Have you configured in the ACP (Administration Control Panel) a minimum word count that a user must meet before a post is successfully published? Do you feel this helps to prevent low quality & spam posts?
I'm on Proboards & still learning so I don't know if this is an option & if so, how to do it. But I think it'd be great to be sure newbies aren't spammers. I do have PM post count restricted to 50.
I think low quality posts can mean different things. To me, as long as someone is trying & is active, that counts. But it would definitely help deter those spam posts.
I have Semi-Newbie where they make 3 to 5 posts before they become the next rank of Newbie then from there they go to members. That rank is automatic setup rank and my Forum software does it without me doing anything as long as it's set upright in the ACP. It's extra protecting when new members join so I can see who is real and whatnot. When first join you are very limited what you can do, and so far I had no problems as such. Then again with IPS defense system, it will block you right away if that IP and or email is on the blacklisted.
Minimum word count comes down to that person that when they join and there is no limited but how many posts they can make under that rank and where they are allowed to post and make threads at.
On CH we don't have a minimum word count although in certain forums we considered adding it so that real conversation would ensue. At the time we also had a cash system similar to FP$ and it got out of control with people posting I agree and receiving points for it....making it all worthless. We no longer have that system in place anymore but in the future we'd definitely change the settings to a 10 word count minimum to receive credit.
Have you configured in the ACP (Administration Control Panel) a minimum word count that a user must meet before a post is successfully published? Do you feel this helps to prevent low quality & spam posts?
I honestly think that 100% depends on the maturity of your userbase. Our current website has mostly older users who grew up in our community, so it's not needed. When we did this, the userbase were a lot younger.
We did it on SC's much larger predecessor to help combat the "I agree" or "LOL" postcount spam. But, you must remember, there were also up to and beyond 1k posts per day, so the spammy posts were just generating more spammy posts and it was difficult to manage/ keep an eye on. That relied on people reporting it before it turned into a brawl. Drivel like that killed good discussions and made other users angry, so we were trying to combat it. They started writing things like "I agree. (and insert 15 characters here heehee)" to circumvent it. We had to give people infractions for that. Some people were prompted to think a little before they'd post and they actually improved their posting habits with some gentle steering in the right direction. Others were like "I CAN BEND THE RULES. WEEEEEEE!"
I wouldn't recommend it, unless it's happening a lot, and people need a little push to write more than 5 character responses. =)
