When am I able to create a profile?

[jackstarr]

It's quite odd - has it always been like this?

I'm a rather sporadic poster, I tend to make one post a year on average (I tend to lurk without logging in)...and thought I'd posted in prog threads before now.

Or maybe I have multiple profiles, and don't remember any usernames for older profiles - I'm sure I've been a member here for a decade or so...

[rog]

jackstarr you only seem to have 5 posts so I'd guess you either have a few profiles or your old posts have got lost somewhere down the line, strange one that!

Oh well, I've been here for over a week and a half and have made more than 30 posts and no luck with getting full access yet so maybe they stil think I'm a robot or a mentalist (to quote a post on the first page lol!) ... maybe both!

[Emperor]

No comment

It's quite odd - has it always been like this?

No we've had to upgrade security because of heavy downpours of spam and mentalism.

[Roger Godpleton]

GODPLETON 2012

DAY ONE JOB ONE REPEAL EMPERORPROFILEBLOCKING

[rog]

No we've had to upgrade security because of heavy downpours of spam and mentalism.

The mentalism bit sounds almost intriguing - is this your general run of the mill sci-fi fandom type of mentalism (for some reason some online fans of a certain time travelling, blue police box owning Brit TV character come to mind) or a specific type of 2000AD mentalism unique to this board?

Please ignore me if the memories are too painful ...

[Emperor]

No we've had to upgrade security because of heavy downpours of spam and mentalism.

The mentalism bit sounds almost intriguing - is this your general run of the mill sci-fi fandom type of mentalism (for some reason some online fans of a certain time travelling, blue police box owning Brit TV character come to mind) or a specific type of 2000AD mentalism unique to this board?

Please ignore me if the memories are too painful ...

The memories are too painful. However, it is the type of mentalism that could easily spawn a slew of scientific papers as it is orders of magnitude further out there than most people have encountered.

[jackstarr]

I understand why it's been done (sc**o-proof), but doesn't this restrict the prog feedback from more casual readers?   No wonder it always seems to be the same few faces posting in the review thread!  I assumed that Tharg's minions kept an quiet eye on the thread to get an idea of what seemed to be going down well with the readers (not everyone wants to write in directly) but this deters new or casual readers from registering their thoughts.

[rog]

The memories are too painful. However, it is the type of mentalism that could easily spawn a slew of scientific papers as it is orders of magnitude further out there than most people have encountered.

Sounds worse than any blue box related mentalism I've been unfortunate enough to witness, not surprised the memories are so painful!

I understand why it's been done (sc**o-proof), but doesn't this restrict the prog feedback from more casual readers?   No wonder it always seems to be the same few faces posting in the review thread!  I assumed that Tharg's minions kept an quiet eye on the thread to get an idea of what seemed to be going down well with the readers (not everyone wants to write in directly) but this deters new or casual readers from registering their thoughts.

It also might deter anyone who is relatively new I guess, I've been here for coming up for 2 weeks and have made coming on for 40 posts and no sign of being 'promoted'. It is slightly frustrating sometimes when I see threads I'd like to post in and can't but I've taken to making the odd comment instead in my original thread in "Welcome to the board" but I'm not sure anyone is reading that anymore lol!

I can definitely see why this situation is as it is though having seen and been well hacked off by the antics of minorities of loonies on other forums which IMHO is equally, if not more, likely to scare off new and/or casual people. The difference I see here is that as a result of these rules the forum seems amazingly friendly and sane and I see no signs of people being uneasy about heavy handed moderation either, which in my experience is often the flip side of forums that allow the crazier elements to post. In my experience what happens is periods of light touch moderation allowing the nutters to have their freedom and consequently p*ssing off (and perhaps scaring off) the sane, then all of a sudden an issue will come up that creates such a car crash that the mods step in in panic mode with a metaphorical boot and daystick hitting out at the innocent and guilty in equal measure - this also p*sses off saner members who then are likely to take a hike. The end result is you end up with an increasing proportion of nutters, trolls and flamers whilst the constructive types take a hike, not good but an all too frequent occurrence in my experience.

So I guess what I'm saying is that I can live with the minor inconvenience of the current rules given the payoff is a friendly, constructive and sane forum! One thing I would suggest though, and apologies if this is already here and I've missed it, is that it would be good to have clear guidelines as to how many posts you need to make before gaining full membership as well as making it clear said posts need to be of a 'non-mentalist' nature

[caiuscosades]

Jackstarr here again - I uncovered one of my other profiles (mods can probably check my ip address to verify this), but only have a few posts on this profile too...oh, the days of having ever-changing ISPs on 30 day trials...I'm sure I'll never be able to be able to locate all of my profiles, as most of my emails I've had are no longer valid!

[jackstarr]

...and I'm back as me again.

It's a shame there's not a "newbies prog review" thread, that can be ignored by other members if they like, but gives a chance for new or casual members to post their thoughts on the latest prog.  That'd also be a good way for mods to  get a feel for the reponsibility factor of members, as spirits tend to run high with likes and dislikes!

[Aonghus]

Fear not Jackstarr, your day shall come!

[Emperor]

I understand why it's been done (sc**o-proof), but doesn't this restrict the prog feedback from more casual readers?   No wonder it always seems to be the same few faces posting in the review thread!  I assumed that Tharg's minions kept an quiet eye on the thread to get an idea of what seemed to be going down well with the readers (not everyone wants to write in directly) but this deters new or casual readers from registering their thoughts.

It is also off-putting to have the forums being regularly stung by spam and crazy people. The current set-up has completely cut it out, but there is always room for further tweaking (we have made recent changes to make it less problematic for new members). It isn't exactly too much of a chore, there are plenty of other things going on, join in and you'll get promoted before you realise.

As I'm unsure why you are set to "New Arrival" so I've adjusted the setting.

[rog]

As I'm unsure why you are set to "New Arrival" so I've adjusted the setting.

There ye go jackstarr, you beat me to full membership .... curses I'm obviously not hiding my mentalism well enough

[a chosen rider]

Psst, while you're going around promoting people, Emperor, jmean was asking about it in this thread, since he's been around for years but doesn't post much and it seems New Arrivals can't set email notifications for forums they can't post in.

[Emperor]

Psst, while you're going around promoting people, Emperor, jmean was asking about it in this thread, since he's been around for years but doesn't post much and it seems New Arrivals can't set email notifications for forums they can't post in.

Weird. I'm surprised I didn't notice him and promote him. Sorted now.