Really sorry for the staff ...

[Sajuuk]

That's very big and I would hope it could be a permanent thing, in this section, that could never be dismissed.

Hopefully, that would clear out the spam. What I'd suggest though, is for point 1 , give a link to the ROM Hacking section.

 

[Cherrim]

It's not staying atm, I just tossed something up quick to see if it'd even work so I won't edit the message. If we did this for real it'd be much more informative and useful. :( It actually shows up inside threads though which is major ick for me so I'm not sure I even want to go this route anymore.

edit: lol okay already ditched it. Attached is the notice that showed up the first time you visit Q&F until you close it.

 

[Sajuuk]

Ah right. Well, I think it could be a good thing for the new users.

Well, since Steve owns this vB and can do what he wants with it, maybe it could be possible to edit the code so only the notice appears in the forum. Or even, make a conditional that could make it only appear for those with a post count between 0-15, since most of the ROM Hack posts in here as from members between that post count range.

 

[Cherrim]

That is possible and if I bring this up, that's likely what would happen. Though you could just close it after you read it and it'll never bother you again--another viable option.

 

[Sajuuk]

I do agree closing it could be good, but that means new users are just going to come into CQ+F and close it without actually reading it, making it pointless. Making it permanently stay there until you have 15 posts would make newbies really read it and you could make a usergroup that can't post in CQ+F til they have 15 posts, so that they can read the notice. An even better option.

 

[Cherrim]

Ehh, iirc Q&F is the only forum you can post in if your account hasn't been validated (in case something goes wrong)--preventing people from posting in it would defeat the point of that.

And honestly, this isn't THAT big a deal that we'd need to make it so obnoxious. Honestly, I'm not sure it'll deter enough people as it is and the fact that it'll show up all throughout the Q&F forum (and not just on the main page where the new thread button is) is a major turn-off for me.

 

[Sajuuk]

Just about the stickies, I think some could be either moved to Community Announcements or closed, since they don't really have that much activity, eg Infractions thread.

Ehh, iirc Q&F is the only forum you can post in if your account hasn't been validated (in case something goes wrong)--preventing people from posting in it would defeat the point of that.

And honestly, this isn't THAT big a deal that we'd need to make it so obnoxious. Honestly, I'm not sure it'll deter enough people as it is and the fact that it'll show up all throughout the Q&F forum (and not just on the main page where the new thread button is) is a major turn-off for me.

Why though? :paranoid: That's why you have a contact us form. :D

There is a feature called Promotions in where if a user reaches X number of posts, etc they get moved into a new usergroup. How about using that?

But it's really dependant on resources from the db/server and the usability of it.

 

[Mitchman]

No spey no. If the user has not verified his e-mail or such then it is likely they are here to be useless. Its best to keep this area spammed up then other areas by people who don't bother to follow procedure.

 

[.Aero]

Just a quick suggestion on this topic:

My view of the rules not being read has to do with the rules being too long and most of the younger forum members lose interest and would rather just ignore them. A quick solution to this could be a separate rules thread that just has quick, simple, to the point rules. It could be like this:

Introduction
This is the quick rules thread. If you need any of the rules clarified, visit the official rules thread here: <insert link>

1. Don't SPAM
2. Don't flame
3. ect, ect, ect.

It'll be a simple quick thread and probably won't take much time to make for a forum staff member as the rules are going to be single line short sentences.

So either this is really stupid, or it could help slightly. >.< It's just a suggestion.

EDIT: And I don't know how far this topic veered off, but this is my two cents on the members not reading the rules issue.

 

[.Seth]

But what makes you think they'll look at that if they don't look at rules in the first place?

 

[Cherrim]

The reason I was looking at a notice that goes at the top of the forum is because someone's more likely to read that since it's already on the page. Just making a sticky thread with basic non-tl;dr rules won't work because... people already ignore stickies. :( There'd be no incentive to go read that one. (Especially since it'd be at the bottom of the sticky pile due to being closed.)

 

[.Aero]

The reason I was looking at a notice that goes at the top of the forum is because someone's more likely to read that since it's already on the page. Just making a sticky thread with basic non-tl;dr rules won't work because... people already ignore stickies. :( There'd be no incentive to go read that one. (Especially since it'd be at the bottom of the sticky pile due to being closed.)

I see your point. >.< It's just I thought maybe part of the problem was the lack of people's attention. Some might click the sticky and not read it after seeing how large it is, then they go off into the forum and post without knowledge of the rules.

Oh well, I tried. xD

 

[beauty. proletariat]

What about having a splash page to creating threads?

 

[beauty. proletariat]

:/ well frankly I see it as discussion; but hey, what floats your boat.

The Splash page is used as a quick rules thing (5 second time out? 10?)

Showing this little notification box

Spoiler:

-- thats ericas screenie.

 

[Sajuuk]

No spey no. If the user has not verified his e-mail or such then it is likely they are here to be useless. Its best to keep this area spammed up then other areas by people who don't bother to follow procedure.

Well, I kinda agree with you there. :) But RelicNews purge accounts older than 6 months anyway :D. So dead accounts don't clog up the db and server. :) And anyway, once you've created an account, vBulletin brings up a message telling you that you have to activate your account at the email provided to use all features.

The reason I was looking at a notice that goes at the top of the forum is because someone's more likely to read that since it's already on the page. Just making a sticky thread with basic non-tl;dr rules won't work because... people already ignore stickies. :( There'd be no incentive to go read that one. (Especially since it'd be at the bottom of the sticky pile due to being closed.)

Yeah Erica, you're right.
Stickies end up becoming headsores if there's too many of them, and although being important, they lose the importancy that they have. Notices are much better.

There will always be that poor soul or two that just refuses to read the rules whatsoever. This happens, and I doubt anybody would be able to stop it.

Yes, unfortunately, but with good knowledge and help from others, it would be possible to clear out all the spam.

 

[Nick]

Well, I kinda agree with you there. :) But RelicNews purge accounts older than 6 months anyway :D. So dead accounts don't clog up the db and server. :) And anyway, once you've created an account, vBulletin brings up a message telling you that you have to activate your account at the email provided to use all features.

Well that's just great for RelicNews. Though, I really don't see how any of that matters. Last I checked, this was PokéCommunity, so stating that RelicNews does such and such is kind of pointless. RelicNews and PokéCommunity are two completely different forums dedicated, as stated, to completely different age groups. What one forum does may be best for that forum, but not best for another. So I fail to see the reason why you consistently mention RelicNews in just about every post you've made, knowing full well that this community is not RelicNews. Nor do I believe we want to be.

But thank you for that valuable piece of information on how vBulletin functions. I think I feel inspired.

 

[Arcanine]

I've got to agree with Nick. I'm sure it works fine and all on RelicNews, but this isn't RelicNews. Just like when people would say "Well you should do this because SPPf does" (HI JOE! Be sure to send me a message when you see this <3333). Just because it works here or there doesn't mean it'll work on PC. PC would be a real mess if we went by what other forums had. We had something called the "T-Dome" at one time, it was a "mature" forum on PC. It was started because it was on another forum. That ended up a real big mess for the Staff. We've Modded people because they were good Mods on other Pokemon forums (as in Kwesi said "Hey, join PC and we'll Mod you"). They didn't last, and they were worthless, and it pissed off the people who've been here and been helping PC but then got passed up by this n00b (me being one of them pissed off people).

I wouldn't mind trying what Erica did in that screen, but other then that I can't see much anything making a difference. People will always see "Questions & Feedback" and they'll think it's a great idea to post their Pokemon game question in there. I don't care how bold or how big you make it, there will always be people like that. They just join to get that single question answered and then they're gone. So it's so much easier for them to dump a thread in a random forum because they know it'll get answered or moved to the right place. If they were mature enough or cared enough they would hit "Page down" a time or two they'd see "OMG it's Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum! <3333" and post their thread in there. Or if they knew enough about computers they'd do a "Ctrl+F" and type in "ROM" and low and behold there's the forum. But no, they don't care about PC. They just want their questions answered and they're gone. We can make rules for Q&F, we could have 20 stickies, and I think we could have flashing words over the forum and I believe we'd still have people posting threads in here about Pokemon or about ROMs.

 

[Sajuuk]

Yeah, I know this ain't RelicNews, but I think that some of their methods of controlling spam etc, could be useful here :)

Just my 2 cents worth.

 

[Nick]

Sorry, I took that kind of offensively. Maybe I'm overreacting to your comment...

Is our method of handling spam not good enough?

 

[Sajuuk]

Sorry, I took that kind of offensively. Maybe I'm overreacting to your comment...

Is our method of handling spam not good enough?

Well, I'd say that yeah, while your methods of handling are good, sometimes they don't work as well :|

Sorry about that. I just think that RN has much better methods, like hard rules, making them elitist. :)