Stemming the flow of muppets. Get a coffee this is a long one.

Crash

Puck: Karma was a really good idea, except IMO it was way under-used.

Now, i may be wrong here, and if so i apologise, but there seemed to be a distinct lack of Karma given or taken. The only time i can remember really seeing it was when my bro got karma for not ripping WWM off on a Slane ticket.

DMC

I would agree with the delay mechanism. Register today, can't post until tomorrow. It would stop folk from opening up an account and spamming like hell like y'an Parrot yesterday. If they are serious about posting here, they will have to wait. Also the limit of posts in your first day, week, whatever, that you be a goer for me.

Me? Well, erm, I was here when Cloud hosted it on a ucg.ie server 1999, and then to my dismay, forgot ..... Only when ICDG moved here last summer that I joined back up.

Sorry Cloud

yellum

Originally posted by Hobbes
Admin voting system. Simple.

Muppet X posts something which they shouldn't of.

Admin X comes along, not the moderator for that board,......If a certain amount of Admins (not community moderators) click on the same person, that person is locked out from posting to anywhere.

Jebus I was kinda thinking the same Hobbes, but maybe give some mods supermod status to ban muppets, and when x amount of other mods in the mod forum agree the muppet should go then 2 (click + click ) ^ 2 + (2click)^2 the sucka.

I found out about Boards.ie from constant spamming about it on the IIA and Open mailing lists by Tom.

strat

First off, I was refered to these boards from a firend on irc at the time, havent looked back since

I recon the only viable option is the "XX hours before you can post" lark as mentioned already. Banning ip's and mac address's wont work imo as per net cafes and work enviroments where people are not using the same pc every day. And of course the masses of people still on dial up connections.

I dont like the voting or vouching for newbie posters either - it can be esaily abused imo. Puts of the passers by also.

Also I recon its long over due some Iron fisted admins (ouuuu arrrrr missussss ) to shake up the place and stamp out the spam induced crapulance!

Moriarty

First of all, i found out about boards one night in IRC.

To be blunt, I think that most of the options that have been mentioned are either unworkable, or will kill the community. The one great option is the limiting of new accounts, eg 1 or 2 posts/day for the first week, 3 a day for second week, then unlimited. I really do think this would help.

Also, as mentioned by gandalf, lose the post count and titles as it is an encouragement to spam. I totally agree with that sentiment. Have the date you were registered, but remove everything to do with post count. It serves no useful purpose, and just makes people spam.

Gordon

Post count definately has been an encouragement to spam (where is SMAK these days anyway? )

Maybe make any poster under 20 posts appear as "newbie" or "possible spammer" kinda thing and anyone else just leave blank. Or get rid of them altogether. (And hey, chuck in an extra fiver into the boards kitty at a night out and you can get your own word inserted ala "Puck" for example)

Yes, any true, real spammer can go to any internet cafe and post away to their hearts content, there are so many nowadays that one could support a healthy spam nick for ages. A grudge will always be attempted to be fulfilled.

Baby steps though, more moderation is needed, and with that - less ability for moderated happenstances to be referred to Admin in some way.

We should filter out the areas that are problematic, what forums are the worst (PI I presume is one of them, any suggestions would be gladly accepted). What areas are the best etc etc.

DMC

I wouldn't loose the post count, as I see them as a tool for seeing who is new or not and also who is experienced in posting on a forum. For instance there is a lot of folk on the ICDG board who I know are good posters, and are good for decent, well versed replies. (No names, I'd only inflate their egos ) It also shows others who hasnt been here a wet week who's good.

Post count shows me experience in that field and who is a regular. Drop them, and there is no way of telling who exactly who is a newbie muppet or a contributor of long standing. The spam count is not an issue for me, someone has got to be #1 poster.

ButcherOfNog

let it go as it is, mods can ban users from forums, admins can then ban users from boards if they deem it necessary. yes theres lots of new muppets (and lots of old trolls) but thats to be expected. the only option i've seen mentioned that would work would be the waiting period after sign-up. that would stop the multiple sign-up muppets.

how i found boards.ie? in 1997 after finding an irish quake server (on indigo) i did a search for quake + ireland on altavista, i found the quakelords site, i went from there to quake.ie and to the quake boards (the mother of boards.ie).

phreak

take away the post counts and instead have a rating system based on how long you've been a member

1st week - Newbie

one month - fast Newbie

one year - freak

etc...etc

[EDIT] maybe after a year or two, the user can choose their own title [/EDIT]

smiles

CTYI forum has dragged in a fair few folk this year especially, and yes they are muppets (not alll of them), but they're not being particularly abusive (anything they do is moderated), and they're learning, they've actually calmed down in the last week or so.

Taking CTYI as an example, when people first join they love the idea of a bulletin board and so they go mad and post like crazy, then eventually they grow up and become responsible posters like foobar, strawberry, and me

It takes a while, but i do think people need a chance.

<< Fio >>

beardedchicken

i really don't think the "refer a friend" option would work, especially since it'd mean that i'd never have found boards.ie in the first place! i kinda floated in when the phantomfm message board moved in, and pretty much only posted on it for months, before i realised there were other boards- i know, i know i am that slow!
(edit) ooh! i just thought- how about restricting newborn newbies to one forum for like a couple of weeks, then unleashing them- as smiles said, people who come from say, phantom or cyti tend to go nuts at first then realise they've gotten themselves into something much bigger than they thought!(/edit)

i do think that the probationary period, or delayed registration thing would work, and ground rules would have to be laid down at the time of registration. it would mean that anyone who really wants to join would have to wait a day or two, and then could be sent a registration code to finalise their registration, and in the intervening period could be told what's what around here.

post counts are kinda useful in gaguing how experienced a member is, and whether he or she actually knows what they're talking about! but the titles are slightly misleading; for example, i noticed someone there a while back who had registered in october 2000, but was still considered a fast newbie because he/she/it had a post count under 100, while someone else can notch up hundreds of posts, be it spam or genuine in a couple of months, and be a crazy/insane poster (*erm..what's the diff?)

finally, i think stricter modding would really help get rid of the crap generated by muppets - karma and "report this post to a mod" button should also be used! ok?

Giblet

Post Count = experience. No! There people on the boards who have nearly 1000 posts in 3 months. Experience points = Post count/ Posts per day. Higher number = more experience. Even though I just made that up, and it counts for nothing.
Hmm newbies can post 3 per day for first week. Best solution. At least if we have muppetism, it will be restricted to only three posts before somebody spots him, which is usually in first day.

Dont be at yourself

How I found boards: Not sure, probably through irc.

I'd be in favour of option 3, but you'd have to keep in mind that it would turn away a large number of potential posters. It would be fine for gamers who'd know boards members through playing online or irc or whatever, but for somebody who's following a link from a website (be it IOFFL or Phantom or whatever), it'd be less likely they'd know somebody to invite them.

I wouldn't like to see it continue the way it is at any rate, the moderators simply can't keep up with the amount of spam, trolling and offtopic posts being made.

Crash

I became a responsible user Fio? why did no one inform me??

I definitely think Karma should be brought back in, and put there alongside the post count/posts per day thingy. also, mods should use it more so that people can get an idea as to whether the poster is full of sh!te or actually someone worth listening to.

BuffyBot

OK - my personal opinion is that you should continue boards as it is, but you need someone specifically designated to deal with complaints and abuse.

Spam/Muppets/feuds/Mod complaints etc etc should all go to one mailbox/admin - therefore one person keeps on top of it, without having to worry about the hardware/programming/business side of boards etc - I suppose like a website/ISP's Terms of Service/Abuse team

Anyway - I came across boards through irelandoffline

swiss

For stemming the tide of muppets, you could try to premod all of their posts for a week, as well as restricting them to something like 3 - 4 posts a day to prevent major spammage. This does mean that they won't be able to contribute to more than one or two threads, especially if they actively participate in the thread i.e. with a useful and constructive view.

This would create extra work for mods - but you could put on a dedicated pre-mod team especially for the newbies that could cover all the forums. This team would not need to have a specialist knowledge of the forums involved - for example the technology board (although this might be useful). The advantage of this 'team' would be as follows:

1) The posts can be premodded very quickly
2) Obviously abusive/spammy posts can be nipped in the bud with a minimum of fuss.
3) A strategically picked team with day-round cover would mean that no matter when peeps post, they can do so with a minimum of fuss and still be vetted when they are starting off.

I never liked the idea of Karma. It felt like the proverbial "black marks" that one got at school. If everyone was subjected to it, then everyone would have gotten a -1 score at *one* time or another. Please don't reintroduce it. It would only be useful in pointing out the true muppets, and hopefully with a stricter pre-modding this can be rooted out anyway.

In regards to the assertion that post count equates to experience, I would disagree. As the old adage goes, it's not post count, but quality that matters. IMO experience is not just the lenght of time the poster is here, but the usefulness of the posts that have been made in the period of time in which the poster joined. A post count of over 5 a day indicates a heavy spamm0r (no offence to anyone intended).

anyway this is perhaps useless advice
but trust me on the sunscreen.....

I personally heard of boards through another forum discussion group (no, not p45 ) through someone who only posted here very occasionally. This was a few months before I registered, and then I waited another little while before I first posted.

[edit] I can't spell [/edit]

DRakE

Found out about Boards.ie from Ropedrink and TacTanni...

Used to use the gameshop forums rofl

kamobe

I like the idea of "punishing" people who take advantage...
Maybe, as sugested restricting their posting rights, and have their posts monitored before they appear on the site.

I think i originally came accross the boards through IRC...
Although it could have been IOFFL, I can't remember.

Bard

Originally posted by DeVore
Since we dont advertise boards.ie anywhere, how did you guys and gals find us in the first place.

If you are going to reply to this please also state how you first came accross boards.ie. Did a mate tell you about it?

DeV.

I found out about it through Lucutus. I used to share a house with him and he used the site and suggested it for advertising the room to let when I was moving out.

I agree with the "invite" option, btw... in theory... although Dustaz makes some good points about that...

Originally posted by Giblet

Experience points = Post count/ Posts per day. Higher number = more experience. Even though I just made that up, and it counts for nothing.

er yeah... well... post count / posts per day = number of days as a member of boards.ie ... which does NOT equate to "experience", imho...

Celt

Originally posted by DeVore
Celt, have you ANYTHING to prove that or are you just stirring shít? DBC has been a member here for a long time, what makes you say that?

Sonic10 was posting from a new york ip, he also mentioned stillorgan in many posts. DBC is in new york, and lives/drives through stillorgan a lot, or so I'm told.

Also, dbc = ubér troll.

Wook

i am sorry but what about , just a little bit more moderators?

amp

Personally I don't see the big problem, muppets come in, act like muppets, either the mods see it and react or they get tipped off through reporting of posts or on IRC and the muppet GETS TAKEN DOWN.

Also of late we have heard of your love of SQL and how easy it was to deal with Sonic10 etc.

I do however think that a 3/12 or even 24 hour delay in registration for new members would cut off a lot of the more trivial hit 'n run muppetry.

Wwman got me into all this sordid nerdy existence, I used to have a life, I was going to be someone, I COULDA BEEN A CONTENDA!

The Sweeper

I agree, there should be a 24 hour delay between registering and your first post all right - any longer than that and I know I would be put off coming back to the site if I was a new user.

Just a quick point re spamming and off topic posts and trolling etc. etc. etc.: I think this is an integral and essential part of boards. Yes, I think it's a pain occasionally, but it has to be said that a lot of what goes off topic goes into humour. Some of it does degenerate into personal baiting and handbags at dawn, but I've seen some threads where the off-topic content is of more interest than the original thread.

Are we starting to take ourselves too seriously?

Hellrazer

Why not have it so that the Admins of boards.ie send a new user who wants to register their own unique password.This would achieve 2 things.

1.The password could take from an hour to a day to arrive at the persons mail addy there by setting up a cooling off period automatically.

2.If the person was a spammer then all the admins have to do is change that persons password---no more worrying about blocking ips email addys etc.

If the person tries to change their user name and get a new password similarities in email adresses could ne noted and password either sent or not sent.

Just an idea.
Richie

Ruaidhri

since it is a 24 hour enviroment,should be there be a mod "on" to cover about 80-90% of the day time?that is to have two(or more)mods who have alternative sleeping patterns,so one will be on during the daytime and one during the night?

failing that i remember you mentioned restricting posts per day before DeVore,is it that hard?it seems to be a good option

Kix

Tempting though the "invite only" option is, if that were the case when I joined, I wouldn't be here. I wouldn't have known who to ask to second me.

I think a "cooling off" period after registering is fine though and I'd have no problems with it being more than 24hours either.

As far as I can remember, I heard about Boards.ie through the IIU mailing list.

K

Rabies

new members hmm i was thinking along the lines of restricting new posters to maybe 5 posts a day whilst they are probationary until they are approved by the moderators.It might make people think a little more about the content of their posts

ya i like that idea. restrict the users post to maybe 3-5 per day for the first week and each week after that increase the max post limit per day. if after a couple of weeks there is no prob then give them unlimited posting abilities.

have a time delay before first post, 24hrs seems to be the common delay time mentioned.

i think the invite only method is a bad idea. it will stop people just bumping in too boards.ie while messing around on the net. there will be no new ideas and viewpoints brought in to discussions.

found out about boards.ie through college.
this place has kept me sane (i think) during work this summer.

Kraken

celt it is possible for more than 1 irish person to be in america and post about stilorgan and if dbc was going to troll he would use his own nick he aint bashfull like.

i found bords through Dabounca when he came to tipp inst.

seamus

I haven't much of an opinion on this basically because I've only been here a year, and my board is mostly civil.

I go for some supermods. Mods who can edit/delete/ban on any board, but that's as far as their power goes. They can temp. ban anyone from all boards, but 12-clicking is only doable by the usual suspects. Also a feature I saw on p45 (which I also suffered ) is the 'Sinbin', whereby spammy/muppety/trolley(?) posters have their a/c locked for 24 hours.

And maybe an agreement on a 'basic rules and guidelines' which apply to every board, about what mods are and why we've deleted your post and how to deal with complaints, etc etc...........

Saruman

Originally posted by Minesajackdaniels
I agree, there should be a 24 hour delay between registering and your first post all right - any longer than that and I know I would be put off coming back to the site if I was a new user.

I registered at that P45rant.com to see what its like... it sucks but It took than a few hours to get my activation email before i could post.. i only wanted to post one thing about laser surgery since i had it done.. Anyway by the time it came few hours later i could barely be bothered... eventually out of boredom (and boards.ie being down for about 5 mins) i went back and posted... otherwise i would not have bothered..

A 24 hour wait before a first post is not a good idead in my oppinion. I dont think boards.ie even sends out one of them registration links to activate your account. That would be a start as it verifies the email address.. you could stop all the free online emails like hotmail and only use a real pop email addy.. Less likely to get spammers.

Also unregistered users should only be able to post in certain threads like personal issues etc.

Saruman

Just thought of something sitting in the can (of all places )

What about a probation? You register.. you can post a limited number of replies.. say 5.. not start any threads and your replies limted to a certain number of characters.. then 24 hours later you get an activation email.. If he is a serious user he will stay and activate.. a spammer wont bother...

Just a thought!

Mercury_Tilt

This post has been deleted.

Gavin

Have the initiation period thing.

have also the friends option, whereby the friend's signed up people can bypass the initiation period thing.

make mods meaner.

Gav

DeVore

hmmm maybe I'm being all *unf* *unf* about this... if people arent really seeing it as a problem, then I can have a think about it.

I think already that the delay/post restriction option is the best. Maybe 2-3 posts a day for the first few days.

DeV.

amp

I like the idea of post ratio caps. Tricky thing to calibrate though. Too high and it's useless, too low and it's opressive. Somebody said that we'd lose new users because of the time delay, that they couldn't be arsed. That's fine by me. Newbies should be reading the boards for a while and only start posting when they understand the culture. And if it means we lose some people because they've got short attention spans then... eh.... I forget... ooooh shiney Star Wars Theme!


P.s. I find your use of the noise *unf* disturbing. Stop it.

Kraken

i also think sinbin is a good idea dont know who said it to lazy look but it could work.

lets say ur put in sin bin then u have to send e-mail to devore or some other source and wait for re-activation. 3 times and ur account is deleted. its just an idea.

i also dont think new users should be restricted to just replying i.e first time i posted here i was asking a question i think. but i agree they should have a maximum limit per day and lets say that stops at 100 posts then u can post all u want i say about 6-7 a day or have it so they can only post x number per hour i.e 1 per hour for first 100 posts. that way you can be sure what there like and people wont wait for 100 posts to start acting the fool imo.

BEAT

First of all, I found out about boards message board through the phantomfm website...I get in through their site everyday. I listen to them online.

second, the idea about invite only sounds a little too much like a secret society or private club...you could run inot problems with something like that.

third, I think that it should stay as is, I think you are being too sensitive. Add a couple more mods or give some of the exisiting mods more power so you dont feel overwhelmed with all the muppet stuff.

RopeDrink

Things wont change drastically with the selection of one option.
We need to calibrate a host of idea's into one big shiny anti-muppet device that, if it doesn't stop muppets from being their usual selves, at least makes them think twice before doing so.

Harder Modship - Mods are not there to sit pretty and simply lock nasty threads / posts - They are there to whip out the CANE when needed and put some ****ing discipline on any dirty ****s that feel they can freely do what they wish!

As for Invite Only, look what it did to the CS Board... Would it be a bad thing!?

Qualin Hess

from reading throug this I reckon the best combanation of sugestions might be:

>Restrict newbie accounts to one board for a week or two, just put an optin in the reg form that allows them to pick a board to register to and only have sutible boards as options

>Restrict newbies to replying for a few days.

>have a rate this post option like the rate this tread option, only make it a Tumbs up or down button like ropedrink said, then tie the staticts form them into a new personal karma system that only admins/mods can see, so they can easly spot people that are promsing or those that are just anoying

>alow people to be invited in so they dont have the newbie ristrections but hold the inviter directly responsable for their behavour during the frist month or so.

>Add astaint Mods for the buzyer boards giving them the power to lock treads that are flaming and then report to a Mod for more serious atention. Let the mods pic their own Deputies.

Thats my opinion anywho

McGinty

Although I have been registered since January, I would still consider myself a newbie as I haven't posted that many posts due to study committments, etc. It is only now that I have more time to read and reply. First of all I think that Boards.ie is an excellent message board (is that would you would call it?) compared with a lot I have used in the past. Its varied with a topic for anyone and most people seem pretty decent and not prone to muppetry. It's brilliantly laid out, etc. Just to let you know though that Boards.ie is being advertised through Doras search engine, which is how I came across it. Its not that easy to find within Doras but I was looking for a message boards such as Boards.ie. I've also checked Google and its advertised there too.

I think the reg option is worthwhile, allow the new user to view posts but a limited number of replies in the first few weeks. If a person is keen to join they will (and knowing me I would have been happy to comply with it). Is there some boards more prone to spams, etc. If so how about the postings being moderated (some message boards in the MSN communties work this way). What it entails is that the posting is read by a moderator and if unsuitable it gets deleted, never to see the light of day, also there is no satisfaction for the muppet. If they post three or what ever number of irrrelevant posts they get one warning and then they are banned.

I am not sure about the invite only option, I personally would not have got in as I don't know anyone here. Plus it does breed elitism and Boards.ie will become stagnant and eventually die off. I believe that would happen because I was in a private community before and after a year it became a private community with invite only and about 6-9 months it dissolved due to not enough interest. I think maybe stricter moderation too and clearly defined acceptable behaviour codes. Well thats my 2 cent worth. Just to thanks for the excellent site and keep up the good work.

nahdoic

Firstly, I'd just like to say i don't think there's anything wrong with Boards.ie but I don't post as much as others. So here goes anyway.


OK. So I'm a spammer. I want to flame and troll and waste as much of the mod's time as possible..

Oh no there's a 24 hour registration period. ahh! hmm I think I'll make 20 accounts next time I join. i'll have to wait a day then it's spamfest.

Oh no there's a limit of 5 posts per day. ahh! well I'll just post from multiple accounts then.

Oh no this is a fuddy duddy exclusive members, and members' friends only club. Well loads of members have their website addresses with their profile. I'm just going to get in touch with them through e-mail, i'll buy them a buy pint someday, get them to vouch for my integrity then it's muppet city again for me.

IMO adding pointless restrictions like that will discourage the people you want to attract, and just encourage even more the people who are trying to get rid of. If you tell these types of people they can't, they'll just try harder. Not to mention the amount of effort it will require to program and maintain it.

So what to do? Well what's the real problem? "there are too many muppets for me to hit back at all of them"

Exactly. The solution was more or less in the problem statement. So give a few other admins that you trust, (not them all), the exact same powers that you have to hit back with. I'm sure you think of Boards.ie as your little baby (i don't know if you have children?) and you don't want to lose control and see it degenerate, but it's a big boy know daddy and you can't be worring about why it's not home by 10:30. You have to give absolute power to a few other admins and let it take care of itself.

yes I've obviously lost it (earlier than usual this time)... so I'm going to stop typing now. Hope this added a different point of view to the discussion and wasn't completely nonsensical.

Kalina

Originally posted by Saruman
Just thought of something sitting in the can (of all places )

What about a probation? You register.. you can post a limited number of replies.. say 5.. not start any threads and your replies limted to a certain number of characters.. then 24 hours later you get an activation email.. If he is a serious user he will stay and activate.. a spammer wont bother...

Just a thought!

Saruman's suggestion is the best so far I think. If you give user's a probation period yet still allow them to post (minimally) straight away then they won't get disinterested form having to wait ages to be allowed to post and they can also be monitered by the mods.
I found out about boards because some of my friends in college were logging in every day and telling me it was a good site. I registered because it was much more fun than programming and then got hooked.

WhiteWashMan

more crossover of mods.
and mods should be more strict.

Kraken

Originally posted by Saruman


A 24 hour wait before a first post is not a good idead in my oppinion. I dont think boards.ie even sends out one of them registration links to activate your account. That would be a start as it verifies the email address.. you could stop all the free online emails like hotmail and only use a real pop email addy.. Less likely to get spammers.

Also unregistered users should only be able to post in certain threads like personal issues etc.

They do have an activation e-mail you have to activate befor you post (ya dont say). dont know how long thats been there. also if u change ur e-mail in profile u have to reactivae it again i think or something.

But ideas i have liked so far are sin bin / limit posts per new user for x period of time or x amount of post. like if the person can only post 6 in first 24 hours they will just be back day later and spam like monkeys. i think if they had a target zone to hit before limit was removed it may be better. also i think new users shouldnt be able to post images (would cut out a lot of ****)

just a few ideas if i get more and have nothing to do ill post them up.

Dustaz

Probably the best idea after 5 pages of suggestions is adopt a 'wait and see' attidude.

Wait a fortnight and see what type of muppetry emerges, deal with it as normal but consider how any of the mentioned sanctions would have limited/stopped the said muppetry.


I cant remember who brought up karma, but its something that should be considered. A modified form of it would work wonders for newer posters who think its great crack to just spam/insult etc. If only admins and you could see your own personal karma, this would stop the problems that were originally associated with it (whoring it, etc). -2 karma should not reflect badly on anyone, but -10 would.

Jim

create [more of] a dictatorship?? :rolleyes:

amp

Originally posted by Dustaz
Probably the best idea after 5 pages of suggestions is adopt a 'wait and see' attidude.

Well, it works for Fianna Fail.

Wait a fortnight and see what type of muppetry emerges, deal with it as normal but consider how any of the mentioned sanctions would have limited/stopped the said muppetry.


I cant remember who brought up karma, but its something that should be considered. A modified form of it would work wonders for newer posters who think its great crack to just spam/insult etc. If only admins and you could see your own personal karma, this would stop the problems that were originally associated with it (whoring it, etc). -2 karma should not reflect badly on anyone, but -10 would.

One problem with karma is the muppets like Sonic10 actually want people to hate them, in fact the whole point of trolling is to get a rise out of people, and therefore gaining negative karma would be a goal for them to achieve.

Karma doesn't work and ultimately causes more problems than it attempts to solve.

SheroN

Although I have been registered since January, I would still consider myself a newbie as I haven't posted that many posts due to study committments, etc.

unless you're registered in 1998, you're a newbie IMO.

Dustaz

Originally posted by amp

One problem with karma is the muppets like Sonic10 actually want people to hate them, in fact the whole point of trolling is to get a rise out of people, and therefore gaining negative karma would be a goal for them to achieve.

Karma doesn't work and ultimately causes more problems than it attempts to solve.
[/B]

Well, karma in its previous form didnt work, hence the changes i suggested. A hidden karma amount would go a long way to reducing the whoreage that was prevelant last time round. The only people who would need to see it are admins who have the power to act on it.

As has been said previously on this thread, there is NO cure for muppets like sonic10 apart from just deleting them as soon as they start to take thier demonic form. You can put in all the safe guards you want, but if someone is determined, then they will misbehave like that.

cartman

i think u should have another option,didnt read more than 5replies coz its too long,
anyways u shud have a membership form on the site, a new member goes in fill out the formand has email name and stuff, and also at the end a recommended box,he has to get some to recommend him/her then devore or another admin goes to ask the recommended person is he ok do you know him and its up to Devore if hes in or not,
its the best way,its like the invite issue but in greater detail not just some1 who goes into boards.ie chatroom and says to some invite me coz ppl will do dat:/and then u have to think about the muppets u already have dat are not banned and they could invite other muppets....
Cart