Suggestion: disable guest posting

[Random]

I don't really see a need for guests being able to post here at BS. So far, all who have wished to make a contribution to the forum have become a member (which is free and easy to do, so I don't see why anyone should have a problem doing that).

Also, most (if not all) of the guest posts on this forum, are from members that have forgotten to log in. Disabling guest posting would mean that members would be posting under their member name, instead of as a guest, be it accidental or otherwise.

Any thoughts on the matter?

[Synchronium]

I agree 100%.

I enforce that on my own forums for those very reasons.

[Kaos-theory]

i to agree

but soemtimes that "guest" might be a one of person, who has just foudn the sight randomly, while searching for something. foudn the thingy on here read it and posted. so it could be a one of poster.
n yes it coudl be a member and most of the time it is as random has said, but we only get the odd guest post as is

[Concatenation]

whatever man, the more posts the better, there hasnt been any abuse by guests so just leave it the way it is.

[kbk]

Hasn't been any abuse yet. It will happen eventually, trust me. It always does.

[Random]

I'd like to re-raise the issue of disabling guest posting.

I've just had to delete two spam posts from the P&M forum, advertising downloadable ringtones and the like.

The IP address of the second one I deleted was 220.122.82.34. I didn't get the IP of the first one, because I forgot to copy it before I deleted the post. If people want a screenshot of the second spam post, PM me and I'll see what I can do about getting it to you.

Anyway, the fact was that these were guest posts, and we really don't need our forum being spammed with ringtone advertising...unless people here have objections...?

[Gobiggi]

plus them links they spam are actually dead, so they're pretty dumb bots, but yea something need re-inforcing, and i presume they will all use the same ip, so lets hope u got em

[blacknhidden]

I agree 100% as well!!!!

[custombass]

i believe x just just missed the disable guest posting box on the p&m forums, they dont post anywhere else

[-inefficiency-]

Guest posting definately needs to go.

I think all users should need to register a picture before being able to post aswell - else their account will be deleted within a week.

[custombass]

That sounds fair to me, there are prolly around 120 accounts that signed up and never even posted once...

[Gobiggi]

one of them is my m8 but he aint been on it yet, he has very little time, and he can only get on internet at his dads

[Random]

Originally Posted by -inefficiency-

Guest posting definately needs to go.

I think all users should need to register a picture before being able to post aswell - else their account will be deleted within a week.

What? You mean I need to get a picture?

Hmm...perhaps if I just find a picture of a bottle (or something larger) of Johnnie Walker. People will know who I am then... :P

[Gobiggi]

nah like an avatar i would think, cos spam bots wont add avatars

[StraightEdge]

Avatars shouldn't be mandatory. I think that's gay. Why not just autodelete accounts that are inactive for a specified period of time? Or maybe a rule that you must make a certain number of posts in your first two weeks as a member or else your account gets deleted? That should get rid of inactive accounts.

[custombass]

I agree with StraightEdge

Avators shouldnt be mandatory

Maybe have a way of checking how often one logs in in their first two weeks or something? cause i remember when i first joined i rarely posted at all, cause i didnt know much about most of the topics that were up at the time, but now that there are morea topics available I can post a bit more.

EWven if we cant do this, we can manually delete inactive accounts.... cant we?

this is all assuming we can get a hold of X for long enough to listen to our idears

[-inefficiency-]

Well, I think that if accounts must make a certain amount of posts within a certain amount of time, then we are just going to get flooded with spam.

And with certain members joining within the last month or two, we're already getting fucking overrun with it.

[StraightEdge]

Okay, new idea.... Instead of post minimums there could be log in minimums. A new member (or even old members) must log in a certain amount of times in a given period or their account gets automatically deleted. Does that sound better?

[Gobiggi]

two things:

StraightEdge, you method could delete active users that dont have alot of access to the internet, and would probably remove Xpl0sivs account, which then we'd have no admin.

and this is thread is about disabling guest posting not spam-bots and unactive users

[custombass]

Yea thats the only reason I said we needed it to be logged in the first couple weeks theyre registered. Another problem with logging it later is, lets say i go on vacation, isp craps out on me, computer breaks, or even a month or two sentance then there is no way that people would keep coming back if they had to re-register. i think if we do trace it should be in the first couple of weeks

[Synchronium]

I don't think having inactive accounts in the DB really hurts anything. What I would recommend is getting rid of the google-bombing accounts (IE no posts + website on their profile) just because I hate them.

And Gobiggi, spam bots has everything to do with guest posting, since gest posting lets them get away with it.

[xpl0siv]

Hello everyone.

Guest posting disabled in all forums.

Good call for the google-bombers, i hate them too. gonna look for a mod to smart delete them.

Cheers.

Xpl0siv

[-inefficiency-]

Awesome. Case closed.

Cheers X