Minimum post amount?

[PR Design]

Hi all. Although I'm relatively new here, and am not considered one of the more powerful ones, a topic that was raised over at Mint Pages has got me thinking...

I have recently noticed an influx of new members starting threads with links to their site, not introducing themselves properly and basically just spamming the forum with shameless plugs. Fair enough they're asking for critique (sometimes) but I think that a new member should go through the process of proper introductions, get to know a few people, then ask for crit.

So, as at Mint Pages, I am putting forward the idea of a minimum post requirement before a new member can start a new thread. This should lead to real introductions, and a little less spam.

What does anyone think (I know this may be controversial)?

Harry

PS Can you move this thread Toon if it's in the wrong place, thanks!

[ianm]

i think you are spot on mate, people wanting to use a forum should introduce themselves first before starting other threads, as you've seen, there's a lot of spam bots about and we have trouble distinguishing sometimes - i think a minimum post count would help yes, i think sometimes people don't know the etiquette of the internet.

[brokendalek]

But then again in order to do an introduction thread they would have to be able to just put on one thread and if they had the one thread they could technically use it to spam, etc.

[PR Design]

Well we could make one thread dedicated to intros. That way they only get a post, not starting threads...

[brokendalek]

That is a plan, although again, knowing this forum there would be a lot of tangents and I think that people might be missed!

[LeadMagnet]

Or let them make a thread in the into section, and if it's not an introduction, it gets deleted. Toon will make sure of that since he never sleeps and has the forums hardwired into the brain.

[brokendalek]

Still not sure it would work, I'm told that this forum is one of the more sociable and hospitable ones around (Toon, you can pay me later). I think that cutting people off like that would discourage new members participating.

[PR Design]

It's not a case of cutting off. And if people are not prepared to introduce themselves, maybe they're not worth having...

And yes, we're easily one of the nicest forums about.

[ianm]

GDF may be one of the more sociable and hospitable ones around, and will still be, but we need to put some structure of order to these people, i tend to ignore posts afore mentioned which i think we should ignore, or delete them.

[Toon]

It's really up to the members to decide what's needed here and what isn't, trouble is people have been banned before and I think it wasn't spam it was relevant to the members here, we all have a different level of tollerance we've all seen what can happen to your reputation if you spam!