www.talkcyprus.org

[magikthrill]

hey admins,

if you guys remember from the cyprus forum the admin had prevented people from their website showing on their forum profile until they posted a certain amount of posts.

i think this was a good idea to prevent people who register just to get their website up on the google rankings.

the number of posts to be posted before being able to view their website could be determined by you guys.

just a suggestion

[erolz]

The members list or users profiles are not viewable unless you are yourself logged into the forum, so basically adding a website to your profile on this forum does not affect that sites google rankings at all as google (or any other search engine) can not see these links.

[magikthrill]

regardless of why its done i believe that people who sign up just to post their website (even if for minimal advertising) i would think is misuse of the forum, no?

[erolz]

magikthrill wrote: regardless of why its done i believe that people who sign up just to post their website (even if for minimal advertising) i would think is misuse of the forum, no?

Yeah in my view if the onyl reason someone signs up to the forum is to advertise their website, and not actualy to participate (actively or passively) in the forum, then that is a kind of 'abuse'. However if they sign up with such a motivation of abuse they get no actual reward from doing so. They might think they do but they do not.

So how does the system on CF work. Does it not allow you to enter a website until you have made 5 posts, or does it allow you to do so but just not display it until you make 5 posts? How is a user informed about this?

I am all for implementing anything that discurages people from signing up merely to promote thier websites. I am juts not clear how the CF forum systme does this?

[magikthrill]

erol,

honestly i am not sure, but i believe they are allowed to post a website, but its just not shown until you post like 5 or 10 posts.

at least thats what was said when the policy was informed. to be honest i havent actually used the CF since we all moved here so i cant tell you. i figured there would be some option but maybe the admin was BSing us or maybe he used some code? j'sais pas

[erolz]

It could be done , just all I am thinking is that if it only blocks the website from displaying until you have 5 posts would that actually discourage people signing on to advertise their forum? I mean how would they know before signing up that there would be no point in signing up? Am I making any sense? I wouls also worry that the 5 post limit may just encourage some to signup AND make 5 pointless post advertising their forum to reach thge 5 post hurdle?

[Khan]

I think it should be 15 posts, and the option should not be given to enter a website until that amount is reached. I dont think poeple will put the effort into making 15 pointless posts when there are thousands of other forums to make a quick promotion on.

[erolz]

I'll look into it - however I suspect that the mods out there that already exist limit the display unless a threashold of posts is made as this is easier than limting the entering of the field. I might be worng or I might be able to manage to write the code myself. I'll have a look anyway (but may take me a while to get round to it).

[magikthrill]

erolz wrote: It could be done , just all I am thinking is that if it only blocks the website from displaying until you have 5 posts would that actually discourage people signing on to advertise their forum? I mean how would they know before signing up that there would be no point in signing up? Am I making any sense? I wouls also worry that the 5 post limit may just encourage some to signup AND make 5 pointless post advertising their forum to reach thge 5 post hurdle?

At first I though you could include a sidenote with the rules and regulations before registering that proflie information can only be seen after a certain amount of posts but then that might encourage people from posting worthless stuff.

that could be prevented by
a) not informing these users about their website not appearing (at least they wont have their way even if they continue to register)
b) not mentioning the amount of posts
c) if there was a way to make it so that these posts are taken into account if they have not been flagged and mentioning this as well but this is the more complicated method

[magikthrill]

also this didn't come out of the blue but only after seeing a user named "cumshot" displaying his "cumshot" website. i didn't bother clicking on it so i cant be sure if its a pornsite but sure sounds like one :)

[erolz]

The closest hack I can find atm is this one

http://www.phpbbhacks.com/download/6568

Basically it does not allow user to enter a www entry or a signature at the time they sign up. They have to register first (and confirm reg) and then they are allowed to put these entries into their profile.

I can find one that does similar until they have made a certain number of post so far.

[city]

That might be enough as I don't think people will bother to wait for the confirmation email. If the option to enter web/sig is not their they might not do it at all..... maybe :-(

[magikthrill]

yeah i agree

[erolz]

that mod gas been implemented now.

On signup you get not opportuinty to enter a www add or sig. Only once you have confirmed you reg can you add these things vis your profile