Let's be a little nicer, especially to newcomers

[Andysu]

Now that would be just too much fun! Lol. I would get fired on my first day

lol ,
we all have our best clothes on now we don't want to all get wet now

thinking of wet , waiting for some rain as it has not rained in over 2 weeks now

 

[computer-audiophile]

I like to correlate the subjective and the objective, and I like to think.

I'll go along with that!

 

[mhardy6647]

I'll go along with that!

I reckoned that you would, sir!

 

[Chesapeake HT]

This already happens to some degree. New Members do have automatic filters set until they reach a specific threshold of posts. But the No Thread Creation suggestion is a good one and currently the new member can create threads from post one. All good ideas. Keep them coming

As a new member, I would not have too much heart burn over a “pre-screening” process for a new thread post (if I’m understanding this right). Either through a manual review or some sort of programmed means. Perhaps the response could point a new member to existing threads on the subject, then again shouldn’t we (new members) be searching for that first?

I won’t say I’m not guilty of that, but generally I try to see if there is a thread(s) on the topic of interest first. I try to explain this tactic to my employees as well. When they come to me with questions, I almost immediately ask them what research have they done to answer their own question? After a few similar interactions with the same individual, the new questions trend to become very focused and worthy of / requiring discussion.

One thought on a “hard” or “rigid” post minimum for new members to add /start a thread (save the introduce yourself here section), is it may have the unintended consequence of more thread “hijacking”. If someone is intent on being disruptive as a new member, they will find a way. Then again that may make it easier to identify potential troublemakers. No perfect solution.

 

[AdamG]

Either through a manual review

This we already do. But you raise good points about unintended consequences of existing thread pollution. Human creativity always finds a way for good or bad.

 

[ExPerfectionist]

This is a very technical forum. The main reason newcomers without a deep, extensive technical background in this area would want to join is to ask questions and get help. Requiring people to respond and contribute X number of times to other threads before posting their own new thread/question feels like it would be a big deterrent for new people wanting to join. If they don't have anything to "contribute" because they feel their knowledge isn't up to the level of the experts here, that's a double deterrent from wanting to contribute, but needing to contribute before starting a new thread to ask for help.

If there is a goal of keeping new basic question threads to a minimum or something of that sort, perhaps a sticky thread could be added to the top of each sub-forum? Like "Ask your amp/DAC/turntable/speaker/acoustics questions here." Other forums also have things like "Denon owners thread" for all things related to a particular brand of AVR or TV or whatever.

 

[Curvature]

There is no reason to gate or control posts by new members. They are not just new and uninitiated. We also have industry people join to complain or to post very interesting technical comments a few times.

If we're more patient and take the time to answer things as much as we can it'll be worth it in the end.

 

[Travis]

That’s a great idea! @amirm is this something we can do? I support the idea and say we should set this to 30 posts before they can Start New Threads. I just spent several hours this morning hunting down new Member Spam Threads. They grow like weeds during the night hours.

You would be better off requiring all first time posts (not just thread starts) to be approved by a moderator, that is what kills spam. Even then you will get fooled once in awhile, but the hyperlinks to research papers for sale is a dead giveaway.

Typically the approval of a first post is enough to kill about 98% of spam with very little inconvenience so as to dissuade new members.

I think the new thread vs. posts in existing threads is a distinction without a difference in terms of addressing spam. I think what has already been stated above addresses the issue of trolls/troublemakers, probably too restrictive.

 

[Travis]

There is no reason to gate or control posts by new members.

There is if spam is a problem, but that should only require that a first time post be approved.

 

[Curvature]

There is if spam is a problem, but that should only require that a first time post be approved.

That is way too much work for the small mod team here. Spam has already been very well addressed without that.

 

[Travis]

That is way too much work for the small mod team here. Spam has already been very well addressed without that.

Apparently you missed this from @AdamG247 earlier:

“I just spent several hours this morning hunting down new Member Spam Threads. They grow like weeds during the night hours.”

Approving all first time posters, just screening for spam and hyperlinks, would take considerably less time than “spending several hours.” I have a lot of experience on that front.

What makes it even easier is for members to have an easy way to report spam.

 

[voodooless]

What makes it even easier is for members to have an easy way to report spam.

It’s already there: you can simply report every post.

 

[AdamG]

Apparently you missed this from @AdamG247 earlier:

“I just spent several hours this morning hunting down new Member Spam Threads. They grow like weeds during the night hours.”

Approving all first time posters, just screening for spam and hyperlinks, would take considerably less time than “spending several hours.” I have a lot of experience on that front.

What makes it even easier is for members to have an easy way to report spam.

We have this all in hand. It just takes some individual investigation to find associated accounts that remain inactive. Can’t really explain exactly what we do here for security reasons. I call them Zombie accounts that remain dormant until they awake. Sometimes to discover them all we must manually pull the thread and inspect each individual account that is associated with a specific iP address. We also have a Security Program Add-on that catches the large majority of Spam accounts before registration. Let’s get back to the Topic of this thread please.

 

[Travis]

We have this all in hand. It just takes some individual investigation to find associated accounts that remain inactive.

Well after “several hours” I would hope you would have it in hand. I was just responding to your comment that you wanted a 30 post minimum to start a new thread, which I read as being related to spending several hours chasing down spamers.

I’m familiar with the dormant account thing as well, and thank you for your efforts, because it’s the ones who enter into forums and lay dormant who are frequently associated with outright fraud, last year it was in For Sale Sections, they look for Wanted Items and PM and say they have a friend with what they are looking for and supply a name and email, it was frequently someone in Texas. It was all a scam. So again, thank you for harvesting those out. The easy way to block those people, the ones you don’t find, is if your system allows you to set a minimum number of post to be able to send or receive a PM (like 5 posts) because the severely broken English posts with no bearing on anything usually makes them easy to spot.

 

[RayDunzl]

I plead "not guilty".

 

[Keith_W]

We have this all in hand. It just takes some individual investigation to find associated accounts that remain inactive. Can’t really explain exactly what we do here for security reasons. I call them Zombie accounts that remain dormant until they awake. Sometimes to discover them all we must manually pull the thread and inspect each individual account that is associated with a specific iP address. We also have a Security Program Add-on that catches the large majority of Spam accounts before registration. Let’s get back to the Topic of this thread please.

Not as if it's some big secret, Adam I used to be admin for another forum, so I know about those tools. I would wager that a lot of people on ASR would know that too, and it is not hard to look at Xenforo's webpage to see what features are available.

BTW, there might be a mechanism for you to screen new members. You can change the forum setting so that ALL first posts (or first x number of posts) are hidden until approved by a moderator. This could be accompanied with a quick message saying that it is necessary to screen first posts to cut down on spam. Given the size of ASR this might involve a lot of work.

 

[Blumlein 88]

How about a new user's forum? All threads started by anyone with less than 20 posts goes there. It could be automatic. Not using up the mod's time. When you take part you know they are a new users. So try and help or be on the lookout for a troll. I think requiring posts prior to new threads weeds out too many who just need help. I've seen at least some people come here for help, be impressed with the help and the way this forum works and become regulars. I do not like the idea of creating a barrier to those people posting here at first.

 

[kemmler3D]

One thing I've seen on other forums (it's common on Reddit) is to have some rules pop up for new posters, one of which is always "READ THE FAQ BEFORE POSTING!"

So for the first (or maybe the first few) posts from a new user, they'd have to click through a dialogue like:

Welcome to ASR, we're glad to have you, before posting please make sure you've read the following:
[link to forum rules]
[link to FAQ]
[link to overview of reviews]
etc.

While this wouldn't cut down on spam per se, it would cut down on "lazy" or repetitive questions.

For newcomers, this is also a benefit, because it will also cut down on annoyed responses to their lazy questions.

At work, this is a basic fact of life- the better the documentation, the lower the support burden. Given that all of us are in some way involved in "support" here, better docs could be a rising tide that lifts all boats.

 

[Steven Holt]

I knew about ASR before I joined, the word was that it's membership was composed of people who knew, really knew audio from the inside out. They were scientists, engineers, technicians and music lovers who were passionate about the hobby, people who were driven by excellence, and people who could tell the difference between shit and shi - nola. I almost didn't join, because even tho I had been in the hobby for 30 plus years I was terrified that I would make a fool out of myself. I'm so very glad that I took the chance. I've learned so much, and I'm still learning. One big thing I found out is that if you ask an honest and respectful question, our membership will be happy to help you, with no attitude. But if you come in here and you're arrogant, you think you know it all, and disrespectful to the membership (especially to Amir and our technical experts), then you'll be shown the door in short order. Again, my point : I've never seen a new member mistreated if they are respectful and ask an honest question (yes, even by VintageFlanker and Voodooless, who do not suffer fools gladly). So if you're a new member reading this : pay attention. And send ASR some money -- the donation will pay for itself by the money you save from not buying overpriced and underperforming gear.

 

[antcollinet]

I've seen at least some people come here for help, be impressed with the help and the way this forum works and become regulars.

*Raises Hand*

My second post after a "Hi" in the new members thread was a question. Because of a pointer in that thread I later cancelled an order I'd already made for a totally (for my needs) inappropriate amp.