User Group Changes. (Why I cant create post or thread)

[Pyriel]

Since the spam has gotten to be a concern for some folks of late, I've made some changes to the user groups we have on this forum.

Registered Users
All new users default into this group, and will remain in it until they have made one (1) post.
Cannot create threads.
Posts are moderated.
Cannot upload attachments.
Cannot upload avatars or profile pictures.
Cannot post polls or vote in them.
Cannot use reputation functions.

Active Users
Registered User with a post count of one (1) or more will be promoted to this group.
All the restrictions listed above are lifted. At this point you're considered to be a useful member of the forum. Your permissions will be exactly what all Registered Users were previously entitled to.

The promotion will not necessarily be immediate. After making your second post, a task will run at :25 past the hour that will promote you from Registered to Active user. Hopefully, this will cut down on the spam without interfering with the day-to-day activities of our productive members. (I've run this manually, so everybody with 2 or more posts has already been promoted.) With the moderation in place, it may be possible to knock the number of posts down to one, but we'll see how this goes first.

Moderators and Administrators will need to remember to check the post queue from time to time.

[lee4]

very good idea :)

I sick tire seeing spam every other day

[Driver]

very nice idea
and wheres this reputation feature ?? :(

[Pyriel]

It's not actually active on this forum, but the group settings still allowed access to Regular Users if it ever became enabled. I was just rattling off the privileges I had removed from the default user group.

[Driver]

okay no worries it would be nice to have a rep feature active :)

[EvilMan_89]

okay no worries it would be nice to have a rep feature active :)
rep feature? what is it?

[bfoos]

Reputation. Should be pretty self explanatory. Go over to cmgsccc forums and click the little scale under someones name to see.

Anyway, good job Pyriel. This should kill the spammers off.

[AliceInChains]

I agree I've seen 5 spam threads so far. Hopefully this'll keep them out for a while.

[RYU]

I`m Agree. Its annoying see spam around, or guys seeking for 15 minutes of glory. Anyway, you guys have my vote too for the reputation stat.

[shadowhacker]

Good riddance to bad trash.

[bfoos]

Good riddance to bad trash.
Indeed. I shouldn't need to use the report function anymore. Unless of course we get some unusually persistent spammers that will actually go through the process of getting approved to start threads, but I don't see that happening.

There are some nice changes in the NTSC forum as well. Pyriel is really cleaning house. Keep up the good work man. http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g203/bfoos/thumbs_up.gif

[Pyriel]

A new User Group has been added: Extremely Active Users.

Active Users will be promoted to this group after making 2,500 posts. As usual, the promotion occurs at :25 past the hour, so you will not fall into this group immediately upon making your 2,500th post.

This group has all the permissions of the regular Active Users group, except you're now permitted to set your own title. I may consider adding some additional privileges to the group, such as deleting your own posts/threads and opening/closing your own threads. Although, I usually see those privileges used for extremely petty reasons when they're given out based on post count.

We won't tolerate spam just to reach this level, so take care not to violate the rules just so you can set your own title. I thought this would be something nice for posters who have somehow managed to make that many useful, or at least rule-abiding posts. If this leads to abuse in any way, it won't continue.

Right now, there are only seven or eight members who have that many posts, and all but one of them are staff.

[dem413]

I've made three or four legitimate (not spam) posts so far and I am not an active member yet. I have waited four hours and got nothing. Anything I post turns to German(I assume) and instantly deletes. I also can't seem to PM. I would post this on a thread in the support forum but I can't make a thread.

Please Help.

[bfoos]

You have to be patient. The staff has lives. We don't constantly check the post queue. And you only made one legitimate post.

[dem413]

Sorry lol. Bad trait of mine.

[mabscottsville]

i can create a new thread apparently anywhere except in "nDS Requests" and was curious as to why that is (really its because i want to request codes for a game that is not on there yet) so, if anyone can tell me that would be great. thanks.

[Pyriel]

That forum is closed for some reason. I didn't close it, but my guess is that it's because nobody here really hacks the DS very much. So the requests were largely left unfulfilled, or were answered with codes from another site, like Kodewerx.

[bfoos]

I closed it, and the reasons stated above are pretty much exactly why. We have no hackers. Our one NDS hacker jumped ship for Kodewerx ages ago, and now only uses us (IMO) for hosting. He was also EXTREMELY biased towards Codebreaker, despite the fact that most people use methods that require ARDS codes.

Anyway, the NDS Requests forum was full of nothing but unanswered requests, whining and code thievery, so it went the way of the dodo. There is a sticky in there with links to sites that hack codes.

The forum has been closed since last October and to date, only 2 or 3 people have even asked about it. So, it will remain closed.

[pharmakon]

Hi!

This is my third attempt to post a post...
Somehow my posts won't show up. I get the message, that my posts need to be reviewed by a mod first. I don't spam and I'm pretty sure they were in the correct forum as well.
If a mod is deleting my posts could he/she tell me why? I made a request in the FFX-Pal hacking thread so far, and somewhere in the RogueGalaxy thread, and i contacted someone via the "Contact Us" option but without any replies so far. I know you guys are busy, but could someone please tell me what's wrong?

kg

[bfoos]

Christ people... Patience. New users need to be approved and can not do anything until they are.

As far as posts getting deleted, I can only suggest you read the rules. Converting/porting requests do not belong in the hacking forums. We have dedicated forums for them.

[tayfuntt]

cant there be another way to stop spamming , because if a new member(like) me doesnt see this thread , he wont be able to write a new thread until he sees this thread , or the email which says our account is activated can contain a sentence like ''to write ur own threads u must write a few post etc'' , so that all new members should know of it

[SpawnHyuuga]

Yeah, now maybe I can start a thread and get some codes converted.

[Bomario]

Actually I have to admit this is a very good idea and all forums I've gone to have been spammed with ads posted etc, this idea should be done all over cause it seems to work well.

[AlbaMeira]

I understand why i couldent post earlier now it makes sense.

[Lyrist]

cool, now i know how to post a thread...

[steinachen]

wow, now i know why i cant create a thread xD :D:D

[RAGADDICTED]

This is a very good idea. I never thought of keeping "Registered Members" from creating new threads until they've made a few posts. That is an EXCELLENT way to hold down on the spam. Kudos :D

[bfoos]

Pyriel's idea. Kudos to him. I killed off the bots with a required profile field. IIRC, New users still can't create threads until they're promoted to the active users group. This happens automatically now as there is no longer any post moderation going on.

[CallofDuty4life]

Very Good Idea. Great Work Pyriel's.