Don't let newly registered users boil for so long

[Mattr]

And make the requirements to post clear from the beginning, like say if there the user only has to be approved or also if he has to wait a certain period, and make it possible to contact a moderator to ask for activation.

But better yet, find a different way to avoid "abuse", like an activation link, or whatever.

[Eckhart Aurelius Hughes]

The issue isn't spam bots. Those are effectively blocked by automatic measures. The issue is a good portion of new members completely disregard the rules, and some members even come back after being kicked out for violating the forum rules to vandalize the forums with a flood of rule-breaking posts.

The fact is these forums have very unique rules and a community dedicated to thoughtful respectful discussion of controversial and complex topics that often involve people's deeply held beliefs. However, many if not most of those stumbling through such a community are more prone to angry combative fighting marked by personal attacks and emotional outbursts or just distracting off-topic banter/joking not philosophical discussion.

In any case, thank you for feedback. And due to your suggestion I have added a note to the forum rules informing that new member's posts will be held for moderation until they have 5 approved posts.

[Mattr]

Maybe give moderators the power to approve posts as well. I think it would only be in accord with your purpose of mutual responsibility and the trust I suppose you grant them.

[Eckhart Aurelius Hughes]

The moderators do have that power.

[BardoXV]

In any case, thank you for feedback. And due to your suggestion I have added a note to the forum rules informing that new member's posts will be held for moderation until they have 5 approved posts.

I'm not quite clear on what this means? Is it that I must submit 5 posts before any of them will become public? Or will my first post become public after a set length of time, or approval by a moderator?

[Eckhart Aurelius Hughes]

It means until you have a post count of 5, any posts you make will be held for moderation meaning they won't be publicly viewable until approved by a moderator. And your post count won't increase until any posts made are approved. So in other words, until you have 5 approved on-topic posts, any posts you make will be held in the moderators queue.

[Mattr]

Since apparently threads are not counted in the 5 post count before one can post freely, this rule is obviously false, arbitrary and overly restrictive, and I'm sure this will not improve anything and simply make this forum extremely unattractive for many potential users. But I'm sure there is a nice string of words to counter this...

-- Updated February 11th, 2014, 4:54 am to add the following --

In whoever's authority it might be to condescendingly "approve" posts, might at least do so with some greater regularity, if they wish to uphold this nonsensical, hostile restriction for new and participating users for an period of time exceedng everything else a reasonable mind might come up with.

[Eckhart Aurelius Hughes]

Threads are counted in post count. What isn't counted in post count is posts in the off-topic section. Also, posts held for moderation aren't counted until they are approved. Also, posts that are deleted will then of course be deducted from the post count.

[Rat]

Thanks Scott, I am a new member and was getting frustrated by delayed approval of my posts/replies (waited more than 2 days). It is over now, I posted #6 and it was visible right away. A real improvement.

[ALOPIALL]

I completely understand the need to approve users so that someone who is a little upset can't fire bomb the site however the issue I am having right now is that on my journey to attain five posts in order to become a full fledged member I am meeting resistance.


I can understand that people have lives, even moderators and the admin and so two days to approve my post while frustrating is not something worth getting upset about. The problem however is that I cannot reply to certain topics to help increase my post count. What I mean is I have something to say but if the thread is moving right along then after two or three days of waiting for approval my point has either been brought up by another user or no longer will make sense.


So in order to make my five post count I have to carefully select topics which is incredibly time consuming and annoying. I'm doing it anyways but I just thought I would throw in my two cents.

[Eckhart Aurelius Hughes]

Another option is to make all new topics of your own as then the topic won't even start until it is approved.

[Lacewing]

I waited a WEEK for my post to be cleared. No one stepped in during this time... nor did I get an answer to my email, asking if there was a problem. If this forum is striving to be the BEST it can be, I think this kind of procedural bottleneck and indifference is a huge issue. I didn't know if I had been completely shut out for some reason... or if my posts had gotten lost. I joined because I wanted to participate in topics, and I put time and effort into it. What I got was being left in a black hole, followed by no explanation or apology... just the statement, after waiting a week, "I'm clearing the queue now". How friendly. At this point, I'm so disenchanted with this forum, I'm not sure whether I want to participate further. A question for the admin and moderators... how would any of you feel about being left in the dark for a week when you're trying to participate in a new forum that interests you? Would you be disgusted and walk away? Reasons and excuses really aren't as important as how you follow up with people after-the-fact... and if the situation is treated with indifference and casualness, perhaps you can imagine how that comes across to people.

[Eckhart Aurelius Hughes]

Lacewing,

The moderators are volunteering their time to help reduce the amount of time users wait by toiling through the queue of posts.

I understand the irritation, but I believe the quality of the forum is better served by holding new members posts to ensure they are following the unique, strict forum rules. This isn't a chat-room. A week might seem like a long time to wait, and surely our goal is to reduce that time, but it's short compared to the lifetime one's writings will be publicly displayed on the site if I decide they meet the unique submission guidelines for this internet magazine which wants to be the best around.

I have no idea what email address you got ahold of or how and I don't recall getting any such email. If you can PM the email address you used to me, that would be helpful. Having my email address out there only slows down these kinds of procedures by taking up much of my time. I get hundreds of emails requiring responses or actions every day.

I understand the feeling of receiving poor customer service and I am sorry you feel that way. But this isn't the customer service desk at the grocery store. I can try to clear the queue or I can do the minimum wage job of a smiley clerk. I feel I can best serve you by using my valuable time to try to clear the queue and moderating the forum and enforcing or tweaking the forum rules, rather than play friendly store clerk. And you aren't buying milk from me; you are using my website for free because you want to be here and I want you to be here; if that relationship breaks down it is unfortunate but it is life. I am tossing around an idea to create a premium feature that would change these dynamics and give me the wherewithal to improve the website and do customer service.

[Lacewing]

Scott,

Of course I don’t expect you to be like a smiley-faced store clerk. Ha! But how could I have expected to be waiting a week for my post to be approved, and to receive no other response? Perhaps you can simply ensure that newbies know that it could take a week (or more?) for their posts to be approved. That could eliminate a lot of doubt and confusion, and enable them to decide whether they are comfortable enough with that to still get involved. (I wouldn’t have.) It’s difficult to feel like part of any topic discussion when there is a very long delay in one’s posting. This feedback is not intended to make you defend your system or your workload... it is only intended to let you know what it’s like being on the receiving end of the process. And if there’s any way to give that information to people up front (as perhaps these posts will do, if newbies see them ... then maybe that’s of value.

As for how I attempted to send you a message, I clicked on your name at the very bottom of your profile, then clicked Contact, then clicked Other, because clicking “This is regarding OnlinePhilosophyClub.com” directed me to send you a PM, which I could not do (I think?) until I was a member, and I couldn’t post a message, and I don’t use Facebook or Twitter, etc. It was the only thing I could find to try to make some sort of contact when I didn't know what was going on.

Thank you for the work you do. I hope my feedback has been helpful.

[Sy Borg]

I had a few beefs about moderation early on. At first I thought none of my posts would ever be approved. Since that time, a few times moderators have beefs about my posts, some of which were edited to remove offtopic material.

Now it feels like the pendulum has finished swinging and I feel settled into a fairly peaceful, steady state on the forum. It took a while to get used to the unusual processes here that, as Scott said, are designed to keep conversations relevant and decent with hot topics that are close to our most closely-held beliefs (aka overarching algorithms).

However, like any other bug intent on survival, I've needed to adapt to my environment