Mandatory redirect or auto-PM to new members.

[Mod]

It's very common to see new members join, then immediately start posting spamming the crap out of forums with pointless posts, and bringing back topics from the past, many of which have already been resolved.

What's more maddening is they do it immediately after joining, not knowing the time-in-rank restriction (6 days) on top of post count. So the spam is futile, even if the moderators let them slide.

It greatly annoys me (and I'm certain many other cK users too, do y'all?) to be flooded with notifications of these new posts, or just be lost in what's going on from it.

Some of them are trolls that deserve to be banned, but I believe most of them are just misguided:

1. Not extremely fluent in English, or
2. Younger users who have yet to know the impact of their actions.

They shouldn't be banned, but I think there should definitely be:

A. restrictions on their posting ability (at least in the first 24 hours or something like that), and/or
B. an auto-PM detailing this, or
C. a redirect to a rules topic
-though due to their lack of patience and possible limitation in English, a separate, shorter topic with just this info may stir their attention better. Throwing the whole rule list may deter them from reading.

For B. and C. to be effective though, the title of the PM or topic would have to really catch their eyes, like, "YOU'RE BANNED", or "READ OR RISK BEING BANNED", in big, and in red. Since they're already too lazy to read the rules, only something with a shock value like that would grab their attention. From personal experience, a formal title like "Welcome. Please read." just leads to it being ignored, especially if the message becomes a long block of text.

Though many of these spam posts are empty, I do see at least some of these spammers putting thought into their responses, even if they're not necessary (like their own opinions and advice on an already-solved past problem, for instance). It's a shame that they are sometimes punished as a result; they had good intentions, just poor execution.

[Kylae]

The monitors don't let them slide, the one that usually does it was attempting to take a weekend break but apparently that's out of the question. :P

[Mod]

^That was a lightning fast reply, :P

[Kylae]

Also, referencing the banned spammers, I hope you don't mean the guy I just banned the other day. All he was doing was copy pasting lines from previous posters to make it look like he was writing things of substance, but every post was just a copy of a random line above his.

---------- Post added at 09:59 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:58 PM ----------

I just finished dealing with one as I came back to the new posts and you had just posted, lol.

[metaldroga]

Its really annoying but you have the point... :$

[Mod]

Also, referencing the banned spammers, I hope you don't mean the guy I just banned the other day. All he was doing was copy pasting lines from previous posters to make it look like he was writing things of substance, but every post was just a copy of a random line above his.

---------- Post added at 09:59 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:58 PM ----------

I just finished dealing with one as I came back to the new posts and you had just posted, lol.

Ah, I understand THAT guy, right? I went to sleep that night, only to wake up to a random with 51 posts in the daily stats and was like, O.O

The one you just dealt with, probably the one that tipped me over to make this topic too. He looks like a 'real' member so far, just very off-track and inexperienced; I worried he would be red-barred immediately too.

[Batgirl]

Thank you for this.

I wanted to say something as well :)

[wrath]

Eh, I understand your view. I've complained about several newbies to people on Skype, but you know they don't mean any harm. They're just trying to do what they need to do to access the CK-level programs. I don't think an auto-PM would hurt though, I've considered the idea several times but never voiced it because I was afraid everyone would consider me a harsh ****face. :) That being said, meaningful posts are cool. Especially new ideas from fresh faces. But I think maybe we need a better way to check 'new posts' like being able to filter out specific threads/boards we don't want to 'check' on. Or, perhaps put a cap of posts per day for newbies and make them aware of it. Just some ideas.

+rep for having the kahunas to say it.

[grrrawr]

+Rep for being a genius.

[Toasted]

I agree.
When I first joined, I only viewed neo-related threads in search of answers and made threads that would assist me.

Once I figured out people LIKED me, and that /I/ could actually help people, too, is when I decided to start chatting/being a goof. :3

[Ana]

There's a filter system -___- which gets spambots most of the time, but also sometimes catches the newbies.

We haven't banned very many people for excessive spamming, and they were only the extreme cases. Katia does a lot of spam monitoring as she said xD and I try and scan through threads whenever I have free time. If you want to help us out there's the handy dandy report button :D

[wrath]

Bringing this up again due to the reality of this being a once-a-week issue!

Won't the staff consider an automatic built in feature to limit a Newbie's post ability for a few days? Or restrict them to a newbie section until they graduate from newbie status? I think that would be the most beneficial way to handle it. People get bent out of shape every time this happens.

[Toasted]

Bringing this up again due to the reality of this being a once-a-week issue!

Or restrict them to a newbie section until they graduate from newbie status? I think that would be the most beneficial way to handle it. People get bent out of shape every time this happens.

YES LORD PLEASE.
I get bent out of shape because without the idiots, this is my favorite place to be other than Neo.
It's nice to keep things poilite, adult, and un-spammed.

[j03]

If you compare the amount of new users we get vs. the amount that go straight to spamming, it's actually very low. I like this idea, would be cool to implement and hope every new member respects our decision on restricting them for the time being but at the same this, this can actually put new members off.. resulting in more new members leaving and not coming back.

For the time being we have staff including myself to handle these members, and I think it's been handled very well this way. For example, the person who was spamming earlier was given an infraction and if they continue more, they will be temp. banned to "reflect" on their actions.

[Ana]

Won't the staff consider an automatic built in feature to limit a Newbie's post ability for a few days? Or restrict them to a newbie section until they graduate from newbie status? I think that would be the most beneficial way to handle it. People get bent out of shape every time this happens.

To get out of newbie status requires posting. If you're just restricting them to a certain section, that limits how fast that'll happen.

[Lilac Tentacles]

To get out of newbie status requires posting. If you're just restricting them to a certain section, that limits how fast that'll happen.

I want a purple userbar...

and i honestly don't mind it, unless it's my topic from 3 months ago and i'm like... wtf?

[wrath]

To get out of newbie status requires posting. If you're just restricting them to a certain section, that limits how fast that'll happen.

I'm not certain that it would limit how fast that it happens. People would still post the same, just in a certain section. I've seen it done on other sites and imo it works well.

[Whispers]

I hope this isn't considered grave-digging, (from what I read grave-digging is when a topic has been inactive for more than 3 months) I just really wanted to share my opinion about this topic, since I am a newbie after all.

I actually really like this idea, I think there should be a newbie section, where newbies would be "confined" until they rank up, but it shouldn't be dependant on time (more on that later). I think the forum should contain some of the most useful guides for new members, this could help these new members understand more about the forum; rules, ranks, rep, etiquette, language, how to's and other helpful guides. I've personally been digging around and have found many incredibly useful guides, that have helped me understand more about this forum. I also think there should be a sub-section, where newbies can ask stupid/newbie questions, that way, they wouldn't spam the regular help section as much and other users would know, what to expect when entering that section. Maybe the introductions could also be moved into that section? There could be more sections added, but I can't really think of any at the moment.

By adding these sections to the newbie section, it wouldn't be that hard to rank up, so you wouldn't be kept out of the forum for too long, just enough so that you learn what you need to. Maybe then you could even help other newbies out. :)

I think that this, would help everyone in the long haul, since it would be kind of a test; it would make it very apparent, which of them would like to be part of this community and which of them are just spammers (or leeches). I don't think that they, should be entirely cut off though; I think that they, should still have the ability to view other sections, they just shouldn't be able to post in them. This would make it so, that they can lurk around without stepping on anybodies toes, until they learn more about the forum.

As I previously stated I don't think that, it should be dependent on time, since that would mean you could just create an account, not log in for a week and then start spamming the place up! That wouldn't really help anything. I think that there, should be another rank added to the current ranks, which would make it, a little easier to achieve, just so that the newbie section wouldn't be spammed to death:

Currently the next rank after newbie is clarik:
clraik:
50 posts and either:
-25 Reputation
-6 Days registered

My suggestion is that we add another rank, in between these two ranks, something in the likes of this:
clraik in training (or something like that):
15-25 posts and either:
-15 Reputation
-6 Days registered (I feel this should stay the same, maybe even make the period longer on both ranks?)

I feel that this would be beneficial to both new members and older members; new members would have their own section, get to ask newbie questions and not frustrate older members (it is actually beneficial to the newbies to not do that, as they could risk getting scolded or be "left out of the group" which in turn could make them not want to be part of this community). It would be beneficial for older members for many reasons, some of which have already been stated so I wont state them again. :)
I will say, that if, the new members really want to be part of the community, then they would probably be able to understand this decision, since it is better for the entire forum rand once they become part of it, they may find themselves being bothered by the exact same things.

I say all this as a newbie (I probably should of used we instead of they :$), I personally wouldn't mind this at all and I actually think we would be able to learn a lot more this way and be able to fit in better, later on. Of course this is just my opinion (and I apologies for the long post), but I felt I needed to state it, since from what I gathered, one of the primary reasons this hasn't already happened is, that they don't want to scare of new members, so I just wanted to say that, at least in my opinion, they wouldn't be scarring/putting off new members by doing this. :)

[Ana]

My suggestion is that we add another rank, in between these two ranks, something in the likes of this:
clraik in training (or something like that):
15-25 posts and either:
-15 Reputation
-6 Days registered (I feel this should stay the same, maybe even make the period longer on both ranks?)


To get reputation, you'd have to do something in the community, which isn't really possible when you're confined to just one section and can't interact with others. Rep comes from sources such as helping others on homework or posting a guide.

And 15-25 posts is dependent on if you actually have something to ask. If everything seems straightforward to you, then you'd just be spamming your way across the newbie section in order to rank up.

[Whispers]

Ana well you wouldn't necessarily have to ask question, you could answer questions as well, you could also help make a guide for the newbie section, there's the introductions as well and as I stated before, there could be some other sub-sections added or they could have permission to post in certain sections such as: debate zone, sports & physical fitness, music & television etc..
This was just a suggestion, since it seems a lot of users want this, I just thought I would add my thoughts about it.

[spysie]

sorry as a newbie with an input, but i don't really think that a newbie should be confined to one forum/section!
Not all users who come to a new site spam, some of us actually help and LEARN from a new site, but that could be limited if we're restricted to talking with others who know no more than ourselves... what if we never find out how we can benefit from more experienced users, or just want to chat mindlessly about each other and neo.. idk I think that could get to not knowing the full potential we have in this site :rolleyes:

also, if restricted would we just not be able to TALK to others, or not even see the other forums at all?

and excuse the "We's" I wondered to put "they" or not :)

[perklicious]

^^ Got to agree with the above post.

I can totally understand why that would be annoying to you guys, but for me personally, I've been on forums a LONG time. I tend to take a few days to read before I start posting. And when I *do* start posting, it's usually only on topics I'm interested in. So if I were restricted to one forum with newbies, would I post there? Probably not, to be honest. It's obviously your site and your decision, but it definitely wouldn't encourage me to be a part of it.

[Skarl]

You mean you're upset whenever I reply to old threads, Mod? :(

[Mod]

You mean you're upset whenever I reply to old threads, Mod? :(

Irony.

[Skarl]

Irony.

Intentional. :P