Bit annoying!

[AlpineNewt]

Hopefully it won't be too long mate.

Well it's been a few months for me. I tend not to post unless I have something to add to a discussion or want to ask a question, so being unable to post in the prog review or film discussion areas is a bit of a downer.

I understand that us newbies are vetted manually and not by some automated post count or membership length so all it takes is one person to be ill or on holiday and a backlog can build up.

[Rusty]

What exactly went on for newer posters to be vetted as such in the first place? I get that there are spammers and trolls aplenty on the net, but there would have had to have been some dedicated trolls to evoke such a policy from the admins on here. I agree with Mabs here. I'm the same. I don't really post unless I feel like saying something.

[Steve Green]

Mainly one, who would get repeatedly banned and re-register under a different name.

I do wonder if it might be time to relax the policy and see how it goes.

[Cursed Earth Dweller]

Nah, I'd rather put up with this policy then risk having to read the perpetual bollocks of more trolls.

[FinH]

If I watch anything on YouTube I have to keep my eyes from straying too far down the screen in case I accidentally espy the comments section and lose the will to carry on living. I'm a devotee of the magazine Empire and regularly use IMDb but will have nothing to do with the commenting aspects of either as there will inevitably be droves of dickheads flocking to them too.
Sorry if I'm coming off as a precious flower but I have little time for such people.  I'm taking a chance with 2000AD as I sort of imagined it as a utopian happy family of people who all love what I love where I can gambol merrily about without fear of being drivelled at.
I'm glad that the organisers are taking steps to make this a possibility and if I have to wait a bit before I can access some bits then that's fair enough by me.

[Frank]

Mainly one, who would get repeatedly banned and re-register under a different name. I do wonder if it might be time to relax the policy and see how it goes.

I can see why it was necessary in the run up to the film, but that moment has passed; it's just something that will alienate casual readers now. I initially thought your comment was made with regard to the former member you reference. I don't think granting him some kind of limited access with restrictions on how much and how often he could post would be such a terrible idea, but the downside to his antics is the way they can bring out a quite nasty side to otherwise pleasant characters. Seeing forumites on IMDB and Empire pile onto him is like watching the X-Factor audience braying at the mentally ill during the early audition stages.

[Richmond Clements]

I don't think granting him some kind of limited access with restrictions on how much and how often he could post would be such a terrible idea

You are very very wrong.

[Frank]

I don't think granting him some kind of limited access with restrictions on how much and how often he could post would be such a terrible idea

You are very very wrong.

Probably. He drove the Empire admins crazy last January, and he's currently treating Bond fans on that site to almost exactly the same arguments now. Substitute Roger Moore for Wagner's Dredd and you could be reading the same posts. I can see why years of that would try the patience of a saint.

[Richmond Clements]

I tried to warn the Empire mods at the start, but was basically told to go away and mind my own business - so drokk them, I say!

[Judge Fish]

Mainly one, who would get repeatedly banned and re-register under a different name. I do wonder if it might be time to relax the policy and see how it goes.

I can see why it was necessary in the run up to the film, but that moment has passed; it's just something that will alienate casual readers now.

There is definitely some truth in this. I mean I generally consider myself to be a pretty patient and level headed kind of guy, and back in the day I was lead admin at a quite popular web forum for a number of years, so I know all about the delicate balance between allowing for freedom of speech and not tolerating troll like behaviour. So I do understand the caution. Especially the efforts to keep away for good certain parties who never seem to get the message that they are no longer welcome or wanted, thanks to their chosen behaviour.

But at the same time, I have to admit, I'm already feeling the itch of impatience creeping in, and it is a little frustrating and alienating to continually be locked out of the ability to add to certain discussions and topics on the board. Especially when the granting of full membership seems, from what I can tell, to be somewhat arbitrary, with no set number of posts, or no given length of time that you have to be a member for, no particular rhyme or reason other than one random day sometime in the future you get judged as having suitably proven yourself to not be a troll.

And because there is no set goal, no real indication of what it takes to prove oneself worthy, after a while you start to feel like you may well be a mutie scratching on the outside walls forever, wondering if you'll ever suitably prove yourself, and questioning if it is even worth the effort. Especially as every day you log in you are constantly reminded that you are not really part of the club yet, as you see topics that you would like to join in with, but can't.

I mean, hey, the folks with the lease are free to run the board and enforce the rules of their house however they see fit, and I'm not saying any different, but just know that in taking such a hard line approach, you do risk a fairly high attrition rate in potentially discouraging and even outright losing new members that had interest enough to want to join the board in the first place, but eventually lost patience and gave up.

Just one wall scratching mutie's view, anyhow.  

[Trout]

It's the lesser of two evils. Trust me: nobody wants the bad times to come back. The person we're referring to has a mental illness, in a way that is very specific to this comic and this message board. He kills forums. We won't let him try to kill this one again.

Anyone who's new has this thread to say hello and to prove they are human. Hello, new people!

[Jim_Campbell]

He kills forums. We won't let him try to kill this one again.

Particularly given that most of us old-timers ended up here as an alternative to the blighted wasteland that alt.comics.2000ad had become, largely (but not solely*) due to he-who-shall-not-be-named's behaviour on that newsgroup.

Cheers

Jim

*I certainly think he was the prime driver of the overwhelming sense of troll fatigue that drove many of us from the newsgroup, but I think the efforts of Thorin, NadiaZ and 'Chuckles' Hardwidge helped push the signal:noise ratio still further into the 'more trouble than it's worth' zone...

[Frank]

He kills forums. We won't let him try to kill this one again.

Particularly given that most of us old-timers ended up here as an alternative to the blighted wasteland that alt.comics.2000ad had become, largely (but not solely*) due to he-who-shall-not-be-named's behaviour on that newsgroup.

I've only ever seen that as his own odd arena for his opinions, it's weird to think it was ever anything else. He seems to have abandoned it now, maybe we should recolonise it so folk like Newt, Rusty and Fish have some kind of venue for their views on the prog, Meg and film.

[MercZ]

I guess all forums and communities will have their trolls and e-drama- truth be told . I can understand though the need to keep trolls, especially persistent ones out, but maybe loosen the standards a bit? Or at least give some opportunities for newcomers to post more to show that they aren't here to stir the pot.

[Cursed Earth Dweller]

If I watch anything on YouTube I have to keep my eyes from straying too far down the screen in case I accidentally espy the comments section and lose the will to carry on living. I'm a devotee of the magazine Empire and regularly use IMDb but will have nothing to do with the commenting aspects of either as there will inevitably be droves of dickheads flocking to them too.
Sorry if I'm coming off as a precious flower but I have little time for such people.  I'm taking a chance with 2000AD as I sort of imagined it as a utopian happy family of people who all love what I love where I can gambol merrily about without fear of being drivelled at.
I'm glad that the organisers are taking steps to make this a possibility and if I have to wait a bit before I can access some bits then that's fair enough by me.

I know exactly what you mean mate, resisting the temptation to jump into an argument just to give some lousy troll or personal comment a piece of your mind only to find that you have sold a part of your soul by stooping to their level is damn near impossible to say the least. I would feel a lot better if sites like youtube gave their members the choice of turning the comments off all togeather, like how a youtuber can disable them on his own uploaded video.

I'm personally picking my spots with this place. Don't get me wrong, it's an awesome forum and the people are well friendly, but lately I have been getting the impression that I've turned a few people off through my enthusiasm and poor choice of words. And that is not just this forum by the way, I am generally shy, nervouse and impulsive in real life.