Banninations, and the rapidty of.

[MKSheppard]

We basically need fresh blood infused to keep the board going, and keeping things from going stale.

However, we won't get fresh blood if the mods keep banning newcomers for minor boo-boos.

[Trogdor]

Friendly piece of advice, Shep, you might to look through Parting Shots and find a few newbies who were banned for "minor boo-boos" before you lob that accusation at the mods.

[MKSheppard]

DataPacRat springs to mind.

His "I am descended from ZEUS!" was quite amusing to me; worthy of a custom title like "Descended from Zeus' Shit"

[Havok]

Yeah, getting banned because you are losing an argument and aren't conceding properly does seem rather harsh. That is what we have a whole slew of lesser punishments for.

I think part of what Shep is getting at is that newbies and lurkers, which there are lots of, aren't going to want to tread onto the board for fear of saying the wrong thing. I remember quite a few introduction threads in Testing where some version of "I was afraid to post here, but I finally got some balls" was said almost immediately.

The atmosphere of this place can seem downright hostile to someone just reading that isn't a part of the board already. I have to admit, this place takes a unique personality to be a good, consistent contributor.

[Oscar Wilde]

Quite amusing TO YOU does not equal quite amusing to the rest of us shep. And while I was inclined to agree with you, the people who are banned usually have it coming. Quite often they are told at some point how they should act. Those who follow that advice don't get banned. Those who ignore it... well, they get ban't.

[Darth Wong]

I would prefer that some kind of process be followed in cases like this. Being a dumb-ass is not quite the same as bring an outright troll, of the sort who must be banned in some sort of emergency procedure with no solicitation of public opinion.

[aerius]

Yeah, bannings are no fun these days.
Back in the old days we had show trials, now that was some quality entertainment.

[Shroom Man 777]

This is what happens when you try to be an uber-efficient German. Personally, I blame Thanas.

[Lagmonster]

Although this doesn't strictly apply to all cases, I'm of the opinion that the staff should try to use the threat of banning less in cases where people are being stubborn. If you make the threat and the member is indifferent or fights back, the authority figure might decide he has to either make good or show that he's bluffing. It's probably better for staff to not *make* the threat of banning without consultation.

[Thanas]

This is what happens when you try to be an uber-efficient German. Personally, I blame Thanas.

As if I could ban people....

but I wish it were so. Oh, how I wish it were so.

[Ghost Rider]

Laying a bit dramatically, Shep? Given that this year we had:

Graeme Dice
Lord Poe
saurc : He was a newbie, but just being a trektard with claims of superior engineering knowledge.
Leonardo Fibonacci : Yet another posturing retard of STvSW
Kinnison
SCHYULER COLFAX : Who after getting temp banned tries to go around the system?!
nickolay1 : Who was warned multiple times
DataPacRat: Yes, it was sudden...but when one consistently goes "Who me" and "Defend MY claims, you defend yours!"

This is hardly a list of destroying and stifling new blood, given five were not new members, two were outright trolls and the final one was being a ignorant retard to board rules. I will give that my banning of DPR was sudden but I did want him to at least demonstrate something to defend rather then berate others because he felt he did no wrong.

So next time at least review who got banned and what not before making claims that some sort of destruction of anyone new is happening.

[Sarevok]

Shep is right about the lack of new blood. Back in the first 2 to 3 years the boards was flooded with posts. You come back 2 days later and you could have 3 pages of OT to sift through alone. Now it seems the activity is at an all time low. This is a discussion board so where is the discussion ?

I propose a bold move. Greatly relax the sign up procedure. Let anyone who is not a bot or commercial spammer signup. We really need fresh people and fresh things to debate, discuss and flame.

[General Zod]

Shep is right about the lack of new blood. Back in the first 2 to 3 years the boards was flooded with posts. You come back 2 days later and you could have 3 pages of OT to sift through alone. Now it seems the activity is at an all time low. This is a discussion board so where is the discussion ?

I propose a bold move. Greatly relax the sign up procedure. Let anyone who is not a bot or commercial spammer signup. We really need fresh people and fresh things to debate, discuss and flame.

I think a large part of it is what I mentioned elsewhere; the main topic of the board, Trek vs. Wars is pretty much dead and buried. So what reason is there for a new person to sign up that they couldn't get somewhere else?

[Shroom Man 777]

Shep is right about the lack of new blood. Back in the first 2 to 3 years the boards was flooded with posts. You come back 2 days later and you could have 3 pages of OT to sift through alone. Now it seems the activity is at an all time low. This is a discussion board so where is the discussion ?

I propose a bold move. Greatly relax the sign up procedure. Let anyone who is not a bot or commercial spammer signup. We really need fresh people and fresh things to debate, discuss and flame.

And if the floodgates open, they can always deputize some of those Seriously Elephantine Nemoidians Acting Tough on Everyone to mods and have them... uhh... Act Tough on Everyone.

[Sarevok]

Shep is right about the lack of new blood. Back in the first 2 to 3 years the boards was flooded with posts. You come back 2 days later and you could have 3 pages of OT to sift through alone. Now it seems the activity is at an all time low. This is a discussion board so where is the discussion ?

I propose a bold move. Greatly relax the sign up procedure. Let anyone who is not a bot or commercial spammer signup. We really need fresh people and fresh things to debate, discuss and flame.

I think a large part of it is what I mentioned elsewhere; the main topic of the board, Trek vs. Wars is pretty much dead and buried. So what reason is there for a new person to sign up that they couldn't get somewhere else?

The trek vs wars forum was never the most active even in the beginning. Most of the 5+ pages long interesting threads happened elsewhere. Its hardly true there is nothing else to discuss.Look at sb.com. Despite the negative aspects they have a lively board going. People will flock again if given a chance to join easily. Remember most of sdns growth was back in the day when even hotmail users could sign up.

[General Zod]

The trek vs wars forum was never the most active even in the beginning. Most of the 5+ pages long interesting threads happened elsewhere. Its hardly true there is nothing else to discuss.Look at sb.com. Despite the negative aspects they have a lively board going. People will flock again if given a chance to join easily. Remember most of sdns growth was back in the day when even hotmail users could sign up.

I didn't say there wasn't anything else to discuss. I said there wasn't anything to discuss that they couldn't discuss elsewhere.

[Darth Wong]

Actually, we had an open registration policy for a while and then we had a troll spree so we shut it down. I suppose we might want to ask if it's worth having the occasional troll spree. Other forums often deal with the occasional troll spree by banning/deleting their bullshit until it ends.

[ray245]

It seems to me that most of the recent members who signed up are people who were attracted by Stuart's stories down here.

[RedImperator]

Actually, we had an open registration policy for a while and then we had a troll spree so we shut it down. I suppose we might want to ask if it's worth having the occasional troll spree. Other forums often deal with the occasional troll spree by banning/deleting their bullshit until it ends.

We've got the report button and the mods obviously enjoy using the ban panel. I think open registrations might be worth another try.

Of course, that takes us back to board culture--we can invite the entire Internet in, but if newbies keep getting flamed, flayed, and banned for minor mistakes, nobody's going to stick around. And despite my complaints about how the last banning, I don't think that's the biggest problem (and even if it were, it's easily fixed). There has to be a middle ground between "RARGH TROLL GET HIM" and "Be nice to dipshits" Miss Manners rules.

[General Zod]

Actually, we had an open registration policy for a while and then we had a troll spree so we shut it down. I suppose we might want to ask if it's worth having the occasional troll spree. Other forums often deal with the occasional troll spree by banning/deleting their bullshit until it ends.

We've got the report button and the mods obviously enjoy using the ban panel. I think open registrations might be worth another try.

We could always invite troll kingdom to sign up?

[chitoryu12]

I honestly wasn't expecting DataPacRat to get banned at all. He was acting like a dumbass in an arguement, but we have custom titles like Village Idiot for that. I wasn't aware that bans could be handed out without warning for offenses like that. If that had been the case, anyone who would ordinarily get put in the Hall of Shame would be at risk of randomly being booted off by a mod in a bad mood. It's like going from fining someone for shoplifting to tossing them in prison without even a trial.

[Edi]

The closed registrations setup has been working well so far in that we get a consistent influx of new approved registrations. It's not a huge number per week, but it does reach something on the order of 12 to 20 people per month.

If we allow open registrations, it just means that in addition to .ru domains, there needs to be some more domains added to the list of automatically rejected domains so that they can't be used to register spambots. Because open registrations is guaranteed to bring hordes of those, as evidenced by the massive influx of yahoo.in registrations a couple of months back.

I do agree that the threat of banning should not be used openly as the first resort unless we're dealing with a known longtime troll like nickolay1.

[Mr. Coffee]

The last time we had open registration we ended up having some fucktard 4chan nimrods post kiddie porn all over the damned place. If keeping the registration to being admin approved keeps that from happening again I'm all for it.

[Sarevok]

I will point out that most other boards with open registration is doing fine. I dont think sdnet is so famous that trolls everywhere will start pouring in like flood water. Infact I think even with open registration for all you will continue to see the steady decline in board activity for a while.

[Shroom Man 777]

You are not considering the shitloads of butthurt internet fatties who'd just love to register back into SD.net and get back at all of us.