New Feature: Thread Bans

Originally Posted by www.sega.co.jp

I have a great idea, just ban all zero posters from viewing the Requests section of GFF until they make a post, that way we won't have >50% of our members as zero-posing leeches (it's getting really close to being over 50% now).

Ya know, there's such an easy way to do that. Just set up an automatic usergroup promotion from "registered user" to "active user" which kicks in when the member in question makes level 2. It's a very simple thing to do, then set the forum permissions so that "registered users" can't read or post in the trading sections of the forum. I'm astounded you don't do that already.

The only problem with it is that you might get people spamming their way to level 2, but dang if that doesn't happen anyway. On forums that implement the reputation system, it's also possible to downgrade members back to "registered user" if their rep drops too low. However, the rep system is of questionable value, as coded in stock vBulletin 3.5.x forums.

What I've been wondering is just how hard it would be to hack a new kind of promotion/demotion into the codebase. What I see as being the ideal solution is to look at how many posts a user made in the last month. If that ever drops below about fifteen, then I'd say it's fair to downgrade them to "registered user" and lock them out of the good stuff.

Put simply, there are ways to keep non-contributory leechers from gaining access to the good stuff. The vBulletin promotion system has the potential to be very useful, if a few extra bits were added. Of course, I'm just a noob around here. What do I know?

Originally Posted by Bigblah

Is there any difference between a zero-poster and a member with one, or two, or ten useless posts made just for access to the trading forums?

More importantly, what does that idea have to do with this thread?

If you actually want an answer, I'd say that this thread has to do with a proposed method for improving the quality of discourse. So does sega.co.jp's suggestion. I think that it's a great idea. The people who establish FTP sites and other trades have limited bandwidth. Why should it be sucked dry by people who don't contribute?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Bigblah

This issue has been discussed many times in the past, with the overall consensus being that restricting access by postcount is simply not a viable solution. There are people who actively do trades, but don't post on the forums. Setting up postcount/activity barriers won't really serve to deter "non-contributory" leechers -- it's not really that hard to come up with useless, redundant and boring posts that manage to clear the spam threshold -- yet it will likely drive away honest traders who simply don't want to participate outside the trading forums (and we don't have a policy against that, either).

Yeah. I did say "if you want an answer". I was proposing a specific solution to a stated problem. I do recognise that the problem that was raised is not the actual problem. It's my own belief that contributing to the quality of discourse on a forum is more important than using that forum as a platform from which to trade music, but I recognise that this does not reflect the opinion of the administration.

There's nowhere I can't reach.