Suggestion: Is this even a possibility?

S

Senad

New member
Is it possible of allowing points for posts made in certain time period?

Reason: I've seen this happen a few times now which kiiinda draws me away from the community at times. People register...find out they can't post in the advertising forums...then those same people go on a post fest (that's fine with the post fest) but what kinda is annoying is that they bump topics 6+ months old that are possibly irrelevent for a good discussion (and are only doing it with obvious intentions of buying the advertising allowance at the shop). After they get it they don't post as much or just post in the advertisement section.

So basically is there a way of allow points based on time restrictions on on a thread? :idea: I remember reading this somewhere on Vbulletin.org but not sure if anybody figured out how to make something like this :eek:?

When I registered I made a point not to do this after following HD for a while and seeing that pattern again and again.
 
Valid points, Senad, but would it be better to not have a minimum # of posts that give users an opportunity to use the MarketPlace, so it is flooded with one-time posters? We've had that before and it was at times unbearable. Having a bare minimum achieves three things in general:

- increases forum activity
- prevents those who do not want to invest ANY effort from even registering
- actually allows users to make their own judgment of the character when they see an ad - to make a search for user's activity and see how he god his/her privilege to post. Remember the leading-role user in the "What's Wrong With the Web Hosting Industry?" thread? He had *AH* initials? Imagine him advertising his service without having participated anywhere before, and all the members and guests wouldn't even know who they are dealing with...

So far it has been working like a charm. Not to mention that only Hosting Offers forums in the MarketPlace are affected by this. Every other advertising forum does not require a minimum number of posts. ;)

Plus, we are doing the best we can to prevent "spammers" who are easy to figure out. Trust me, if we see a user who leaves a bunch of useless two-word posts, he is Warned almost immediately, and all his points are brought back to zero.

So basically is there a way of allow points based on time restrictions on on a thread?
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To be honest, you left me completely clueless here...
 
Any system is subject to abuse. Having a mandatory post count before being able to advertise makes sense. But as you say, it opens up the possibility that some new member will spam the general forums to build the required post count. Unfortunately, that just means that the mods have to work a bit harder to monitor this type of activity.

It happens everywhere. So many times you spot a new member with 4 posts saying nothing more than "lol" or "Yeah..." in some old thread. All we can do is try to keep an eye out for them, report them to the mods, and let the mod squad do their thing.

No system is perfect, so we just need to work with the best one available, which is (IMHO), the one in place right now.

Vito
 
Very true Art and Vito. My suggestion was basically maybe a little confusing. Lets say John Doe decides to come into the forums. He registers to advertise his business and finds out he needs more posts. So he goes on a post fest. Joe opens up an article written by Jane Doe 6 months ago or replies to an offer that has not been posted in 6 months ago. Now with a hack installed Joe gets a message stating: Sorry Your Post count is too low to reply to messages over X months of time. You need X Posts to reply to this thread".

In a way this can make posts and keeping up to date with the new ones easier for the user. Instead of just having people bump up dead topics in order to obtain their post count.


I'm not by any means stating mods and admins are not doing their job, THEY DEFINETLY DO AN OUTSTANDING JOB, hence why I prefer this place above all other Web Hosting Communities after all :D. I just think there possibly can be an easier way for admins and mods to moderate the forums without having to jump and hope around catching spammers (Basically I'm thinking of ideas for possible ease of administration for the mods as well). I just got this idea after seeing random postings happening since last night thought I'd share a suggestions see what you guys though :thumbsup:
 
I see what you're saying, Senad. And it makes sense. Except that if we restrict the newbie to replying to newer threads, won't they just spam newer threads instead of older ones?

Vito
 
vito said:
I see what you're saying, Senad. And it makes sense. Except that if we restrict the newbie to replying to newer threads, won't they just spam newer threads instead of older ones?

Vito
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Good point :thumbsup:
 
The way I understood Senad was similar to his example, and keeping the point system as is, HOWEVER:
On threads older than X amount of days no points are given to new replies, or perhaps fractions of points are given. Afterall, what are people posting for in older threads, the points, or to add to the discussion?
 
So basically what this hack would say is if you are not a newbie, then its OK to post in old threads. Senad, even though its a good idea, we often see some established members posting in old thread from time to time (by accident or on purpose). And just as often these threads do have the same level of importance today, so we leave them running. If the issue is truly old, then we'll simply close a thread.

Best,
 
Exon said:
HOWEVER:
On threads older than X amount of days no points are given to new replies, or perhaps fractions of points are given. Afterall, what are people posting for in older threads, the points, or to add to the discussion?
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Now this could be the smartest way to go about it! Certainly a motivational factor. I will check into this, but I doubt our current hack allows for that to happen.
However, consider this: if we do not give as many points for older discussions, wouldn't that mean a greater number of posts?
 
Yes, the post counts go up - but the points remain the same in older threads. And the advertising - which requires the points - remains the same.
 
I will take a look into if that's possible with our current hack, however, keep in mind that no points for older threads would provoke newbies to post an even greater number of potentially valueless posts.
 
Why not just combine post count and longevity?

For instance, a person has to make a minimum of 25 posts AND be a member for a minimum of 2 weeks before posting in the ad forums.
 
Blue said:
For instance, a person has to make a minimum of 25 posts AND be a member for a minimum of 2 weeks before posting in the ad forums.
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I like this idea. Should be fairly easy to implement, as there'd be no need for a hack. However, I'd lessen the time from 2 weeks. Maybe to 3-5 days.
 
Why not just combine post count and longevity?

For instance, a person has to make a minimum of 25 posts AND be a member for a minimum of 2 weeks before posting in the ad forums.
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Agreed, it seems the best way, it should decrease the amount of posting spree's users do just to advertise. However won't stop the desperate people. No system is perfect that's why we have those hard working mods :P
 
Equonix said:
No system is perfect that's why we have those hard working mods :P
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Along with the rest of the community, that can help by clicking on the 'Report Post' button whenever they see a post or thread that needs attention. ;)
 
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