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An idea to control who can join the forums

dorfd1dorfd1
edited April 2007 in Site Issues
Is it possibly to set forums up so you have to pass a test to join the forums?
The sonic 2 beta forums are set so you have to pass a test to join there forums.
There test was on the forum topic which is sonic the hedgehog.
They had a test because they didn't want anybody to join there forums.
Just an idea.

Comments

  • QQ
    We appreciate the idea, but what good would it serve?

    -Q
  • dorfd1dorfd1
    It would keep the people who know nothing about computers out and possibly people who just want to request stuff and not contribute to the forum.
  • QQ
    We haven't had too many of them (Thus far, two, I think).

    -Q
  • dorfd1dorfd1
    If Winworld for some reason starts getting advertised as a warez site you might get a bunch of people who may just request stuff.
  • QQ
    We've had concerns about that and take steps to make sure that people don't get that impression and don't try that.

    -Q
  • alexzarachalexzarach
    I visited the registration page recently. There seem to be no steps in place. If I search my username in google, my winboards page comes up very high up in the list.
  • BODBOD
    That's genius, only problem is, we'd have no new members :|
  • alexzarachalexzarach
    Is there anything wrong with that? Most are SPAMmers or kids requesting Windows 2000. :neutral:
  • dorfd1dorfd1
    BOD wrote:
    That's genius, only problem is, we'd have no new members :|

    check out www.s2beta.com and attempt to register on there forums and you see what I am talking about.
    They explain why they have the tests.

    They have three tests each test being different difficulty.

    They also have it setup if you fail the test so many time you can be automatically banned from taking it again.
  • QQ
    The SPAMmers aren't members but guests and AnnyWhine was something of an exception. Consider the number of "new members" since the forum was restarted: UglyandGrey, MasteroftheWind, FedeVista, etc, etc, ...
    alexzarach wrote:
    Is there anything wrong with that?

    Ask Fish about "Ridgeback + guest posting"
  • dorfd1dorfd1
    Have had a lot of warez request recently?
  • QQ
    Two come to mine, one wasn't actually a request and we handled it successfully, the other was quickly defeated.

    -Q
  • dorfd1dorfd1
    I don't want to see this forum disapper like osbetaarchive.

    sorry about the duplicate post. I put that in a different topic without knowing it.
  • alexzarachalexzarach
    dorfd1 wrote:
    Have had a lot of warez request recently?

    Three users from the same ip requested Windows 2000 illegally.
  • QQ
    What exactly happened there? According to the site it was the host getting disgusted with the place and refusing to further contribute (Sounds like what I did here a while ago)!

    -Q
  • dorfd1dorfd1
    alexzarach wrote:
    dorfd1 wrote:
    Have had a lot of warez request recently?

    Three users from the same ip requested Windows 2000 illegally.

    I read that topic.
  • dorfd1dorfd1
    Q wrote:
    What exactly happened there? According to the site it was the host getting disgusted with the place and refusing to further contribute (Sounds like what I did here a while ago)!

    -Q
    I thought the wrong type of people flocked to tat site?
  • alexzarachalexzarach
    In either Site issues, or news and announcements, AntiWin requested windows 2000 'for his business', and was turned down as 2000 isn't abandonware. A second user from the same ip asked for it, and a third from, you guessed it, the same ip.
  • QQ
    We can pretty easily deal with the leechers: We all know that things like 2000, XP, etc. are certainly not abandonware and we deny such requests. Those who keep trying with sockpuppets (EG. AntiWin) are quickly found out and denounced.

    -Q
  • DuffDuff
    For the most part, this is a non-issue.

    I'd rather have to deal with a couple annoying users as opposed to drive away 10 potentially good ones.
  • QQ
    Same with me.

    I can deal with an easily discovered and removed nuisance like AntiWin when it means that we'll be perfectly open for someone like L3, 16, FV, etc.

    -Q
  • 16bit16bit
    The more I thought about the 'pass the quiz to join' suggestion the more I found myself thinking that it would be a relatively bad idea for our purposes.

    We are willing (for the most part) to help new users learn more intermediate and advanced things in regards to computing, if we were to implement a quiz that featured questions of that level, we would drive away those very people.

    I don't know about you but I'd rather have users who are willing to learn, who are excited when they boot Windows 1.x for the first time, and who bring new experiences to the table than those who "know it all" any day.
  • QQ
    True, I hadn't though of that.

    I suppose the best way of finding out is to ask someone what that forum is really like.

    Also, I note that that forum also has a wildly different goal in mind then ours.

    -Q
  • anantha92anantha92
    Good idea, although this would not allow begginers to join our forum and learn from us. I knew nothing much about old computers before i joined this forum.
  • UglynGreyUglynGrey
    I posted as a guest before I posted as a member, if it hadn't been easy and simple to join, I wouldn't have bothered.

    Maybe a blessing for some, but I contribute what I can on the tech side.

    I surfed here from a link, I think from oldos or something.
  • QQ
    UglynGrey wrote:
    I posted as a guest before I posted as a member, if it hadn't been easy and simple to join, I wouldn't have bothered.

    BugMeNot is a perfect example of that: People don't like needless registration. Wikipedia is another, without people literally being able to just click "Edit", it would be nothing near what it is now.

    -Q
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