So, I guess its fair to say that in your field, one has to watch their step?Originally Posted by boputnam
So, I guess its fair to say that in your field, one has to watch their step?
scottyj
didn't Hans Solo get some of that ?
Ok I am done tonight!!
Mark
Naw, you are thinking of "The Corbomite Maneuver" and it was James Tiberius Kirk, not Hans Solo
2ch: WiiM Pro; Topping E30 II DAC; Oppo, Acurus RL-11, Acurus A200, JBL Dynamics Project - Offline: L212-TwinStack, VonSchweikert VR-4
7: TIVO, Oppo BDP103D, B&K, 2pr UREI 809A, TF600, JBL B460
Thanks HJ, it was late and 1st thought it was Trek and not Wars but somehow I was thinking when Solo was frozen and Chewy grunting away...always go with your 1st guess
Mark
Hi All,
There's always a notion that money can solve all problems but with a bit of careful thinking this forum CAN be preserved in it's current state while at the same time implementing some simple rules short term to address issue that have been raised. This will then give you time to think up a better strategy.
Looking at registration dates of members, I think I can say I started out early on in the piece but if you look at my thread count, I may not have such a big counter that many others may have. Most of members with high counts were accrued over a long period time and you can see those members have contributed a substantial amount of time and information to this forum that is invaluable to us all.
There are others whose counts are not so high and maybe that's because we're busy working, pre-occupied with other ventures but we drop in where we can to discuss, catch up and contribute what we can into this forum.
I, for instance, joined up in 2003 and then the following year I had my car accident and spent the next 3 years sorting out my court case and my life. So, I haven't been able to contribute as much I would have wanted to but we all have our reasons whether we post a lot or little each day/month/year. Yielding the finger unnecessarily is bad enough, being judgmental can be devastating.
We can clearly see which members are here to listen and to contribute and those that are merely fly by's making a nuisance of themselves or here to extract some info to make a quick buck and we never see them again.
If we are here to protect some of the vested interest in this forum then you have to start looking at the top of the tree, the root of cause for the infiltration of unwanted members, spammers, fly by's, whatever you may call it.
1. Google – Information is free. The world is a repository of information at our fingertips. Anything we want you will find. If you dig deep enough, we can find personal information about our next door neighbour. BUT, with a bit of careful planning we can avoid all this heartache.
If you google anything to do with JBL, it will mostly likely lead us to this site AND into the heart of this forum. Information that may have been lost 6 months prior is still out there cached on google servers around the world. I’ve been able to recover pages missing from a website through cached pages on google.
If you want to halt people coming in from Google, you may need to implement in short terms what us I.T people call, is a firewall….or put simply a door before you enter. In this forum’s case, a username and password.......easy. You don’t want the door to be completely closed as the aim is not to deter people but to showcase this forum and attract JBL wannabe enthusiasts. Any information that pops up in google should be information that was retrieved from the general unprotected areas only. If there are google links to protected areas, that person will be greeted with a username and password. I know that Google will still display part information from a protected section but to get further information you have to register/login.
If you have an eager scammer or seller that wants to hock a JBL system on e-bay and wants to get the best price for it, they’re gonna come here. If we can deter them at the door, they are unlikely to proceed any further. More often than not, you will get the persistent person(s) who will try their luck but once they find out that they have to serve out a number of waiting periods and conditions, 99.9% will give up. The true person will be happy to serve out their waiting period and join the great JBL society we have going here.
2. Reward System – If we really want to protect our information, I think we need to restrict access to Technical Help and Marketplace discussion rooms. Access can be gained by being rewarded for your contribution to this forum over time. Much like joining a Health Fund. Once a person joins, they must serve a waiting period before gaining access to more privileges. Some ideas as follows:
- New Members must serve a waiting period of 30 days before being given access to Technical help. In this time they must participate in the general forum areas to show their worth. If within the 30 days they have joined and that they have not posted or logged on once, their membership will be cancelled and they will have to re-join and serve out their waiting period again. This is just a one off that applies in the first 30 days. This would definitely sort out time wasters.
- Market place – To gain access to this area, members must serve at least 30 days AND they must also have posted at least 10 or maybe 20 times (these posts must be moderated to check for mindless banter). The minimum post is implemented on some B&W forums I have registered with but still allows you access to this area, which we’re trying to avoid. All outsiders are concerned about is gaining access to this area and finding out what the cost of things are worth and off they go.
- If a member has not logged on once a month after their first month, their account will be suspended and would need to be re-enabled by a moderator. After 3 or 6 months this is relaxed.
3. Delegate load to more members – To implement the above changes, maybe more members should be given moderator privilege to help police such changes and spread the workload over more members. This is obviously subject to rules and conditions.
Some moderators here have expressed their concern over the workload required to police scammers, bloggers and idiots.
Also, we need to be mindful that if we are to protect certain information, we all must be educated to bring up certain information within the correct area.
It’s not too hard to implement changes without charging people to access this forum.
These are only suggestions and maybe these are a catalyst for more improved ones.
Cheers
Pasadena.
I disagree with this. I've gone to a number of forums where I needed some kind of help and it was my first visit. Being told I must provide input and wait 30 days to prove my worth before getting help will instantly put that site on my "do not visit" list! Give people credit that if they found the site useful they're more than likely to return in the future to return the favor.
Again, I respectfully disagree. Personally, I appreciate it when a new member posts something for sale - it may be just that item I've been searching for for years...Market place – To gain access to this area, members must serve at least 30 days AND they must also have posted at least 10 or maybe 20 times (these posts must be moderated to check for mindless banter). The minimum post is implemented on some B&W forums I have registered with but still allows you access to this area, which we’re trying to avoid. All outsiders are concerned about is gaining access to this area and finding out what the cost of things are worth and off they go.
I think you've got it backwards - wait 6 months or even a year before suspending an account. What the heck does it matter if they haven't logged on for a few months??If a member has not logged on once a month after their first month, their account will be suspended and would need to be re-enabled by a moderator. After 3 or 6 months this is relaxed.
'Just my opinion...
John
Hi John,
If the world were a perfect place then we wouldn't be having a problem and we wouldn't be here right now talking about this.
But since there is a problem that's bugging everyone then it's come to a point that our current system in place is not working and needs to be reworkd. I would normally agree but it seems that it has now come to a point where drastic measure seems to be required and unfortunately it may or may not agree with everyone.
Maybe until some harsh restrictions are put in place and are working and have weeded out the problem users, can these restrictions be relaxed again and everything be the way it used to be.
I agree with you about the suspension of not logging on once a month after their first month, probably not required at all. If you've got something to sell, I think waiting a month is not so bad.
My point is that we make decisions based on on our surrounding and how they affect us. If it works, don't touch it. We are only driven to making changes if what we interface or our surroundings are causing us problems that we take the necesary steps to counter those problems to achieve Status Quo.
Cheers
Pasadena
Why does anyone have to show their worth and who decide's if you have worth?Where does it say in the rules that when you join Lansing Heritage you leave your mind at home?Where does it say that Lansing heritage is for the DIYer's only?
In this time they must participate in the general forum areas to show their worth.
You may close all the chat area's here and you will not eliminate what you consider off topic no matter how well your intentions are.There are a few people here who think they can force another group to think one way only.Like I said make it a read only site.
I think we are all out to make a buck and if I buy a JBL system that I want to sell that is my business and I don't need to check in here first. I don't part out good system's out of respect for the people here not because I have to.Wake up everyone,we are the first to part system's just some of us doing it under different names.Enough of this goody goody two shoes.
By worth I mean that a new member is not going to come in and shoot their mouth or cause problems such as the scammer/spammer orthe nuisance person. Sounds like you're happy for these people to join?
Read only will not prove or do anything!
Cheers
Pasadena.
I dont know. I think all forums have some that really know, and some that come to learn. In that respect, all are welcome, all can share equally in the knowledge base.
What it is we are trying to figure out, is how to keep the spammers out. Its a job deleting every spam thread, banning the spammers, etc. I get 5 a day before they even post.
I dont care about real people joining, and what they know, or dont, so, to me, a rating system isnt neccesary, and may bother some people. If real people join, they are welcome, no 'worth' rating is neccesary.
scottyj
Scott,
Banning spammers and the likes will not happen until a commitment is made to place restrictions. If none are, then this will continue and moderator's will spend their countless hours keeping this under control (there is so much one can only do). People will have to accept it as every day life and not complain.
I'm sure there's enough points raised in this thread that could lead to a reasonable resolution. It all comes down to how much the moderator's are willing to tighten the screws.
Cheers
Pasadena.
Mark raises an interesting point.
In general as a first time visitor if you make the effort as a lurker you can find what you want without posting a newbie question.
It would be interesting to evaluate the number of registrations with little or no posts and those that posted a newbie new thread.
It might sold a lot of issues to put a 7, 14 or 30 day limit/delay of enabling posting for new members. That would weed out all the spmmers a and trouble makers.
My point is, those who have a vested interest LH will be prepared to waiting and are more likely to be genuine like minded members.
Ian
You have a point. We are trying to come up with something that will work, and not piss everyone else off.
Your suggestions are taken into consideration.
scottyj
very simple. Give some people limited moderator power's to remove spam only.New members can only post to one area and one area only and give power's to some people to delete from this thread only.This way the power is limited to new post only. just a thought.
I suggest that if anyone who hasn't already put forth their suggestion or those that already have and wish to continue posting further sugeestions without treading on other people's toes, should do so via a PM to the moderator(s).
There's plethora of suggestions already provided in this thread that the moderator's can use, along with PM's that they can make an informed decision and then advise us of their recommendation(s).
The moderator(s) could give us one solution and have that applied and be done with it or give us a top 3 poll.
Cheers
Pasadena
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