Bananas and Nuts

Tyjenks · 2010-11-04T08:22:30.000Z

Hans Lauring:

There’s a lot going on in this thread, that I won’t comment on (others have already expressed how I feel), but in the years I have posted on QT3 there’s been years with at most one poster making my ignore list - in the last months I’ve added four. Two this week.
So however was pleading with Tom to reinstate the wait period has my support.

I agree about the vetting, but I think the population would have increased anyway 9albeit more gradually) and there would eventually be someone that made it through that you would have had to ignore. Maybe 1 or 2 instead of four.

I still do not ignore anyone. That really makes me better than you as I am sure you would agree.

CLWheeljack · 2010-11-04T08:26:47.000Z

I also agree with reviving the waiting period idea. As noted above, it would prevent single issue posters from diving in immediately following current events, and I assume it doesn’t take very much extra effort on Tom’s part so that it becomes an onerous moderation task. It even sounds like something that could potentially be automated.

Since he doesn’t read this thread, are we supposed to PM Tom suggest he re-instate it?

TimElhajj · 2010-11-04T08:45:59.000Z

CLWheeljack:

I assume it doesn’t take very much extra effort on Tom’s part so that it becomes an onerous moderation task. It even sounds like something that could potentially be automated.

Huh. Just from how it has always happened–nothing for months and then a huge swarm–I thought this was the most onerous task. Why would you think otherwise?

Andrew · 2010-11-04T08:50:36.000Z

Is it possible to have accounts just not become active for a week after registration? That would prevent some of the more hotheaded new posters, or at least give them a chance to cool off. Hopefully that could be automated so it wouldn’t require any effort from Tom once set up, and wouldn’t make new posters wait all that long.

Cubit · 2010-11-04T08:52:47.000Z

Andrew:

Is it possible to have accounts just not become active for a week after registration? That would prevent some of the more hotheaded new posters, or at least give them a chance to cool off. Hopefully that could be automated so it wouldn’t require any effort from Tom once set up, and wouldn’t make new posters wait all that long.

Or maybe a month? It really is getting bad in P&R with the election just ending, and we saw how the single-issue posters can make things really bad in the Elemental and Civ 5 threads.

CLWheeljack · 2010-11-04T08:53:45.000Z

TimElhajj:

Huh. Just from how it has always happened–nothing for months and then a huge swarm–I thought this was the most onerous task. Why would you think otherwise?

Hmm…I assumed there was a just a database or something with a bunch of accounts that had a can-post flag, and they just needed to be set to true. I know Tom culled the lists for obvious spammers, but I assumed that the irregularity was more due to forgetting / putting it off when than because it was difficult, which is why I’d think it it would be better off automated.

Like, the “no links until 50 posts” policy, seems reasonable you could institute an automatic “no posting until account is 30 days old” policy

Really though, I have no idea. Somebody with more experience with vBulletin is free to tell me I’m wrong.

Since I know stusser has peeked in this thread, does he or anybody else know if it’s possible?

stusser · 2010-11-04T08:57:24.000Z

WarrenM:

So he’s a moron?

He’s just a really weird dude. Nicest guy in the world, though.

As for the waiting period thing, most of the crap posts aren’t really time-sensitive. It would help with things like the Elemental pile-on, but that’s about it. The only real fix is to moderate new users’ first couple of posts, and Tom doesn’t want to do it.

Before you say anything, yes, I know all you guys would jump at the opportunity, but he clearly doesn’t want that either.

Andrew · 2010-11-04T09:07:04.000Z

They aren’t time sensitive per se, but my theory is that trolls/angry posters will lose interest more quickly in some account they made on some random website just to crap in a thread, compared to a more quality poster.

Tyjenks · 2010-11-04T09:08:27.000Z

Andrew:

They aren’t time sensitive per se, but my theory is that trolls/angry posters will lose interest more quickly in some account they made on some random website just to crap in a thread, compared to a more quality poster.

I have not really noticed a problem as a result of the influx in other sub-forums, but I may not being paying attention.

Andrew · 2010-11-04T09:13:55.000Z

Yeah, there doesn’t seem to be much spillover from these flameout posters. They have some issue that pisses them off, they post angrily in the related thread for a week, and disappear.

I just think having an automatic cooling off period would help stop some of these disruptive posters. For instance, newage_lightbulb decided he’d go looking for a fight about John Carmack’s post, and found us:

Oh, John Carmack, no

But I actually just came to this forum b/c I read Carmack’s post, I was discussing it with a friend, and I said “I bet this is going to tick off a lot of former John Carmack fans”. So I Google’d it, and what do you know, found a bunch of people being dismissive and condescending towards an accomplished man and a hero in the industry just because they found out he has been hiding a sinister, logical side all these years.

He came to Qt3, banged out 54 posts in less than 24 hours, then apparently satisfied whatever need he had to condescend to people on the internet, and stopped posting. If his account had been automatically locked for even a single day we probably wouldn’t have had to deal with him at all.

Dan_Lawrence · 2010-11-04T09:33:40.000Z

Tyjenks:

I have not really noticed a problem as a result of the influx in other sub-forums, but I may not being paying attention.

It was particularly noticeable in the Civ 5 thread around release when posters from other Civ 5 forums noticed that Jon Shafer had posted post release. Suddenly the thread filled up with five or six new account invaders who just wanted to harass him directly about the contents and due date of the next patch. I doubt those accounts have ever posted anywhere else on the boards and it really shit that thread up for about three pages, and probably also encouraged Jon to go into hiding. The Elemental thread was a whole other bag of hammers but it had a similar problem.

P&R has also been recently slightly invaded in the wake of the mid terms by trolls but, I guess you half expect trolls when you venture into P&R anyway so it’s not as bad. Like Hanzii I’ve barely used the ignore feature since I joined but recently I’ve decided to add four or five people in an attempt to make threads more quickly readable and intelligible. It’s a suboptimal solution though because unless everyone else is ignoring them as well a troll filled thread can quickly become incomprehensible.

As I mentioned earlier I’d like a cooling off period of around month with a way for Tom to override it for a new posters who PM’s him politely. I think that’s pretty much how it worked when I joined so I may be biased. In my opinion it worked because if you are less invested in the style of community at QT3 you are less likely to stick around through a waiting period. It’ll help in weeding out time sensitive pile-ons and also other single issue thread invasions. I’d theorise that it’ll also help ensure that the trolls that do get through are of a slightly better, or at least more determined, calibre.

Cubit · 2010-11-04T09:36:59.000Z

Well said, Dan. The developer friendly and open environment that has been Qt3’s hallmark for a long time is threatened by an open reg policy.

Andrew · 2010-11-04T09:46:07.000Z

The thing is, it doesn’t even have to be a month. A few weeks or even a few days would cull out the most bombastic posters.

John_Many_Jars · 2010-11-04T09:50:44.000Z

stusser:

Before you say anything, yes, I know all you guys would jump at the opportunity, but he clearly doesn’t want that either.

Nothing would be worse than a Star Chamber of moderators. The number of moderators would be a multiplier on forum drama, frankly. What I’d like to suggest is an independent moderator, one who has taste, style, and personality but no interest in qt3.

I speak, of course, of your friend who fucks banana peels. You can just tell him about any issue that comes up, and ask what should be done, preferably seeking him out when he’s stoned or something.

jerri_blank · 2010-11-04T09:53:12.000Z

JMJ, you know you just wanna buddy up to that guy because of your mutual love of fruit frotteurism.

stusser · 2010-11-04T09:58:47.000Z

Oh he’s cut back on the ganja quite a bit since another TJ adventure. He smoked a couple of bowls in his masseuse friend’s VW van (Seriously, a VW van. This was like 1999 or 2000, too.) on the ride down to the border one chilly fall night, got himself silly drunk, and wandered off down back alleys trying to find the zona norte with his last $300 in the world in his pocket. We couldn’t reach him, so we ditched him and went home at 5AM or so. Obviously he got mugged. They took his wallet, cell phone, jacket, and shoes. Late the next day he made his way back to the border, convinced the guards he was American by calling his brother (who refused to come get him), and took a cab ride all the way back up to orange county. An extremely expensive cab ride, since he had no money.

…but that’s another story.

mouselock · 2010-11-04T10:11:41.000Z

Buceph:

Nop.

Gandhi was both cool and froody.

That rather goes without saying! Have you seen the way he dressed? Talk about a dude who always knew where his towel was at!

Hans_Lauring · 2010-11-04T10:19:03.000Z

Tyjenks:

This message is hidden because Tyjenks is on your shitlist for claiming superiority.

Sorry?

mouselock · 2010-11-04T10:21:46.000Z

Demon G Sides:

I am the only person in the whole wide world who hates child abusers. Everyone else loves em and thinks they are cuddly.

Dude, you’ve seen pedobear, right? They’re right! Soft and fluffy!

Staff_Sergeant · 2010-11-04T10:24:11.000Z

Dan Lawrence:

It was particularly noticeable in the Civ 5 thread around release when posters from other Civ 5 forums noticed that Jon Shafer had posted post release. Suddenly the thread filled up with five or six new account invaders who just wanted to harass him directly about the contents and due date of the next patch. I doubt those accounts have ever posted anywhere else on the boards and it really shit that thread up for about three pages, and probably also encouraged Jon to go into hiding. The Elemental thread was a whole other bag of hammers but it had a similar problem.

P&R has also been recently slightly invaded in the wake of the mid terms by trolls but, I guess you half expect trolls when you venture into P&R anyway so it’s not as bad. Like Hanzii I’ve barely used the ignore feature since I joined but recently I’ve decided to add four or five people in an attempt to make threads more quickly readable and intelligible. It’s a suboptimal solution though because unless everyone else is ignoring them as well a troll filled thread can quickly become incomprehensible.

As I mentioned earlier I’d like a cooling off period of around month with a way for Tom to override it for a new posters who PM’s him politely. I think that’s pretty much how it worked when I joined so I may be biased. In my opinion it worked because if you are less invested in the style of community at QT3 you are less likely to stick around through a waiting period. It’ll help in weeding out time sensitive pile-ons and also other single issue thread invasions. I’d theorise that it’ll also help ensure that the trolls that do get through are of a slightly better, or at least more determined, calibre.

When we joined (around the same time, before the first big gate-flinging of 2008/9), there was no cooldown, you just had no posting/PM privileges until you emailed Tom with your name and an introduction, and then when he got around to your email he flipped your account on.