14 replies to this topic

[Facehat]

I've noticed that lately there have been many unregistered people posting flame bait on the boards. I think it's obvious that some people are using the anonimity of the internet to simply upset people. For example, take a look at the two locked posts in the "General and Game Programming Discussion" forum to see what I mean.

Therefore, I think that we should stop unregistered people from posting. Just about all the flames on this board are coming from unregistered users who disapear just as quickly as they appeared.

A valid argument might be that people will simply register, then post flame bait. That probably will happen, but then you have the option to revoke his/her account and not allow that person to register again (based on their IP adress or email adress). Some will still find ways around this, such as posting from a different computer, but I think this will discourage a lot of people from posting flame bait.

Personally I'm sick of these people. They don't contribute, they simply clog up the boards.

Anyway, I think that we should take action to cut down on the amount of people who are obviousely just trying to start a flame war.

--TheGoop

[Splat]

Amen!

- Splat

[logistix]

I don't think completly abolishing unregistered posts is a good idea. And banning IP addresses is a definate no-no. This is supposed to be an open site. Requiring registration gets us one step closer to requiring a submission of two demo programs before you can even log on.

I agree that some of these unregistered posts are out of control. The worst being ones that are obviously someone who is registered just putting that post on anonymously to start a flame war. Or people posting the same question to three boards not realizing that all three instantly appear on the "latest threads" portion of the home page.

If anything is done, we should follow /.'s example and make every unregistered post an "anonymous coward". That way you know how seriously to take the post.

[Gromit]

Sometimes its interesting when a couple of anonymous posts show up in the latest threads section. You read them, then while reading the next real post in the latest threads, you tend to notice something. The time of the postings are within a couple minutes, the style of writing is the same and all the incorrect spellings are the same. Therefor, logic dictates that they were all posted by the same person. Now you have his name.

Just something I notices... Anonymous Coward.

I don't really think (at the moment) that unregistered posts should be ban'd... but perhaps limited to certain forums.

Just my two cents.

[This message has been edited by Gromit (edited November 26, 1999).]

[Facehat]

Interesting idea Gromit. I think making it so you have to register only for *some* boards would be entirely appropriate. The "Lounge" forum, for instance, should not require registration. But a forum like "DirectX/OpenGL/..." should.

Logistix: I don't think free registration is really asking too much. The good thing about requiring people to register is that it allows the moderators to have a bit of control over posts.

--TheGoop

[ghowland]

I will try to patrol those boards a little more and see if this is really getting out of hand and if it is the staff will talk about how to handle it.

So far Ive seen people getting pretty pissed at anonymous people who werent saying much different than a registered user could have, so I havent really seen abuse.

The idea of letting anyone post without registerign was because we wanted people to feel free to register when they wanted to, and not because we were forcing them to to post. If we start to get so much activity that this becomes a problem, then we'll rethink the idea.

Until then, dont treat unregistered posters any different than you would treat registered ones you dont know, and youll probably have less problems. It not like they wont register ever, and if they have a good conversation as unregistereds they may very will want to.

-Geoff

[logistix]

I agree that registration in and of itself isn't a big deal, but it only gives to Forum Leaders control if they start banning users (which I don't think is a good idea or the answer). Hopefully registration would make someone think twice before flaming, but that relies on common sense, and you have to wonder with some of the peeps out there.

[Dave Astle]

I'll have to talk to the others about this, but I'm beginning to believe that it IS time to limit unregistered posts to certain forums. As Geoff said, the intent was to not discourage people from posting by requiring registration. But the fact that registration is so easy (we don't even require e-mail verification like most users of this software), and the increasing number of questionable unregistered posts, makes me think it is time to change.

- Dave

[Facehat]

I don't think it's just one or two isolated cases. I only gave two as recent examples, but over the past couple of months i've been seeing many of these posts. I'm not making any demands here (as you implied I was), I'm making a suggestion which I believe has quite a bit of merit to it. I don't think moderation hurts community -- I think it does the opposite! There is a lot more usefull discussion when people are civil to each other.

--TheGoop

[Jeranon]

If push comes to shove and some forums require registration to post, then don't do this to the "Community Interaction" although you might have come to this conclusion already. The lounge is where most (serious) people start (I started there).

[ghowland]

This hasnt really been an ongoing problem.

A lot of the issues that were originally can be raised by simply not reading threads initiated by the people you dont want to deal with. (Help Me!, Show me This!, whatever, as stated).

Those threads in themselves are important as GameDev wants to help all levels of developer learn and share more about game development, which includes people who are just starting out.

If it ever does get to be an increased problem, we can turn certain boards to registered posters only, and we can restrict IPs from abusers even if they are anonymous, and if it gets horrible (which it seems far from it now), we can require registration, which really isnt such a big deal.

-Geoff