Why not charge €1 to register on boards

pablomakaveli

Lyrical wrote: »

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.

I'd work it so that if they mess up again they're gone. The terms would need to be made clear to them before paying.

As for the whole paypal thing as it is someone can subscribe to boards and still get banned so not much different to that scenario and I believe a banned subscriber can't claim their money back.

Pawwed Rig

pablomakaveli wrote: »

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

€1 would be way too low when you consider the amount of time a banned user has wasted. Consider the amount of yellow and red cards issued by mods, the investigation of frivolous appeals through the DRP and the ultimate decision to ban. These are not decisions that are made with the click of a button. They require a significant time investment from volunteers. It would be an insult to the admins and cmods if all that work could be overturned by a €1 payment.

wnolan1992

Pawwed Rig wrote: »

€1 would be way too low when you consider the amount of time a banned user has wasted. Consider the amount of yellow and red cards issued by mods, the investigation of frivolous appeals through the DRP and the ultimate decision to ban. These are not decisions that are made with the click of a button. They require a significant time investment from volunteers. It would be an insult to the admins and cmods if all that work could be overturned by a €1 payment.

I'd agree with this.



But to expand on the idea a little, how about offering an amnesty to people who were site banned over a year ago...

I read the Prison forum a fair bit, and I've seen a few threads of people who were banned years ago wanting a chance to come back. Now, assuming they haven't reregged constantly throughout their siteban, maybe it'd be an idea to offer them a chance to get back on by paying a fee?

Obviously any transgression after that point equals instant ban with extreme prejudice.

I think that'd be a cool idea, but I can't see it being worth the time and effort it would take to implement for the tiny amount of money it'd generate.

Pawwed Rig

wnolan1992 wrote: »

I read the Prison forum a fair bit, and I've seen a few threads of people who were banned years ago wanting a chance to come back. Now, assuming they haven't reregged constantly throughout their siteban, maybe it'd be an idea to offer them a chance to get back on by paying a fee?

A standard subscription in €50 a year. It would be unfair to allow them back a the same rate as a good poster who is subscribing so I think you would need to charge €100 minimum for a return.
But then do they start with a clean slate or are they on a last warning. Where someone is paying for a service they have more rights than posters who are using the site for free (bearing in mind a subscription is a voluntary contribution). The legal guys would need to determine whether this would be feasible or not.

pablomakaveli

Pawwed Rig wrote: »

A standard subscription in €50 a year. It would be unfair to allow them back a the same rate as a good poster who is subscribing so I think you would need to charge €100 minimum for a return.
But then do they start with a clean slate or are they on a last warning. Where someone is paying for a service they have more rights than posters who are using the site for free (bearing in mind a subscription is a voluntary contribution). The legal guys would need to determine whether this would be feasible or not.

No one would pay 100 euro to be allowed back that's way too much.Thing is posters aren't forced to pay the yearly subscription so it's not really worth comparing. I'd say maybe a fiver or tenner might be a fairer price yet low enough that people might take up to offer.

Gordon

wnolan1992 wrote: »

But to expand on the idea a little, how about offering an amnesty to people who were site banned over a year ago...

We regularly unban people or lift bans early. To me, and I assume all other admins, a permanent siteban doesn't necessarily mean 'permanent', but 'indefinite'. If someone suggests that their behaviour will change, and we believe them, and their transgression didn't warrant an infinite nuking, then we will consider their unbanning.

Of course, when users continue to re-reg in spite of the initial ban, then they aren't helping with the above.

Pawwed Rig

pablomakaveli wrote: »

No one would pay 100 euro to be allowed back that's way too much.Thing is posters aren't forced to pay the yearly subscription so it's not really worth comparing. I'd say maybe a fiver or tenner might be a fairer price yet low enough that people might take up to offer.

Well the point is that they are permabanned. They are not wanted back on the site.
If they want to come back there should be some recognition of the amount of time they have wasted and what a pain in the a**e they have been and €5-€10 does not come even close to this.
It is extremely difficult to get banned from boards (other than spammers). Generally to get as far as a permaban you have racked up many bans, infractions, warnings that have consumed alot of hours of mod, Cmod and admin time. To value this at €5-€10 is insulting.

petes

Gordon wrote: »

We regularly unban people or lift bans early. To me, and I assume all other admins, a permanent siteban doesn't necessarily mean 'permanent', but 'indefinite'. If someone suggests that their behaviour will change, and we believe them, and their transgression didn't warrant an infinite nuking, then we will consider their unbanning.

Of course, when users continue to re-reg in spite of the initial ban, then they aren't helping with the above.

And you get the chance to take piss out of them in the Prison Forum :pac:

Dades

If we were to charge people to lift bans, how long would it be before someone arrived in Feedback suggesting bannings were up in line with profits?

The day there's an "incentive" to ban people is the day objectivity dies.

and we'll be singing byyye bye miss american pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry

Czarcasm

>_>

<_<

[Deleted User] wrote: »

and we'll be singing byyye bye miss 'murica pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry

Mads is gonna kill me for that one

MadsL

Czarcasm wrote: »

>_>

<_<





Mads is gonna kill me for that one

*Lines up crosshairs*

Dav

Pay to un-ban? Seriously? We're already inundated with "fightdapowah" numpties who use the site every day yet who think all our mods power hungry nazis and if you tie that into something financial, then all hell breaks loose. It's an even worse idea than charging to register

I know Somethingawful used to do it - maybe they still do - but they're a very different place to us.

Anyway, for what it's worth, I welcome all the feedback that everyone has. Lots of brains thinking about something are better than a small number. It's just that sometimes these aren't good ideas in practice, but please keep them coming

MadsL

Dav wrote: »

Anyway, for what it's worth, I welcome all the feedback that everyone has. Lots of brains thinking about something are better than a small number. It's just that sometimes these aren't good ideas in practice, but please keep them coming

*fuzzy feeling*


Cheers!

Fr_Dougal

If people spent the same amount of time and effort reporting posts from these re-regs as they do coming up with outlandish ways to stop them, it would make mods life's a hell of a lot easier.

Might I suggest ignoring these re-regs threads too, just ignore the muppets altogether and hit the report button; don't even post in them. If we stop engaging with them they'll get bored. It's quite obvious that they have 'issues' and crave attention and when they get the attention they keep coming back.

Tombi!

So I can pay if I get banned? Lovely! You're all ugly feckin'...
Oh wait no it's not done yet, yet never mind

Joke aside, would you not add some more private forums with the idea of being a subscriber gets you access to them? I'm not sure what they could be but I imagine some like how the soccer forum is done, a sort of no-nonsense serious forum might garner a few more subscribers?

As for the banning thing: on most websites unless you're actively being hunted down (say me, the person behind this account is perma-banned) you can easily work out how to make a new account and you'll be grand as long as you keep your head down and don't bring trouble.

I don't think people that have been perma-banned would really last if even if they got to pay to be unbanned. Most times whatever mod it is lists it like: 15 warnings, 22 infractions, 8 bans and that won't be changing to us since we already gave you a chance.
Edit: Just saw someone in the prison forums that got banned for having a large amount of cards/bans got let back in and got two warnings then got perma-banned and thinks it's unfair. So I really can see the same thing happening to a lot of others that get given more chances, paid or not.

I mean yeah, sure, you'll hopefully be more likely not to be an idiot and get banned after paying but I can't see it working. If anything it'd be: get unbanned, get banned a week later and I WANT ME MONEY BACK! YOU THIEVING so and so.

Cabaal

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

They've a better track record then big companys like Eircom, yet most of the country keeps financial data with Eircom to pay bills. There was no such risk with boards.ie

How about people have to give their phone number and Dav calls them to go through a questionnaire with them over the phone before verification? Question should include;

Do you have a crazy obsession with cats? So much so that they are as important in society as children.

Do you believe in the spaghetti monster?

Are you a DJ that grooms women aged between 16-20?

Have you ever become obsessed with a girl called Emer after seeing her in a photo about the Lisbon treaty, made a thread about it & then looked in to getting a B & B where she lived?

Can you describe your first sexual experience with MS paint?

Do you have a problem with wanting to kick people in the face?

Have you ever brought someone to bingo on your first date or even thought about it?

Have you ever been called Bubbles?

Should clear a lot up and I'm sure Dav would love doing it

Dav

I think I could go for some simpler and more effective one's like:
Please use the following correctly in a sentence:

• Their
• They're
• There
• Two
• To
• Too

MadsL

Dav wrote: »

I think I could go for some simpler and more effective one's like:
Please use the following correctly in a sentence:

• Their
• They're
• There
• Two
• To
• Too

*ones

.jacksparrow.

It's more effort to set up 250 e mail accounts than pay 1 euro.

Dades

If you were to describe yourself in one line, would it be::

1. your a dick
2. You're a dick.

Dades

Dades wrote: »

If you were to describe yourself in one line, would it be::

1. your a dick
2. You're a dick.

and when they reply

"you're a dick"

you ban them for personal abuse \o/

Vahevala

Surely it is just too easy to rereg on boards, create a new email and register, Is there no admin validation at all?

Dades

What could admin validation be, I wonder? A recent picture and some delivered baked goods?

The reality is that anything that makes it more hassle to register is a bad thing.

Dav

We have anywhere between 200 and 400 new sign-ups every day. To have that validated manually would be a total timesink and is yet another barrier to entry to a potential new member - the number who don't get past the email validation process alone shows that if anything, people are less patient than first suspected.