Sandboxing new forum accounts

factoid · Post by **factoid** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 4:54 pm

In light of recent events, I wanted to propose the notion of sandboxing new forum accounts. The details will need to be worked out, but here's the basic idea.

1. New forum accounts are given read only access to the forums, except for a small subset of forums: helpline a new 'newbie' forum (overseen by cadet & alleg [i.e. the 'carebears' /smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />]) cadet forums (requires their being accepted) etc...
2. Accounts are automatically given normal read/write access to all applicable forums once some combination of posts and/or time has elapsed.

The goal of this is to allow new members to observe the community, and communicate with each other while preventing themselves from accidentally making the kinds of gaffes which can hurt their rep and follow them around.

Is this easily auto-administrated, or would it require modifications to the PHPBB code?

Post by **pkk** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 5:09 pm

factoid wrote:QUOTE (factoid @ Oct 29 2007, 05:54 PM) Is this easily auto-administrated, or would it require modifications to the PHPBB code?

This is NOT crappy phpbb forum, it's a worse invisionboard. /wink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=";)" border="0" alt="wink.gif" />

Kltplzyxm · Post by **Kltplzyxm** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 6:14 pm

what about returning vets?!?

factoid · Post by **factoid** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 6:39 pm

Returning or not, they would probably need some time to get acclimated. And would being limited to simply reading posts for 2-3 weeks be so bad?

Exceptions could always be made, and the administrators of the newb zone could always promote members to regular forum status based on request or observed maturity. Taking administrator time to jump newbs out of the sandbox isn't a big deal, taking administrator time to manually add each new member of our community is.

The point is to shield ignorance from their getting flamed by the less diplomatic members of our community, without requiring a massive investment of administrative time to get them into the regular flow.

Cadillac · Post by **Cadillac** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 6:51 pm

Mr. Kltplzyxm wrote:QUOTE (Mr. Kltplzyxm @ Oct 29 2007, 06:14 PM) what about returning vets?!?

If they have been away long enough to need a new forum account, Fac's point stands.

Otherwise in other unforeseen cases, I'm sure the admins could perform a quick fix ...

Post by **Thalgor** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 10:39 pm

pkk wrote:QUOTE (pkk @ Oct 29 2007, 12:09 PM) This is NOT crappy phpbb forum, it's a worse invisionboard. /wink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=";)" border="0" alt="wink.gif" />

PHPbb has already proven itself unable to cope with a forum this size or activity level /wink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=";)" border="0" alt="wink.gif" />

factoid · Post by **factoid** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 11:09 pm

I was hoping for an answer more along the lines of "Yes this is feasable", or "No, this won't work with the current system"

Sushi · Post by **Sushi** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 11:09 pm

I like the idea. Particularly the part about having a "newbie" forum. I know I would have used it a lot when I first joined: digging through it for info and tips, and asking questions as they came up.

Andon · Post by **Andon** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 12:09 am

From what I remember of Invision, I think it is possible. Not sure though.

badpazzword · Post by **badpazzword** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 1:56 pm

Newbie forum? Good.

Limited access to the newbie forum? Perfect.

Newbies having to "unlocking" the other boards as it was some sort of bonus? It "doesn't rub me the right way".