@msatt said: Everyone can browse and look at discussions without joining already
Not all.
Take the off-topic and LES exclusive offers, as easy examples.
@msatt said: simply 'joining' should mean I want to participate
Well, joining and participating are two separate things.
Joining simply means to become a member of the forum, while participating means to actively contribute by posting, commenting, or even interacting with other members of the forum.
Someone can join to just browse, look for deals, or visit occasionally without necessarily participating.
Honestly, I can't think (or know) of any forum where joining also requires you to participate in discussions
At most, some forums may require members to log in occasionally or they might disable accounts that have been dormant for a long time.
"The imitator dooms himself to hopeless mediocrity." — Ralph Waldo Emerson
@DP - very fair points.
I think the key point is 'LES exclusives' - This is a big reason to be a member. As far as participating I agree with both you and @somik, there is no way you can force participation other than by getting the user to comment in their own newbie thread which (probably me not explaining clearly enough) is what I mean by participating.
ok i had a look at things; actually, almost no adaptation is needed in code. I just need to point the posts at a thread instead of generating a new post in a category; everything else still applies. We will make sure only users above a threshold e.g. 25 can upvote new members in general to avoid some abuse; new members only answer 1 question instead of 4, I will impose a minimum character limit of 100 on the input field and that generates their first post.
I will also relax the ability for them to post in other topics while they are under 5 karma and hide all offer posts from new members until at 5 karma. no one can dift karma to new members at all, only up/down votes and the +5 can be earned on any thread not just the introduction.
I think that should sort it out, we will essentially end up with a new member megathread, which they are not forced to participate in. Again, if it needs to be adapted, we can adapt it after.
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Comments
Not all.
Take the off-topic and LES exclusive offers, as easy examples.
Well, joining and participating are two separate things.
Joining simply means to become a member of the forum, while participating means to actively contribute by posting, commenting, or even interacting with other members of the forum.
Someone can join to just browse, look for deals, or visit occasionally without necessarily participating.
Honestly, I can't think (or know) of any forum where joining also requires you to participate in discussions
At most, some forums may require members to log in occasionally or they might disable accounts that have been dormant for a long time.
"The imitator dooms himself to hopeless mediocrity." — Ralph Waldo Emerson
@DP - very fair points.
I think the key point is 'LES exclusives' - This is a big reason to be a member. As far as participating I agree with both you and @somik, there is no way you can force participation other than by getting the user to comment in their own newbie thread which (probably me not explaining clearly enough) is what I mean by participating.
Get your FREE VPS if you develop Open Source software
ok i had a look at things; actually, almost no adaptation is needed in code. I just need to point the posts at a thread instead of generating a new post in a category; everything else still applies. We will make sure only users above a threshold e.g. 25 can upvote new members in general to avoid some abuse; new members only answer 1 question instead of 4, I will impose a minimum character limit of 100 on the input field and that generates their first post.
I will also relax the ability for them to post in other topics while they are under 5 karma and hide all offer posts from new members until at 5 karma. no one can dift karma to new members at all, only up/down votes and the +5 can be earned on any thread not just the introduction.
I think that should sort it out, we will essentially end up with a new member megathread, which they are not forced to participate in. Again, if it needs to be adapted, we can adapt it after.
TierHive - Hourly VPS - NAT Native - /24 per customer - DE, UK, SG, CA, USA x3, FR, AU, PL, NL
FREE tokens on sign up, try before you buy. | Static Hosting Free for life: https://tierhive.com/static-hosting/