Guest posting and new moderator

[Saturos]

Oh, that's great. loooool

[Maka]

Congrats on the modship! Okayu already contributes a ton to this community so they're an awesome choice.

I've been on a forum that has anon posting without incident for YEARS, so here's what works for them:
-Some degree of accountability. Members can be IP banned (or at the very least publicly laughed at) for sockpuppetry and spamming under anon.
-Certain sections locked for anon posters. I'm mostly thinking the request sections, because those would be really easy to exploit. A lot of people sign up solely to request anyways lol
-Incentives to signing up; being anon is temporary for most people. Stuff like viewing your posts and having an avatar is enough for most people, though.

As for anonymous wiki editing... I dunno. That seems like a can of worms.

that captcha's been on the wiki for ages lol

[DeviantProtagonist]

As far as board restrictions go, the request sections are an absolute must. It'd be a feeding frenzy with little-to-no gain, otherwise.

More to the captchas, it's precisely the reason why this can understandably turn off users -- it's too much a drag even with Wiki links. I'd very much do without those secondary questions, if anything.

[liza94]

I don't understand why should request boards should be locked for guests. What is the point in registering if a person simply makes a request, thanks another person who fulfilled it, and forgets about the forum?

[MetalPredat0r]

I don't understand why should request boards should be locked for guests. What is the point in registering if a person simply makes a request, thanks another person who fulfilled it, and forgets about the forum?

To prevent people from spamming the request boards with multiple requests. Keep in mind that the requests are handled by very few people with limited time and budgets and all these guests just spamming the requests thread would bring stress that isn't needed.

[liza94]

To prevent people from spamming the request boards with multiple requests. Keep in mind that the requests are handled by very few people with limited time and budgets and all these guests just spamming the requests thread would bring stress that isn't needed.

But no one makes those people fulfill requests so I don't understand reasons for stress.

[ChocoCats]

But no one makes those people fulfill requests so I don't understand reasons for stress.

Guess you haven't read Setsuna's Resignation request thread then...

[Yunabeco]

Thank you all for your input. I'll dump some points from my mind here.

I reckon anonymity makes it harder to follow discussions and brings many other potential problems to the table. In retrospection, that was a great change out of practically nowhere.
That said, I'd like to tone it down but give it a chance for a while, and turn it off if it shows little purpose in terms of discussion quantity and quality.
Moreover, I propose to restrict guest posting inside the iM@S categories, and outside request boards -- that said, if you do handle requests and are okay with receiving those, don't hesitate to chime up. Setsuna has stopped for the time being.

More to the captchas, it's precisely the reason why this can understandably turn off users -- it's too much a drag even with Wiki links. I'd very much do without those secondary questions, if anything.

Thanks Deviant for your comments. I'm not a UX designer, but I do realize it's a bit of a turn off when it comes to using the forum and wiki.
We had practically no spam since I turned it on, so I thought it was a good idea at the time -- I'll try tuning things down a notch and see how it goes.

Please state the "changes to make the forum and wiki more user-friendly" more specifically. I'm curious.

By "changes to make the forum and wiki more user-friendly", most things are related to the wiki, namely:

• Making the wiki Main Page lighter (it looks pretty nice since the November/December revamping, but it's still the greatest resource hog of the site by a landslide)
• Making it the actual home page of project-imas.com, while still trying to keep some emphasis on the forum
• Have and maintain news about recent iM@S-related events, why not with a calendar

I was also thinking of simply merging the forum and wiki userbase, something that was proposed a while ago on my Talk Page, but this proves to be both technically challenging and potentially detrimental to experience, since a wiki contributor is not always a forum poster. And it doesn't bode well with my conscience since I'm more of a SoC guy.

The majority of the interest of the site is directed at the wiki (something I didn't imagine that when I set it up. Thanks, Google).

Still, I don't want the forum to fall into total oblivion. I'm looking for things I can do to make the experience more enjoyable for us all.

I'll try not to rush things. I apologize for the surprise.

[DeviantProtagonist]

Thanks for the share, Yunabeco. Having this restricted to the iM@S categories is an interesting proposal, since they're relevant to the main focus of the forum. Plus, if guests wished to engage in casual discussion outside the categories, then they'd come to show their true selves as members -- it'll serve as a doorway of sorts. I'll see what others think on it.

But no one makes those people fulfill requests so I don't understand reasons for stress.

You don't know that. People undergoing request handling can get their share of prodding, to put it lightly. As mentioned, look to Setsuna's thread please.

Guest accounts would not work with the request boards by any stretch of the imagination; it would be detrimental to having guests participate within the community when they could only do so much as leave some iM@S coordinates then buzz off. While it's true people often sign up to only post requests, it at least gives us leverage to organize things better.

That brings me to another issue with request guests; sockpuppeting, or otherwise a user working with multiple accounts to further their gain. We hardly have a way to discern different guests from a glance, so what's stopping the shady ones from requesting more than they're allowed to? Furthermore, it'd only be a hassle to moderate -- and by that, I mean constantly.

Overall, the cons outweigh the ill-existent positives so to even attempt this just isn't worth it.

[MetalPredat0r]

By "changes to make the forum and wiki more user-friendly", most things are related to the wiki, namely:

• Making the wiki Main Page lighter (it looks pretty nice since the November/December revamping, but it's still the greatest resource hog of the site by a landslide)
• Making it the actual home page of project-imas.com, while still trying to keep some emphasis on the forum
• Have and maintain news about recent iM@S-related events, why not with a calendar

I have been thinking, maybe the page layout could be closer to, say, SmashWiki. Mainly with how the news is laid out right on the front page for all to read. Here's what I'm talking about with the page link: http://www.ssbwiki.com/

Like, perhaps make navigation a bit easier by linking to different categories on the wiki. Just my suggestions.

[Maka]

But no one makes those people fulfill requests so I don't understand reasons for stress.

Shockingly people don't like being made to feel like tools for getting a quick video. They're not just machines that poop out requests at a lightning pace. Imagine every time you log on to a site you get 50 requests and very few thanks for not bowing to said requests. It's a PAIN, and I don't even fill requests.

Idk, I think anon posting could be something worth trying but whether or not we keep it depends on the outcome. I definitely think anon wiki editing is out of the picture though. There are like 3 people who check it on a regular basis and it's hard to keep trash edits off the wiki should they become a problem... Just look at the Gracie fiasco. A user (who actually turned out to be like a 9 year old kid) kept editing pages with flagrantly incorrect and overall terrible stuff, and reverting all her edits was a NIGHTMARE. It ended up taking like 2 weeks to fix. And there have been a couple of people who basically grudge edited stuff and vandalized.

[Setsuna]

I'll quickly weigh in (before I get back to work on something related to this forum) with a simple example why anon posting in certain areas (like requests) would not be advised.

Link removed, as it has been cleaned up as per Byuusan's request.

I could break it down for you, but that is pretty much an example of an expected abuse scenario. We had a poster who tried turning anonymous to get a request in a hit and run action after being told not to post there.

Cleanup has been arranged, after contacting him directly. He will handle the rest, I'm just doing janitorial duties right now.

On a side note, If you figure out what I'm doing, and you want to know why, the answer is 'Someone has paid me to do it'. The person paying has requested anonymity.

The expected rollout period is to be a week or so, pending the progress of the work. I will most likely be requesting a withdrawl of my resignation once that period has ended. We'll see though.

Edit: I've found out he can lock his thread, it's just that he doesn't want to due to monthlyish updates. I learnt something new today.  I'll clean up that thread as per his requests in the next few hours, after I finish this batch.

Edit2: Contact made, actioned as per his request.

[Yunabeco]

Good luck and godspeed.

For now, concerning guest posting, I have updated the permission sets to authorize guest posting in the iM@S category (excluding request boards) as well as the Wiki Discussion board (different user bases and all that).

[Amazing_Grace]

May as well throw in my two cents.

Congratulations on being promoted to mod, Okayu!
As far as guest posting, I think it's relatively harmless. I do, however, agree that it should be restricted as far as request boards go. I appreciate all the work people put in to requests, and it almost feels unfair to allow guests to just throw in their requests and run off. While nothing is stopping them from making an account just to request (and MANY people have done this, I'm positive of it), at least it will discourage the lazy folks who don't want to put in the trouble of making an account.

I'm not calling all guests lazy, I'm saying I'm sure there are some who are. Still, I don't think guests are particularly harmful. If someone is just breezing by and they spot a topic they'd like to throw their two cents into, but they don't feel the need to join since this topic is their only real interest, I believe it should be fine to allow them to do that without making them make an account.

Although the capchas do go away eventually if you're a member and I don't know if they do for guests, so it might be worth it to make an actual account just for that.

[Yunabeco]

Thank you all for your contributions. I've restored registration requirement for all boards except Wiki discussion.

On a side note, a couple restrictions have been lifted on the wiki to make life better for registered members.