Just my opinion

[mariusk]

Hi,


While I'm a member a little more than a year, this is one of my first posts.
My first one was a few minutes ago.
It's not that I didn't want to, I did. During that year I had alot of questions and alot of answers too. But the restriction to one single forum prevented me from doing so. It looked to me as a statement that says that everyone new to ecf should welcome a few people, deal with some beginners equipment, and act like you started to vape yesterday, hoping that the required permission will be eventually granted. It looks like a license to spam, a request to write something, anything, just to be able to write about things you really want to after some time.
Now I'm a quite polite person, I always try to respect the hosts in places where I'm a guest, but I couldn't play this game. I just didn't have anything to ask in a beginners forum. I thought that I can't ask questions about advanced rebuildables in this forum, so maybe I'll ask simple questions that I already know the answers for, just to get enough posts count. But I couldn't. It's not real, it's a game. Welcoming new members could also be an option, but it could take a long time. So during this year I always abandoned my real questions and answers, hoping that one day this policy will change.
But it didn't, so I've welcomed a few members today, I also answered a question from another member, got to 5 posts, and still cannot write on other forums.
I really don't know what am I supposed to do, nor understand why this game and limitations are so necessary. We vapers have enough issues and limitations coming from our governments, I really can't understand how these forum limits can cause any good. I'm sure there is some logic in them, but until that moment I couldn't find it.


Just my opinion.


Thanks,
Marius.

 

[OoRenneroO]

Takes a little while to update is all

 

[Sugar_and_Spice]

Welcome to ecf.

I am so sorry that you felt you could not actively join our forum. The required 5 post count is for everyone, no one is singled out. The server usually updates at 25 after the hour, so you are almost there.

The required 5 post count is to keep spammers out. You would be surprised at how many vendors try to come in through this way.

Anyway, glad you are here. And if your questions cannot be answered here in the new members thread, we may at least post you a link to where you should be looking on the forums.

 

[Asbestos4004]

Ummm.....hello!!!! Glad you're here!

 

[tk120]

I don't have a problem with the rule-- and I think this might be my 5th post... In over four years!

I've seen plenty of advanced questions posted in the new members forum, and by people with many more posts. If anything, I think those advanced questions should be moved to other forums to avoid scaring off the extremely new users.

 

[dice57]

Well it's not a game it is for the protection of the members here. It is not that big of a deal and you could always post your "advanced" question here and it would be answered. Most look here anyways, so it would be seen and answered.

 

[Spazmelda]

People post all sorts of questions in the new members forum and usually get tons of answers. I know when I'm looking at the forum I always click >what's new >today's posts. I don't really hang out in any specific forum. About the only forum I specifically visit on a regular basis is the media forum. Otherwise I just click on something that looks interesting, or has a title that indicates I would know something about it.

 

[bulldog63h]

Well it's not a game it is for the protection of the members here. It is not that big of a deal and you could always post your "advanced" question here and it would be answered. Most look here anyways, so it would be seen and answered.

This exactly. Just because it's the "new members" forum doesn't mean you can only ask simple questions. There are questions in here everyday that range from the most basic to very advanced. It isn't actually a restrictive restriction. Any questions, informative posts or nearly anything else can be posted in the new members forum. It really isn't anything to get upset about.

 

[retired1]

Moved to Site Feedback and Help.

There are some very important and valid reasons why we have everyone start off in the New Members forum, one of which being it's easier to catch the spammers before they swamp ECF with their spam.

Once you make the 5th post, the system still needs to update your account. This happens at 25 minutes after each hour.

You should be able to post in most places on ECF now. There are a few forums that require 15 posts, but you should find the majority of ECF is now open to you.

 

[Huckleberried]

I see plenty of posts in other forums by people that are pretty new, as well. It's a forum. People that are new to ECF post in one area til they meet a guideline. Didn't bother me, I still read everything I wanted to read and commented in the new area when I wanted to comment.

 

[DetraMental]

Games?! Speaking of those, I haven't seen any contest lately!

 

[OoRenneroO]

There are a couple going on now

 

[WillyZee]

welcome mariusk ... your first 5 posts could be 5 of the most complex questions you can think of ... and I bet they would be answered.

The 5 post rule for new members has nothing to do with being a new vaper ... nor is it a game of welcoming noobs

 

[rolygate]

Hi,
While I'm a member a little more than a year, this is one of my first posts.
My first one was a few minutes ago.
It's not that I didn't want to, I did. During that year I had alot of questions and alot of answers too. But the restriction to one single forum prevented me from doing so. It looked to me as a statement that says that everyone new to ecf should welcome a few people, deal with some beginners equipment, and act like you started to vape yesterday, ............. ..................
Thanks,
Marius.

Hi Marius.

We understand your frustration, but believe me it is nothing compared to the nightmare situation we had when the Forum was growing, and at the point where it was big enough to be Google #1 for lots of stuff, but too young to have any processes for managing it smoothly. Eventually we were buried under torrents of spam that appeared in any one of hundreds of thousands of threads all over the forum. The Moderators came online every day in the same frame of mind as troops in a war zone - it was a full-on battle 24/7. When the US spammers knocked off for the day, the Chinese spammers came on. Looking back with hindsight, it was hilarious: the Forum was a war zone.

We fixed it by restricting new posters to 1 board. Simple as that.

ECF has about 3,000 people online* much of the time, and the work here runs round the clock. While we do need to keep Members happy, having the forum running as before would mean that all the Mods burnt out and resigned. Then we'd shut the forum...

[* Due to some software issues (frontend HTTP software, the load balancer, multiple webapps etc) you can about double the number online the forum gives you in the stats at the foot of the index page because only about half are reported by the forum app]

Of course, the New Members forum is for new members, not beginners. They may or may not be the same thing. If you are an experienced vaper then it may look frustrating - but you have to see it from our perspective: 2,000 spam posts a day to remove, carefully hidden in the depths of the forum - or 10 we find rapidly. Its a no-contest from our point of view.

BUT - you are of course right - just because we do something and it seems to work, doesn't mean we can't do it better. Therefore it could well be there is a better way. Maybe now you have seen it from our side, you can suggest something?

I will look at posting a sticky in the NM board, with a title like Experienced Vapers - Read This; but to be honest, nobody reads the stickies (the permanent / important posts at the top on page 1 of a board), so it probably won't help much


Note
Any post on a topic not really related to beginner questions is often moved out of NM to a more appropriate board by the Mods. Normally you can then continue to participate there.

 

[mariusk]

Thanks everyone for your kind answers and explanations.
I came with complaints, and was welcomed with love

Rolygate, I see the 'experienced vapers' sticky post idea was already implemented, which is
in my opinion a great way to explain this issue.