^ i agree with your initial suggestions which you have reiterated above....design changes in the interface and some sort of revised posting guidlelines for new members would elinminate the lion's share of "offending" threads/posts.

�� wrote:

I understand you work hard as a mod. Good on ya, as the Aussies, say. But I'd like to make your job easier. As for spammers, they can be fairly easily discouraged by a change in UI (as suggested by someone else, by using captcha, or likewise), relieving some burden from the mods. Of course, this is dependent on Genma conjuring the solution As for unwanted topic creation, I believe that is also largely solvable by changes in UI. Here's a quick proposal for your consideration: Put noobs in a probationary period before they have created N topics, such that after they've created N topics, we think the average noob will have learned how to properly classify their post. I think it should be a small number, like 3. but it can be changed should we find it takes 10 or whatever. During the probationary period, the user can create a new topic, but the first page they see after clicking on the "New Topic" button is not the submission form, it is instead, a short page that says "1. Do not create duplicate topics, use Search to see if a topic already exists that would be a good place to put your post. 2. Read the stickies in this forum before you post your new topic Click BUTTON to continue to create your new topic". If they click the button, they go to the post submission form and proceed as usual. Very short and sweet, with the links to the appropriate resources. Noobs would see this noob screen, only when posting a new topic during their probationary period. It would probably require writing one new CGI and adding one new field to the database (number of topics posted by this user). If adding a new field is too much of a pain, and it could be, then using the total number of posts per user would probably suffice, perhaps just make the limit a little higher. The idea is that the UI forces the user to follow the intended path, and it does so in a clear and concise manner. There may be other or better ways to do this, but I think what I have outlined will work reasonably well. I believe the current problem with noobs creating unwanted threads is that they simply overlook instructions. They see the "New Topic" button and reach for it instinctively like a baby reaches for something big and shiny. Noobs need to be hit in the face with obviousness.

Sounds pretty good to me... And definitely worth a try, since we've got nothing going right now.

It's all up to Genma.

Tu_triky wrote:

on another tangent...i still think we should truncate the MASSES of users here who don't post...why keep their accounts active....it's meaningless.

YES.

YES.

YES.

I've been blowing that freaking horn to the point of hyperventilation.

I have yet to understand why we haven't whacked all the zero-post fat that's bloating this message board.

I'm curious what the problem is with users that don't post? And what is being suggested to be done to them? Are we talking deletion here?

Deletion isn't a good idea if they have ever done anything to add a record in some table in the DB that points to their user record, like post or vote or add dramas to their profile.

�� wrote:

I'm curious what the problem is with users that don't post?

They take up space. Maybe not disc space, but they're chaff.

If you ever tried to search through the members list for whatever reason, you'll wade knee-deep in a sea of members who signed up for whatever reason and never posted, dating back many years.

Quote:

And what is being suggested to be done to them? Are we talking deletion here?

Yup.

Quote:

Deletion isn't a good idea if they have ever done anything to add a record in some table in the DB that points to their user record, like post or vote or add dramas to their profile.

It doesn't apply to most of 'em.

If you can't delete them, that means the DB will forever keep growing, ne?

Ah, yes, well, the members list is pretty unruly, granted. Perhaps, though, the problem could be fixed by having an option to only list those members who are active within some specified time period. Or list members that have posted more than N times, or some other means of generating a more flexible and useful user list report.

As for database size growing, that really is not a problem in the least for modern SQL database. There are currently (edit: about 22,405) members on the members list. Not a problem whatsoever in terms of database size or performance.

So as for me, I don't see deletion as being necessary. But if it is done, my opinion is still that it should only be done if no other table points to that member record. Otherwise the deletion results in a data inconsistency, which is yucky.

�� wrote:

So as for me, I don't see deletion as being necessary. But if it is done, my opinion is still that it should only be done if no other table points to that member record. Otherwise the deletion results in a data inconsistency, which is yucky.

I would think a modern (relatively speaking) DB could handle those deletions easily, ne?

bmwracer wrote:

I would think a modern (relatively speaking) DB could handle those deletions easily, ne?

It depends on the deletion algorithm. I don't think ours is robust (read: "Post not found" problems). Of course those issues could be the result of the hack we had last year.

bmwracer wrote:

I would think a modern (relatively speaking) DB could handle those deletions easily, ne?

Absatootly. One SQL command and poof. they're gone.

dochira wrote:

It depends on the deletion algorithm. I don't think ours is robust (read: "Post not found" problems).

That's for sure.

Quote:

Of course those issues could be the result of the hack we had last year.

Possibly.

I guess Genma doesn't have the time to perform these overhauls and whatnot.

The abandoned child.

Maybe you guys should convert this forum to vBulletin? I'm sure it would require abit of work to get things customized but it would leave the admins, moderators, and users with alot more features.

SnowBlower wrote:

Maybe you guys should convert this forum to vBulletin? I'm sure it would require abit of work to get things customized but it would leave the admins, moderators, and users with alot more features.

We should just nuke the site for morbid, it's the only way we can be sure.

I really want a fanfict blog thingy ma bob!! hahah xD or do we already have this?

No we don't have it yet.

Do you mean you want to start writing a fictional blog related to some drama? Perhaps like a continuation of some of your favorite dramas?
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yes yes! that's exactly what i mean!! xD

I think it would be nice to increase the size of the top 50 to include the top 100 or 200 dramas, making a link to the next top 50 dramas at the bottom of the current top 50 page. I'd really like to see what the next dramas are on that list, since the teen dramas seem to dominate the current list which makes it almost impossible for older dramas and non teen dramas to show up there.

It would just be nice to not have to get suggestions from other people as to what to watch next, as that's been hit and miss for me.

I know it's been mentioned before, but I have found a hack for PHPBB that deletes users that

A) Have registered but not activated, or

B) Have registered and activated but never posted.

I am an admin at a small PHPBB board that has only a few (genuine) members, but that has been targeted by spammers. I installed the hack yesterday (Takes about 5 mins) and after the specified period, the number of "registered users" dropped from 750 to 14

Can be turned on and off automatically

i am not sure if this was mention but how about the number of votes
how lengthing that a little
that if iam in the right forum for that ?????
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Anime Dad wrote:

I know it's been mentioned before, but I have found a hack for PHPBB that deletes users that A) Have registered but not activated, or B) Have registered and activated but never posted. I am an admin at a small PHPBB board that has only a few (genuine) members, but that has been targeted by spammers. I installed the hack yesterday (Takes about 5 mins) and after the specified period, the number of "registered users" dropped from 750 to 14 Can be turned on and off automatically

I did my own hack for that. But I'd manually trigger it, so I delete users by THOUSANDS sometimes...

But I don't delete users who've never posted though. Some may be here just to keep their drama listing.
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@_@ <--- webmaster?

Genma wrote:

I did my own hack for that. But I'd manually trigger it, so I delete users by THOUSANDS sometimes... But I don't delete users who've never posted though. Some may be here just to keep their drama listing.

Ah, OK. I guess you could code it to remove those who don't have a drama list either though, if you wanted to?