Rule - NO PM until 15 Posts .. why?

[GaryBne]

I love AFF - and enjoy yej community

As a newbie I have asked advice - some came in the form of a PM - for I guess privacy reasons.

BUT

I cannot reply - because one needs to have 15 posts before being allowed to send a PM.

why? what purpose does such a rule serve?

it discourages / penalizes newbies and or leads to new members making 15 "nonsence" posts of low quality just to get their "score " up.

I can understand that AFF wants to encourage posting - but most are too busy to enjoy quantity over quality.

thanks for listening
Gary

 

[leemin]

I love AFF - and enjoy yej community

As a newbie I have asked advice - some came in the form of a PM - for I guess privacy reasons.

BUT

I cannot reply - because one needs to have 15 posts before being allowed to send a PM.

why? what purpose does such a rule serve?

it discourages / penalizes newbies and or leads to new members making 15 "nonsence" posts of low quality just to get their "score " up.

I can understand that AFF wants to encourage posting - but most are too busy to enjoy quantity over quality.

thanks for listening
Gary

This has been asked before. From memory I think it's more to do with ensuring AFF members are genuine. That is, not spammers joining, PMing people and then disappearing. Admin may confirm for you though.

Oh, and you can PM the mods with <15 posts.

 

[serfty]

It is to reduce 'spamming'. It is unfortunate, but there are predatory individuals out there in the websphere.

As noted, you can PM a Moderator (listed at the bottom of each forum page) if you need to pass on some information.

 

[Mal]

Not unusual for forums to have a required number of posts before being able to access certain forums, or send PMs etc.

While I don't know the specific reason Admin has chosen to do this for, here are some of the common reasons:

- Prevent spammers signing up, PMing many people and causing problems.
- Encourage new members to use the forum for advice instead of PMing someone who posted on something.
- Have it as a "reward" for contributing to the forum.

Any Mod can be PM'd, and they will forward on a message if required. I've had a couple of messages delivered that way.

 

[Simo]

As already said, you can PM a mod and they will forward it on for you.

I know they have done it many times and will do it as many times as needed,

They are nice people and more than happy to assist when needed.

 

[GaryBne]

Thanks all ... case closed

Like most "security" measures its the innocent who suffer the inconvenience ... not that I'm all that innocent..


Gary

PS talking about "innocent" my favourite T shirt I saw in December:

Dear Santa,

I can explain ...

 

[777]

If you've ever been on a forum that doesn't limit PMs by new members you'd know why they do it!

In the words of Monty python ... (Choir: Spam! Spam! Spam! Spam! Lovely Spam! Lovely Spam!)

 

[markis10]

It does serve the purpose well, and rubbish or pointless posts will be deleted by mods regardless in most cases.

 

[BAM1748]

and you're nearly at 15.....

 

[yo yo ma]

and you're nearly at 15.....

Yes Gary... only 2 to go - did you know that posts in the playground don't count?

 

[The Rok]

Funny, I would of thought that it was more to do with encouraging interaction, as opposed to people just coming on, asking the question they need an answer to and then never returning and contributing anything meaningful to the site, or is that spam?

 

[NM]

If you've ever been on a forum that doesn't limit PMs by new members you'd know why they do it!

In the words of Monty python ... (Choir: Spam! Spam! Spam! Spam! Lovely Spam! Lovely Spam!)

And if anyone feels they are being spammed, bullied, abused or otherwise receiving inappropriate PMs from other members, please report such activity to Mods or Admin. While the content of PMs is private, the same rules apply regarding content as apply for public posts. Abuse of the PM functions will result in disciplinary actions.

 

[777]

And if anyone feels they are being spammed, bullied, abused or otherwise receiving inappropriate PMs from other members, please report such activity to Mods or Admin. While the content of PMs is private, the same rules apply regarding content as apply for public posts. Abuse of the PM functions will result in disciplinary actions.

Not a complaint about here but on other forums it is not uncommon for spammers to join, immediately PM everyone and disappear again.

 

[yo yo ma]

Congratulations Gary - good to see you have now hit 15 posts... PM away!

 

[NM]

Not a complaint about here but on other forums it is not uncommon for spammers to join, immediately PM everyone and disappear again.

very true. There are several mechanisms used at AFF to try to minimise the spam content, and overall they seem to work reasonably well. The PM restriction is just one of many that include the original account sign-up process/checks and restrictions on new members posting URL links.

However, some spammers still manage to get through and the "Report post" is often the fastest way for Mods/Admin to be notified of such activity. Once a user has been identified as a spammer, there are several things that can be done to try to prevent them returning with a new ID or even registering at other sites through email/domain/IP address blacklisting etc.

The full-on spammers are faily easy to identify and deal with. Its those that want to bend the rules around commercial posts and obtain commercial/financial gain from "participating" in the AFF community that are sometimes more subtle and may take a while to identify. Those are often identified through intuition or unusual posting patterns. Such suspicious post patterns/behavious may also be flagged using the "Report Post" facility of people think something looks suspicious.

So yes its unfortunate that such restrictions have to be imposed around posting URL links and sending PMs. But as noted, the mods are always happy to forward a PM or edit a post to include a URL/Link for a new member when there is legitimate purpose/reason.