove these "spammy" posts (for example, the rule could be that "trivial answers which already were discussed at the topic" could be removed).


But couldn't that be solved technically? I don't know the internals of the SMF software, but I think a "report" should be possible to be registered as an action by the software, and a "post removal" separately. So all what had to be done would be to only remove the signature if the post itself was both "reported" and "deleted", and so the other users posting in these threads would not be affected at all.

In my opinion, your suggestion will not work at all, because I felt there are a lot of newbies and Jr. Member users who do not even understand that they should totally avoid creating multiples threads to discuss a similar topic, just take a look at the meta section now, it is just full of similar threads discussing the same topic on newbie account requiring 1 merit to promote to Jr. Member rank, is there really a need for every newbies to create a new thread in the first place just to discuss a similar topic?

The issue on multiple threads created by different newbies and Jr. member users have also been a big problem on the Chinese local board, I have put in a lot of my effort and time to explain to the Chinese users who are constantly posting on the Chinese local board, they should try their best not to create any more new threads to discuss on a similar topic, and they should instead just keep the discussion going on in one thread, the result is slow, but at least I am seeing some positive changes of posting behavior from some Chinese users.

I would usually sent a new thread to the Trashcan if it is just created again to discuss on a similar topic, one example of multiple spam threads on the Chinese local board in the past would be the analysis of the bitcoin price on the trading market, many Chinese users just seems to enjoy creating multiple threads to discuss on this topic, so I would have to take actions to send those threads to the Trashcan instead of deleting tons of users one line spam posts in those threads.

If the whole thread is being sent to the trashcan by a moderator, every users posts on those threads will be remove too, and I believe we will see another flood of threads on the meta section again created by newbies and Jr. Member users asking why their profile signature is gone, another hot debate will surely starts, as they will try to explain that their posts is not spam, they should not deserve to lose their signature space.

I think the newly implemented newbie restrictions & requirements system is good at the moment, and it is really not that hard for a newbie user to get just 1 merit on their account, if the newbie user is able to create 10 posts that are of good content, I believe he should be able to get at least 1 merit from other users.

I don't see the big deal, honestly. 1 merit is so easy to come by that any decent poster will eventually get it, and they can carry on earning their monies. The only problem I see is when people have a hundred alternate newbie accounts instead of Jr members now, and they've stopped earning, and can't put bread on the table. At least it stops the spam though. Maybe, this will demotivate others from creating a hundred accounts just to earn on bounties.

I understand the intention behind the last change in the ranking system, making 1 Merit point mandatory to achieve Junior Member status and wear signatures. However, in my opinion, this does discriminate new honest users more than it is necessary.

So here's an alternative idea:
- Return to the previous system (Jr. Member status is based only on activity, and Newbies get at least a minimal signature space)
- But both Newbies and Jr. Members are given their signature space only "on probation". That means that if one of their posts is legitimately reported as spam and thus removed, they lose their signature space entirely until they rank up to Member (which requires 10 merits and should be much more difficult to achieve for a spammer).

This gives Newbies and Junior Members incentives to write meaningful posts without having to renounce some of the features of the forum, and without pressure to get a merit which is sometimes difficult even if the post quality is otherwise good. And the standard to award merits also hasn't to be lowered.

(Unfortunately, the thread about the new changes has already grown too much that I could read it entirely, so it's possible that this was already proposed. However, maybe it's good to discuss it in a new thread.)

Edit: This solution is meant as a long term solution to the problem. Maybe the 1 merit requirement, as a temporary measure, is a good solution. But on the long term I think it creates a hurdle for new members, and we'll likely lose good people to Facebook groups and similar communities.