Define Cynical Fan Forums

New users are given a status which prevents them from posting anywhere but Airport. After making an appropriately human-written introductory post, a mod/admin moves them into the General Users (or whatever) group.

Might help with the spambots.

Thoughts?

Sounds good if it's even possible.

I'm already here, so go for it.

NO.

I don't want DC to be one of those arrogant websites that makes a big deal about posting in the "welcome" board.

Can this version of PHPBB not do captcha? Or are the bots getting around it?

it has a captcha, it's just default, unlike jason's old one

This sounds like an excellent idea to me. But maybe that's because I'm not going to have to be bothered to approve everyone that joins. It'll work beautifully though.

I don't want DC to be one of those arrogant websites that makes a big deal about posting in the "welcome" board.

You're just scared you'll be forced into the 'new members' group, never to be able to post outside of Airport, Boogle [Dot].

Not a horrific idea. Better captcha is a better option, but this would at least limit where this stuff showed up.

Yes, a smart CAPTCHA would be the best solution... but if that's not possible, then yeah. If we're worried about becoming "one of THOSE boards", maybe make a new board which ONLY newbies (and modmins) can see, where they just need to post a simple "I am a human" message.

Of course, this might be a lot of work for a problem which probably isn't as bad as I'm imagining...

Yes, a smart CAPTCHA would be the best solution... but if that's not possible, then yeah. If we're worried about becoming "one of THOSE boards", maybe make a new board which ONLY newbies (and modmins) can see, where they just need to post a simple "I am a human" message.

Of course, this might be a lot of work for a problem which probably isn't as bad as I'm imagining...

basically, a complex verification system. I'm still against this -_-

basically, a complex verification system. I'm still against this -_-

Err... why? making some profit off of all the sales the spambots are generating from here?

Interesting idea, and probably also doable in phpBB3, but I am a little uneasy about forcing people to post a welcome post before they can do anything else.

I'll look it over at some point when I'm less tired.

please don't make people introduce themselves... it's hella lame.

What's so lame about making a thread and saying "Hey guys, I'm new activate my account pliz."
It's not like you have to tell everyone your favorite color.