Motion to limit access to sbox... - Page 2

July 9, 2007, 2:47 PM

Leniency would be a key factor here, and the benefit of the doubt. If the posting standard is set too high, it would most likely put people off.
Of course a unanimous and unbiased decision is needed, so the honour system would have to come into play. But as staff, one would assume that they are impartial.

July 9, 2007, 2:48 PM

Maybe you could have more than one SB moderator? Like...having a "Ask to Join SB" feature and when clicked a PM is sent to ALL SB moderators for that particular person and he/she checks the user's post and see if they have quality and discuss it among the others? That way there can really be no biased opinions if there is more than one, right?

July 9, 2007, 2:49 PM

That is a good idea, I'd go with the Shoutbox Rules / Warning idea.
but we would need Moderators for the Sbox.

July 9, 2007, 2:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hayate

Maybe you could have more than one SB moderator? Like...having a "Ask to Join SB" feature and when clicked a PM is sent to ALL SB moderators for that particular person and he/she checks the user's post and see if they have quality and discuss it among the others? That way there can really be no biased opinions if there is more than one, right?

I never thought of it that way, but of course that would work. And I don't think it's a totally unacceptable idea either, as appointing SB mods would free the load on the regular forum staff. But it isn't our decision to make though...

July 9, 2007, 2:53 PM

Honestly, I don't see people rushing to post for access to the sbox as much as they would for the RPG. I've just noticed the the majority of people who suck in the sbox tend to be people who haven't been around the forum to see how things work around here. At least by doing the posts, our staff can see if what they're writing is utter shit and delete/infract accordingly. Thus, no new staff needs to be hired for this alone, and the workload isn't really increased. At least the post count adds some prerequisite to rid ourselves of annoying newbs.

July 9, 2007, 4:11 PM

People do spam for RPG access, yes. However it's not really a side-effect of the 50-post limit but rather the entire point of it. The 50-point restriction is a tool to weed out good members from spammers. It does encourage spam at times but it was really just put in place to catch those who were going to spam anyhow. That temptation brings out the worst in those who are already bad.

You talk about not wanting the sbox to have a 50-post restriction because it might catch spammers and yet the whole reason for having that restriction in the first place is so we can catch and eliminate spamming.

The ideas you've come up with are very interesting, especially the one about the requests for sbox access but it's not going to happen. It's way to time consuming. The people who join these boards fall into 3 categories: Good posters, bad posters, and they never actually posted. We get a ton of new members each day. Most never post but the second largest group is clearly good posters. Just because we've had a few rotten eggs doesn't mean we should slam all our future members with punishments.

As for moderation of the sbox, no shit it should be included. As of right now the only people who have the ability to do anything in there are the administrators. The only one that really visits the sbox is BustaMo. Granted we've had discussions on the sbox in the mod lounge and my position then, as well as my position now, is that most things manage to work their way off the page within a few minutes and really shouldn't be modded. Ironically, the whole discussion was brought up because of Field's trolling. And although I agree that modding in the sbox should be light, if not scarcely used, it would be nice to have the ability to ban certain members who clearly need a "time out". It's not a major responsibility and one that could be shared with every member of the staff, including the RPG Directors. However that is a topic to be discussed in the privacy of the HQ Lounge...

July 9, 2007, 4:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aztec Triogal

Ironically, the whole discussion was brought up because of Field's trolling.

It should be Fields'

July 9, 2007, 4:21 PM

I am more for keeping a daily requirement on posts. But an intial post requirement would be good.

The daily requirement would keep people contributing to the forum as well.

July 9, 2007, 4:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pooley

The shoutbox should be a privilege, not a right.

That was intended to be the motto for membership, too, when it came to raiders on about "Nazi Moderators."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mortanius

That would take copious amounts of unnecessary time to do. We'd need to deny everyone access to start with for this to be fair, and re-adding people would be incredibly tedious.

Isn't that something that the job should entail, though? You would have to do that if a member had to be post-approved. Granted, doing it for the shoutbox would take a bit longer, but it'd be worth it in the end.

The idea for shoutbox moderators came up a while ago when there was a ridiculous number of members mindlessly flaming others, and they seemed to do it during times when Moderators weren't active; as if they'd planned it. Nothing ever happened, though. I backed it then and I back it now; Shoutbox Moderators. I nominate Fields and Pooley, just for the record

July 9, 2007, 5:53 PM

create an IRC channel and chat there

leave the shoutbox to shout, rather then chat..

just an idea