Proposal: Prevent New Users From Posting Links

[mneylon]

Following up on some feedback here I'm proposing a change to the way the forum behaves.

At present we're not restricting new users from posting links.

I think it might not be a bad idea to restrict it to users with a post count greater than 15

Thoughts?

 

[Forbairt]

My thoughts...

It may make the forum a bit quieter ...

It may increase the actual value of the forum ...

They'll still be able to include a link it just won't be hyperlinked correct ?


You'll already removed the sig spamming on new users which is a plus.
This just seems like the next logical step to make a more worth while forum.

 

[mneylon]

You'll already removed the sig spamming on new users which is a plus.
This just seems like the next logical step to make a more worth while forum.

Yes. New users with a low post count can setup a signature, but it won't display until they've actually made a contribution (number of posts for this can be changed, but it should be ok at the moment)

 

[Forbairt]

WMT acts in a different way ... it doesn't even allow access until X posts I think

 

[louie]

Not a bad idea. As forbairt said, it might increase the value of the forum.

 

[Briask]

There is quite a bit of "drive by" posting. Seems to an epidemic across multiple forums at the moment, to be honest.

I agree with the proposal, 15 like webmastertalk might be high though, As you mention in another post forums are for the users and it is a tad infuriating when you can't post an information link. Maybe set to 5 or 10?

 

[mneylon]

5 is a bit too low
10 would be a good middle ground

 

[Forbairt]

well it shouldn't piss off any regular posters anyways and hell once you get a few "hello I'm james and I'm a webaholic" posts in there you're up to the stage where you can post your websites.

 

[Drang3d]

Most of the people who come here or at least the ones that hang around aren't here for the link love. If newbies just use this forum to gain links , do you really want them here? I'm a member of one SEO forum, where you have to make over 300 "quality" posts before any link juice was passed. I have to say it really improved the quality of posts, no spammer was going to wait until they got to 300 posts. Anybody that tried was automatically banned, as their posts would stand out a mile. It definitely works and bulds a stronger community. Just my opinion.

 

[mneylon]

Ok. So does anyone have any objections to blocking users from posting links until they have 10 posts?

 

[Forbairt]

no one really seems to ... ?

So I'd say go for it ..... it can always be turned off in a week if it has a major effect on signups / new users though I can't really see how.

 

[mneylon]

Ok. That plugin has been implemented, so if you run into any issues and your post count is higher than 10 ....

 

[nevf]

*SNIP*

EDIT. Okay, so maybe that particular link was a small bit broken....

 

[mneylon]

Hehe

 

[johned]

I dont post signiture links in forums anymore as I dont think it helps seo wise at all.

 

[Forbairt]

Hmm... it draws people to my site and shows them what I'm working on so I'm using it as a cheap promo tool. Anything else is an added bonus.

 

[nevf]

it used to draw people to my site which still doesn't exist yet - oops.

nah, it does feck all really, sure one or two links to it are enjoyed by google, but when the same one is posted 10 times on every page, it defeats the point...

 

[Forbairt]

it used to draw people to my site which still doesn't exist yet - oops.

nah, it does feck all really, sure one or two links to it are enjoyed by google, but when the same one is posted 10 times on every page, it defeats the point...

I wouldn't go so far as to say that TBH. Its a bit like tesco ... every little helps.

Whether its human readers or search engines the potential is there for someone to add a link to your site on their own. If I didn't have a link in my sig ... and someone wanted to see my site ... how would they go about it ? they'd have to contact me directly... that usually doesn't happen too often especially in cases where people don't want it to be known they are interested in seeing your work

(mental note ... work on own site)