Limit N00bs from viewing Life & General Boards?

[Tyler]

I still disagree, I think ANY post limit is a bad idea.

[goom]

i'm thinking rather than the whole board, maybe just specific threads?
(post pictures of yourself comes to mind)

[Tyler]

Why though? If a person doesn't want their info to be out there, then just don't put it out there! It's that simple. Why are we trying to hide things that we WILLINGLY made EXTREMELY PUBLIC?

[goom]

i'm not arguing for the sake of myself.
i haven't put anything out there that i honestly care about.

i'm just speaking for the other 5 that voted 'yes'.

[wildweathel]

I vote a very strong NO for this reason:

It will create a much stronger sense of security than actual security.  The actual security is essentially non-existent, because it would be based on the assumption that postcount is equivalent to trustworthiness.  This is crazy.

Look, I've earned the title "Sr. Member" with the attendant name-changing fun-and-games rights.  The active members here have a rough idea of who I am from my ~300 posts, but posts cannot tell you these crucial facts: I am currently serving a life sentence for a burglary gone wrong.  Estelore is a serial killer--on the loose.  Faerie is not actually a faerie.  And Richard is recruiting for a cult with designs to take over the world.

(Esty, Faerie, and Richard, please forgive me, mmkay?  I don't really mean these things, I just had to make a point, see...)

There is nothing that would have revealed these things from our posts.  Post count is nigh useless in judging the trustworthiness of people, even if people couldn't get around it by just spamming the boards.

To repeat what I said earlier: develop a policy for what you do and don't share.  Kids, talk to your parents.  It's OK, really.  If in doubt, don't.  Then stick to your policy.  This is hard sometimes.  I currently do not share my real name, even though that can be difficult in chat (and even harder in voice chat) when talking about myself.

Also, I encourage the few members under 13: don't reveal information that can be used to contact you off-line: street or mailing addresses, pictures, etc. on any website.  Not just for your own safety, but for the legal safety of webmasters.

Finally, respect other's personal information.  For example, I know the full name of one of the members who does not reveal that information in forum.  I'm not going to share it, or tell you how I found it (other than to say that I was looking for something else at the time), or even tell you which member. 

Actually, if you're tempted to ask me at all, you should use this chance to practice self control.  If you fail and do ask me, expect me to shun you.

Anyway, sorry to be so dark, but this is important.  I oppose post-count limits because they provide very little security and are much more dangerous in the false sense of security they do give.

[goom]

nice post.
i can see your point about the false sense of security.

[Tyler]

I'm not arguing against you goom, I'm arguing against your point.

And the other 6 voters who said "yes" need to realize that if you put something on the internet, be prepared to have it seen. If you're not comfortable with giving out your personal information, that is perfectly fine. And if you want to tell the world your age, gender, location, Social Security number, etc., then that's fine too, just be prepared for the consequences. The 6 "yes" voters aren't prepared for the consequences. Don't put a limit on new members just because you can't handle the responsibility of your internet connection.

[goom]

i swear i didn't see the 'general' part at the end of that.
life i can understand, but general?

*changes vote*

[morfowt]

hmm...no...mostly because of reasons other people have already said, but also because people who do share some personal information (like me), don't always just say it in the life and general board...so it doesn't completely hide the personal information from newbies...

i noticed in the member list, there were only about 3 pages of users with 0< posts <10 and 8 pages of users with 0 posts.
that's a lot of lurkers

they're not lurkers. a good majority, if not all, of them just came for the e-books.

[Estelore]

I vote 'yes', but with reservations.
1. I know it doesn't REALLY change the security.
2. I know the false-sense-of-security risk.

That being said, I see other reasons for it.
Say a n00b arrives, turns into an e-book reader. Doesn't really participate. He isn't contributing to the convo. Why let him know the convo even exists?
Say a newb arrives, maybe he'll actually post in the ANIMORPHS threads FIRST!!! Maybe we'll get that board to really LIVE, the way other boards do!!! Then, after he's committed a fair amount of time to showing us how he thinks, we'll let him know what our lives are like, and that we can empathise with him, too. He'll get a sorta'-reward just for thinking aloud, and we'll know him a bit better BEFORE he knows us. C'mon, you know you like having that little leg-up on other members, deep down in your heart-of-hearts. It nags you just a leeeetle bit that newbies can lurk forever and learn how your brain works before they even make an intro.

Then again, maybe I'm just paranoid.

Then again, since when have I EVER held back ANYTHING regarding the way my brain works?!

Eh. I still vote 'yes'. I think 20-30 posts is fair enough.

I also think that the Bored Board should ALWAYS be open to newbies, since it's a major culture-centre in RAF, and it's easy to meet people there. It shouldn't count for their posts, though, same as us. (Well, duh.)

There's my 1.5 cents. *shrug*


EDIT: Here's the other half-cent. Just a suggestion: Could we have a message that sends automatically to a member when he/she joins, warning very very very clearly that this is a PUBLIC forum, and that there IS potential for risk? Sure, everyone here has a brain, but not everyone USES their brain properly, y'know? And maybe have another warning-or-something that pops up every time a n00b accesses the intro-board? *shrug*
Worth mentioning, I suppose.

[Xan]

A 10 post count limit with the boards hidden (not saying YOU CAN'T SEE THESE) would work.

[Liz]

And the other 6 voters who said "yes" need to realize that if you put something on the internet, be prepared to have it seen. If you're not comfortable with giving out your personal information, that is perfectly fine. And if you want to tell the world your age, gender, location, Social Security number, etc., then that's fine too, just be prepared for the consequences. The 6 "yes" voters aren't prepared for the consequences. Don't put a limit on new members just because you can't handle the responsibility of your internet connection.

I agree.  I know by posting pictures of myself here (and on other sites) there's the possibility that someone could take those pictures and impersonate me or whatever.  And the post count won't eliminate that risk, as wildweathel said.

[goom]

wait, i thought there was a limit for e-books anyways?
or do you just have to sign up?

i'm voting 'yes' again. dunno why i changed my mind before.

[Liz]

wait, i thought there was a limit for e-books anyways?
or do you just have to sign up?

http://animorphsforum.com/forum/index.php/topic,2162.msg141429.html#msg141429

[esplin]

People are saying its not gonna help, But honestly what could it hurt?

I really don't think anyone is gonna post ANYTHING they want now cause the limit....