I think this new system of post characters = credits is very good. it allows you to automaticlly delete un-used accounts but. . . the conditions of how to get credits have their good and bad side. pros: Members will now make more of an effort to post Members will make fuller/longer posts Members will avoid small spam messages for fear of being banned cons: People will waffle on to reach 300 characters Peoples posts could easily be made into spam, again just to get to 300 characters. People may start making pointless topics to simply get some credits This is not an attack on the system just how i see problems arising. I don't see why you can't simply count all posts made. and just delete one liner spam messages. Any reply from any admins would be good in explaining whats would be wrong with my suggestion.

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It takes alot of time deleting posts, and when a post is deleted, the post count does not go down. And when people request hosting, if someone wanted to upgrade to package 4, that meand an an admin had to count 100 posts!

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But this isnt just about new commers wanted to be hosting,this is also about members having to make at least one 7 line post a week. causing members to resort to talking absalute crap for ages just to get enough characters so that there acocunt isnt deleted automaticlly

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i agree with goosestaf.

i choose topics i reply to, and only if i think i can be of help in the topic thread. with this new rule, counting 300 characters, and a countdown to account inactivity, the tendency is to cram in useless words just to reach the minimum character count and to avoid account deactivation.

suggestion: i hope there can be a cumulative character count for each post not reaching the 300 characters minimum, then those posts can be counted as ONE post after reaching 300+ characters. well, some complex coding to be done. but at least, **useful** posts below 300 will not go to waste and members will not be forced to spew nonsense to reach minimum count. just a suggestion though.

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300+ character is only to avoid spam. What goes ahead of 300 characters is all your credit. 400 character post will give you more credits than a 300 character post would..

Also, I feel it is easy for a MOD to catch a member spamming the forums and BAN him and his hosting. Because, A spammer will have to make big posts to spam. And such members can be easily filtered.

No system is Perfect. But with this we ensure that we are near to it.

Let us go point by point.

If 300 character rule was not imposed :-
[+] A member posts "LoL" and [ ], Which is indeed spamming. Now, he can simple use this Common reply for to post anywhere and increase spam.
[+] Small one liners would increase again. And people do agree that 90% of the one liners are usually spam and do not count for any useful information.

So, We have avoided all this. Lets also see the advantages.

[+] Members now feel that bigger posts will help them and they will try to express themselves more. It is obvious that members will try to increase thier post size by putting More Content related to Topic.
[+] The Post Quality increases and soon members get used to more elaborate and detailed posts rather than small posts. Also gives the members a reason for posting big.
[+] It will definately cut down on spam. We have noticed the diffrence right from the day, the rule for 300+ character post was introduced.
[+] For Web Hosting Approval, our mods will not have to check the length of the posts. Just checking the members post quality will serve the purpose. The mods will also have more time to take part.

Regarding Hosting Credits.

The Biggest advantage is, Post count limits members to make bigger posts. Hosting credits depend upon size and quality. So if you feel like you wanna post more, go ahead. You dont have to feel sad saying "After all that typing, all I get is 1 point! "

The Hosting credit system breaks you free from the time limit and Hosting Activity limit. We used to tell members initially that they requeire to make 2-3 posts a week.
Lets see, how things change in this respect.
Previous to this system, you were asked to post 2-3 posts a week. This had one big disadvantage. Suppose you like Gaming topic. There are 10 Cool posts today and you think you can post the best replies and answer them. Previously, even if you replied all of them, the system only recognised that, You were ACTIVE for this One particular day. And the next week, if you failed to show up, You were fixed.

Now, With this system, suppose you reply to those 10 topics,Our system recognises that you have really done a lot of posting and even if you dont come for a week, its ok. It wont trigger an alarm. The result is, You can participate at all the Forums without worrying about the activity limit.

Ok, now If you made 30 posts this week because you found them soo interesting and then suddenly for 10 days things look dull. Go on a vaccation and come back.. :-) When you post a lot, you get enough credits and every single post is counted.

OUR MAIN SOLE OBJECTIVE BEHIND USING THIS SYSTEM IS, WE WANT TO BREAK MEMBERS FREE FROM THE TIME LIMIT FRAME. You will no longer be required to set schedules for yourself to post at our forum. We no longer count activity on Weekly or monthly basis.

Also, it is now possible for us to give members Vaccations without any headache. Please send a PM to Wassie or me and the number of days you cannot be active.

OK, After such a long list of advantages, lets see the Limitations.

[+] People trying to create useless topics to reach 300 characters.
Solution : These members will be Warned and Banned. It is quite easy to handle these members and also allows us to get more quality members.
Just posting 300 characters is not easy and you need to have content.
And it will be quite hard for Spammers too, to make such spam posts.

I am very sure that Members who are sincerely active at our forums will really benefit a lot from this system.

 

 

 

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that clears up a lot of things, admin opaque. thanks. as for your future plans on this system, the detailed stats should definitely be a priority. that way, the system will automatically tell us how long we can temporarily take leave from the forum, and not bother and admins/mods for the information. also, since the 'account activity validity' is already in place in the GENERAL forum page, is it possible to have it on every page instead to keep members in the know whereever he may be in the forums? no reason for any member not to notice it then.

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I plan to keep it purposely on the main forum page because :-

I dont know how to make it appear on every page I am still learning these coding stuff. And it was hard to learn how the database system functions (inbuild to invision) work.

Putting that alert on all the pages might frustrate the members.

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main forum index then, it is. just shelve the 'every-page notice' in the to-do list in the meantime (just in case members still fail to note where to check their account status) lolz

any timetable you have for the implementation of detailed stats, admin opaque? hard work, but it needs to be done, right? i'm crossing my fingers that new codes will keep the forum (and the hosted sites) intact.

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i dont think it sould be threehundred characters to get a post. Not all answers require 300 chars. if it dosent require 300chars to answer a post then you dont get your post. it sould be about 100chars thats not tomany and people have to actually try and type somthing not just say yea, or i agree or anything of that sort.

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Cheers Opaue, its cleared up alot.
Yes i do see it is a better system than before, but maybe the character limit shud be lowered to 200?
Still resonable and will stop one liner spam messages.
300 is a little too drastic i believe.
And what people count as spam is another matter. some moderators are too hasty to shut down a topic or delete posts

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