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Why not charge €1 to register on boards

MadsL · 2013-11-01 20:00:25

I just read a post with a user claiming to have re-regged 250+ times this year. Multiple re-regs and muppetry seem to consume a good deal of Admin and mods time. Surely charging €1 to reg an account would soften the cough of these idiots?

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#32 02-11-2013 1:17am
hullaballoo

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MadsL wrote: »

This doesn't look that minor to me, but then I'm not an Admin...

20 odd a day?
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/banlist.php

That low?

Back in the day, Beruthiel would have 50+ accounts banned before 8:30am. That's not a joke.

20 a day, taking into account spambots, shills, re-reg's etc. is a low number.

Again, not broken, don't fix.

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#33 02-11-2013 2:01am
Karl Stein

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Would an incremental increase in privileges help dissuade it?

Isn't there some sort of system like that for the Soccer forums to prevent idiocy?

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#34 02-11-2013 8:03am
Mr E

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Just to put things into context:

1. Register a new email address (30-60 seconds).
2. Register a boards account (30-60 seconds).
3. Receive boards email and activate boards account (15 seconds).

From our side:

1. Ban an account (4 seconds), or ban an account and delete all posts (8 seconds).
2. Err... that's it.

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#35 02-11-2013 9:14am
Gordon

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MadsL wrote: »

I just read a post with a user claiming to have re-regged 250+ times this year.
Multiple re-regs and muppetry seem to consume a good deal of Admin and mods time.

Surely charging €1 to reg an account would soften the cough of these idiots?

Are you trying to discriminate against Mr E taking the LoB top spot?

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#36 02-11-2013 12:03pm
[Deleted User]
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I'd prefer to charge a few non re reg posters money for having to put up with their crap. Can we do that actually? That would be awesome. Automatic deduction from their paypal account every time they say something stupid.

This time next year we'll be millionaires Rodney.

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#37 02-11-2013 12:05pm
Super-Rush

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Deleted User wrote: »

I'd prefer to charge a few non re reg posters money for having to put up with their crap. Can we do that actually? That would be awesome. Automatic deduction from their paypal account every time they say something stupid.

This time next year we'll be millionaires Rodney.

Ha ha.

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#38 02-11-2013 12:38pm
Artful_Badger

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Deleted User wrote: »

I'd prefer to charge a few non re reg posters money for having to put up with their crap. Can we do that actually? That would be awesome. Automatic deduction from their paypal account every time they say something stupid.

This time next year we'll be millionaires Rodney.

I was gonna suggest a "dick jar" to put a quid in every time you get infracted but "dick jar deposits" might look a bit sketchy on the books

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#39 02-11-2013 12:44pm
professore

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Neon_Lights wrote: »

I'd just set up another irish boards site and take all your unhappy "customers" away muahahahaha!

This.

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#40 02-11-2013 5:06pm
MadsL

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Deleted User wrote: »

I'd prefer to charge a few non re reg posters money for having to put up with their crap. Can we do that actually? That would be awesome. Automatic deduction from their paypal account every time they say something stupid.

This time next year we'll be millionaires Rodney.

Or y'know a "bitchin" mod' fine for volunteers who volunteer and then bitch about it...

:pac:

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#41 02-11-2013 6:34pm
[Deleted User]
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MadsL wrote: »

Or y'know a "bitchin" mod' fine for volunteers who volunteer and then bitch about it...

:pac:

I'm not bitching about modding at all.

You can't mod stupidity. Unfortunately.

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#42 02-11-2013 7:02pm
BOHtox

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What are the extra features of Boards.ie and how much does it cost to get them?

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#43 02-11-2013 8:00pm
Neon_Lights

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professore wrote: »

This.

You!

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#44 02-11-2013 8:16pm
MadsL

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Deleted User wrote: »

You can't mod stupidity. Unfortunately.

I'd be so banned, clearly

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#45 02-11-2013 8:21pm
Karl Stein

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BOHtox wrote: »

What are the extra features of Boards.ie and how much does it cost to get them?

€5 for one month or €50 for the year.

If you subscribe you can change your name and upload nice avatars.

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#46 03-11-2013 2:07am
Mr. G

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Brutal Deluxe wrote: »

You can't really even consider doing it.
The site is far too generalized.
If it were a certain subject, sure. It'd be nice to have a My Little Pony forum that requires a quid per account. There's a reason people would do that. MLP is something people troll a lot about online. Fans of that show would probably pay a quid just to be able to discuss it in peace.

The pre-moderated posts is just... no. There's no way it'll work. There's I think 80 or so forums. Way too much work for the mods. You'd probably need a section of mods just to approve posts.
What happens if I wanted to ask about getting a phone. Three posts in and it's "pay or kindly f*** off" in order to get more feedback.

And even then, who their bloody mind pays to post? It's not a niche site. It's nice that I can post in AH, head down to the Dublin forum and to bargain alerts all on my one account and all but... it's not worth it just to post.
I can see the point of subscribing. People do it for one of two reasons (IMO): they either really like the site and want to support it or else they just like the features.

TBH, if you told me "pay a quid or you can't post" I'd just close the account.

I agree with this. Mods are volunteers and to expect us to premoderate these posts would be too much. I think Boards have it right at the minute.

Taking out a debit card to pay €1 probably isn't worth it after PayPal/bank charges. I know if I was asked for money online to view a forum, I just couldn't be bothered, aside from the security aspect of it of course.

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#47 03-11-2013 2:24am
Mr. G

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Carlos Roca wrote: »

€5 for one month or €50 for the year.

If you subscribe you can change your name and upload nice avatars.

Here's more info on it also

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056950118

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#48 03-11-2013 10:52am
[Deleted User]
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Yeah, it's an absolutely ridiculous idea that would ultimately backfire. I, and many other now-regular users, signed up to here just to ask a simple question. If I had gotten here originally and seen that there would be as much hassle as pre-moderation or paying to ask a question, then you'd be damned sure I would have closed the tab, gone straight to Google, and found somewhere that can answer my question for free. And this is essentially what will happen with new users.

20+ bans a day isn't that high amount, given how many people create accounts each day.

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#49 05-11-2013 4:12pm
petes

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I think it's fantastic idea and I'll take 50c on the euro to premoderate all newbie threads!

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#50 05-11-2013 4:38pm
Dav

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Just for the record, we're not doing this - any barrier to entry at sign-up is bad for any website, especially one like ours.

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#51 05-11-2013 4:41pm
MadsL

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Dav wrote: »

Just for the record, we're not doing this - any barrier to entry at sign-up is bad for any website, especially one like ours.

What the hell kind of democratic decision-mak...oh wait.

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#52 06-11-2013 9:17pm
Filibuster

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Idk boards.ie don't have a good track record of keeping your private information secure, I'm not going to give them my bank details

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#53 06-11-2013 9:25pm
KoolKid

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As subs are via PayPal what would you be concerned about?

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#54 07-11-2013 10:11am
wnolan1992

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Charging everyone to put off spammers and reregs is akin to always-online DRM in games. You're only punishing the genuine users of the site. The spammers and trolls will bugger off somewhere else, but so will a large portion of the user base.

Horrific idea all round.

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#55 07-11-2013 1:14pm
Mr Simpson

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Filibuster wrote: »

Idk boards.ie don't have a good track record of keeping your private information secure, I'm not going to give them my bank details

Eh, wha? Boards was hacked, could happen to any website (and has). Boards is fully compliant with the Data Protection Commissioner, and take personal information very seriously imo

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#56 07-11-2013 9:05pm
minidazzler

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How can someone with so many suggestions on how to run a forum like boards not have a forum of their own?

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#57 07-11-2013 9:07pm
MadsL

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minidazzler wrote: »

How can someone with so many suggestions on how to run a forum like boards not have a forum of their own?

How many suggestions? Much suggestion?

You have 151 posts in Feedback yourself, clearly not short of a few ideas...

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#58 07-11-2013 10:19pm
Cold Chocolate

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It's simple, nuke the site from orbit, only way to be sure.

A forum was set up full of clowns trying out do each other by getting the most bans on boards and other forums.

Boards mods should play the irony card and try get banned on their site.

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#59 07-11-2013 11:31pm
pablomakaveli

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Daft idea. It would turn so many potential users away. I know i wouldn't have bothered with the site if i had to pay.

However maybe charging a €1 amnesty to banned users might be an idea.

If banned users want a second chance charge them a euro or two to get their perma-ban lifted on the condition that they behave. If they misbehave again they simply get permabanned again and boards is a couple of quid better off. If not they end up as a reformed productive member of the boards community.

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#60 07-11-2013 11:36pm
P_1

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pablomakaveli wrote: »

Daft idea. It would turn so many potential users away. I know i wouldn't have bothered with the site if i had to pay.

However maybe charging a €1 amnesty to banned users might be an idea.

If banned users want a second chance charge them a euro or two to get their perma-ban lifted on the condition that they behave. If they misbehave again they simply get permabanned again and boards is a couple of quid better off. If not they end up as a reformed productive member of the boards community.

That's not too bad an idea actually, not too sure if it would be worthwhile implementing mind

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#61 08-11-2013 12:11am
Lyrical

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pablomakaveli wrote: »

Daft idea. It would turn so many potential users away. I know i wouldn't have bothered with the site if i had to pay.

However maybe charging a €1 amnesty to banned users might be an idea.

If banned users want a second chance charge them a euro or two to get their perma-ban lifted on the condition that they behave. If they misbehave again they simply get permabanned again and boards is a couple of quid better off. If not they end up as a reformed productive member of the boards community.

I don't think it would be feasible in my opinion bar doing something illegal, you wont get perm banned for a yellow or red card. Reading the prison forum it comes across as a last resort for an admin to perma-ban an established user who usually would have infractions well into double figures.

So if they pay a fee and get their banned lifted. Does their previous record get wiped (forum bans/category bans etc) leaving the possibility for them to carry on as before? Or do they keep their old record and be told they're one offence from getting site banned again?

If they managed to get banned again after paying a fee they would probably open a Paypal dispute trying to get their money back,I don't think it would be worth the hassle.

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