Hit and run signups

[setishock]

While granted they make the numbers look good, the ones that are signing up and only doing the intro bit are what I call hit and run.
They sign up at different forums and go off bragging that they belong to this and that forum. They for the most part don't post anything useful.
But to be fair not all of them do that, but a lot do.

It might be something to consider setting up a email and having the ACP function look for intro forum only posters that have not posted anywhere else. Set a time frame in the search so that older intro posts past a certain date get included while the more recent ones don't. Shoot them an email saying something to the affect that if they don't come back and post something, the account will be deleted.

I know if you start pruning those accounts you're going to find bad IP addresses and bogus email addresses. It never hurts to have a look.

 

[BK_123]

I have noticed a lot of people signing up and not engaging in the forum..

 

[Tech Explorer]

A mandatory question you can ask signups is "Why are you signing up?" which may help to screen out undesirables.

 

[Celegorm]

A mandatory question you can ask signups is "Why are you signing up?" which may help to screen out undesirables.

And who wouldn't answer that question with "I need help with a computer problem"? With the exception of people who are spammers or those who just want to stick to the social lounge then I'm pretty sure that's what we'd get every time.

 

[Tech Explorer]

And who wouldn't answer that question with "I need help with a computer problem"? With the exception of people who are spammers or those who just want to stick to the social lounge then I'm pretty sure that's what we'd get every time.

I'm not saying that a question is perfect. But it would be useful as a screening tool to help weed out the undesirables. I don't believe every spammer would know how to answer
that question, so let's say for argument's sake 10% - 20% get weeded out due to that question, that's still 10% or 20% less than what you had to deal with before. Just to mention that questions are often asked at job interviews for the same purpose of weeding out, so why not here?

 

[BK_123]

Yes I agree with you there Tech Explorer, They need to tell us why they are wanting to join the forums..

 

[Tech Explorer]

I have learned from experience that questions can stimulate conversation as well as screen. The only thing I would avoid is a question with a list of possible answers as that would aid spammers. This by itself though won't be enough and should be combined with other means of stopping undesirables.

While we're on this subject, let me say why I joined. I joined for good conversation, to learn and to help when possible.

 

[setishock]

Doing the search would be easy to some one that knows how the VB database is structured. A simple query would pull up those that fit the criteria.
I've never been a big fan of an intro section for just the reasons we're discussing here.

 

[Celegorm]

I'm not saying that a question is perfect. But it would be useful as a screening tool to help weed out the undesirables. I don't believe every spammer would know how to answer
that question, so let's say for argument's sake 10% - 20% get weeded out due to that question, that's still 10% or 20% less than what you had to deal with before. Just to mention that questions are often asked at job interviews for the same purpose of weeding out, so why not here?

Because who's going to want to do it if they need help ASAP? They answer the question and need to wait for on of the site team members to react. We do not have someone on call 24/7, 365 so if it's Christmas most of us will be out with families and not spend much (if any) time on the forum. But what about for areas of the world that don't celebrate? They'll have to wait a day on what might be a big issue just because we're not here. I'd rather sift through the extra 10-20%.

And these questions are not the same as getting asked questions in an interview IMO. At an interview you're being asked a question to see how you can help them. Here it's usually the other way around: they are looking to get help form us not help us.

If anything Seti's idea is the best because it doesn't negatively impact legitimate potential members like yours would.

 

[Celegorm]

And to go off of BK's comment, I don't agree that people NEED to tell us why they are here. If this forum demanded that I pleaded my case as to why I deserved the honor of being a member here I would have gotten the impression that this was a place of up-tight egotistical jerks that I didn't want to be a part of and would have gone somewhere else.