New member post verification?

[reedal]

I know I'm still a new member to this forum, and I understand that post count doesn't count for much when you can go to any topic and say "tuned in" or some other variation of that to raise your post count, but I've been seeing a lot of "versus" threads recently.

And i know it sounds like I'm a rent-a-mod or something, but it appears that most "newcomers", even some with a couple hundred posts already, are not paying attention to the forum rules. No versus threads being the most common I see. So I was wondering if there was a way to either add the rules to the Posting A New Topic in _____ page, or making a way that persons with less than a certain number of posts posting a new topic have to have that topic verified by a mod or admin or whatever other forum authority there may be. Maybe do this in order to weed out the posts that are in violation of the rules and get locked, cluttering the forum. And it would be reviewing all posts for questions that have been asked repeatedly and answered repeatedly already in it's own specific topic as well. I just feel that a way to prevent seeing locked vs threads or people asking "is this SMD partner a good brand to buy from?", or whatever other repetitive question over and over would be a good idea.

If I'm crossing a line or stepping on any authoritive toes, I apologize. As it's been stated a lot, people dont take time to research, or see what tools on the internet are available to them, and want to be hand fed everything they want to do, rather than take the time to see if it's already been done or find what they like, not realizing that what they like someone else doesn't and vice-versa. And not taking the time to read the rules established to keep this forum free of junk posts. I was guilty of the lack of research for two of my posts, and learned my lesson. There's a lot to learn on this forum, and I'm glad to have stumbled upon it ass backwards and realizing how wrong I've been for five years.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts, opinions, and criticism.

[audiofanaticz]

You already hit the nail on the head...

People want to be hand feed everything, and are to lazy to look for the simplest answers themselves.

There is a very good search feature on the forums and if you use the advanced search you can thin out the results even better and more on topic for whatever your looking for.

But if people cant do these simple things, what makes you thing making a notification pop up prior to them posting is going to make them read it and do what it says?

The chat room is a perfect example of doing just that.

The chat is meant to hang out in and just shoot the crap with other members and have a good time.

When you click to enter the chatroom a dialog box pops up saying:

"Welcome to SMD Chat. Please be advised this is not a technical based chat for you to receive technical support. This is a place to kick back and shoot the breeze about anything that comes up. Be respectful and keep the butt hurt to a minimum. Furthermore, do not argue with the staff. All actions of the SMD staff are final. Any complaining about chat in the main forum will result in removal of all chat privileges."
You must click the I agree button to enter the chat.

However people still join and ask how to wire this, how to trouble shoot their blown woofers, which of these amps should I buy, etc.
Then once they get kicked, they come on the forums crying about being kicked and say a moderator is abusing powers... But if they took the 3 seconds to read that box that they clicked I agree to they would know why they where kicked.

Its a never ending battle.

[reedal]

I understand what you're saying. Most people are in such a hurry to get what they want done or find the answer they want and not what they need that they dont pay attention to what's available to them already. In all honesty I think the only reason I created an account was to be able to use the search function. If I recall correctly, it wouldn't let me use the search bar before making an account. I had no intentions of posting or ever asking questions, but I wanted to search to find my answer and google wasn't cutting it for me. I now use SMD first, and then to make sure what I'm reading is accurate I'll check it with a search on google with a few other sites.

I for one appreciate the way things are supposed to be done by us as members and the rules established for us, as well as many others are I'm sure. I just was curious if anything could be done about the matter, but you made a very good point with your reference to the chat. Thank you very much.

[TRON]

I for one appreciate the way things are supposed to be done by us as members and the rules established for us,

Imagine how nice it would be if every new member thought like you.

[philrab]

Here's a thought: If every time some dipshit came in and posted a vs. thread, everyone would NOT RESPOND TO IT and instead report it, that would take away a lot of the incentive to do it, cause they aren't getting what they want. Some people are going to pull anything they can get away with, and I noticed that by the time a mod locks down a thread, half the time the person has already managed to solicit a half dozen or so opinions. Not directed at the mods, just irks my nerves cause again, it's people not paying attention to the rules.

I wouldn't worry about being called a rentamod. People tend to get butthurt when they get called out and can't think of anything legitimate to respond with.

On a related note, I wonder if the forum has the ability to suspend all threads/posts with certain words in it, like vs. That would surely shut down a lot of the nonsense.

Edited September 9, 2014 by philrab

[reedal]

That would be a nice feature to block certain words, but blocking out "vs" doesn't take away saying "or". I suppose there's not a way to make sure that those types of posts dont happen. I do agree with reporting the posts instead of responding. That would help them realize that it's not the way things are done and hopefully see that no one can tell them which two good brands are better, because it's all opinion.

But no such thing as a perfect world anywhere I suppose, especially not the internet. Thanks for the feedback. I was just brainstorming possible solutions last night before bed and figured I would share my thoughts.

[philrab]

That would be a nice feature to block certain words, but blocking out "vs" doesn't take away saying "or". I suppose there's not a way to make sure that those types of posts dont happen. I do agree with reporting the posts instead of responding. That would help them realize that it's not the way things are done and hopefully see that no one can tell them which two good brands are better, because it's all opinion.

But no such thing as a perfect world anywhere I suppose, especially not the internet. Thanks for the feedback. I was just brainstorming possible solutions last night before bed and figured I would share my thoughts.

Yeah, on another board I mod at, we have a filter set up to require certain types of posts be approved/verified by a mod before they show up. Usually, we use this to lock up a post in limbo if it's the users first 5 posts and they post a url link. It's an anti-spam feature, and it helps, though it'll occasionally catch someone legitimately trying to interact with the forum. Fortunately, we mods are fairly active and rectify it quickly.

On an unrelated note, what finally killed 99.9% of our spam problems was ip banning EVERY ip address from China. Drastic, but we were getting 150+ spam posts a day, and it was all coming from China.

[Leo1103]

You already hit the nail on the head...

People want to be hand feed everything, and are to lazy to look for the simplest answers themselves.

There is a very good search feature on the forums and if you use the advanced search you can thin out the results even better and more on topic for whatever your looking for.

But if people cant do these simple things, what makes you thing making a notification pop up prior to them posting is going to make them read it and do what it says?

The chat room is a perfect example of doing just that.

The chat is meant to hang out in and just shoot the crap with other members and have a good time.

When you click to enter the chatroom a dialog box pops up saying:

"Welcome to SMD Chat. Please be advised this is not a technical based chat for you to receive technical support. This is a place to kick back and shoot the breeze about anything that comes up. Be respectful and keep the butt hurt to a minimum. Furthermore, do not argue with the staff. All actions of the SMD staff are final. Any complaining about chat in the main forum will result in removal of all chat privileges."

You must click the I agree button to enter the chat.

However people still join and ask how to wire this, how to trouble shoot their blown woofers, which of these amps should I buy, etc.

Then once they get kicked, they come on the forums crying about being kicked and say a moderator is abusing powers... But if they took the 3 seconds to read that box that they clicked I agree to they would know why they where kicked.

Its a never ending battle.

I know it's not the point but the message doesnt come up on mobile, just something I've noticed lol

[n1ghtsn1p3r]

You already hit the nail on the head...

People want to be hand feed everything, and are to lazy to look for the simplest answers themselves.

There is a very good search feature on the forums and if you use the advanced search you can thin out the results even better and more on topic for whatever your looking for.

But if people cant do these simple things, what makes you thing making a notification pop up prior to them posting is going to make them read it and do what it says?

The chat room is a perfect example of doing just that.

The chat is meant to hang out in and just shoot the crap with other members and have a good time.

When you click to enter the chatroom a dialog box pops up saying:

"Welcome to SMD Chat. Please be advised this is not a technical based chat for you to receive technical support. This is a place to kick back and shoot the breeze about anything that comes up. Be respectful and keep the butt hurt to a minimum. Furthermore, do not argue with the staff. All actions of the SMD staff are final. Any complaining about chat in the main forum will result in removal of all chat privileges."

You must click the I agree button to enter the chat.

However people still join and ask how to wire this, how to trouble shoot their blown woofers, which of these amps should I buy, etc.

Then once they get kicked, they come on the forums crying about being kicked and say a moderator is abusing powers... But if they took the 3 seconds to read that box that they clicked I agree to they would know why they where kicked.

Its a never ending battle.

As far as the tech support in the chat area, it seems like it would be fine if the conversation evolved toward it.

[n8ball2013]

if it evolves to it fine. when you come jn like its tech support its not. no matter how we do it we get shit for it. there are far too many posts to approve during the day and its really not fair to punish all for the actions of a few. its 2014 the internet is not new. online forums are not new. if youre too stupid to post in the right section and follow the rules im too busy to deal with you