Trash Forum Topics - Can We Stop New Users from Posting in Forums Prior to a Waiting Period?

Pelicannn on 14/03/2021 - 17:02

Recently there have been a lot of trash forum topics and, as much as I like the comic gold of comments that get posted under such posts as " HELP ME - I just crashed my car can I get away with insurance fraud?" or "hey OzB can you google this for me?" it's getting a bit old. The majority of these posts seem to come from users who registered five minutes ago probably cause they don't want their main getting hard neg'd for asking what is obviously a stupid question.

Any thoughts on implementing a minimum wait period prior to posting in main forum topics? Maybe 24 hours, maybe a week?

Poll Options

  • 31
    No Waiting Period
  • 2
    24 Hours
  • 128
    7 Days
  • 4
    Other
Site Discussion

Comments

  • Quantumcat on 14/03/2021 - 17:04
    +15

    Just because they registered recently doesn't mean they haven't been reading a while. And making people wait isn't going to change their questions.

    • Pelicannn on 14/03/2021 - 17:06
      +4

      Valid. My hope is that people forget to ask said stupid questions after they've spent more than 5 minutes thinking on it.

      • Scrooge McDuck on 16/03/2021 - 16:23

        In life you will often encounter behaviour which irritates you. It is infeasible to prevent such behaviour from other people, so the better solution is to deal with it. In this case, don't read topics which you think are trash.

    • AndyC1 on 14/03/2021 - 18:00
      +1

      100% agree, just look at the latest FB marketplace screenshot scam from another newbie:
      https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/610340#comment-10205751

      These are occurring very often and show that allot of the newbies do not read or have just found the site.

  • buckethat on 14/03/2021 - 17:16
    +3

    How does one determine what is trash.

    • Pelicannn on 14/03/2021 - 17:19

      Subjective, but last week there was an actual post of someone asking OzB whether they can just lie on insurance claim to get the company to fix previous damage. Today we have posts of people asking things that can literally be googled faster than the time it takes to register and post to the forum.

      • buckethat on 14/03/2021 - 17:22
        +6

        I mean, it doesn't hurt anyone. If you don't want to engage because you think its dumb, just dont engage. I prefer open forum. Also, even if the questions can sometimes be stupid, some comments can be really valuable for readers.

        • Pelicannn on 14/03/2021 - 17:35

          I mean don't get me wrong as I said I seriously enjoy some of the comments I read that get directed to an OP who sounds like an absolute muppet, and I have seen some shocking posts in my short two years on OzB. I mean more so to just try filter out the spam, or to stop people making fake accounts and if they want to post a stupid question, they can do it on their main and take the hit.

    • Seraphin7 on 14/03/2021 - 22:43

      Been a member for five minutes and we get another variation of "my car's not insured".

      That alone would weed out the majority of trash posts.

  • djones145 on 14/03/2021 - 17:19
    +2

    at least 2 years and a month I reckon
    looks like u are banned from posting
    I'll have to get this topic deleted

    • rompastompa on 15/03/2021 - 16:56
      +1

      Na, they should only be able to post if their post count is >1. Kind of like minimum 2 years experience for a junior employment role. That'll stop those pesky trolls.

  • dasher86 on 14/03/2021 - 17:23
    +5

    So if I say this forum topic is trash does that mean it can be deleted?

    • Pelicannn on 14/03/2021 - 17:23
      +1

      Sure. I'm only posing a question.

  • Downvoter on 14/03/2021 - 17:32

    7 day waiting period and unlimited daily negs thanks

    • onetwothreefour on 14/03/2021 - 20:12
      +1

      Maybe if the op read your previous post https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/560876 they wouldn't have posted this duplicate topic?

      • Downvoter on 14/03/2021 - 20:32
        +2

        Kudos to your commitment to stalking

      • Pelicannn on 14/03/2021 - 23:04

        I actually did see this, but there wasn’t a poll attached. I feel like if 4/5 of people think it should have a waiting period it’s something the mods can consider. At least now it’s got some statistics to back it up, albeit from a very small sample compared to full time OzB users.

    • bargain huntress on 15/03/2021 - 09:36

      yes please to unlimited negs

      except maybe it would turn into neg wars

  • plmko on 14/03/2021 - 18:03
    +1

    OzB doesn't care because they get the ad clicks. If anything they invite trash forum post because it ranks up their website on Google.

    OP point has been discussed to death already.

  • Mechz on 14/03/2021 - 18:19
    +1

    Maybe if the 'new topic' page had the smarts like the 'new bargain' page, asking you if the post is similar to ones already there, fixing your bad titles, etc, it wouldn't look like 4chan some days.

  • burningrage on 14/03/2021 - 18:34
    +2

    No waiting period.

    Some posts can be an indirect "call for help" and waiting period will stop that.

    • bargain huntress on 15/03/2021 - 09:37

      as much as 7 days sounds enticing,
      this worries me too

  • Hithere on 14/03/2021 - 18:36

    Although I agree that something should be done to stop/slow the recent rash of trolling/stupid posts restricting their posting privileges in some way is about the only real option available.

    At least the mods let us have some fun and allow us to give these 'new members' a hard time before taking any necessary action.

  • pegaxs on 14/03/2021 - 18:50

    Stupid troll post… hit the report button and let the mods deal with/delete it.

    • havebeerbelywillsumo on 14/03/2021 - 19:12

      I could say it takes one to know one - IMO it's a valid question and deserving of thought.

  • havebeerbelywillsumo on 14/03/2021 - 18:57

    It's a vexing situation, I'd plumped for 7 days and was then wavering thinking of the valid comment that someone may suddenly need instant advice….but then thought the act of posting should have some attribute of being a member privilege so that person should have signed on when they first discovered the site (or shortly after, when they'd seen the value here).

    In that way the need catching them unawares should, in most instances, be covered.

    (added on edit) after looking at the new posts for today I can see what has upset the OP, so much rubbish!

  • rocketpoweredmice on 14/03/2021 - 19:29
    +4

    Maybe a new Report category:

    "Low Effort Post" - OP has not put in a reasonable amount of thought, effort or research before posting. OP is using OzB as a crowd sourced version of Google/Wikipedia/etc.

    Could be used to flag these topics for mods to close with appropriate feedback to the OP.

  • websterp on 14/03/2021 - 20:44

    What about having some form of secondary verification (i.e. mobile number) if a new account is being created from the same IP? Not 100% bullet-proof but would be a deterrent for sure.

    • Quantumcat on 15/03/2021 - 19:12

      So everyone can have two accounts? (As the first one doesn't require verification)

    • Lysander on 31/03/2021 - 18:58

      What about house shares, libraries, companies etc. who have one IP address?

    • Moderatorhamza23 on 31/03/2021 - 19:08

      We already have advanced detection for ghost accounts. That isn't an issue. Nor do we want to ask users for unnecessary personal information.

  • Ocker on 14/03/2021 - 20:45

    Some people have too much spare time on their hands and in moments of boredom just create a new membership and post utter crap questions just to gain attention.
    Afraid no simple solution, other than to ignore the obvious.
    Having said that, the mods will have access to the ip address of all new and existing member posts. Using such info. they could easily clean up the boards and make them more relevant to users.
    I suspect a long term goal is (or imho) list OZB of the ASX (the same as Hotcopper did) so I would suggest they clean up the boards well in advance and create a high level of credibility

    • bargain huntress on 15/03/2021 - 09:41

      does the ip thing work when people share and isp share-out ips sometimes?

      sometimes when i go to wikipedia it tells me about a previous edit "I" made - but it wasn't me, just someone else with same ip in the past

  • Melb69 on 14/03/2021 - 20:51

    New OPs coming thick and fast

  • Davo1111 on 14/03/2021 - 22:17

    solution is for mods to ban both accounts

  • This Guy on 14/03/2021 - 22:34

    Gonna gate keep you buddy.

    Two years? Waiting period should be four years. Most of the regulars have been here a decade. They will disappear for six months every so often, but most come back if the reason for absence wasn't life threatening.

    We come for the drama. We already bought everything a decade ago when companies still did loss leaders.

    Instead, let's vote to rename the site:

    Ozdrama.com
    FacebookButWithOutActuallyKnowingAnyOneBecauseWeStoppedMeetUpsFiveYearsAgoSoStillFunAndWithLessAnnoyingAds.com
    OzNotQuiteStaffOrIndustryPrices.com
    JarJar.com (I miss that guy)

    And the problem with a waiting period is that any amazing deal that motivates a viewer into a user will have ended or be brodened before it is live (Yes, I know, wrong use, but you're two years in so it's not like you'd know).

    /s (Just in case you mistake taking the piss for gate keeping. You did post something equally as silly as what you're complaining about)

    • Quantumcat on 15/03/2021 - 19:13
      +1

      JarJar.com (I miss that guy)

      Not me, he was annoying, arrogant and rude

  • RockyRaccoon on 15/03/2021 - 00:26
    +3

    At least we should get something like the L and P plates for deal posting.

    That way at least we can see the topic and realise it can be a troll post.

    Sure we can check their details, but some trolls are clever - must have marketing backgrounds, and we can get sucked it first.

    This way those who like engaging the troll can still have their fun, and genuine newbies can get their answers.

    • bargain huntress on 15/03/2021 - 09:42

      wont the genuine newbies be L and P platers too?

  • Moderatorhamza23 on 15/03/2021 - 16:42

    A few points:

    1) The majority of threads that are reported as being 'troll posts', are not. Some users in comments here or other posts, appear to be overly sceptical of new users, when in reality they are posting with genuine intentions. Sometimes these users end up posting but not replying to the comments as they become overwhelmed in the severity or amount of replies, not because their post was disingenuous.

    2) What the OP states, about people asking obvious questions, or things you can simply Google, is more so a reflection of society. You may find similar questions/posts looking at your Facebook feed.

    3) Generally we try not to unnecessarily restrict things, we would rather have some pointless/lazy posts and some useful posts from new users, than neither. New users already have restrictions in regards to the amount of posts and comments they can make, as well as being excluded from classifieds.

    Users can choose not to read/reply to threads, but they can't make that choice if they don't exist in the first place. Similar to what @buckethat mentioned earlier..

    4) plmko mentioned "OzB doesn't care because they get the ad clicks."

    This is a common/lazy accusation, I assume it is reguarly said because it's how a lot (the majority?) of sites work, but this is not how OzBargain works. We aren't trying to 'max out revenue'. This comment by scotty a few years ago may help demonstrate that. If we were so worried about ad revenue, we would force ads on everyone and not give any option to turn them off. Rather than some elaborate plan to attract new L plate posters to post forum posts.

    Feel free to continue discussions, I just wanted to add some points on behalf of OzBargain/moderators. We will discuss this internally and review all comments made.

    • RockyRaccoon on 15/03/2021 - 23:22

      Then what about extending the L and maybe P plates to the post for new posters.

      1. That will mean if its a really weird post we can at least wonder if its a troll, and not answer.
      2. If its not maybe the smartA responses will drop off and the newbie gets a better result, or advice on how to better frame their question.

      By knowing this it gives the community a way to be kinder to genuine help requests, and ignore the others.

      I know we can check their details, but not everyone knows or does, and having that reminder would help.

      As distinct from posting which is L for first deals even after being here for some time, maybe it can dropped after they have been a member for a month or so.

      Anyway its just a thought for you to discuss.

      • Moderatorhamza23 on 16/03/2021 - 12:38

        Sure, we'll discuss L/P plates for forums.

        Thanks

        • RockyRaccoon on 16/03/2021 - 20:12

          and thank you.. 😀

          • Moderatorhamza23 on 31/03/2021 - 16:30

            @RockyRaccoon: L/P plates for forum posts should come in the near future (assuming no unexpected issues arise).

            We expect: It will run separately from deal posts and also be simplified (something like only the first forum post shows L plates). Everyone will have an L plate on their first forum post, regardless of membership length, due to system constraints and so it's consistent with how deal posts work.

            • Lysander on 31/03/2021 - 19:00
              -2

              @hamza23: Ha, ha, ha, great. People like scrimshaw and AlienC with L plates.

              • Moderatorhamza23 on 31/03/2021 - 19:04

                @Lysander: No they won't, I've reworded my comment, hopefully that makes sense now.

                Everyone will have an L plate on their first forum post, regardless of membership length

                • Moderatorhamza23 on 20/04/2021 - 10:48

                  @hamza23: This has been rolled out this morning.

                  Add L plater flag for new forum topic posters. Set this flag for historical 1st forum posts.

                  Examples: 1, 2, 3.

  • randomusername2017 on 04/04/2021 - 13:57
    -1

    One mans Trash is another mans treasure..

  • myusername on 20/04/2021 - 12:57

    lol they can't even stop regular users from spam posting so called deals

  • dazeller on 24/03/2022 - 14:03

    How about making people pay a deposit for submitting their first post and they only get it back when they don't abandon their thread after their stupidity gets pointed out by the community. I find much joy in reading how some people are trying to justify their stupid questions.

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