Way to get round the 5 post limit...

[bobsmith652]

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.

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

[yoloswag]

 

[Inedible]

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

How do you come to this conclusion?

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

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.

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.

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.

[Inedible]

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

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?

[Inedible]

This is my fifth post, yay!

Congratulations

[Inedible]

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.

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.

[Inedible]

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

That sums it up nicely.

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.

Typical engineer - requires a massive engineering effort to solve the problem - 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.

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

Again, great idea but needs development work to implement.

I wonder if we can get Thymos to implement these?

[Inedible]

...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...

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

[Inedible]

...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!]

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...

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.

[Inedible]

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.

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.

[Inedible]

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.

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

[Stale]

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..)  



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

[Inedible]

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>

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.

[Inedible]

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

We were all newbies once

[Inedible]

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

Seriously?

smh

You can't just go post 5 times?

Not really the point of the thread...

[Inedible]

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

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


...I kid! I KID!

[Inedible]

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

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!

[Inedible]

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

Or a hero member must vouch for someone?

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?

[Inedible]

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

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.

[Inedible]

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 can see Hero members not inviting anyone lol