'Probie' Status for New Members

[BeemersMommy]

Actually you'll have to wait until you're at least 6 months here and have accumulated at least 2,000 posts before you'll be able to use a custom avatar. However, there's a wide number of avatars to choose from already. Capt. Yesterday's avatar is one of them. You can already take/choose that one.

Do you really have to wait that long to post your own pic? I wanted to put my son as Ba'al as my pic! How does that work.

[Pharaoh Atem]

Do you really have to wait that long to post your own pic? I wanted to put my son as Ba'al as my pic! How does that work.

you need 2.000 posts for a custom avatar. and as for posting pictures you proabably have to wait to get off probie status

[Bagpuss]

BeemersMommy :There are other options available than "custom" avatars once the system releases you from "Probie".

You'll be able to create/upload a signature.( Max file size 50KB ,size max 700pixels wide by 200 depth) and/or use your Profile Picture space.
The maximum size of your custom profile image is 210 by 210 pixels or 64.0 KB (whichever is smaller).

[Stranded]

When replying to a thread, I get this message:

< will take a screenshot after I submit this reply, then edit the reply to add in the screenshot as soon as I'm able to >

Unfortunately, that page is only there for about 1 second, if that, and that's nowhere near enough time to read the message so I didn't even notice the word "moderation" until later (although I took a wild guess and figured that the reason for the delay in my posts appearing might be because they had to be moderated first)

It would be good if that page appeared for a bit longer before redirecting. Even just 1-2 seconds longer, so that people know why their posts aren't appearing on the thread when they post.

Or, alternatively, something that I've seen in other forums:

The post still appears, but it is only visible to the Probie that posted it and to moderators, and there's a message there saying 'this message is hidden until it's approved'. That way the message is still posted from the user's point of view, just waiting to be made public.

Okay, strangely enough I don't see an edit button on my last post. Please move this image to my previous post and then delete this one, if you are able to.



Edit: Forums went offline for ages, so I'm only posting this now.

[Bagpuss]

Merged.

Thanks for the feedback,cap and suggestions.
I can't comment on the systems GW and other forums use other than to say that sometimes software and systems are compatible and sometimes they aren't .

Darren and the Admins will check out this thread soon and may have more to add.

[SeaBee]

Okay, strangely enough I don't see an edit button on my last post.

Probies are, unfortunately, no longer allowed to edit their posts, as some spammers were using the function to add undesireable content to their posts after it had been cleared by the mods.

[Stranded]

Probies are, unfortunately, no longer allowed to edit their posts, as some spammers were using the function to add undesireable content to their posts after it had been cleared by the mods.

I'm a moderator over at a wiki farm I will leave unnamed [so this isn't misinterpreted as spam] and we have a bit of a spam problem there too - though it doesn't sound as bad as the one you've had here.

We get emailed a copy of every single post on the forums within seconds of it being posted (sometimes up to 10 minutes later in peak time during the US working day) ... so we can instantly spot spam. As there are moderators on every time zone, we were able to delete it immediately and permanently ban the user.

However, people found a couple of ways around that:
* Making a legitimate post, then editing it later (as you just said happened here as well)
* Making a legitimate post, but adding spam links to signatures
* Making a legitimate post, but adding spam links to their profiles

In the end, we disabled profile page text for free accounts (so they have gender, website, etc but not a description section) -- and we made deleting users easier and quicker.

People still post spam, but it gets deleted almost immediately. Because they have to create a forum post to get people's attention, that also draws the moderators' attention, and therefore they're banned straight away. It's working well so far.

Perhaps moderators here should be given permissions to permanently ban users (if you don't already have those permissions)?

[Skydiver]

we do ban them. Thing is the internet is a big place, they - or others - just keep coming back. I think due to our large member list we're a 'ripe target' for them.

Spam links are why profiles are locked until a user is no longer a probie, same with visitor and private messages and why they can't edit their posts. Because we've experienced the same thing you have.

Unfortunately, in this day and age of proxy servers and the such, permanently banning a singular spammer is almost impossible. The more we try to stop them, the more they find ways around it.

You would think that when over 60% of the internet and e-mail traffic are unwanted spam, clogging up the lines, people 'in charge' would be motivated to do something about it. But they aren't. Probably because they really don't understand the technology, and probably because it's almost impossible to totally track one of these folks down. Not only is it hard to track through the proxies to find them, there's also issues like china and russia being a 'safe haven' for hackers and spammers and it's almost impossible to deal with them due to complex international laws.

[Stranded]

Yeah. We were getting a lot of spam from the same source for a while... with a recurring phrase that kept being used. Putting that phrase into google not only comes up with the website they were trying to advertise, but also comes up with their huge target list. It's not just us they were after, but other less active sites. Where there's the Internet, there's spam, and there's no avoiding it

Guess people can just do their best job to keep it off their own sites.

[SG7]

Probies are, unfortunately, no longer allowed to edit their posts, as some spammers were using the function to add undesireable content to their posts after it had been cleared by the mods.

Good idea. That way they would have to make the effort of being on the site, posting enough, and posting "legit" posts before getting off probie status. Which is good. As most spammers are only looking to advertize or promote their site, views or whatever. And I would get the impression that most wouldn't wast that kind of time and effort

[duckyone]

I haven't gotten my authorization email and I signed up yesterday morning. Since I can't figure out how to contact someone to see how it can be re-sent, I'm hoping this is going to work. I checked my spam filter and it didn't get caught in it.

[Skydiver]

we've been manually setting people to probie status. our e-mail server is having issues, so e-mails aren't going out

you're able to post now, you'll just have to work through the probie status until you can post freely.

sorry about the inconvenience

[apostrophe]

Hi. I haven't logged on for a couple of years and now I seem to have lost all my posting priviledges. This looks like the only thread that I may be able to post on now. Assuming this posts, what should I do to get re-instated, as it were? thanks

[Pharaoh Atem]

Hi. I haven't logged on for a couple of years and now I seem to have lost all my posting priviledges. This looks like the only thread that I may be able to post on now. Assuming this posts, what should I do to get re-instated, as it were? thanks

Just keep posting till you get off probie status

[apostrophe]

So, the squeeky wheel gets the oil...

Perhaps needless to say, there seems like a lot I could post about SGU, but that would be off-topic for this thread.

Let's see, as long as I'm here, in regard to a more general forum topic, it seems like number of posts shouldn't be the sole criteria for advancement. There is the concept of quantity and quality. I apparently have a tendancy toward long posts. In fact, I've gone so far as to pretty much rewrite entire episodes online. If I broke those up into single sentances I would probably have hundreds (thousands?) of posts on the roster...

Hope that wasn't why I was de-activated. Hey, some people thought they were pretty good!

OTOH, I guess the implication is that shorter posts are to be encouraged. I'll try to take that under advisement.

Just checked... I'm back on again. Hurray!

Now the challenge as always is to find the time between mundane daily living chores.

thanks for the reply..