I only became aware that DLP was fucking awesome through posting idly over a few weeks. If it was invite only, I might not have bothered. I'm quite glad I did.

I like the new introduction forum idea, myself. We know people will post in it, even voluntarily. I think that most people would behave themselves, when the alternative is bots or closed registration. (Plus, if we're making these shorter, purposeful introductions, I imagine it'd be harder to find enough info to get angry at an intro post.)

Not that my opinion is particularly relevant, but I figured I might as well add it to the discussion.

 

This sounds like a relatively feasible solution. But I'd like to tweak it. Include directions to the introduction archive on the post-confirmation page (I personally don't read confirmation emails; I just click the link).

Also, the current introduction section should not stay as it is. Bundle up all the old threads and throw them into a subforum in the Hall of Shame, so as not to give the newbies false impressions of what they should do.

Create a new introduction archive, but restrict posting ability to Hogwarts Applicants and Mods. Give applicants both a 1-thread limit and perhaps a 5-post limit, and tell them to keep their introduction concise.

Cuts back on lazy human bots, and eliminates trolling from current members.

Edit:

If there's a way to restrict an applicants posting privileges to their own introduction thread, that would also be prudent.

Double Edit:

Perhaps closing registration again until a solution is implemented might be a good idea. I keep getting database errors.

 

Ooh, ooh, I know. Let's increase the number of mods. I'll gladly accept the increased responsibility for the betterment of the community. I'll be happy with just being a regular mod, no need to give me super mod powers. PM me for references.

 

Same here.

 

Another thought if we go down the moderated introduction path: have a sticky in each major subforum titled 'Why Can't I Post?' This sticky thread would direct the less intelligent applicants to the Introduction Archive.

 

Lol, Dhulli you and I are probably n-1 and n on the list of prospective mods, don't even say this, or you'll be accused of attempting a coup...

 

Let's just say that if I were made a mod, the bots would suddenly...disappear.

Spoiler

I'm joking btw...or am I? Nah, I'm joking...yeah I am. Joking that is.

 

There's probably a lot of lurkers who've never even posted once. They join up just to read stories in the library, or see if there's a new chapter in Santi's story. That being said, there could be a distinction between joining up,, and fulfilling an additional thing to have posting privileges. That way you're not being overwhelmed or forced into joining the community if you don't want to, and you can see what's going on and decide if you like it or not. Not much would change, but it makes it so people can still join and see what's going on, but bots can't spam as easily.

 

Never mind. I've said what I have to say on the matter, and I'm sticking by what I've said.

 

I'm one of those that join, but never really posted. Almost all the threads I wanted to post in were going to necro them up pretty badly. I think when I joined introductions was a lock and barren wasteland, so that never even happened.

However you all don't care about that, my thoughts is that the introductions thread to become known as an actual human is probably the best bet. You can even make pseudomods that do nothing but mark threads as bot/human for only that section. Thereafter just continue as normal, as it works well for inducting those who would like to be in the forum.

Also I personally hate irc, and would never have joined if I had to do that. Not that it would matter for me, but I'm sure some other people would be the same way

 

To be honest, most of my complaints are probably fixed by now. Even more so they probably were caused from being both young and impatient. I had a lot of technical issues with it the first few times I tried it out, back in 1999. It had a lot of problems with our blistering fast 28.8K internet connection, would cause the computer to crash, etc.

I tried it again in 2005, and had problems with the client being fairly obtuse. It was somewhat hard to navigate, and there were a lot of strange customs built up that I wasn't privy to; nor did I decide to learn them. There were other ways to communicate with individual people, and if I wanted a large group of people I went to a forum.

 

XChat isn't bad either. Kind of like a modded mIRC out of the box.

 

I'd say the best idea is to have an introduction forum, and set it that new members can only post there until moved to a different user group by a mod. Easy, simple to understand and carry out, its not going to put people off or drive them away. And it will be fairly effective in stopping bots hitting the rest of the forum.

If the current staff feel like that would add too much to their workload (and I acknowledge it would likely increase their workload by a fair amount), find a couple of fairly sensible folk who have plenty of free time and make them mods specifically of the Intro forum.

Don't set standards for accepting people beyond them being...people.

Making the forum invite only is an utterly terrible idea. Most of our best members, those who contribute the most to discussions, who write excellently, who bring out the best in other members didn't have a connection to DLP that brought them here initially. They found the forum on their own, and likely wouldn't have bothered to find a way to get an invite if they hadn't been able to simply join up.

How many of our members knew people from DLP before joining? It'll be in the minority. It'd completely kill off the prospect of future growth and development as a community. Every community needs fresh blood added to it, in part to replace older members who tail off and disappear, and in part to add fresh ideas and new thinking to the group. DLP is no different. To suggest otherwise is elitist and idiotic.

 

I have moments of being fairly sensible, and I have plenty of free time. :awesome

I generally agree with Mordecai - closing DLP and making it invite only is a terrible, terrible idea, for the reasons that have been stated several times more clearly than I can formulate. One of the big problems with the old Introduction forum, as has been stated, was that the trolling got out of hand. A couple of dedicated mods could probably fix that, and until spambots gain the ability to write out a decent introduction that meets our standards, it pretty much reduces their ability to gain access to post down to nothing.

 

Well. Considering they (hex-/X-chat) are, for all intents and purposes, are the same client... D: