[Artchic528]

I had an idea for dealing with members who only post once. On many other forums, when a member first joins, they are first sent to a forum where they are required to post once, before they can join the community as a whole. That way, they have shown whether or not they are a bot or just someone who can't for whatever reason post more than once.

Just an idea.

[Crazy Hitch]

I think the idea of having 5 posts approved by admin before they're displayed or new members can chat kinda eliminates the bots on PsychCentral

Originally Posted by Artchic528

I had an idea for dealing with members who only post once. On many other forums, when a member first joins, they are first sent to a forum where they are required to post once, before they can join the community as a whole. That way, they have shown whether or not they are a bot or just someone who can't for whatever reason post more than once.

Just an idea.

I can totally see where you are coming from, and I like the idea

it happened to me once on a site and I thought it was a really cool way of doing it

Originally Posted by Crazy Hitch

I think the idea of having 5 posts approved by admin before they're displayed or new members can chat kinda eliminates the bots on PsychCentral

the thing I don't like about that system is, that if a person needed help right now (at the time of posting), they'd have to wait for how ever long (depending if someone is on to aprove their posts)

I like the original Idea in this thread, I also like the idea of administrators activating accounts (in sted of the 5 post rule)

an example:

I join the forum and i'm taken to the main screen

I can't access any of the forums themselves or the chat

below my name, their is a message that asks something like, please take the time to tell us some stuff about you

you fill in like a little profile, submit it, then you are taken back to the menu and told to wait for an admin to aprove your posting privilages

I also think that 5 posts to chat is not enough. I think people should become well known to the comunity first

[DocJohn]

Thank you for your suggestion... I'm not sure what the goal is of the suggestion, since we don't have any problems with bots or spammers today?

The reason we don't is because of our 5-post rule (the first 5 posts of a new member are moderated by a human being). I believe it works pretty darned well, has helped to virtually eliminate spam, and ensures a person is here to join a community they're willing and able to participate in.

Since we're not a crisis service, we're okay if a person has to delay their gratification for 3 - 12 hours or so... It's annoying, but only has to be done once. Once you're past this small filter, you're a member in good standing with us.

DocJohn

Originally Posted by DocJohn

Thank you for your suggestion... I'm not sure what the goal is of the suggestion, since we don't have any problems with bots or spammers today?

The reason we don't is because of our 5-post rule (the first 5 posts of a new member are moderated by a human being). I believe it works pretty darned well, has helped to virtually eliminate spam, and ensures a person is here to join a community they're willing and able to participate in.

Since we're not a crisis service, we're okay if a person has to delay their gratification for 3 - 12 hours or so... It's annoying, but only has to be done once. Once you're past this small filter, you're a member in good standing with us.

DocJohn

I like reading your replies and the history behind all these features.

always interesting

[Artchic528]

Well, I was just really upset and frustrated by the seemingly large number of users who only post one time with what seems a desperate plea for help, and never ever reply back, or even come back on after they've posted, or anything. I thought that if they were sent to a welcome board to post their first post, and only then allowed onto the regular board as a whole, then they would be encouraged to participate in the regular forums more and we could eliminate the number of these frustrating cases.

[-jimi-]

I also feel that waiting for posts to show is discouraging to newbies. I can understand a large community needs it. But maybe they could be given a more friendly auto thingy when they post, not just a standard message but a message that makes them want to come back. Small things matter.

[eskielover]

One post that we reply to & they never come back is just the way forums work. Sometimes a person just needs to express themselves to get it together in their own mind. I just accept each post for what it is. I have more issues with members who post a thread & never come back to read replies then go on to post another thread & the same thing over & over again....but hey, on a public forum we get all kinds of people & the posting is what it is IMO. Not going to let it bother me.

[DocJohn]

Agreed.... That's also how surprisingly a lot of psychotherapy works too -- a single session. You might be amazed to learn that this makes up a pretty good minority of therapist's clients (anywhere from 10-30%).

Sometimes a person just needs to share something or get something off their mind... Every new member does get a nice welcome PM from myself that explains how all this works in a friendly manner, and encouraged to hang in there to get through the moderation period...