New User Ignorance

Thaldarin

<div class="IPBDescription">New users ignorant of board rules?</div>It seems there's a few new users around, brilliant that's what we need! Hey wait a second, I've seen begging for accounts, random trolling, spamming and topics which were here last week they were just too lazy to search back one page on the board or use the search feature.

Is it possible for the forums to actually post a copy of the community rules or something a long with new user sign ups or something to reduce such effects mentioned above? I find myself increasingly not want to visit the forums, particularly the NS2 General Discussion in which decent threads are derailed or pushed down from spam and trolling.

Depot

IPB would allow UWE to both include our board guidelines in the process registration, and in the activation email the system sends out.

I don't know how much it would help though... would they actually read it?

a_civilian

Unless there's a page I'm unaware of, the <a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/community" target="_blank">rules</a> don't even cover the offenses you mention.

Thaldarin

I remember the old ones covered a lot more than that :/

a_civilian

Looks like <a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns/wiki/index.php/Community_Rules" target="_blank">these</a> are the old rules. Changed a few years ago though.

locallyunscene

I think the main problem is a lack of active mods and the busyness of the devs. <b>Scythe</b> keeps NSOT in line, but until <b>Insane</b>'s editing today the substantially more active NS2 I&S and General Discussion forums were very sporadically moderated. Also there seems to be a real hesitancy to edit/delete/ban and as a result it's inconsistent when it happens. I think this is because the forums needed a looser structure over the long downtime to maintain activity, but we've had a gradual than sudden upswing of troll proportion in the new users. I'm guessing the dev-to-mod communication hasn't caught up to this yet as they're busy making the game so the mods are still following the old zeitgeist of the forums even though it has changed.

As an example <b>dux</b> <a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/forums/index.php?showtopic=107482&view=findpost&p=1729288" target="_blank">commented</a> in the forum itself that a particular user was a troll account of some unspecified member; the troll account still hasn't been banned.

Edit: This post is not meant to disparage moderators. You all do good jobs as far as I'm concerned, I just think that the forum has changed quickly as of late.

a_civilian

<!--quoteo(post=1729600:date=Sep 29 2009, 12:23 PM:name=locallyunscene)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (locallyunscene @ Sep 29 2009, 12:23 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1729600"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->As an example <b>dux</b> <a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/forums/index.php?showtopic=107482&view=findpost&p=1729288" target="_blank">commented</a> in the forum itself that a particular user was a troll account of some unspecified member; the troll account still hasn't been banned.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Only <a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/forums/index.php?act=Stats&CODE=leaders" target="_blank">administrators</a> can "ban" in my understanding, but I believe a moderator already disabled his ability to post.

Sirot

The current set of rules are way too vague and like other people said, we have too few moderators to properly police the forums. The issue with having more moderators is that they represent the developers and can't play significant roles in discussions because of it. That creates a risk of the moderator losing interest.

locallyunscene

<!--quoteo(post=1729638:date=Sep 29 2009, 03:36 PM:name=a_civilian)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (a_civilian @ Sep 29 2009, 03:36 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1729638"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Only <a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/forums/index.php?act=Stats&CODE=leaders" target="_blank">administrators</a> can "ban" in my understanding, but I believe a moderator already disabled his ability to post.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Thanks for the clarification. I had noticed someone banned recently(kainzors second account) so I assumed the mod that locked his threads also banned him. I guess I was mistaken.

Comprox

Yah, only a select few can smack the 'ban' label on users but the moderators can still remove all posting rights. I am in the middle of a move and lack internet (posting briefly from work here). And we have been adding a few moderators recently. I shall look at that situation once I get back on the interwebs.

Sirot

<!--quoteo(post=1729683:date=Sep 29 2009, 07:59 PM:name=Comprox)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Comprox @ Sep 29 2009, 07:59 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1729683"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Yah, only a select few can smack the 'ban' label on users but the moderators can still remove all posting rights. I am in the middle of a move and lack internet (posting briefly from work here). And we have been adding a few moderators recently. I shall look at that situation once I get back on the interwebs.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Sounds encouraging : D