Forum Moderators: open
When I read that message it sounded arrogant to me; these old f*rts thinking they are so special they need their own forum.
I am not so sure about that anymore. For the past month this forum is flooded with many new members posting spammy, insulting and plainly lazy threads.
I am sorry to say it like this. I once posted my first message and really, my first messages (and my current messages for that matter) weren't that clever.
And of course I know there are so many new members here who wish to play the game fair, who first read and then ask, and who never start to insult or threaten other folks. But I think we can't deny there are some new members doing damage to this forum.
The mods are doing a great job in removing spammy or insulting posts, but it looks like they are trying to stop a flood with a sponge.
Shouldn't there be some sort of trial-period in wich new WW-members can show that they are serious and motivated enough to post 100+ messages without the mods having to remove their posts all the time. And then they can move on to the "real" forum?
Perhaps I am getting to old for this game.
Apologies if I am insulting you with this post...
On the other hand, I agree with you humblebeginnings (what an apt name for this particular thread), lazy, insulting, spammy or plain wacky new posters are a right pain in the you-know-where.
It seems like this started after the big crash. The forum hasnt been quite the same since then. Im not sure what the answer is but this is a valid point.
It seems like this started after the big crash.
What big crash?
Great idea but difficult to do. Would that mean that ALL messages need to moderated and spammy/nosense posts would be shunted to the appropriate category? Perhaps the Vets here need to "report" the posts that miss the target to mods.
Just a thought.
Goober
On many forums some new members take liberties and try to by-pass reading rules, TOS, T&C's etc.
Some of the new ones who have just learnt about Adsense suddenly believe it is a gold-paved route to riches without any effort if they can con someone into divulging all the "tricks" and foibles.
No one minds responding to genuine questions so long as the member has at least made an effort to find out an answer whether it may be correct or not.
And one thing we must impress on new members: We are not the Google Adsense team!
We do know a lot of the answers however some questions need directing at the team. That's why they are there.
To keep "the creative",
And not be a mourner,
I need an outlet
Called "Poetry Corner"
Then I can read
What I write
And keep it out of
Everyone else's sight
On the other hand,
If we learn from each other,
We don't want
Newbies to smother
Another trick,
To sift out abuse,
Is in clever titles
That we could use
The pointless thread
Is often easy to spot.
Can't we just decide
To read it not?
Better than pms!
There is a subscriber area that the general members cannot view. From my understanding that forum doesn't have the spam problems.
I wouldn't say this forum has a spam problem. It does have a problem with repetitive threads from new users who haven't bothered to scroll back a day or two (or even a thread or two).
As for the Supporters Forum, there's been some decline in quality there, too, as Webmaster World has become more popular. In any case, it isn't the best place to go for AdSense information. This forum is still best for that, even if the signal-to-noise ratio has become a lot worse in recent months.
Sorry EFV, I was referring to spammers just to present an example where a policy of new member post moderation seems to be effective. In this case, it would be up to the mods to determine whether or not a new member got a green light (or not) to freely post. Surely, the mods are well aware of a good post from a bad one and could act accordingly, that's all.
Not everyone knows the right search terms to use to find the answers, and even though we may have seen it answered a few 100 times, it's the first time for them. They may not know the ins and outs of navigating this forum.
I agree that some of the posts are intentionally rude, but I think they are the minority and that to premoderate or separate the forums out would discourage new folks from getting help.
A while ago there was a post of someone asking for the possibility of splitting the forum in two:
one part for new members, and one part for those of us who have been around here for a while.
Why New Members Should Never be Segregated
For the past month this forum is flooded with many new members posting spammy, insulting and plainly lazy threads... I think we can't deny there are some new members doing damage to this forum.
It's not just the new members. ;) Segregating members won't solve this issue. It's not just about the moderators keeping the lid on spam, either. It's also about good community membership, where older members lead by their example.
The mods are doing a great job in removing spammy or insulting posts, but it looks like they are trying to stop a flood with a sponge.
With books and newspapers and magazines recommending posting links in forums as a marketing technique (major corporations do it, too), is it any wonder that otherwise well meaning people sign up to promote themselves? Forum spammers often tend to be people who are misinformed rather than evil. It happens to all forums. The Forum Community Building forum [webmasterworld.com] is an eye opener.
Personally, I appreciate your concern and I think you're probably not alone.
Great post.
Though those points are all well and good, my suggestion regarding moderating initial posts by new members really has more to do with giving the mods (like yourself!) a chance to see/judge just how serious a new member is in contributing positively to this board. I don't see how that in any way would hamper things.
If we do pre-moderation it would probably be along the lines as in the Yahoo and Google Search News, where it applies to everyone. But I get the feeling that some members wouldn't like for the AdSense forum to go into a pre-moderated state.
If the left hand column were redesigned to make the member name easier to read, and if the join date, membership status and accumulated posts were more prominent, one could separate the wheat from the chaff more easily while still keeping newbie posts available for viewing.
I have always found avatars very useful on other forums for quickly scanning for posters I admire or detest. Perhaps that's too new-fangled and high tech for WebmasterWorld?
because?
Just a suggestion.
The only "split" of Adsense that makes sense to me is on the basis of topic, which would fit in with the structure of the rest of WW. To get it down to the same size as other forums, it would need to be split 5 or 6 ways, such as:
Oh, and 7. Poetry Corner, for me, humblebeginnings, and other ode addicts.
...just a tought...
regards
viggen
the quality level is not only deteriorating because of the mass of stupid questions, but also because of stupid answers.
it makes no sense for the adsense pros to seriously elaborate on certain statistical related issues and getting "tips" from people who earn 3.50$/month. in this context it could be almost considered sort of a protective mechanism to throw around with technical terms, where beginners don't understand a word - which nobody wants.
difficult to solve, but for lack of alternatives and considering that the share in the number of original posts decreases considerably with maturity of the user, i'd vote for some kind of newbie section, something like viggen has pointed out.
