Cep,

With people going on holidays can these times be extended?

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Like the Phoenix I rise from the fire. Beware all who try to tame me, you may get burned

Maybe members with a certain amount of posts could have permanent membership? I mean, we *know* that Imi will never leave. Sheesh, we've been trying to get rid of her for forever.

I just think it might be a good thing, like Firebird said, what with vacation time coming up. (woo!)

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What if there is a spoon?

The other thing of course is accidents or illness where you dont have time to send emails

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Like the Phoenix I rise from the fire. Beware all who try to tame me, you may get burned

Yeah, I agree in principle with everything here, and I know you want to protect the board, but think the times should be made a bit more generous. Maybe double them?

When and if you do make someone "inactive", please send them an email explaining why, and what they have to do to reactivate. Saves hurt feelings. Maybe even a "please respond to this email with something a bot wouldn't write" note a week before?

(Yes, there are some people who only check email weekly.)

Just some ideas. It's a hard thing to balance, protection and feeling welcome even if you don't post a lot, and not wanting pressure to contribute if you just want to belong and be silent.

Cricket

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Between stimulus and response there is a space.
In that space is our power to choose our response.
In our response lies our growth and our freedom.

- Viktor E. Frankl

Well....heads up then chugra. I'm gonna be one of those who will constantly get my account blocked due to irregular posting.

Um....
Perhaps I am just clueless, but I uh...really don't quite get what the big deal is. I suppose I can understand the pornspam thing, KKK did seem to attract pornspam bots because of its group settings. Still, this seems like overkill. I'm never that active on sites, and more often than not am just an appreciative lurker, but this is the first site I've been a member of which I like that has adopted such strict policies towards regular members. I would have considered myself a regular member prior to the 75 count post prerequisite...but I guess I'm not. Usually what is in place on other sites is at most, a purge policy for members who join but don't post at all. And perhaps around once every six months to a year, purge inactive accounts, and if they are polite and have a way to do so, will send an email warning of the purge to the inactive member. Also a standard 'conduct rules of da board' which if not followed will result in a member/IP being banned after a predetermined warning period.

If the point is, as admin, Cep just doesn't have the time available to admin regularly, then I think I can understand the need for automated boot system. But I'm not going to spam the site with random posts just to get my post count up.

Just my two cents, but I suspect that it will do more harm than good for membership here because by nature, you will only ever get active members about 10 percent of the time, so the remaining 90 percent who prefer to lurk and post only occasionally (which is the same percentage on any community board I've ever seen anywhere) will be put off to find that they have to jump through perceved hoops for this one single site just to stay active. People will just quit coming. At a generous estimation 10 percent of that 90 percent may be trolls/bots/ troublemakers, so good riddance to them....but the rest?

I'm just speaking about human nature here. I've worked in customer service for years. This site is simply another version of customer service. People will just choose another site instead of dealing with the hassle.

Just my thoughts guys?

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"Spider sense....tingling."

Ah-ayit....

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"Spider sense....tingling."

Yeah...I'm not into posting just for the sake of posting.


Another thought to add to my membership loss comments.


What I see happening is, in the long run, the site will be trimmed to a small membership active members with very little new blood adding to the mix. That makes for an active community of like minds, but no growth. (Not that that is different from what we already have, but it will cut off the 'potential' for growth as well...a step further.) Now, I've heard it said by Kat that she is wanting this to be a vital large source for all kinds. But you can't have a large vital site without a few crumbs getting in the mix on occasion. If you lock out the crumbs with strict policy, you won't have the large vital sitem, speaking from experience. I guess it depends on what you guys wanna accomplish. I'm groovy either way. It's just something to consider.

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"Spider sense....tingling."

Well, to be blunt...I dunno, I guess I just balk at the 'post or else' message I'm getting. It implies quantity over quality and shades of control. Think of me as a mule who will work all day with a smile on my face if someone gives me a scratch on the ears and a carrot. But if someone hits me with a stick and tells me I have to work, I'll sit my ass down(pun inteneded) and loose all motivation.

I'm not trying to be a troublemaker, I just am having a hard time agreeing with the approach and know you would appreciate honesty above all else.

Upon thinking about it, I suppose I could create a spam thread to crank my posts up to 75. Dunno, I'm just feeling frustrated.

Thing is, there are two reasons I like being a member of this site. One is personal: A friendship I value very much and have kept close to for 3 years. One is public: I have always admired how open and accepting and valuing of freedom this site is above all others. I may not agree with other folks opinions, but I've always known that this site won't censor or curb. So, you can see how the new policy as it is stated would strike me wrong

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"Spider sense....tingling."

Wow Cep! I think I'm the only one who agrees with you! Ofcourse that could be coz I was a temp administrator for a Sailor Moon group once *shudder*

Hmmm, some of the vet accounts don't seem to have crossed over, e.g., SJ and myself. But other than that, it's a good idea.

I'm sure any of the vets from the old system have already told you if their account didn't cross over, and you have dealt with it.

Question: how do the porn bots get in in the first place, and what do they do? I'm assuming they apply, get auto-accepted, and then fill the place with ads. If so, would a "personal touch" to the acceptance process work? Either they post something human, or respond to a private email, including something a bot wouldn't be able to do (e.g., you ask them for the capital of Canada).

Yeah, 25 posts is more reasonable. Two posts a week for three months, or one a week for six months.

I'm on record that I don't mind lurkers. I do mind dead accounts and spammers.

Realistically, how many real posts is a bot or human spammer likely to do?

As for the "keep active or be blocked" bit, well, it's not like they're booted. Just have to email admin and say "hi, wasn't here for the last month because I was in hospital. Please reactivate me." And, assuming you and your assistants do their jobs, they'll be re-activated within a day or two.

Any way blocked accounts can still read the news on their friends?

How often do the nasties try to get in, and how much damage do they do? I know some intentionally unfriendly posts have actually started some rather fun threads.

Just rambling. You'll never satisfy everyone.

Cricket

__________________
Between stimulus and response there is a space.
In that space is our power to choose our response.
In our response lies our growth and our freedom.

- Viktor E. Frankl