End of newbie restrictions; ban changes

[theymos]

New users can now immediately start posting unless they are using suspicious IPs. Suspicious IPs are ones that have been banned previously, or are known proxies, or are near many banned/proxy IPs. If you register using a suspicious IP, you can use most forum features (watchlist, etc.), but you can't post or send PMs until you pay a small fee. In almost all cases, the fee is less than $1. People proxybanned in this way can also be whitelisted by the usual people who can do whitelisting. These IP bans apply only to registration: you can no longer get caught by random IP bans if you're using an established account.

The Newbies section is now an archived section. You can move posts from it, but nothing else can be posted there.

The patrol page acts kind of like a "virtual newbies section". It shows only posts by newbies, no matter where the posts are located. It also keeps track of which posts are new since the last time you've visited the patrol page. If you want to help out, please look for spam on the patrol page. There's an option in your settings to put a "Patrol" link near "Watchlist".

Additionally, membergroup limits are changed:

Group	Requirement
Brand New	0 posts
Newbie	(none)
Jr. Member	activity: 30
Member	activity: 60
Full Member	activity: 120
Sr. Member	activity: 240
Hero Member	activity: 480

[1714027070]

1714027070

[xIronCrossx]

Wait, so you can get banned and come back again by paying a fee?

[theymos]

Wait, so you can get banned and come back again by paying a fee?

Maybe, but the fee increases every time you're banned, and you lose your original account. If I actually see anyone evading bans, I might take additional measures to stop them.

Is there still a requirement to be online more than 4 hours to become a junior member?

No.

[Vod]

These are positive changes for me.   No longer does a person have to make useless posts and waste useless time to post the question they originally wanted.

I see it as a fee for those who want to hide their identity (i.e. TOR) - most innocent users will not be affected by this, and scammers will have their bottom line increased by the new charges, protecting everyone.

[jballs]

so what is "activity" anyway? As opposed to post count. What is used to calculate the activity score?

Thanks, have wondered but seemed here was a good time to bring it up.

[hilariousandco]

These are positive changes for me.   No longer does a person have to make useless posts and waste useless time to post the question they originally wanted.

I see it as a fee for those who want to hide their identity (i.e. TOR) - most innocent users will not be affected by this, and scammers will have their bottom line increased by the new charges, protecting everyone.

Hmm.. not sure how I feel about it. The restrictions were annoying at first and most others shared that sentiment, but I also thought they were useful as did a lot of others. I guess we'll see what impact they had now that they've been lifted. Are the time limits between posts still effective or not?

so what is "activity" anyway? As opposed to post count. What is used to calculate the activity score?

Thanks, have wondered but seemed here was a good time to bring it up.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=178608.0

The activity number is determined in this way:
time = number of two-week periods in which you've posted since your registration
activity = min(time * 14, posts)

Activity is updated every 30 minutes.

[Akka]

Cool. Lets see how that works out.

But I suggest that a "Beginners & Help" section would still be useful to not have the same reoccurring questions twice a day in the General Discussions.

[hilariousandco]

Cool. Lets see how that works out.

But I suggest that a "Beginners & Help" section would still be useful to not have the same reoccurring questions twice a day in the General Discussions.

Yeah, maybe keeping the newbie section is still a good idea. I think all the crap that was in there will now just spill out into the other forums. Interesting to see what happens.

[BadBear]

Might be better to leave the newbie section, I'm sure there's still going to be lots of "Hi guys I'm new, how do I bitcoin?".

[Welsh]

Hopefully it will reduce the newbie spam. But, like Badbear said there will still be useless/repeated posts. Hopefully it won't become a problem in the other sections now.

[torusJKL]

It's better this way for the honest people who are just new.
Unfortunately I will have to wait a little bit longer to get the Hero status now.

[Nullu]

Unfortunate that I've been demoted because of this change, but I'm not far away from 60 activity anyway, so it's not so bad.

If it reduces spam and scams, I'm in favour.

[hilariousandco]

Unfortunate that I've been demoted because of this change, but I'm not far away from 60 activity anyway, so it's not so bad.

If it reduces spam and scams, I'm in favour.

I'm not sure it will reduce those, but just spread it all over. It'll obviously put a stop to all the why cant I post and crappy hi threads, but everything else will just be posted elsewhere.

[Rampion]

New users can now immediately start posting unless they are using suspicious IPs. Suspicious IPs are ones that have been banned previously, or are known proxies, or are near many banned/proxy IPs. If you register using a suspicious IP, you can use most forum features (watchlist, etc.), but you can't post or send PMs until you pay a small fee. In almost all cases, the fee is less than $1. People proxybanned in this way can also be whitelisted by the usual people who can do whitelisting. These IP bans apply only to registration: you can no longer get caught by random IP bans if you're using an established account.

This is GREAT news - browsing these forums through Tor or Proxies seems the sensible thing to do to me - I'm glad that there will be no more random IP bans for established accounts. This is a big step forward.

Great job Theymos!

[Nullu]

Unfortunate that I've been demoted because of this change, but I'm not far away from 60 activity anyway, so it's not so bad.

If it reduces spam and scams, I'm in favour.

I'm not sure it will reduce those, but just spread it all over. It'll obviously put a stop to all the why cant I post and crappy hi threads, but everything else will just be posted elsewhere.

Well, if the IPs of known scammers is blocked, it's going to make it harder for scammers to be able to spit out new accounts. Making them jump through hoops is a good thing. If they also have to pay using a non-anonymous payment service, even better.

[hilariousandco]

Unfortunate that I've been demoted because of this change, but I'm not far away from 60 activity anyway, so it's not so bad.

If it reduces spam and scams, I'm in favour.

I'm not sure it will reduce those, but just spread it all over. It'll obviously put a stop to all the why cant I post and crappy hi threads, but everything else will just be posted elsewhere.

Well, if the IPs of known scammers is blocked, it's going to make it harder for scammers to be able to spit out new accounts. Making them jump through hoops is a good thing. If they also have to pay using a non-anonymous payment service, even better.

Most scammers wont use their own IPs and will either use TOR or proxies, but I'm more concerned about spam and useless posts everywhere as scammers will always scam regardless of restrictions.

[ajax3592]

Uhh!! Most of the spamming happened on newbie section. Where else do you think those guys will go now.

I think you will regret this decision.

[tysat]

Uhh!! Most of the spamming happened on newbie section. Where else do you think those guys will go now.

I think you will regret this decision.

This is a distinct possibility, we'll definitely need to try and keep a close eye on other sections.

[hilariousandco]

Uhh!! Most of the spamming happened on newbie section. Where else do you think those guys will go now.

I think you will regret this decision.

Maybe, only time will tell. I think we should keep the newbie section. It was a great way to spot spammers and spambots too since they were caged in there.

[smeagol]

I can still post in the newbie section, I did a test.  "Post new poll" is still clickable for me.  (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=424639.0)

Is that supposed to happen?