Proposal: Disallow Ads in Signatures

[matt4054]

This is done, except that Newbies can use 50 characters and Jr. Members can use 150 characters. The style limitations are applied immediately, but the size limitations only apply when a signature is updated. Tell me if there are problems.

Thanks! I believe this will increase readability.

[Cryptopher]

The main problem for me are the many spammers that make pointless comments everywhere just to get their post-count up. Don't think that will improve much. It's not only Newbies that spam.

Report those that you feel are spamming to the necessary authorities on the website, whether that be the moderator of that particular board, the advertisement owner (if they are advertising), or even have a word with the user directly.

That's the beauty of the community, we can all help out.

One thing is for sure though, the community should judge all users equally and not simply scrutinise those who have paid advertisement signatures. The spam artists are those that blatantly take the piss, whether that is manifested in bot form, or consistently chatting absolute garbage.

[guybrushthreepwood]

The main problem for me are the many spammers that make pointless comments everywhere just to get their post-count up. Don't think that will improve much. It's not only Newbies that spam.

Report those that you feel are spamming to the necessary authorities on the website, whether that be the moderator of that particular board, the advertisement owner (if they are advertising), or even have a word with the user directly.

That's the beauty of the community, we can all help out.

One thing is for sure though, the community should judge all users equally and not simply scrutinise those who have paid advertisement signatures. The spam artists are those that blatantly take the piss, whether that is manifested in bot form, or consistently chatting absolute garbage.

Yeh this is good advice. A friendly warning will often put them on the right track, but if it doesnt just report them to mods or the signature provider and they can take appropriate action.

[freedomno1]

Ah, interesting changes. Not sure if that improves the situation a lot, because I'm usually pretty good at skipping signatures anyway.

But if someone is annoyed because of adverts it won't really be less annoying. People that hate them turn them off. People that are interested in unpaid signatures and are usually reading them will still see/read all the adverts.

The main problem for me are the many spammers that make pointless comments everywhere just to get their post-count up. Don't think that will improve much. It's not only Newbies that spam.

The reason it has my full support is that I see a change in the way advertising will be handled under this model

When the forum switched from showing posts to activity, signature campaigns also switched their programs to be based on activities and posts
In this scenario it is possible that there will be adjusted tiers based on activity, posts and now visibility
Meaning that their is an incentive to reward users differently based on their duration here which may help to reduce spam.

At minimum there will be significantly less users complaining about bright signature ads because newer users will have less visible ads than older ones, and increase overall readability of the forum, it also will likely increase quality of posts as those big ads become more visible they will have had more experience here and reduce low quality posts as Theymos pointed out.
Furthermore its not like the signature providers don't also filter try to filter out users who spam with their ad so it helps in that regard as well.

In theory we may see some model changes as advertisers adjust their models due to the new visibility change.
Something like this one for example
Junior- Sorry you do not qualify  
Members will receive .0065 BTC/week
Full members will receive .0070 BTC/week
Senior members will receive .0090 BTC/week
Hero members will receive .03 BTC/week

Or to bring back tradefortresses model something based on activity post count and visibility (not just including present posts but the historical ones accumulated over time) and higher tiers not being allowed to get the higher return until their activity reaches a certain point
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=198934.0

[Liam W]

Hey, you shouldn't just be able to randomly change signature rules without obvious warning first like that!

But, you did. Great. Oh well, can't complain. It'll probably be good in the long run...

Now then, how do you get to hero member? It clearly no longer goes off post count...

Liam

[SlidingHorn]

Hey, you shouldn't just be able to randomly change signature rules without obvious warning first like that!

But, you did. Great. Oh well, can't complain. It'll probably be good in the long run...

Now then, how do you get to hero member? It clearly no longer goes off post count...

Liam

Activity is determined by:

The way activity is calculated:

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)

Not saying I have any clue what that means...but that's how.

[freedomno1]

Hey, you shouldn't just be able to randomly change signature rules without obvious warning first like that!

But, you did. Great. Oh well, can't complain. It'll probably be good in the long run...

Now then, how do you get to hero member? It clearly no longer goes off post count...

Liam

Activity is determined by:

The way activity is calculated:

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)

Not saying I have any clue what that means...but that's how.

In simple terms it goes up by 14 every 2 weeks until your post count is smaller than activity increases

[SlidingHorn]

In simple terms it goes up by 14 every 2 weeks until your post count is smaller than activity increases

So it's the *lower* of the two??

[Bitcoinwunder]

I like the change. I'm amazed that the forum gives the option to have different signature categories. That's something that seems so trivial. Can't believe that's actually a standard feature.

Report those that you feel are spamming to the necessary authorities on the website, whether that be the moderator of that particular board, the advertisement owner (if they are advertising), or even have a word with the user directly.

Thanks, that was very useful. Just made my first three reports. But does it help? I always thought nobody ever checks those reports anyway, so I never bothered. The whole forum seems completely unmoderated - this is very especially evident when going to the speculation section.

I also don't really like that my eMail address is shown to the moderator that reads the report. Don't get why that is needed.

[Cryptopher]

Now then, how do you get to hero member? It clearly no longer goes off post count...

I believe that you need an activity of at least 480 for Hero Member status. So that's just under a year away of logging in an posting for you, I think...

[freedomno1]

In simple terms it goes up by 14 every 2 weeks until your post count is smaller than activity increases

So it's the *lower* of the two??

Yes if you have 100 posts but have been around a year and are active (During Each two week period) not just the accounts age

14 activity per 2 week period 28 activity in a month
28*12 = 336

Then your activity would be the lower of the two at 100

* Note their are more periods since each month is around 30 to 31 days except February so its a bit off the counter is based on your date of joining and you being active during each two week period the timer is counted on

[Liam W]

Hey, you shouldn't just be able to randomly change signature rules without obvious warning first like that!

But, you did. Great. Oh well, can't complain. It'll probably be good in the long run...

Now then, how do you get to hero member? It clearly no longer goes off post count...

Liam

Activity is determined by:

The way activity is calculated:

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)

Not saying I have any clue what that means...but that's how.

Thanks. So, count the number of two weeks there's been since I registered, and then count the ones I posted in (there's not many).

Then the activity is the smaller value of the those numbers of weeks multiplied by 14, or your post count...

So, I must have posted for 140/14 2 week periods, so 10 2 week periods... Drat that's low considering I registered in 2012... Feb 2012 at that. I had just turned 14 then. Wow...

Thanks, what activity value are the titles associated with?

[SlidingHorn]

Thanks, what activity value are the titles associated with?

Find that info here:  https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=178608.msg1861412#msg1861412

[MICRO]

I still don't get this. What do i need to change ? I hope Stunna puts exact sig for evry rank .


edit: ah nvm i see its auto changed

[Cryptopher]

Report those that you feel are spamming to the necessary authorities on the website, whether that be the moderator of that particular board, the advertisement owner (if they are advertising), or even have a word with the user directly.

Thanks, that was very useful. Just made my first three reports. But does it help? I always thought nobody ever checks those reports anyway, so I never bothered. The whole forum seems completely unmoderated - this is very especially evident when going to the speculation section.

I also don't really like that my eMail address is shown to the moderator that reads the report. Don't get why that is needed.

I think that some boards will be better moderated than others. They do check the reports that users like you and I make, and they act on them. You will see the successfully approved percentage increase/diminish depending on whether the moderator agrees with your report.

It's also good to report bots - I have seen a few recently (I read that somebody else reported them) - it is believed that their activity is being boosted such that they can be sold on to others. They tend to post one word responses, or in some cases they will grab part of a response on a previous page. Bastards!

[cp1]

Interesting with the style change.  I think only allowing activity based payments are a good suggestion too.

[theymos]

I like the change. I'm amazed that the forum gives the option to have different signature categories. That's something that seems so trivial. Can't believe that's actually a standard feature.

It's not, I just wrote that feature. This forum is substantially modified from stock SMF. (A few modifications were written by Satoshi himself!)

[Liam W]

Thanks, what activity value are the titles associated with?

Find that info here:  https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=178608.msg1861412#msg1861412

Yeah, I found it after a super quick browse. I also happened to learn that the newbie restrictions are a thing of the past on the same page...

Things have really changed!

[Cryptopher]

I like the change. I'm amazed that the forum gives the option to have different signature categories. That's something that seems so trivial. Can't believe that's actually a standard feature.

It's not, I just wrote that feature. This forum is substantially modified from stock SMF. (A few modifications were written by Satoshi himself!)

Bitcoin was just a stop-gap for Satoshi's real passion - SMF modifications. The Fast & Furious of the forum world.

[Liam W]

I srill prefer XenForo to SMF, but XenForo didn't exist when this forum was created so

Now then, how do you get to hero member? It clearly no longer goes off post count...

I believe that you need an activity of at least 480 for Hero Member status. So that's just under a year away of logging in an posting for you, I think...

That's super unfair. Just because I didn't see the point in visiting for a while because of stupid network limitations etc. Imposed...

I don't like posting if it's pointless either...

Drat. An entire year. *sigh*

(Damned voice input button...!)

Liam