New Members and Polls

[larkmaj]

Along the same lines of the anti-spam idea, it may not be a bad idea to set a minimum number of posts before somebody can start a thread containing a poll. As occasionally a new member will come along and start a whole bunch of new polls in the water cooler or where have you. For the most part the discussion for each thread is not about the topic presented but how unreasonable the poll is. I would think this minimum post count would make the member participate and get a much better feel for the forum before creating these senseless polls that only get ripped apart by other posters. I would suggest a higher minimum then that for links, maybe 20 or 30 as most polls are just for fun and most who start them should be more involved members of the forum.

[needle]

Along the same lines of the anti-spam idea, it may not be a bad idea to set a minimum number of posts before somebody can start a thread containing a poll. As occasionally a new member will come along and start a whole bunch of new polls in the water cooler or where have you. For the most part the discussion for each thread is not about the topic presented but how unreasonable the poll is. I would think this minimum post count would make the member participate and get a much better feel for the forum before creating these senseless polls that only get ripped apart by other posters. I would suggest a higher minimum then that for links, maybe 20 or 30 as most polls are just for fun and most who start them should be more involved members of the forum.

Well, polls are really not that different from regular threads ... unless you're obscessive-compulsive and just HAVE TO respond to EVERY poll out there

So, there may be sense in overall restriction on starting threads (unless they are in Introductions section and that section should not contain a poll option). New members should be allowed to start a new thread if they meet one of the three criteria:
a) they have posted at least N (or M, if N is not large enough) comments,
b) they have performed a search on at least one word in the thread subject, or
c) they fence epee

[larkmaj]

So, there may be sense in overall restriction on starting threads (unless they are in Introductions section and that section should not contain a poll option). New members should be allowed to start a new thread if they meet one of the three criteria:
a) they have posted at least N (or M, if N is not large enough) comments,
b) they have performed a search on at least one word in the thread subject

I thought about suggesting a restriction on just starting threads. However, the main issue with that is there are many people who register just to advertise tournaments in the proper sections. Or ask a good question in the appropriate forum. I imagine criterian b might be difficult to implement as well. Another idea comes from another forum. Just setting a limit on the amount of threads that a person can start within a particular period of time. The particular forum I remember seeing this in limits the newest members to 5 new threads a day. By the nature of that forum it was a reasonable limit. For this forum it should be more around one a day or so. Then of course, the more posts, longer membership, higher rep, or what have you would increase the number of threads one can start. This may or may not be a feasible solution to implement.

[needle]

I thought about suggesting a restriction on just starting threads. However, the main issue with that is there are many people who register just to advertise tournaments in the proper sections. Or ask a good question in the appropriate forum. I imagine criterian b might be difficult to implement as well. Another idea comes from another forum. Just setting a limit on the amount of threads that a person can start within a particular period of time. The particular forum I remember seeing this in limits the newest members to 5 new threads a day. By the nature of that forum it was a reasonable limit. For this forum it should be more around one a day or so. Then of course, the more posts, longer membership, higher rep, or what have you would increase the number of threads one can start. This may or may not be a feasible solution to implement.

Hmm, that actually sounds very reasonable