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March, 2025

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New member waiting period before they can make threads

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TimRiley
Posts: 1873 - Karma: 1,327
Just curious if anyone else thought there should be a waiting period before new members could make a thread? Maybe 30 days? I was thinking this might cut down on some of the unnecessary threads from noobs or aliases.
12 years ago
47 3
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dbchili
Posts: 2555 - Karma: 1,658
100% support this.

The mods should put it to a donators vote, use a poll or something. Get some democracy up in NS

We can call it the noob referendum
12 years ago
4 0
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skiierman
Posts: 28699 - Karma: -5,563
Best idea I've heard since banning all the n00bz... so to say you came up with a better idea than me is quite the compliment. Good job, n00b. When the n00b reckoning comes, you'll be saved.
12 years ago
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LoathesRaisins
Posts: 3612 - Karma: 4,735
Ban all n00bz 2014?
12 years ago
0 0
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skiierman
Posts: 28699 - Karma: -5,563
Fuck that techno, dubstep bullshit.
12 years ago
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Downtofilm
Posts: 6896 - Karma: 20,395
I would agree, maybe 7 days? It would cut down on reposts and n00b questions.
12 years ago
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dbchili
Posts: 2555 - Karma: 1,658
yeah, but some people will actually just read and learn before jumping into the forums and making a thread about saga sizing or on3p vs ar7. Then the ones who post the most stupid stuff will get out the fastest

i don't think that'd be fair to all the noobs who actually wait and don't just bombard the forums. I think the waiting period needs to be just for making threads and long enough to make people sit down and read through ns a few times to understand, but short enough not to deter them from using altogether
12 years ago
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t_rob
Posts: 6433 - Karma: 11,460
No. Your post suggest that there is some sort of correlation between quality of member and length or membership. There is no such thing.
12 years ago
4 1
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TimRiley
Posts: 1873 - Karma: 1,327
7 days does seem more reasonable... It would still give new members time to find info that already exists about their questions.
12 years ago
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Mr.Bishop
Posts: 22737 - Karma: 76,994
Personally I kind of tend to agree with this.

If we were going to do one thing it would be to have posts that get a certain proportion of downvotes grey out or automatically get deleted or something like that.

The number of times a random pro jumps on Newschoolers because they saw one thread on FB they simply had to comment on is huge. We'd eliminate all of that.

12 years ago
1 0
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Downtofilm
Posts: 6896 - Karma: 20,395
They can email a mod and ask to take their block off or something. 7 days is not very long to not be able to make threads. Most of them are reports anyways
12 years ago
1 0
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Malcolm
Posts: 15953 - Karma: 9,500
What about the people who create an account just to make a certain thread
12 years ago
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TimRiley
Posts: 1873 - Karma: 1,327
Maybe pm a mod with thread request and topic.

12 years ago
1 1
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eheath
Posts: 61890 - Karma: 125,956
+1 i think it would cut down on spammer accounts too. maybe instead of time, do posts like 20-30 posts? i dunno, just an idea. Maybe dont tell them and when they hit the "create thread" button it takes them to the search ha
12 years ago
3 1
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Mag
Posts: 8155 - Karma: 14,798
You have no idea how much this would hurt Newschoolers, I know for a fact I wouldn't be on here if there had been a 7 day wait before posting, and I'm willing to bet there's a hell of a lot of others too.

A lot of members join exclusively to create a thread, and then get hooked.
12 years ago
3 0
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TimRiley
Posts: 1873 - Karma: 1,327
Thanks for all the feedback, I talked to an admin about this and they recommended throwing up a thread because it was worth a discussion. The only goal I had in mind was to improve the site experience. If this would detour people from joining, then I'd agree it may not be the best idea.
12 years ago
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Mag
Posts: 8155 - Karma: 14,798
I'm not saying it wouldn't have a positive impact, but the thing to ask is whether or not the positives outweigh the negatives.
12 years ago
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dbchili
Posts: 2555 - Karma: 1,658
Yeah but there's a direct relationship between bad threads and the account age of the people who make them. Go on SG on GT right now. I found 10 threads that were complete garbage that were made by members of less than 7 days, and another 5 or 6 that were made by members of less than 3 months

You have to appeal to new members, but you also have to satisfy those that you already have, and that includes addressing the quality of their experience.
12 years ago
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Bateman
Posts: 8593 - Karma: 8,600
this also depletes the purpose of quickly making an alias. nice.
12 years ago
4 0
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razors-chaz
Posts: 2255 - Karma: 1,250
What about an opt-out scheme that has a new user minimum use period that when a user goes to create a thread that when you click you've typed up what you want to say and hit "create thread" it stores the thread info and searches for similar threads and has something along the lines of "here are threads of similar content, you may find what your looking for here" and then a search output of title (and possibly thread content/key words/phrases) with links which open in new tabs/windows and then you can continue and create the thread or cancel the create thread if you fond what your looking for in the links. That way there will be less repeat threads and could make new members aware of the wealth of information available through search. Plus with it being opt-out any user can use it if they wish or turn it off if they find it irritating and it doesnt stop new users contributing from the get go. I dont know if the search function is quite up to that in its current form but it's an idea.
12 years ago
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razors-chaz
Posts: 2255 - Karma: 1,250
Haha holy run on sentence. Apologies if thats difficult to read, it was an idea in progress as i was typing.
12 years ago
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Mag
Posts: 8155 - Karma: 14,798
I only understood about the first sentence, but I doubt ns has the time to code that, when its not a huge priority.
12 years ago
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Z-Juice
Posts: 3151 - Karma: 1,504
I like this idea
12 years ago
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chicken
Posts: 6844 - Karma: 2,122
what are people supposed to do when they get banned and can't make an alias then? just not post?
12 years ago
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razors-chaz
Posts: 2255 - Karma: 1,250
Ok so I've formed my idea a little better I will try to put it coherently. The idea in basic form is simple. Adding an intermediate step to creating a thread. A step which a search of thread title (and possible content keywords) is shown before you confirm creating the thread. With a minimum use period for new members. After the min use period the option to turn it off through settings becomes available. The search result links would have to be open in new tab/window so that the user can still create the thread if they wish. This way users are shown previous discussion on similar topics which may reduce the number of garbage threads. Almost like on amazon when you'er looking at an item and it shows other similar items people looked at/bought after looking at that one. I think it would be helpful for a new user to be presented with the previous discussions on a topic so there will be less "REPOST N00B, USE THE SEARCHBAR!"'s This way new users can still be entirely involved with creating discussion without having to wait to make a post/thread. The issue of aliases I don't know how to counter and this doesn't really affect that.
12 years ago
0 0
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oil.
Posts: 2255 - Karma: 1,257
i somewhat agree with this waiting period notion. however i feel it would be more effective if every new message got a message walking them through newschoolers stuff, i.e. linking the threads stickied at the top of this forum. i dunno if this is implementable, but i know that some other forums have a special "welcome" forum just for initial members. new members cannot access other forums until they post in the "newbie" forum, whether it be a welcome post, a post in the rules thread, etc.
12 years ago
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TimRiley
Posts: 1873 - Karma: 1,327
You would still be able to make a new account and post immediately. The idea is a temporary waiting period before new members or aliases can make threads.
12 years ago
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CJ_S
Posts: 543 - Karma: 312
I don't really think they're I'd a limit. Some people become members because they want to sell, trade, etc. And that's their first action as a member, I personally have no problem with it.
12 years ago
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CJ_S
Posts: 543 - Karma: 312
is not I'd, excuse my English.
12 years ago
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JustForYou
Posts: 275 - Karma: 2,143
Disregarding all content of this thread and going solely by the title: I'm going to have to take an hour out of my time to spear-head dozens of aliases.
12 years ago
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