I recommend post limit for new users, which would limit the amount of spam on the forum.
Clangy? Who the hell is that, and what'd they even do?
And you have a bunch of moderators for that, plus they're not busy doing anything anyway (except responding slowly to bots).
This will simply drive people away.
Say you sign up for a forum to ask for help but you won't be able to post your question easily or "in time".
Most people will just go elsewhere which will eventually bleed the site empty.
Does anyone need people like that?This will simply drive people away.
Say you sign up for a forum to ask for help but you won't be able to post your question easily or "in time".
Most people will just go elsewhere which will eventually bleed the site empty.
But everyone always manages to find time to slack on the edge of the forum.Staff isn't a paid position, we're just doing this on a voluntary basis.
Besides, we have lives and jobs besides GBAtemp.
I would counter that and say the constant spam botting of the site is also potentially going to make people stay away. Imagine you are new to the site and all you see is a shit load of posts on the home page about university degrees in India or Viagra in Texas or whatever else they are trying to flog. Hardly a good first impression is it.This will simply drive people away.
Say you sign up for a forum to ask for help but you won't be able to post your question easily or "in time".
Most people will just go elsewhere which will eventually bleed the site empty.
"This forum must be dead or dying like forums in general, as the recent posts are only spam, so no moderators it seem"There has to be something that can be done. As @AmandaRose stated, it actually may look bad if someone joins and sees some of this spam. Especially when you see what some of it is advertising. We’re not a call girl site. That’s more of a deterrence than limiting their posting ability.
It is a difficult thing. Hit the bots without hitting real users.This will simply drive people away.
Say you sign up for a forum to ask for help but you won't be able to post your question easily or "in time".
Most people will just go elsewhere which will eventually bleed the site empty.
While moderator review should solve the spam problem 100%, it is an insane amount of work. That can't be a solution.Staff isn't a paid position, we're just doing this on a voluntary basis.
Besides, we have lives and jobs besides GBAtemp.
I've seen one instance when a spambot lived more than half a hour and went berserk all over the place. Of all staff members showing their online status publicly, none was online at that point. I guess none of the others was online at this point as well. Can happen.And you have a bunch of moderators for that, plus they're not busy doing anything anyway (except responding slowly to bots).
Especially when they do this for free, only being paid the gratitude (or seemingly lack thereof) of the community and its members.
I've seen examples, where people are limited not only in the number of posts per day (as newcomers; then, on the next day, the number of posts increased to some amount and later, after a few days, the limit withdrawn), but also boards/forums where they can post. Usually, there was a newbie board to start with while keeping the possibility to read all the boards available. Maybe with some limitation on user "reactions", e.g., likes etc...It is a difficult thing. Hit the bots without hitting real users.
Again: Would it be an actual limit if a newbie wasn't allowed to post a dozen threads on the first day?
A hard limit on posts could indeed be bad: A newbie getting in discussion and asking several questions within their thread back and forth can easily surpass 20 posts in an hour.
While moderator review should solve the spam problem 100%, it is an insane amount of work. That can't be a solution.
I can not agree on this:
I've seen one instance when a spambot lived more than half a hour and went berserk all over the place. Of all staff members showing their online status publicly, none was online at that point. I guess none of the others was online at this point as well. Can happen.
Sometimes when trying to report a bot a minute after it started the nonsense, I got a message like "You don't have the privilege to perform this action" (which in fact meant the post and the bot had already been removed by the time I typed "Spambot" into the report textfield)
Last Tempmas raffle I actually did the maths and counted how many new members signs up just in the raffle period. There were 26K new members in one week.Most people will just go elsewhere which will eventually bleed the site empty.
Booo!Staff isn't a paid position, we're just doing this on a voluntary basis.
Besides, we have lives and jobs besides GBAtemp.
Last Tempmas raffle I actually did the maths and counted how many new members signs up just in the raffle period. There were 26K new members in one week.
Maybe you guys should do more raffles in order to keep the site relevant?
I don't know, I'm not a productive member of the forum.
Booo!
The temp has it's own bot! Use it to counterattack other bots!
That's the point!Raffles unfortunately aren't sustainable.
Out of those 26k members, how many of them have stuck around?
I agree that raffles are a questionable solution to attract more users. Usually the new users will subscribe in hope of winning the grand prize, then just leave when they realise they didn't win anything, not to mention it leaves a bad taste in the mouth for all old members when they see an unknown fresh member win said grand prize.Raffles unfortunately aren't sustainable.
Out of those 26k members, how many of them have stuck around?