Posting rules for new members

[Deactivated] on 28/02/2014 - 11:38

I was wondering whether the posting rules have changed for new members regarding how long they have to wait until they post their first deal. I remember it being 24 hours from registration.

I noticed the following deal today.

https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/135081#comment-1861242

The member who posted the deal had only been a registered member for less than an hour when the deal was posted, according to the time stamps on the member's profile.

I don't have any problems with the deal itself as it's a good deal for those who buy Huggies nappies on a reguar basis. I'm just wondering when the rules changed and the reasons for the changes.

Site Discussion

Comments

  • zelda707 on 28/02/2014 - 13:03
    +1

    There was a site update earlier in the month which allows new users to post a deal within 24hrs of sign up

  • neil on 28/02/2014 - 13:22
    +1

    As Zelda said, it was a site update.

    The 24 hour waiting period for posting was partly there for users to familiarize themselves with the site and a countermeasure for SPAM. The former is a bit of wishful thinking. There is still a longer waiting period for overseas posters where most of the SPAM comes from.

    We often have long time lurkers who look at the site but haven't bothered to sign up to an account unless they have something to post. They are then restricted from posting due to the waiting period.

    I guess we need to analyze some of the stats after we made the change to see if this is a positive thing for OzBargain.

  • scotty on 28/02/2014 - 13:25
    +1

    Yes the limit was removed in an update last week. We had the 24 hours there to reduce spam and encourage new signups to be familiar with OzBargain before posting. However we found that it didn't really achieve what it aimed to do but more of a hindrance for new users to participate. Some might be a lurker for years and never bothered to register an account, finally found a deal worth posting, sign up but then got a 24 hour ban — that's not really helpful.

    We still have 24 hour ban on some conditions where your sign up IP address:

    • Is an overseas IP address, or
    • Have multiple accounts created over the past 24 hours

    edit: beaten by both neil & foobar

  • [Deactivated] on 28/02/2014 - 14:42

    Thank you everyone for clarifying the situation.

  • scotty on 05/03/2014 - 17:49
    +1

    Just run through some stats in the database. We started allowing new members to post straight away (no more 24 hours wait) since 18 Feb, and

    • 72 deals were posted within 24 hours of user account creation, average 55 minutes after the account was created.
    • Shortest time from account creation to deal posting — 2.5 minutes by @mcstupid posting Free Hero Subs offer, but was unpublished due to being a duplicate.
    • 29 out of 72 deals were unpublished.
      • 7 duplicates
      • 6 sockpuppets
      • 5 spams
      • 2 competitions
      • 2 banned items
      • 2 targeted offers
      • 5 other reasons
    • 31 out of 72 deals were tagged as Store Rep posting, and 15 of them were subsequently unpublished.
    • There were some pretty good deals. For example, QuickTap free drink, 30 Days Unlimited Entry to Dreamworld, 55c/kg Seedless Watermelon and Free Eski Cooler with Maxibon.

    Looks like there's indeed a higher noise signal with those new user postings. With new rep accounts that's almost 50%! However it's still manageable with the moderators, and we do get some good deals out from it.

    • [Deactivated] on 05/03/2014 - 18:19

      Thank you for giving us the numbers. I found them to be very interesting. The unpublished percentage seems very high compared to the majority of deals but if you think the moderators can cope with it then I guess we should let the rule change continue. It would be interesting to see what happens with stats from subsequent months.

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