Bitcoin Forum

...it's so simple!

All you have to do is join in this thread and provide a better solution to the 5 post + time limit. If it works, it'll get implemented.

Please note, you have to fully explain why it's better than the existing system and explain how it'll work whilst being no more time intensive for Mods to implement.

Good luck everyone!

[Other newbies should feel free to discuss any solutions - pitch in, it's a community!]

I'm ok with 5 posts.

That's probably because you understand what that limit's there for ;)

Ive been registered for 24 hours now and still have to STARE at these forums for 4 hours to get out of newbie jail?

I've tried minimizing and doing other things and none of that time counts.. what gives?

I understand your frustration, but what alternative solution can you suggest?

Post count and staring at these forums does nothing to solve the bot or spammer problem if not only exacerbates it.

Put a 24 hour or longer membership requirement and leave it at that.

Have them graduate in levels, after 24 hours allow to post in the general forums, after 1 week all greater access.

Do it in waves as far as access level.

A captcha type input for first 5 posts on ANY sub-forum would solve the spammer bots thing.

these five posts are incredibly annoying

This is my fifth post, yay! :D

I think the current situation is great.

It makes it so your still able to view the rest of the forum, you simply can't post. This gives you time to read up on how Bitcoin works and all that important stuff. This in turn stops a tonne of dumb content being posted.

Maybe a slightly shorter time period?.. But I don't see why we need to be changing something that most certainly isn't broken.

So I'm an Enginner in real life, so you have to look at it from a problem perspective.

The problems you are trying to solve are (correct me if I am wrong):

1) Newbies who post worthless crap on the other subforums because they haven't taken the time to read
2) People who sign up to just spam and troll


So solutions are:
1) Some people simply don't have that much to say.  At a certain limit, (say maybe 1 hour of reading?), allow newbies to take a short quiz.  No more than 20 questions that tests their knowledge on bitcoins and forum policies.  If they pass, they get early parole, if they fail, current restrictions apply (no retakes).  This allows those people who may already have been bitcoining for some time or people who have legitimately read the announcements to get on with their life here.  People like these will want to contribute to the community and aren't going to be your "What is a wallet?" guys.

2) For the first few hours, posts by newbies are moderated everywhere but the newbie forum.  If they are of decent quality, they are released from newbie jail.  If they are not, all pending posts are deleted and they must follow current policies.  To cut down on moderator work, they are only allowed to have 4 pending posts at any one time, and if one of them is spammy/trolly, then all pending posts are deleted and they are subjected back to newbie jail (or banned, we don't want spammers and trolls around here anyways right?)

And I'm already out of jail but if you want to donate some btc my way, PM me and I'll be more than happy to give you an address :)

Interesting idea but for the first one, what would stop people from programming bots to know the answers in advance? The second one would still require a lot of work with the sheer amount of posts and new registrations. The subject of spam and newbies is definitely a hard subject to solve. Maybe until we adopt something like biometric logins (could cut down on bots and duplicate accounts) in the mainstream but I'm sure someone will find a way around that too.

Good points, thanks for the insight

I wish that post had come from a newbie.      :)

In that vein, I think another reason for the 5-post count is to gently change the newbie mindset:

from something like "I've got to make five stupid posts when all I want to do is make a really important post as soon as I'm out of this stupid prison. What a dumb place this is that I really really want to join. They're obviously a bunch of idiots and I demand my right to join them right now or I'll hold my breath and turn blue..."

to something like "I can't think of anything useful to say right now, so I'll go and do some reading and when I have something interesting to say I'll say it and perhaps if readers find my post interesting we'll engage in conversation about it and I'll learn some stuff and... hey, I just noticed I've got more than five posts already so I'd better start to think seriously about how I can contribute to the other discussions that I'll be getting access to."

The present system isn't foolproof but it's better than many fora have. Lotta noise on the Interwebz.

The question bank is more questions than you need so the bots would have to sign up many accounts before they saw all of the questions.  Also you could use a captcha or something for access to the test.

My solution is to spam post in this thread 5 times...

I know it is meant to stop spam, but all you are going to get is 5 spam posts just so the person can post in the section they want.  I actually want to post in a thread I am buying some hardware from, but I can't unless I put 5 useless "+1" posts somewhere...

My problem with the newbie restriction was that I had already been doing bitcoin related stuff for years when I joined the forum about a month or two ago.  It was stupid for me to have to post 5 times and for four hours with useless crap so I could post the one questions I came here to post.  But since I had knowledge of my aspect of bitcoining, I felt those questions I shuld have been able to post to the correct forums.  As you can see, I still post in this forum even though I am not a newbie anymore for questions for areas I am new to.  I have been mining for years, but I'm relatively new to trading for example).

The problem is that not all of us on this forum are adults (or at least act like adults) and can self triage their posts to the right subforum.

At first when I noticed I could not reply to posts, I thought I missed a verification email or something. Then I found out about this 5 post + time limit thing.

It's kind of annoying, but I'm sure it cuts down on the spammers, trolls and noobs posting questions that have been answered 200 times already. So I guess if I have to troll the newb forum for a bit and do some research, then so be it.

5 posts seems fair to me

There's nothing wrong (nor anything especially right) with the 5 post thing. The problem is in the 4 hour restriction.  Why? Here is my experience to date:

Let's say you've made your 5 posts... now you go on to a more interesting forum, and have something interesting to contribute, you go looking for the reply or quote button, but it's not there. What do you do? Say "screw it, that's right, I'm still a newb", then surf to another site.  You come back the next day, thinking, ok, i'm gonna put in my time.  You read a number of threads, maybe for 10 minutes or so, then you feel like you have something to contribute.  But still, no quote or reply buttons. Grumble, grumble, rinse repeat. Time goes up by only 10-20 minutes a day.

I completely understand the need for some newbie vetting process - I have moderated other forums, and know the challenges mods and admins face. But the 4 hour thing is chafing my you-know-whats.

</rant>

the limit is perfectly fair, I still enjoy coming on the newbie section myself. Can always learn a few new things.

5 Posts is nothing. But four hours is a long wait.

You had to think of a work around ... for getting five posts?

Seriously?

smh

You can't just go post 5 times?

Yea il just post 5 times

i agree

for some reason, reddit is able to function without a 5-post incubation period.

What i should post here? +1 ? XD

Being someone who tends to read just about everything before I add my two cents I don't mind the current setup.

The only thing I could say to make it better would be to allow new users to post on the regular board as well but limit how often they can post to say a couple times a hour that way they are still forced to do a lot of reading but if they want they can still add their two cents where they feel they are needed.

There are other methods of stopping bots in place. This is to stop people from coming in and going to every thread and advertising something a million times and just being a general pain, they aren't going to wait 4 hours on a heap of accounts just to do that a couple of times.

without newbie jail, this place would be spammed to hell and back. need signal not static

if you have a way to get around it, I'd like to try it!

A test quiz on scams, spamming, trolling, etc?

Or a hero member must vouch for someone?

The 5-post limit isn't too hard.  You just have to not care about the quality of what you say (counterproductive conditioning?).

What's a killer is clicking on pages to keep the total-time-logged odometer going.  I've put at least a few hours reading on bitcointalk recently, but I didn't know I should be logged in.

Do the 4 hours count even if you are afk all the time?

nope, if you keep logged in on the forum and then afk without any activity, you session will be considered timed out, and thus your time is not count  :)

5 post is ok, but the 4 hours of staring is a bit too much

Invites for hero members? This way, if user turns out to be spammer you can blame hero member for giving invite. Let's do this, haha.

I'd suggest whitelisting certain people.

Another option might be a non-spam bond; 0.1btc that you're not going to spam?

This is actually a pretty great idea. Letting hero members refer a few people a month who would dodge this requirement would be pretty nice. I really don't think the requirements are a big deal but this would be more convenient I suppose.

sorry but for me the only one and working solution is to simply delete spam posts because it works always and everywhere. People are buing accounts just to not have to sit in jail which is stupid to me. I know its very expensive to read every post and delete spam, but why not allow people to do this? Let people vote for posts. They are already spamming forum by typing +1 instead simply pressing +
Then it would be very easy to just hide posts with for example -5 votes and show them only on demand for people who would be interested in seeing stupid posts.
Also it would be easy for admins to see only posts with big negatives and delete them if needed.

Problem solved:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iapECJKx4k0 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iapECJKx4k0)

 ???

How do you come to this conclusion?



If I were a spammer I'd just sign up 100 accounts and wait 24 hours. You've just made life as a spammer much easier.



This doesn't work because any spammer is going to automate signup and just wait, go away and do a weeks worth of spamming and come back to hundreds of new spam accounts.

You'll need to do better than this.

Pretty sure you can buy captchas for hundreds to the dollar.

Also, how does this prevent users from asking the same questions, over and over again that have been answered a million times?

Congratulations :D

It's not broken but people don't seem to get why it's there. The ones that whine about it have no better solution either.

That sums it up nicely.


Typical engineer - requires a massive engineering effort to solve the problem :D - I'm kidding. It's a good idea but sounds like it'd take a long time to implement and unless the 20 questions comes from a bank of questions, this is also easy to overcome with a bot. I'd also say if you fail it, your requirements double.


Again, great idea but needs development work to implement.

I wonder if we can get Thymos to implement these?

Someone should start a thread where all the newbies can pitch in and discuss ideas...

It's frustrating but that's the cost of membership here due to all the other users who can't be bothered to read. If this policy didn't exist, you'd find that trying to post an ad to buy hardware would be swamped in junk posts.

This very policy is what makes this forum a place where you CAN make a post and ensure it be read by people who are interested in what you have to say.

I hear you.

The unfortunate thing is all those other users who aren't as knowledgeable as you or as responsible.

The aim isn't to cause inconvenience but to to limit the inconvenience of the people that aren't as sensible.

And I see you've hit your 5 post mark already :)

Bitcointalk has grown large enough, why not charge a small fee for new account creations? Cut down on junk accounts while also bringing in a profit. :)

(Of course this would need to be implemented after I reach 5 posts, which just happens to be this one..)  8)



I also like the 0.1BTC bond idea, though in reality I think that would be difficult to enforce in questionable scenarios.

Without a 4 hour limit, a bot could post 5 spam posts and then be free to post on other subforums.

Personally I blame all the spammers and people who won't read before posting.

We were all newbies once :)

Not really the point of the thread...

It's coz they're all trolls and spammers anyway...


...I kid! I KID!

The quickest way around it is to get stuck into this discussion and help out.

Once you've proposed a few solutions and discussed it, you're magically let out of newbie prision.

Don't just take my word for it. Try it!

Does that mean all new members must know a hero member in real life? Or is there some other way to vouch for a newbie?

Why stare when you could be reading about what's new in the Bitcoin world? What about all the drama sideshows that go on?

Not interested in what people are speculating on?

What about how Bitcoin is gaining acceptance in the political stage?

There's got to be hours worth of reading there.

I can see Hero members not inviting anyone lol

There's already a thread to get whiltelisted on.

The coding required for this would be too expensive.

Also, a pure democracy is tyranny of the majority and that's no good.

hantam saja tia XD

Why its no good when you automatically hide posts most people dont like? Its not like you ban people with that method or force them to not post at all. Besides maybe there is already mod for this forum available for download so work required is not that much like you think.

And btw you said that only 5 posts without time is easy to overcome by spammers and time restriction only is also easy to overcome. Then how these two combined are not easy to overcome? They are. this is why current method is useless.

I honestly think a 5 post limit is fine, if people aren't willing to take the time and put some effort into making 5 "decent" posts at the start, then why should we think they would ever make decent posts on any other board.

5 post limit is useless to prevent spammers... 4 hours online is a better way to block them...

im still here XD

If all you are trying to do is avoid spam, then have a new account post some BTC to a "sign up" address.  If they get reported for spam, then keep their deposit.  If after 10 or so posts, then refund their BTC.

This way a Spamers will help fund the site, and anyone that would rather put up BTC than wait 4 hours and post 5 times can simply get on with their life.

Does require a little bit of coding ...

I think half of inedible's posts were made in this thread alone :)

Well they proved that http://newbiejail.org wasn't a scam, so you can use that to skip the 4 hours but that doesn't solve your 5 post problem. Posting here does though. :D

Looks good to me =D 5 it's not to much !

Hi, I'm also a newbie in terms of post count.  I'm not able to suggest an alternative limitation system, but one would definitely be nice :)

The majority of time so far, its been good to just sit back and learn, people seem to ask/answer questions for me.  But sometimes it is a little frustrating while following the thread of a particular coin; that I can't express my thanks or add a quick question or throw an idea out there while people are talking about particular matter.

With the current system, I see how people whom are more impatient, just mocking the current system by creating threads like, 'post 1' etc - which to me would suggest it needs changing and maybe enrol some extra moderators to take care of the trolls?   

Just my 2 pence worth  ;)

5 posts seems fair enough to me. I can hardly imagine the amount of spam that would flood discussions without some sort of limitation.

Im also OK with 5 posts, there's merit in not spamming the main sections with useless comments. It's worth pointing out that there's a huge amount of garbage on the main sections from more senior members though. How do we reduce that - back to newbie jail for any persistent offenders??

Yes the 5 post is OK, but 4 hours community service is time consuming. if they could reduced to 2 hrs that will be great :)

  that would be even more time consuming.. LOL

5 posts is ok

been lurking for months now. time for me to start talking a little :)

I agree 100% with the post limitation, although I just realized today that although I've been active in Trollboxes, but not with posting here!

Newbie stuff stinks.

Every person on this forum has gone through it except of course the old timers. Ya 2 years and they are old timers. I did it I never complained and did my time. The system is good. I vote it should stay this way. If anything maybe cut down to 2 or 3 hours but it's really not necessary.

Frustrating... but necessary I guess.

Very annoying, in my humble opinion... g.

I'm ok with 5 posts

5 posts isn't even the problem.

it's the 4 hours of activity on the forums.

anyone can make "hi" or "i agree" posts till they're blue in the face.

4 hours of being active on the forums? yeah ok...guess i'll wait a couple days before i can get advice on my hardware issue...

5 Posts and 4 hours isn't really a big deal.

Yeah it's annoying having the limit, but understandable.

I guess newbs will just have to comment on irrelevant stuff until they have access to the thread they are interested in.

What do other sites do to get around the issue ?

Interesting... Could be a solution!

lol - wall of my posts. It's due to leaving the forums for days at a time and then having to reply to everything all at once.

I'll try and spread it out a little ;)

Yes, this is my suggestion as well.   Leave the existing requirements, but have a pay-level account option so that people serious about legit posts have a way to fast track.

Eh, nub jail for 5 posts plus 4 hours is not bad at all. As long as no one takes advantage of me here, that's all. D:













Unless you yell surprise first.

The four hours is my issue.  I don't understand how that is calculated.  Do I have to be posting for 4 hours?  Does reading count?  How/when does the tracker acknowledge that I have been on the site for a given period of time?  If I'm reading a long thread does the system timeout and I really only got 3 minutes of credit when I sat there reading over and over for 15 minutes?  A little clarification on that point would be nice.

Perhaps the newbies could contribute to some mechanical turk style problem.

http://www.fastcoexist.com/1678985/how-the-creator-of-captcha-will-translate-the-entire-internet

I think 5 post limit is too LOW, please consider increasing it to 10+ posts.

This is my 6th posts so I am out of the noobie purgatory.

Post #1

Is the four hours after your first post, or does it include the many hours I've already spent reading the support forums?

Post #2

I really don't want to bore you guys with inane drivel, I just want access to some support.

I'm ok with the 5 posts. Gotta pay the dues.

Post #3

This just seems a tedious way of (maybe) solving the issue of spam and the like.

Post #4

This thread is definitely useful for somewhere to make 5 useless posts.  Thanks!

Post #5

Damn.  I've forgotten what I came here for.  >:(

OK, answering my own question, (as I've nothing better to do while I wait).  Looking at the total time logged in it looks like the 4 hours might be retroactive, but while I've put in many hours reading the forums, I only actually registered a couple of days ago.  Luckily for me I've nearly done the required 4 hours of surfing the web reading the forum.

I agree, 5 is low.
I would be willing to have a higher post limit if the time was reduced.
The posting makes sense, but the time doesn't. It just seems like something to slow people down, and I really don't think it'd be that effective at stopping spam.
As someone else said, moderating all newbie posts would be a good idea.

Bye losers newbies!  ;D

 if that what 5 post is usefull for, this has no value. post should be possible to down vote to be invalidate by other newbies and a time between counting post should be made so a spammer that bot the forum for the time and then just spam 5 post here before spamming in the forum has access. with this at least he will possibly be down voted.

P.S. even if this post is valid it would be downvoted by spammer, so this is not perfect also ;-)

Yes... I've thought about this method too... But I'm not even sure how to begin.  This doesn't seem to unreasonable a limit.
I don't necessarily need immediate access to everything.

These 5 posts are killing me... :[

Oh well, this is my 5th :D

Goodness sake, it is only 5 post and you still want to find ways to get around it?  Just look around, read and post, you will certainly gain a lot of knowledge and 5 posts is a breeze!

True... Now I feel bad. :(

word

But why not 1 post?  And 1 hour?  It's all just arbitrary.  ;)

How about a forced 5-10 minute tutorial to watch that outlines rules, member ranks, what scams look like, don't be a douche, etc. Have a quiz at the end to ensure uptake of information, if you fail more than once, then you go to newbie jail.

Maybe not a great solution, but shorter than the current limits and good for those who lurk for months, then sign up to buy an auction (...cough cough).

thats quite funny lol! i just want to have my say in another area lol

I have been a moderator and started 12 forums, simple solution. Charge money....... even if its only  $9 or $12 a year. You eliminate 99% of your spammers. Money refunded after parole if you want?

A better solution is just to remove the restriction and let anyone post.

You can't create an account using TOR, so I don't see why there would be much abuse.

My two bitcents.

Wish I knew about this limit earlier!

arbitrary post regarding arbitrary limit with arbitrary sarcasm yay.

Is there anywhere to see how many posts you need for certain areas? I noticed you can't post in the gambling section until you have X posts... but I can't find anywhere where is says how many.

Haven't you heard? It's now been increased to 15 posts!





 ;D

I guess if you're new around here, it couldn't harm to do some more reading :)

Yeah because it SO difficult to write 5 posts  ::)

Waiting for four hours is the hard part of being in the newbie zone - I mean how hard is it to write 5 posts!

This place is out of control.. I created an account and an hour later it gets deleted. All I made was one post in the newbie forum.

So here I am again. Lets hope this account doesn't get deleted too. I want to contribute but can't. I may be a n00b but I'm a long time lurker and miner.

It's not hard.  Which begs the question as to why require it?

A lumberjack getting to know the world of miners. Getting 5 posts deep now (:

The four hour time rule is more effective I believe.

Now I am confused. Is the real limit 4 posts, or 5 or 15?

I don't mind the 5 posts, although I never worried about it before cause I just like to read the forums and never needed to post until now. Should have thought ahead more.

I think there have been a few good solutions, I don't have a problem with the 5 post minimum. But I agree with the post about allowing access in waves. First 24 hours (or 5 posts) you are limited to the newbie section. Then after you have access to the general topics. And after that allow access to higher up levels after another span of time.

This newbie area seems like a good idea to weed out scammers and such.

An elaborate e-scavenger hunt as an alternative would be fine. Now, someone just has to map and build an e-scavenger hunt...

But users could log in with credentials from other trusted sites like Google, OpenID or Disqus.  And if they have enough reputation on those forums they could be grandfathered in.

This is a good idea but many people prefer to remain anonymous and not leave a digital "paper trail" for any number of reasons.

this is #3

1st

This is # I'm not sure I lost count  :D

I guess you cannot change your avatar without the 5 posts?

Most likely but if you reply to this post then you only have a few more to go  :D

LOL yeah.  ;D

There's no reason multiple ways of passing the newbie barrier shouldn't be possible, leaving it up to the individual to decide which suits them best.

The problem for many people actually is the reading thing. Reading requires a certain ability of understanding, disciplin and concentraion on the reading and not to forget some patience. Not everyone possesses these skills at a sufficient level.
That does not link especially to this forum, I am encountering this problem almost daily, even at the university.

I guess that it makes us "work" to sue this forum. Keeps spammers and people that aren't serious out of it.

Users should initially only be able to make one post. This post would need to be validated by another poster, its quality assessed. If it passes, the new user is free to post where he wants, no strings attached.

So not a way around the current limit, but a whole new system. You're welcome.

Lets have a Bitcoin quiz. If folks score above 70%, then they can post immediately. It will help the more informed people get going and contribute right away while the real newbies can spend time in this forum, learn and make silly comments and suggestions (like this one).

Not a silly suggestion IMHO. An Initial quiz could work.

I agree bobsmith652, I've signed up for a group buy, but have do 5 lame ass post so I can PM and verify my identity.

Ghost42, I read a lot of post, but am not inclined to reply to a thread unless I'm going to be able make a meaning contribution, rather than "yeah, I agree..." peeps who just want the gratification of increasing # of posts / needing to be seen.

Ethicoin, writing a post isn't hard. It is whether what your saying in the post is meaniful / useful. I need 5 posts so I can complete my group buy identification. The 4 hours was a bit of a pain as well.

Lol ruletheworld, that would certainly reduce the number of posters. I would prefer to see a peer review model introduce, where by senior posters can flag poster who abuse / spam the forum. These posters could firstly be warned, then if behaviour continues suspended from posting.

It wouldn't. It goes without saying that the quiz would be optional, if you want to bypass this procedure.

5 posts is perfectly fine... that may take all of a couple minutes.

I just don't like the active browsing time capture - I use multiple monitors and often I'll load something lengthy on my off-monitor and continue browsing or gaming on my primary and the timer just stops completely while I'm reading. Not a huge deal, it just really means I need to put in a solid 4 hours of ACTIVE browsing CONSTANTLY instead of reading at my own leisure. :S Disappointing is all, to have such a huge hurdle to get out of newbie jail. Definitely an obstacle that is frustrating to overcome to participate actively in this community.

I like this idea. I am very familiar with bitcoin and would love the opportunity to take a quick quiz to get out of newbie jail. The only issues would obviously be:
#1) Someone provides quiz answers to bypass this check (passive)
#2) Someone takes the quiz for you (active)

I already received many emails wishing to purchase my bitcointalk account since my email address was public (I'm assuming for free XRP?) so really no matter what people will find ways around.

I agree with the quiz idea!  That sounds great.  The counterpoint I figure is the exclusivity of membership tests.  You want to welcome the outside community, right?  I suppose both options could be offered.  Browse for 4 hours (to learn) or test in to membership. 

Isn't posting 5 pointless comments here a way to overcome the limit...?
 :)

5 posts isn't so many, surely? I've been members of forums that need 50 or more. I've never seen a time requirement, though. 4 hours of active browsing seems excessive, and surely something a bot could be programmed to do more easily than for a real person to do???

That's not really the point.

Bitcoin is about freedom. This system is just making bitcoin users looking like elitists and is against the values behind bitcoin.
This is not preventing spam at all... You can even pay mechanical turk people for spamming nowadays.

I tend to agree with this.  I scan text and can read extremely fast, as I'm sure most geek/nerd/coder types can also do.  I have a full time (+overtime) job, 3 kids and all sorts of duties around the house, not to mention sleeping.  It will take me probably one to two weeks to get to four hours!  How is it measured anyway?  Presumably a maximum time between page requests or the elapsed time doesn't count at all?

What about providing a telephone number, which is called automatically and where you are presented an access code? Couldn't that be a hurdle for trolls and spammers?

It seems that way, yes.

or SMS...

Well that'd work only for people in the US wouldn't it?

phone verification is too easy to bypass

the current method seems to work fine, but think 4 hours is a bit steep. i for one joined the forum to add to a topic i was reading and to ask several questions in regards to where the best place to sell an avalon pre-order would be etc,  but now i have to wait for what seems like an eternity before i can ask for the advice and guidance i need..

Why? I've heard there are telephones and mobile phones in europe, too. Latest rumors are, they also began using fridges and escalators. Of course only in regions with power supply.  ;)

pmsl...

Totally fine with 5 posts. I would also add a restriction on 1 topic thread to be a useful one, not just a random shit

i'll take it!

The post count is a pretty good idea but the fact that you have to wait 4 hours is a little excessive. Most people will spend a certain amount of time on the forum when researching specific things at one time. They will stay on for lets say 2 hours and then they move away and then come back for another couple minutes and move away again. It's really frustrating.

The limit is 5 posts.

My 15 post limit comment was sarcasm.

Gosh - it's almost like you can read between the lines...

It seems to me the people most desperate to overcome the posting restrictions are the ones with least patience and desire to read and understand.

Sure, there are people who already have good forum etiquette, but I assure you, you're in the minority.

Perhaps making newbies read up on some of the scam threads in their entirety would do it.

The Pirate thread ought to keep them entertained for at least 4 hours lol.

aint that the truth.... kept me busy lol.... t minus 10 minutes to go ;)

5 posts. This is just me contributing. I would think that some sort of quiz might help- for example if someone doesn't know what SHA256 is (time the questions to prevent googling?). Just a thought.

What's not really the point of what? I don't understand your comment.

SHA-256 and SHA-512 are novel hash functions computed with 32- and 64-bit words, respectively. They use different shift amounts and additive constants, but their structures are otherwise virtually identical, differing only in the number of rounds.

That being the case, please name and explain the 2012 update to the standard and how it improves security. Please use no more than 3000 words and provide your mathematical working on the graph paper provided.


 ;D

Okay,  Im newb here,  so I'll do some reading and some posting :D

Good on you ;)

You really should read the Pirate thread - it's huge, entertaining and will give you an insight on what to watch out for so you don't get scammed.

glad i found this thread. was wondering why i couldn't post anywhere. 4 hours seems a bit excessive but i'll wait it out i suppose.

Unfortunately, the 5 post limit was made for users exactly like you :(

I'm okay with 5 posts

6 posts would also be ok.
But no more...

I think it could be 5 posts or 5 recommendations from existing members.
I don't mind the requirement.  There should be an I.Q. test before people are allowed to buy crypto.

Changed my mind. 4 hours of constant activity is far from necessary. We don't all live on the Internet for 18 hours a day!

All I want to do is participate in some PXC coin discussion. I made my 5 posts but because I have not spent 4 frigging hours flipping through pages I still can not post. I have been lurking here for quite a while but never bothered signing up. I can see how that was a mistake! I'd easily be up to my 4 hours by now.

I think 30 - 60 minutes of activity in conjunction with the 5 posts would be more than enough.

I hope the 4 hour requirement can be relaxed a little moving forward.

I'm okay with the 5 post limit.

The 5 post limit is ok.

I just hope my first 5 posts do not have to make much sense. I have some ideas about to write about, but have no time atm and need to post my details for a transaction in the forum.

5 post frustrations

5 posts is even too less ... too many trolls on this forum. I would make it 50 posts and a one month waiting period.

I'm okay with five posts and I'm going to try to make my fifth post meaningful.

My thoughts regarding the requirements:

[1] 5 posts requirement:

What if instead of going for quantity, we go for quality of the post?

With the five posts requirement, I find myself asking questions, or posting comments that I know I am not personally as enthusiastic or interested in.

Perhaps in the future, if we could either require 5 posts or 1 to 2 substantive post. This is based purely on the length of the message.

I find that usually lengthy posts are ones where individuals have lots to say, and therefore are really engrossed in the subject.

Don't we want to promote that kind of forum? Rather than just random rambling such as "this is my 5th posts, yah!"?

Instead, we have consolidated thoughts all in one post where each individual member can say their one big piece, and then get engrossed into the community.


[2] Time Requirement:

Instead of 4 hours on the forum, I would suggest lowering it down to 2 or 3 hours. I believe that is a sufficient amount of time for barrier.

People such as myself join the Bitcoin Talk community to engage and contribute back.  Therefore while I do understand the restriction, I think it is also important to find the right balance between proper deterrence and appropriate encouragement of a constructive community.

A third option

Perhaps we can have a mandatory video viewing. Those that are truly interested, may pay acute attention, those that do not, continue to do what they do. This way, those that would like to learn more about Bitcoin and the forum, would be well informed.

Yes, Nombre Cinqo!

Hi, Welcome to newbie prison. Hope you enjoy your stay.

i think it is nice as it is, but let the newbs Reply in all the other boards. since there is wery littel to do in the "newb jail" with out it´s just being some replys here and there, with no "real" thoughts.

- How did you come to bitcointalk
- How old are you, and when did you hear about bitcoin

This is all god questions, but maby make a "answer this questions and become a member system"

5 posts with a minimum membership time is a good solution, maybe not active time on the threads as some people dont like to just lurk for blocks of time

What's the actual goal this is trying to accomplish?  Human nature being what it is people will do what they must to simply get through it.  Incentivized behavior needs to be more subtle and not spelled out as do x, y many times.

imho 5 posts are fine. 4 hours maybe more annoying - but at least you will see what is going on the forum :)

Also instead of 5 posts or 4 hours another member with at least 200 posts can "vouch" for a newbie. His account is then tied to the newbie's and if the newbie gets banned then the vouching member gets banned.

Appreciate that newbies need to pass the tests but the 5 post limit does mean that they are posting purely to make up their 5 and are not necessarily helping to signal to noise ratio

What's the incentive to vouch in that case?

5 posts is fair enough to assess new forum members

How about a tiny bitcoin donation to a good cause as an alternative ? :)

Does it require more than 5 because I think I am at 5 now.

Just don't think about it. Just keep posting.

Best idea so far, perfectly takes out the trolls and leaves serious people.

Theoretically, there should be some sort of registration question/s that could determine whether you're already competent/civil in order to exempt from the posting requirement.

Pretty much this.
But I understand the limitation.

Anyone advocating a donation/payment upfront doesn't realise how much of a barrier this would be to newbies.

I reckon most would rather join an alternative forum.

5 posts is not really a lot, there are so many threads around for you to reply

5 posts is easy, it is the waiting that is hard.

5 posts is nothing 4 hours is something.

5 posts is fair, but I would have liked some notification of this when I signed up. I thought I was going crazy when I was unable to reply to threads. I had to Google it to find the newbie forum that said you needed to do 5 posts in here and then wait some hours. I agree with it, but it should have been more clearly stated in the signup process.

I think  5 posts  is fair to me.

posting here to lift my post count limit as I am unable to post.
MODS: Plz dont ban me...
:D

It could be 10 posts, so lets be happy that is only 5

OP explains nothing

I agree!

I'm ok with those limits. Though usually I'd post something only if I have to say something. There is sufficient noise already here.

Quality != Quantity

So I think this is my 5th post now. Took me 4 weeks with 18h "Time Spent Online"  ;)

If only there were some way to make people read  ;D

What do you need explained, young Padwan?

yes it is annoying.. bump!

Perhaps this will help :)

I notice very few people are willing to get whitelisted and instead would prefer to put the burden of work on the mods.

Email verification and captcha. Perhaps even a more involved captcha that would interpret math word problems.

I think for a new user the 5 post/ 4 hours is fine. Maybe try some kind of invitation system where long time members are allowed to sort of sponsor someone for full privileges right away.
 

How about a small bitcoin donation to the forum?

The forum has plenty of BTC.  It is not used.  Why donate more?  it's a forum with little to no oversight, with enough money for server fees and whatnot for a lifetime.   That 4000+ BTC needs to be properly managed and not distributed cold storage with 'trusted members'.

I just don't get it.

I wish there was a way to get around it.  I guess I understand it's to keep the riff raffs out.  However, I joined because I needed to PM Slush that his new user registration is not sending out activation emails.  So I have to wait 4 hours and post a few nothings to do so. :(

I feel bad having to post fillers.  The first post was to ask if anyone can PM him for me to look into the issue though, so that wasn't much of a filler....

I want to contribute in another Thread, but meh, newbie, have to do extra rounds...  :P

So, 1st round finished  ;D

The five-post test is a practical implementation of the "proof-of-work" test that keeps noise levels down and strangles spam at the outset.

It would still work as an anti-spam measure.

It could work if the member trusted the newbie out in dirtspace/meatspace - "guy in the next office" kind of thing. "Mentoring" has good potential, but there would have to be checks and balances to make sure the "mentor" wasn't some mole King of Spam or whatever.

Make a Verified User confirm for a newbie. In the form of a invite could help a ton.

Agree with this... plus a reasonable limit on number of sponsorships per time period.

Hahahahahahahahahahhahahhahah
Oh man that's a good one

Maybe I'll bribe a mod with a ride in my private jet. ;D

Just posts some 5 useless posts.

Like this one?

Ya that would work.

You should be able to pay your way out of Newbie jail.  Maybe 0.10BTC - first, it makes it expensive to create fake/bot accounts.  And two, you get more funds to make the forum better.

Just my 0.02btc.

it seem like you need to post something for the sake of getting out from here

It is a bit of a catch 22. You need 5 posts, but all the threads you want to post on aren't in the newbie section. Feels a bit silly to have to keep starting a new thread just to link to the thread you want to comment on and post your comment. And hardly anyone will read your thread in the newbie section, so it doesn't result in any productive discussion. So basically I've spent nearly 2 months on here getting to 5 posts, but here I am finally, post number 5.

I've spent 7 hours logged in ..is that good enough

I would comb a hairy ball flat without creating a cowlick.  

we need accept page rulles?

just a random post past by

5 post rule is fine it's just a bit of a pain.

oh i just thought of a really clever answer. have them send a message using bitmessage of a length that is sufficient to require the computational resources necessary to effect the desired level of spam mitigation.

I think the 4 hour rule is enough in itself. Why also having to post 5 times?
If a newbie wants to post during his newbie time with a question, he can do it in the newbie forum, but I don't see why he HAS to.

I guess reading 4 sentences for you was too hard.

In all the time you've been on these forums (including your time in newbie prision) you couldn't spend the 20 seconds to read beyond the 3rd sentence of the Newbie Readme?

It doesn't surprise me that 4 hours is an eternity for you. I suspect that 5 posts and 4 hours won't be sufficiently long enough for you.

You also have to assume that people aren't geographically separated.

Do you mind vouching for learnmore? If you're wrong about him you get banned though :(

Cue 100s of newbies begging you via pm for an invite...

This - a thousand times this!




Wait, what?

And what was it that needed figuring out that wasn't in the Newbie readme? Or did you not spend anytime reading?

Nice algorithm - the implementation is going to be a bummer though lol

I'm not happy about this newbie status and restrictions on communicating. I'm not a newb in the world of BTC and mining. I need the ability to communicate with others ASAP!

it would be nice to be able to donate a small amount of BTC to get around the 5 posts.

i agree

I think it is pretty simple to do 5 posts and I am learning along the way so I am good...

don't think this works

don't get me wrong...the required time of trolling the forums has taught me a lot...just wish I could ask some questions in certain threads.

I'm not pointing anyone out specifically but I've seen a lot of "I hate the 5 post requirement" or "I don't think it works" posts in this thread, which is completely counter to
a) the spirit of the OP, and;
b) the actual request of the OP.

Obviously people have complained/had issues with the five posts/four hour requirement, otherwise this thread wouldn't be here...nobody is saying anything new and frankly, not helping the conversation.  This isn't a petition drive people so "me too" hold exactly zero water and in many cases proves the rule.

Think of the mods as management.  At work, do you go to your Supervisor or Manager and say "This sucks, change it!"?  Not more than once you don't.  Any manager worth their salt wants you to come to them with your problems, obviously, but they appreciate it when you come to them with ideas on how to fix what's broken instead of just complaining.  Is four hours of active browsing the forums too long?  If so, articulate why you think so and not just "because it's hard/boring".  I'm not saying it isn't hard or boring but I'm saying come up with a cogent, reasonable argument for why the time should be shortened.

I had a couple of questions that I really wanted to ask before I joined the forum and I'd been reading it for several months before I created an account.  While I was waiting, I was just chomping at the bit to ask and, in some cases, reply to threads that I was just sure I had to reply to (I'm an incurable wise-ass).  Turns out that all three of my vital questions that I just couldn't wait to ask had already been answered...multiple times, one of which in the newbie forum.   ::)  Not saying people haven't searched already because search can be difficult to get the terms right, but it's amazing how much ground has already been trod.

If you have a suggestion, that's what the OP is asking for.  If you're just going to mitch and bone to raise your post count...take 10 seconds in another thread and at least try to be constructive.

From my point of view, the only thing wrong with the current system is that it is not flexible enough to NOT waste the time of those who have what to contribute, but just happen to have joined recently the forum.

It's not really a huge problem, as 4 posts are easily made in the newbies threads (even without shouting like spoiled kids lemme out) and the hours - well, they too shall pass.

However, assuming that the point is to delay (for everybody's benefit) only newbies and not just everybody, why not consider also something along the lines of recommendation from a trusted/hero member or wot rating (would need linking the account to a username there, but it can be done with a signing challenge)?

I mean: those with a good wot rating or trust from several trusted members here can directly post everywhere.

Pixilatedbtc

Maybe it's not the best idea to ask for suggestions in the Newbie forum. You can expect these kind of reactions here.

While I can see your point, most people aren't going to give the newbie forum a second thought once they are out of it so asking in the main forums isn't likely to garner any useful responses at all.  At least there have been some suggestions given by the people directly affected by the current rules.  I can't speak for the OP but I would guess that's the reason for posting it here rather than elsewhere.

I think it is a it anniing as you probably have been here for some hours before you want to post something

My only suggestion would be to really highlight the fact you need to be logged in to show active browsing to meet the time requirement.

Maybe it is highlighted when you sign up and I'm just an idiot, however I've been lurking since I joined (about 1.5 months) but never logged in: I believe I misread it as membership time. This will resolve itself fairly quickly for me, but still, I think unless people come in as experts (the minority) they should understand how the forums work with that sort of lurking time.

Post count is useless, as can be observed by reading any thread in the newbie forum.

I would be happy to see a donation to get around the posts limit with the majority of payments going to some sort of charity or project supported by the community.

or maybe qualify for reading 100 plus pages?  To show you may have attempted to bring yourself up todate on the topic you are posting about

If you knew about the 5 post limit and 4 hour wait, why didn't you register earlier then for when you eventually needed to ask a question in a different part of the forum?

5 posts is not a lot to get around. It's only frustrating to people who would like 30 aliases and now have to make 150 posts :D

First 15 posts require captcha, after 5 posts and 4 hours they get access to 1 forum or subforum outside of newbie area.  After another 20 posts and 20 hours they have access to everything.

@Inedible I think you have part of the answer to the 5 post problem in the initial question. This thread is the solution !!! I don't mind 5 post, and I'm pretty sure no one else does as long as its not wasting time by posting worthless stuff. The newbie section should be put to use with thread like these that could help the bitcointalk community. Just start engaging threads like these to help solve problem around the community, find solution and get new idea and benefit from the input how people who are trying to get out of the newbie jail. Their time will be put to good use and it's a great way to get people engaged early in the community !!

What if you have to have mined a certain total amount of coins & successfully made a transaction, i.e: cashing out whatever amount of BTC you just earned to your wallet. This way, people who DON'T have four hours to refresh, at least may have that time available for their PC to be on.

I'm in an odd spot where I started mining but never logged on to these forums, so now I'm trying to get some help but need to get past this 5 post & four hour requirement..

I just wish my pool had better ways to get suport..

I'd like to advocate for a timed 10-15 minute multiple choice test on topics involving Bitcoin and related technologies.

My timely escape from this newbie prison has been frustratingly hindered by a genuine and uncontrollable apathy for most any topic in here, and as a result I've found it curiously difficult to reach the paltry 5-post requirement.  Really, the newbie restriction is probably doing more harm than good to a rapidly growing community like this one.  People get here excited about Bitcoin, usually spending most of their time reading until they eventually find a reason to post, but then, alas, the tragedy.  There's got to be a quicker way to vet that people are literate before letting them converse with the general population.

And with that post I'm free!  Oh the irony.

So you want support from a community you don't want to abide the rules of?

If only you'd read enough about the community to know it had these rules...

If only someone would create a thread for people like you so they could get engaged and converse and before they know it, they'll be out of newbie prison...

And this?

Well, I guess I know it does  ;D

I have surpassed the 5 post limit and the time limit and still I cannot post...

What am I doing wrong?

I like the 5 post limit, I even implemented it on my forum, but today I'm annoyed.
Just lurked for weeks never noticed that there is no reply button, and today, when I need it, it's missing, so here I am. :)

If that's the goal it's not working very well because I see plenty of stupid things being posted in the other topics.

From what I can gather the newbie jail has nothing to do with anything. It's just a hazing ritual like you would see at a fraternity or something.

The limit is annoying (I'm still a newbie as I just joined 30 mins ago) but I do understand why its there. Right now, I don't have any better solution so I'm just dealing with it.

Just read some interesting threads and you didn't know you arlready posted more than 5 posts.

Still haven't met the four hour limit though.

it will come ;)

It's not about the quantity of posts, it's also about the quantity of time!

5 posts is bs

would be funny if the 5 post needed to be "a good post", like 500 characters+ approved by moderators

4hours seems like it takes sooooooooooo long

I got scammed :(

5 posts huh?

guess i just need 1 more posts hermmmmmm

i got 5 posts but it still wont let me post elsewhere

Just started... still need 5
maybe this section might be worthwhile

i read something about a time restriction

If you're not willing to contribute 5 simple posts than maybe you're in the wrong place. 5 posts is a really small thing to ask for.

Depends if your redfaced or not

nothing to do with me, but when one signs up to a forum is usualy with a response to a specific in mind
this limbo distracts from original intention :)

i'm fine with it though

yes there is some time restriction so everyone can read 1st post from sticky threads  ;)

DAH!

Why cant I post in the forums?

President Obama issued a new directive to block your access for another 5 posts.

the easiest way to get around 5 posts is to actually post 5 posts. just do the math :D

Yeah because it SO difficult to write 5 posts 

Waiting for four hours is the hard part of being in the newbie zone - I mean how hard is it to write 5 posts!

perhaps some (+1) or (like) system? that would also show involvement and it would be nearly impossible for a bot to fake real person's opinions, especially if they would match with something in personal profile.

just messing around with the idea, it's not a clear solution

I have said this time and time again. It's SO simple to get 5 posts. I do than that a day, some short and some long. Also, if you have something to contribute to the forums, then waiting 4 hours and being active is NOTHING, nothing at all. Literally, look at all the people who post regular and obviously love the site. They have a TON of online time. Time goes so fast.



I believe this has been discussed many times before, but I think it would be a nice little feature, especially for people who are into receiving likes. Maybe give people the incentive for posting things. But, normally people saying thank you or +1 in the comments is enough

Honoustly,
I think this 5 posts rule and 4 hour limit is a perfect way for testing dedication before being allowed to really participate.
I myself joined recently, and am already at 20 hours (you're dedicated or you're not..).
And by being able to post in local forums, you get a feeling with locals first..

You also need 4 hours

it's just very easy to miss any hint, that you have to post something and it's ONLY in this part of the forum.

I started from getting frustrated, because I couldn't post anything in that thread nor send any PM.

also, HELP section of this board about PM's or Posting doesn't contain any warnings about the way of newbies' system.

it definitely should.

There's a post in the sub-forum stating what newbies can and not do. They can send PM's after a certain amount of posts.

I think I understand the purpose of the requirements is to force people to read the forums for a while to figure out who is real and who is memorex as well as to restrict spammers to a small sandbox.

The traditional method of require moderation of the first n posts would probably address spammers but would not do much about forcing people to read before they write but I am not sure that making people ramble in threads like this one helps much either.

Either way, it is a way, and it is this forums way.

THERE IS NO WAY. deal with it.  ;D

Why is Gen-X always looking for a hack or cheatcode. Don't work your way around. Around the way you work.

Thats pretty damn awesome

Does this actually work? lol

Just keep posting nonsense post.  ;D

Are you suggesting that people should read and understand how the community works before posting?

I hear pitchforks sharpening and torches lighting.

Yeah I am still waiting, but I think this way is best.  Got to keep the trolls and spammers out.  I've been reading Satoshi old posts, mind blowing stuff!

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=3;sa=showPosts

That statement is a bit far fetched. A new member might not have anything specific to add to the Newbies section, but would be willing to contribute positively elsewhere. I think the restriction is counterproductive and provides an incentive to post worthless material on topics that do not sparkle any interest and therefore serve as a playground for the sole purpose of racing to the fifth submission.

I tried the whitelist thread... No luck :/

Well that was a fun read  :).

Fives post's isn't that bad at all.

Why try and get around it? when it only takes 4 hours of your life ..?

So, I understand the need to do this, but it really makes a huge pain in the ass.  Everything I learned about bitcoin I already learned from OTHER places.  As anon, I've ALREADY read bitcointalk for 4+ hours. 

Just do like reddit does, or do a 24 hour limit and ban everyone who doesn't comply.  That+ captcha.

I find this discussion also very interesting  8)

5 post limit is quite easy, so why bother??

It must have cleared about an hour of your wait time ;)

You should try the Pirateat40 thread - that'll take up another 2 hours of your time.

Before you know it, you'll be able to post everywhere!

You know what, a lot of people claim they've been on the forum for years but just never registered. Well I guess none of you read about the 5 post + 4 hour limit, otherwise you'd have created an account so you could avoid the delay when you needed to post.

What does that tell us? You're too good to read about how this community works? You accidentally missed it? If you missed it, imagine what else you've missed.

Just think of the 4 hour limit as your opportunity to now find out how things work because up until you registered, you didn't fully know.

Making 5 posts isn't that hard, you know.

The rules are pretty much OK, and motivated. However for a newbie like me, who came here to claim the bounty for the Open Transactions logo, it's kind of a hassle =). Wish there was som way to move around this on bounties/competions, to attract newcomers this way.

I don't see the 4 hour 5 post as a problem at all, it took me about 10 hours before i even started my first hello post.... I been reading a lot, and learned a lot, and tested a lot on my own and haven't had the need to say anything in here until now that i feel more comfortable with everything

being logged 4 hours may be harder esp if your clock is broken

tnx for the great suggestion :)

5 posts as an obstacle. Wow if you want something you will do everything to get it. :(

5 posts as an obstacle. Wow if you want something you will do everything to get it. :(

Is this how you got up to 91 posts so quickly? By duplicating everything you say?  ;D

I suspect you'll be a great asset to the community  :)

The five posts are not an issue, the four hour activity is when I just wanted to let someone on the forum know about a problem before I went to bed, oh well.

I agree, five posts are no big deal, but if you want to join in a current discussion four hours is a long time to wait. The forum post you were watching might have died or moved on in that time.

Same problem were, 5 post is no problem, but 4 hours... something BIG is going on and i'm tied up.... I'll figure out a solution  :P

newbiejail.org supposedly works... but I doubt it.

As a current level of newb and close to four hours of reading my conclusions are this:  Everything that is trying to be prevented is still occurring. Posts such as "this is my 5th post" are not helpful and only extend a thread when people are looking for information. The four hours to me is neither here nor there as I am new to mining and trying to get as accurate information as possible.

So what is the fix you ask? I'll be honest and say that there isn't one simply because getting people to agree on anything is a challenge.  If you lower the 5 post 4 hour minimum then people will whine about the amount of spam by newbs or anyone else for that matter. If you leave it intact you continue to get people posting (whining) that they have to make 5 posts and read for four hours for the topic of all five of their initial posts. This thread contains some really good proposals for how to solve the problem but then the other human factor rears it's ugly head and it's called human laziness. No one wants to invest the effort to implement the fix so it will continue to spiral.

 

Don't know if anybody has said it yet, but there is the whitelist request thread, that is a simple way to get around the 5 post limit.

5 posts is stupid, doesn't stop anyone from spamming who wants too and annoys new users

Not to mention it lowers the quality of posts when ppl are forced to spam

I just know you're going to be a valuable member of the community  ;)

You have 4 hours to write 5 posts. Seems enough time to put some quality posts in here.

I think it's 1 post and 4 hours from now on.

best way to get around is to not do it ;)

What do you mean by that? Simply not mind it?

Just want to say Hello

Yeah i'm fine with 5

I have no issue with the waiting period and five post thing.  What was a little frustrating is wanting to get into the block by that canary has, and not being able to do so immediately.  Good things come to those who wait and I can wait for the next block buy if I miss this one.

In terms of solutions to get around the bot issues, trolling, etc.  Perhaps requiring a very small donation would solve the bot problem, might increase bit coin velocity slightly as people have to get hold of bit coins to post, and would keep away some trolls.

That's my newbie 2 cents.

5 posts makes some sort of sense however for some people who are bitcoin enthusiasts elsewhere, coming here and not being able to be involved right away is a bit frustrating.

I think a limitation by time is much better than the 5 post restriction. We could save a lot of spam released by newbie  ...

Why not just have new members unable to post a link for the first 5 posts, or have any posts with a link by new members flagged for review by a moderator?  Other forums have that.

We should make a whitelist thread or something...

I noticed earlier in this thread that a quiz might be a viable option; this could be implemented for the first few (or few dozen) posts by new accounts.
This would probably not help with duplicate or sock puppet accounts though.
I just wish I'd bothered looking at the sign-up terms before I stared lurking because i've racked up days of reading, not just hours!

enteresante.

My idea is to introduce pre post captcha for new users (first 20 posts or sth) and remove it instantly if user is a donator, honestly - what is the point for me trying to post sth serious when it appears i have to pos bullshit on newbie forums at first just to get to post in a thread I'm really interested in ...

Just a quick thought for newbie probation is to allow a new user to post 1 time per day in any thread, or in a certain section of threads. If that "newbie" is quoted within the thread they are allowed to continue the conversation with another post, because they obviously have posted something interesting.

After a certain amount of time, or quoted posts, it shows that they have something to contribute to the forum and can become a true member.

I'm generally a rare poster, so this 5 post limit is killer for me because I would much rather post something of quality but I find myself randomly running to posts and posting anything I can think of. Just my 2 cents, but 5 posts probably teaches more bad habits than anything.

Interesting proposal. Maybe it will catch on - you never know. I'm guessing there might be some hassle in customizing to enforce the details.

I am a rare poster as well, I've spend countless hours on here reading just wish I had known that I needed to spend the time reading the newbie section to get the hours to be able to post if I decided I wanted to! 

I swear it read the manual it just said 4 hours! :'(

So the 5 hours only counts if you are reading the newbie section? That seems a bit draconian. I know I have spent far more than 5 hours reading other sections than this one.

My suggestion.

ID VERIFICATION SYSTEM!

Currently, I use TrustWho Verified LLC, And Identity verification company.

The website i offer my warcraft services suggests all users get verified with them, or the actual website in which we sell our services and goods.

they have it to where anyone who is TrustWho Verified, and provides proof of their TrustWho Status, will get an emblem by their name in all of their posts.

( Like how where it says Full Member, it would Say ID Verified. )

You would need to setup a whole new army ( well not really army of people ) But a new group dedicated to validating ID's, A utility bill, and Picture of yourself holding your ID beside a current newspaper.

This would weed out alot of potential scammers and people not looking to do legitimate business.

Damn - is a newbie required to make 5 posts before being able to post in other forums? I'm sure I read the newbie guide and it said something like only able to post in newbie section until 4 hours have passed.  Guess I'll have to read it again.  I did read the "4-hour" thing but just thought that this was a 4 hour wait until being able to post in other forums, not that one had to be reading the newbie forum for 4 hours.  Wow.  That does seem to be crazy if it is the case.  Other parts of the forum should count too shouldn't it?  Anyway, I guess I better go back and read the rules again.  

I thought that it was crazy to have someone post 5 times as a restriction, but I have no idea how much spam the mods had to deal with before they implemented that.  If I was getting 1,000s of stupid comments on my forum then I'm sure I'd probably implement something similar.

Have a nice day people!

Edit:  It looks like I did read it right - here is the applicable section:

Newbie Restrictions
You can only post in the Newbie and Local sub-forums till you have made one post and waited 4 hours.

So I am reading it right, right?  Just 1 post and then wait 4 hours?

The only problem I see with the limit is that there isn't much that is worthwhile to post here.
Leading to posts such as this one.

You only have to post 1 quality post and then lurk at any sub forum of the Bitcoin Talk forums for 4 hours and that's it. Is that so hard?

its not problem 5 post for me  :P

totally fine with 5 posts
i would also add a restriction on 1 topic thread to be a useful one, not just a random shit

There are a lot of good conversations in the newbies section. In fact most Bitcoin businesses post here because it's a larger customer base.

Theres my perspective. Ive been on this forum for a long time but didnt had any need to register. After much reading in hardware mining subforum Ive finally wanted to participate in group-buy but can't.
Than Ive read about newbee-jail.  And I must say - I am little torn apart. Does this is really good idea? After second tought I start to weight pro and cons of that situation and I am thinking its optimal solution to fight with spammers. As for trolls - I doubt. Additionally this solution is quite mod-friendly, semi automatic. From the other side - Ive seen such solution for the first time - time and post count restriction.  This of course push newbees to publish spam on newbee forums as we need to have post count to do.

I'm ok !

Sponsorship/vouching by members of certain status

How would you befriend someone to vouch for you?

It would have helped if this 5 post limit would have been explained in the help file

It would help even more if you were to have read the stickied thread made specifically for you.

post in this thread till your post count is the limit. ta da...

I agree with all of the posts complaining about the 4 hour limit.  I'm a member of many huge online forums, and this is the first one I've encountered with a 4 hour new user punishment.  It's not a very welcoming way to engage new users into the community.

How about an optional link to a 3rd party "trust service" - something like TrustCloud.  You could then allow users who have linked to it, and have above a certain "trust" score, to skip the 4 hour wait.

I personally have no problems with the newbie requirements, seem to keep the trolls/bots away for the most part :D

Just had to LOL...  :D

Maybe there could be a way to watch a thread for x amount of time instead of having to post 5 times. There is one thread of particular importance to me. I have been watching/reading it for a couple of weeks now and would like to comment, but have to go through this process. Its not bad, but it is not ideal.

Everyone that isn't a newbie will obviously be fine with the way things are. They'll probably never have to go through it again. While the rest of us that are stuck waiting it out really wish there was a better system. I'd rather have more moderators and staff than a forum where new members are practically discouraged from joining the community. There should be a greater build-up from fresh new member status rather than a huge barrier to entry to the rest of the forum.

the newbie jail does nothing to stop people scamming spamming trolling the forum all it does is make it a pain to post were you need to when new

also limiting actions to every x seconds if crazy what the forum needs is more admin and a more active approach to clean up the forum

I would also change the sign up forum as there is a scrypt that makes accounts and posts 5 times

change the captures to logic questions

this is the whole reason I made my own forum !!!

If you'd registered an account, your time will count towards your minimum time requirement and you'd only need 1 post to get through.

this is my 5th post ;)

Well done for being the reason why the 5 post rule was invented.

Good job you've read the rules.

You only need one post :/

I've been reading the forums lately, and thanks for all the helpful posts!  I registered to post on a group buy -- of course I did this after placing a bitcoin order.  So now I have bitcoins and can't reply to the thread or contact the seller, oops :)  But, at least quick searches explain why that is, just need to be active before the buy closes I guess!

Instead of the 6 min limit, just use captchas

I don't know if is a "good" idea to "get around" anything....sounds pretty straight forward too me...........I seems like the time wait  could be a bit frustrating
Regards S

I think this is my 3rd post.

That hotdog, fries and pop combo looks really good, making me hungry. :)
Great avatar.

lol i was lurking the forum until now.

I currently need to do some posts so i signed up...

Guess what I'm in newbie-jail!

I'll be waiting until  I get my full account...

But I understand why the rules had to be implemented...

I don't think there is much to complain about. We just have to do it once.

I've been lurking the forum for months and never felt the need to register.
I don't think the 5 post limit accomplishes much seeing as how there are accounts for sale on the forum, but it is still a deterrent and I'm not sure there is a better way.

still in 5post jail  :(

That's pretty unlikely.

Is there a reason why PM's are disabled for Newbies? I'd like to contact someone, but since I'm confined to the Newbies section and can't send PM's there seems like no feasible way.

Interesting way to stop the bots but certainly frustrating when you have basic understanding and just want to crack on!

Fair enough. 

Solution I'm unsure of.  Seems to stop the spam so probably worth keeping in the long run!

Yea so you don't spam other people's inbox

I think its ok its has no problem

Ugh! Did you read the newbies post? ::)

Iam new as well and just registered. But why the hell you have such crazy unreadable captcha? Had to reload the site few times to get a readable captcha, but inserted already twice a wrong code :) With the 5 post limit, yea i have no clue how to prevent spamming. But for new member all this is annoying.

Good luck to newbies getting five posts!

I think captcha is the best solution , with lower limit that would be much easier to use the forum.

cool thread!

It's stupid

stupid

LOL, I really wanted to PM a seller on this site.... I guess I'll wait

I don't think it's stupid. It's to stop people spamming & writing one word replies.

It's actually a very good rule that keeps people from creating throw-away accounts just to make a certain reply to a certain thread ;)

It can prevent people from making 'sockpuppets' also. So that's a plus.

I don't think there is a 5 post limit now with activity.