Requiring registration to post here

Pumaman · Thu 07/09/2006 21:58:56

Recently this forum has become subject to a lot of spam, and the quantity of it seems to be increasing. While the moderators are doing a good job of removing it, it's getting tiring and monotonous having to do so every day, so the question is:

Should this forum be converted to require registration to post, like all the other forums?

I'd rather not have to do it -- the whole reason it's not required is to allow people to ask for hints without having to be full AGS members. However, sadly the abuse of this facility by spammers is leading me towards the conclusion that disabling guest posting is a necessary evil.

Any comments on this?

Rosie · Thu 07/09/2006 22:19:07

Yes, I believe registration should be needed to post in these forums..... This would eliminate some foul language and space users that really don't contribute to this site. We have been a community of helping, caring people and should not have to put up with some of the stuff that has been posted in here by some guests. Fortunately, most of the guests who utilize this forum have done so gracefully, if only for the few who didn't.

As you said, other forums require it, why not this one?

Rui 'Trovatore' Pires · Fri 08/09/2006 09:58:03

Well, spam is a necessary evil on non-registration forums, I guess. Anyway, it's fairly easy for us, the users, to recognize and ignore it, so I think the decision should rest with the moderators who do have to maintain the board.

Personally, I'd like to see this board as it is. Like you said, the whole reason for it being like this... it's a damn good reason.

But then, on the other side, as long as people could still READ the posts... well, I still think ultimately this is one for the mods to decide.

Gilbert · Fri 08/09/2006 10:20:10

Well I think it depends on how seriously often those spams appeared.
Since I'm not a global mod I have no control here and so far didn't see HUGE spamming wave (unless the global mods worked tirelessly EVERY minute to remove them so I didn't notice).
If the conditions is not that serious (yet) at this moment (which is, by my standard, as I had seen much much sad moments, that includes my email...) I think it's still fair to allow non-members to post here. In my opinion, registering just to ask for a game hint is a bit inconvenient, and as a result we may get loads of non-active users which will never post a second time (the situation that I'm mostly aware of, is that these "members" will just forget their login details or even forget that they had registered as members before, and register with new nicks everytime they ask another question).
If the situation was really intolerable it's of course okay to restrict this forum to members posting only.

Maybe assigning more mods for this forum can help also.

SSH · Fri 08/09/2006 10:40:41

Is it possible with SMF to make guests type in one of those "Characters on a fuzzy background" texts before they can post?

voh · Fri 08/09/2006 15:33:05

SMF 1.1 RC3 has that, but only for registration. It would be possible to play with the code to make it so that guests have to do it as well (or perhaps it's in there, I only upgraded 2 days ago - haven't really paid much attention to the new features).

Just my 2 cents

Pumaman · Sun 10/09/2006 16:35:27

Something like that might be a good security feature, however I"m not sure whether the spam we're getting is automated or manually posted; if it was automated I'd expect there to be more of it...

Nacho · Sun 10/09/2006 17:29:32

As for the "asian gay porn" thingies, that feature (The one SSH says) might work, CJ...

But I do agree that bots do not ask "Please help me with King Quest I, I am stuck at room 5886!"

So... the problem with "annoying" guests only happens in Hint and Tips? Can Yabb forums be scripted in the way only some boards need registration to post in there?

Some guests make great suggestions at gen gen, CL or ART&C boards, but if they are annoying at H&T, make compulsory to be a member to post here...

Gilbert · Mon 11/09/2006 01:58:49

Quote from: Nacho on Sun 10/09/2006 17:29:32
Can Yabb forums be scripted in the way only some boards need registration to post in there?

I think it's already like that, the Hints forum is one of the few forums that you can still start a thread and post without being a member at the moment.

splat44 · Mon 11/09/2006 08:32:45

Yes, I also agree that only registered members.

Why not add the same security measure for all places?

splat44

SSH · Mon 11/09/2006 12:26:40

How about a rule that guests are not allowed to post URLs or images?

Gord10 · Mon 11/09/2006 13:09:02

In my opinion; it is the best to convert the Hints & Tips forum requiring registration.

I think one of the problems with the H&T topic is the multiple topics about a game. Many new members and guests start new topics about the games that had already a topic here (and the problems they ask are usually the replied ones). Membership requirement may help this problem; people does this are usually the ones who are too lazy to search the game's topic first.

Quote from: SSH on Mon 11/09/2006 12:26:40
How about a rule that guests are not allowed to post URLs or images?

www dot itspossibletodefeatthis dot c om

Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens · Mon 11/09/2006 13:10:57

I think that if you can limit guest accounts to only being able to post in certain forums that might help, otherwise I definitely think that making the site registration only is a great idea.

SSH · Mon 11/09/2006 14:10:28

Well, its possible, Gord, to defeat posting URLs, but I doubt anyone will bother and you can't defeat not being able to use image tags. As has been said, guests can already only post in some forums and making it that little bit harder might defeat the spammists. After all, its hardly a huge problem at the moment.

al · Mon 11/09/2006 14:38:50

i don't think registration should be necessary.

1. just ban the ability for guests to start a topic. in other words, they may only post at existing topics.

2. a lot of guests who play the games might not play the games if they have to registrate. they would just go, "too much hassle". they will go play some other games. those questions can be pretty daunting if you are not familiar with the forums.

3. basically, i think it would lead to fewer people playing ags games. it seems that most forums members don't really play other ags games (except from well known authors), so you might be taking away the few people who actually play games not made by yahtzee.

Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens · Mon 11/09/2006 17:14:59

Quote2. a lot of guests who play the games might not play the games if they have to registrate. they would just go, "too much hassle". they will go play some other games. those questions can be pretty daunting if you are not familiar with the forums.

How is it too much hassle when you don't need to be registered to get the games anyway, and requiring registration to post on the forums wouldn't affect that. Neither do I think that an inability for people to post at the forum would affect their interest in downloading a game.

al · Mon 11/09/2006 17:18:25

Quote from: ProgZmax on Mon 11/09/2006 17:14:59
Quote2. a lot of guests who play the games might not play the games if they have to registrate. they would just go, "too much hassle". they will go play some other games. those questions can be pretty daunting if you are not familiar with the forums.

How is it too much hassle when you don't need to be registered to get the games anyway, and requiring registration to post on the forums wouldn't affect that. Neither do I think that an inability for people to post at the forum would affect their interest in downloading a game.

i was referring to when they get stuck.

SSH · Mon 11/09/2006 17:45:03

Well, of course, they can still view ALL the forums

Pumaman · Mon 11/09/2006 23:37:14

Ok, just in case people don't know what problem I'm referring to, basically we've been getting quite a few replies posted to random threads with just a load of spam links. The moderators have been doing a good job of deleting these posts so you may not have seen them, but they're happening on a fairly frequent (ie. weekly) basis and it's just becoming a pain in the ass going round deleting them all the time.

I don't want to disable guest posting for the reasons that people have mentioned, but the reason for tending towards it is as a spam control measure, not as a measure to try and moderate this forum more heavily.

The suggestion of disallowing guests to post URL's is a good one, I'll have to see if thats possible.

EagerMind · Tue 12/09/2006 04:28:56

I don't find spam to be an issue for me in this forum. I only come to this forum when I need help with a game, and then it's usually the result of a search. I get in, get what I need, and that's it. So I don't generally bump into spam (though no doubt some of that is due to the diligence of the moderators). Obviously there are people that do check in here regularly, but offhand I'd say restricting guests isn't necessary.

Of course, the flip side is, I've never had to ask for help. I've always found that my question has already been answered if I do a search for it. So restricting guests may not be the end of the world either (although I've never paid attention to how many questions are asked by guests).

Ultimately I'd say it's up to the moderators. I think Pumaman's intentions are good, and I agree that it seems kind of wrong to punish everyone because of a few bad apples. But if it's too much of a burden for the moderators to keep up with the spam, then you should do what needs to be done.