Temporary limitations for new accounts

Ideas and suggestions that have been reviewed by staff and will not be implemented.
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No permission for new users to make posts in the forum before they hatched a few eggs

Poll ended at April 30th, 2022, 5:57 am

Yes
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No
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Total votes: 9
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Dragonclaw
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Temporary limitations for new accounts

Post by Dragonclaw »

Hi!
I don't know how to title this I apologise asjdasfh

I wonder if it would be possible to code something, that a person isn't allowed to make posts in the forum, before they hatched a small amout of eggs? I thought about 10-15 eggs. It could avoid spam and virus accounts, which register and post things in the forum now and then.
But I'm not sure if that's even possbile or if people would like that.
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Tango
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Re: Temporary limitations for new accounts

Post by Tango »

I support the idea in general, but there shouldn't be an absolute lockout of brand new members that would prevent them from being able to post in help areas. If this would just be to confuse spam bots and the like, a single egg seems more than enough... or even requiring a captcha or knowledge check on the first couple posts seems plenty.

Or, perhaps just an account verification step via email like other sites do could stem the tide of bots that crash through on occasion.
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SchokoKitsune
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Re: Temporary limitations for new accounts

Post by SchokoKitsune »

Pushing this because of the current situation.

Any kind of account confirmation could possibly help to keep the weird bots out. I think we're all aware of what these accs are and aren't clickling any links they post, but it's still annoying as hell to see them flood the forums ._."
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Syiren
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Re: Temporary limitations for new accounts

Post by Syiren »

Definitely support this. I don't know about adding 'more' capchas, but suggesting raising a certain amount of pokemon or verification seems like a great idea if possible.
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Dragonclaw
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Re: Temporary limitations for new accounts

Post by Dragonclaw »

I like the idea of just hatching a single egg to have permission to post.
Maybe Update the Guides and Help Threads for New people and delete old, useless things in there, so it doesn't go under.
Worst case, lost new people can DM the staff, right?
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Tango
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Re: Temporary limitations for new accounts

Post by Tango »

They won't though. Brand new person on site immediately going to staff for questions? Not likely. In my experience it's a big step for someone to even just DM a normal member who seems helpful.

The less friendly and open you are to starting members the less likely they stick around at all. And this doesn't mean community wise. Features like blocking them from posting until they've 'proven themselves' counts.
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Dragonclaw
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Re: Temporary limitations for new accounts

Post by Dragonclaw »

Uuuh, okaaaay. Sorry for asking I guess.. ^^"
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Tango
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Re: Temporary limitations for new accounts

Post by Tango »

I was just pointing out some legit concerns from past experiences with forum management ^^; It's an important thing to consider. Especially when VA already has a hard time retaining new members I'd hate to see this place lock down against fresh accounts without considering potential impact cause that's a good step toward site death.

Not that seeing spam on forums is at all helpful either ;D So the idea of finding some balance to stem bot spam without harming ease of access to legit members is good. And of course keeping the help/guide sections clean and up-to-date would also be a helper!
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SchokoKitsune
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Re: Temporary limitations for new accounts

Post by SchokoKitsune »

Maybe we could combine the 1 egg requirement with a kind of pinned message that's only there until you have hatched that first egg? Not sure how realistic/easy to program that is, tho, just trying to figure out a way to solve this problem before it becomes one. I've seen similar systems on other adopt websites over the years and none of those sites felt unwelcoming, because they straight up told you it's their way of making sure you are a real human being xD

To be honest, I'm not even sure if we have something as simple as an e-mail-confirmation after registering - it's been a few years since I've created my account and I've switched mail adresses a few times, so I can't check xD

Edit: Another idea, this safety pop up could also be visible until the user decides to disable it, and it could for example be used to link you to a "tutorial" with something like a "quick start" guide, that could be expanded the more stuff gets added to VA again, so newbies don't feel so lost?
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