Help newbies out.

[madstat]

Forums are such a great resource to all its members when honest people can contribute interesting content, freely and without much delay.

My first post to this forum was two weeks ago, it took a few days for a moderator to approve it. In the meantime I've posted several times, aware that during this 'probation' period I would have to wait patiently for a moderator to approve. It has been again several days and none of my posts are appearing. This has been deflating and I'm positive that folks are being turned off immediately from this community by this.

I fully respect the right of the forum to protect itself from robots, spammers and the like. I don't argue with the current setup of moderation but I feel the untimeliness of moderator approval is driving a lot of great contributors away from this site. I could hardly find a camping forum other than this one on the interwebs. This forum could be vastly more lively with exponentially greater content if the ability of newcomers to contribute were not hampered so much. As a member of other forums I have seen first hand how a great online community can really become an amazing resource for all. I'm sure lots of people like me want to join and provide experiences, photos, resources etc but simply give up.

Designating a few more moderators to approve posts in expedited fashion would be a big improvement. In the mean-time, those of use who have not had their posts approved should be able to see what we have posted and what has not yet received moderator approval. In the two weeks since my first post, I have made several other posts and because I they are not yet approved I have no way of keeping track of them and am left 'out in the cold' so to speak about my status as a member of this forum. Is there a way to receive an automated email for new members once a post is submitted? That way I could at least go through email records to keep track of my posts that have not been approved?

[Shortpants]

Re: Help newbies out.

I had considered posting a "new member signups - don't give up!" thread just to reassure folks that had just signed up to be patient and rest assured you will get approved as soon as possible. I understand the frustration, I too waited a week and a half to get my posts off moderated status so I could become an active participant in the forums. I'll be honest, I almost gave up and never came back again. BOY am I glad I didn't! This is a great community, and in my search for camping forums not all about backpacking or RVing (which is perfectly fine, if that's what you are into!), this was the best. So to any other new sign-ups that are frustrated with the wait time, take a deep breath, relax and be patient. You WILL get approved. All good things come to those who wait.

From what I gather, this forum is run by one person. This person has an active and busy life, just like every single one of us, so can not be expected to be on the forum 24/7. This forum is provided to all of us free of charge, which is very generous, and I personally would rather make 6 posts to prove I'm not a spammer, wait a little bit for approval, and be free to post from that point, than have this awesome resource and fountain of information overrun by spam and garbage posts, as is the case with smaller forums with too lax a sign up process and non-daily admin activity. Thank you to JohnJohn for providing this place.

You can see all your posts if you click the "My Profile" link at the very top of the page, then click either the "Find All Posts" link or the "Find All Started Threads" link in the left hand column. The former will show you ALL posts you have ever made, the latter will show you ONLY the threads you started. If I remember right, this also showed my moderated posts before I was approved. You can also subscribe to threads you started, or find interesting and want to follow, to receive email notifications when there are new posts made.

HTH!

[James.]

Re: Help newbies out.

Forums are such a great resource to all its members when honest people can contribute interesting content, freely and without much delay.

My first post to this forum was two weeks ago, it took a few days for a moderator to approve it. In the meantime I've posted several times, aware that during this 'probation' period I would have to wait patiently for a moderator to approve. It has been again several days and none of my posts are appearing. This has been deflating and I'm positive that folks are being turned off immediately from this community by this.

I fully respect the right of the forum to protect itself from robots, spammers and the like. I don't argue with the current setup of moderation but I feel the untimeliness of moderator approval is driving a lot of great contributors away from this site. I could hardly find a camping forum other than this one on the interwebs. This forum could be vastly more lively with exponentially greater content if the ability of newcomers to contribute were not hampered so much. As a member of other forums I have seen first hand how a great online community can really become an amazing resource for all. I'm sure lots of people like me want to join and provide experiences, photos, resources etc but simply give up.

Designating a few more moderators to approve posts in expedited fashion would be a big improvement. In the mean-time, those of use who have not had their posts approved should be able to see what we have posted and what has not yet received moderator approval. In the two weeks since my first post, I have made several other posts and because I they are not yet approved I have no way of keeping track of them and am left 'out in the cold' so to speak about my status as a member of this forum. Is there a way to receive an automated email for new members once a post is submitted? That way I could at least go through email records to keep track of my posts that have not been approved?

I couldn't agree with you more. I have begun to think that it would be better to let the new members post and moderate anything that shouldn't be there.....but since I don't know just how much spam is being filtered out I could be wrong. I do know that there is a good amount of people that sign up and post only to never be heard from again.




*cough*offerstillstands*cough*

[toedtoes]

Re: Help newbies out.

I had the same thing happened. I had actually pretty much given up on posting until suddenly I was off probation. I'm glad I kept on trying, but it was definitely irritating to have posted a timely comment only to have it never appear until the conversation had moved way past that subject.

As a webmaster of another forum, I can say that just giving free reign to new registrations can result in having to clean up hundreds of posts within a 3 hour spread. It is h*ll! I found a nice add-on that requires posters to answer a series of questions when they register and again when they make their first post. I wrote questions that were applicable for the forum topic that any person really interested in the forum could answer (maybe with a quick review of the website) but that spammers won't know. It has worked well.

Another option might be to appoint moderators who can help OK new posts when the webmaster is unavailable, etc.

[Shortpants]

Re: Help newbies out.

As a webmaster of another forum, I can say that just giving free reign to new registrations can result in having to clean up hundreds of posts within a 3 hour spread. It is h*ll!

^^ This times 100. Leaving post abilities wide open for new folks would be utter chaos for members, and a huge workload to clean up after the fact for admin.

I will say that it does frustrate me that the threads by the new folks, when approved, don't show up as "new" threads, at least not for me... I kinda have to go looking for them, they aren't bold like the other new threads. I imagine it's equally frustrating as a new member to have your thread finally go live and no one looks at it because no one noticed it actually posted. It's buried in any threads that were made after yours.

[madstat]

Re: Help newbies out.

ERMERGHERD, I'm finally off the newbie list! FREEDOM!

Seriously though, I want to reiterate, I'm not against the current setup, I just feel like if it happened much quicker, we wouldn't push away a lot of great contributors who just don't have the time to deal with it.

From what I gather, this forum is run by one person. This person has an active and busy life, just like every single one of us, so can not be expected to be on the forum 24/7. This forum is provided to all of us free of charge, which is very generous, and I personally would rather make 6 posts to prove I'm not a spammer, wait a little bit for approval, and be free to post from that point, than have this awesome resource and fountain of information overrun by spam and garbage posts, as is the case with smaller forums with too lax a sign up process and non-daily admin activity. Thank you to JohnJohn for providing this place.

- Yes very thankful its free. IMHO this forum is nice but has rather infrequent activity compared to some others I am a member of. This is not a bad thing as I'd expect people who like to camp are more often outdoors then online. But to put it in perspective the most people ever on this site at one time is 230, two years ago, which is tiny, and I feel the main reason is because many just refused to wait through the newbie process. I guess you could say that those who stick it out will post content of genuine interest and superior quality? Perhaps, but I actually think we are missing out on a lot. I really enjoy reading about peoples camping experiences and sharing and learning from many varied interests. I notice that this site has a sprinkling of ads. Maybe expedited moderation could generate more traffic and greater ad revenue for the owner. Admittedly don't know anything about internet ad revenue, perhaps the ads have no impact on the owner, rather its part of the system that drives the forum. In any case, this still is a good site and I thank those who are running it.

You can see all your posts if you click the "My Profile" link at the very top of the page, then click either the "Find All Posts" link or the "Find All Started Threads" link in the left hand column. The former will show you ALL posts you have ever made, the latter will show you ONLY the threads you started. If I remember right, this also showed my moderated posts before I was approved.

-Unfortunately this isn't the case, none of your posts show up in the 'find all posts' link until they are approved.

[Shortpants]

Re: Help newbies out.

I agree 100% with everything you typed. I believe many potentially good members move along because of the slow approval process. It would be nice if it went faster. I guess I was more trying to explain why it is the way it is at the moment.

I wasn't sure if you could see the moderated post there... creaky old memory. LOL! Sorry! I do know there was someplace in my clicking around where I DID see a list of my moderated posts that were pending, I just don't recall exactly where now.

[toedtoes]

Re: Help newbies out.

Forums are fickle beasts. In order to attract new people, you have to have an active forum; in order to have an active forum, you have to attract new people...

I have found that having a registration process that allows for immediate posting increases the activity of a forum. Most people don't register for a forum UNTIL they have something to say. Up to that point, they are lurkers. As is the case with human nature, most people get excited about something very quickly, then the excitement wears off over time. So, when a person sees a post that they "just have" to respond to, they jump in and register and make their post. If they don't see their post show up, see others making the same point that they did (or a contradictory post), etc., they get frustrated.

Finding ways to reduce that delay to instant gratification is a big key. I think it's definitely worth the conversation. As a help to the webmaster, maybe folks can offer ideas or suggestions as to how to make that change without getting 1000 Viagra posts. For my part, when I get home, I will pull up the questionnaire spam filter I set up on my other forum and post the details here.

[toedtoes]

Re: Help newbies out.

P.S. I will admit that with my questionnaire filter, I had it originally set to the new registered person having to answer the questions for the first 5 posts. After registering for this forum, I cut that back to the first post because I realized that it could be frustrating to have to answer a bunch of questions just to post "Thanks so much for your help"...

[madstat]

Re: Help newbies out.

I had considered posting a "new member signups - don't give up!" thread just to reassure folks that had just signed up to be patient and rest assured you will get approved as soon as possible...

Maybe we should do it. Here is a simple 3 step process for noobs.

1) Post at least 6 super awesome, non-spam with no link to vendor threads/comments. Make it so we cannot resist having you as a member.
2) Now completely forget about them. It may take a few weeks, maybe longer. Even better go on an extended camping trip.
3) Hopefully one day you will get an email saying 'some joeshmoe has replied to your post' and you will remember 'oh yeah I posted to campingforums.com, let me check it out.' you now can post without moderation, WOW its the bee's knees!'

[05Kingquad700]

Re: Help newbies out.

I am glad to see new members and yes, it would be nice to see a quicker approval process. It seems like this site goes in ebbs and flows. We will get a few members and lose some. Be nice to hear some new opinions on stuff. Not the same ol' guys saying the same stuff.

[MacGyver]

Re: Help newbies out.

[Insert same old stuff here]

I keep talking this site up to the guys I've been camping with for years but, so far, none of them have signed on. But, since our trips are expanding now (Thank you Facebook) I intend to spread the word the next time we all get together. Unfortunately, the weather here means we're probably done camping til Fall. Hot hazy and humid in a tent sucks!

[Mike]

Re: Help newbies out.

I agree too. This site goes almost dead for days at a time without new posts. I think the attempt at keeping this site protected is, well, making it a very small private club. Seeing some of the spam and crazy Islam spam that has made it into this site, it seems like the good potential members are not joining while the spammers are getting in anyway

[Shortpants]

Re: Help newbies out.

Maybe we should do it. Here is a simple 3 step process for noobs.

1) Post at least 6 super awesome, non-spam with no link to vendor threads/comments. Make it so we cannot resist having you as a member.
2) Now completely forget about them. It may take a few weeks, maybe longer. Even better go on an extended camping trip.
3) Hopefully one day you will get an email saying 'some joeshmoe has replied to your post' and you will remember 'oh yeah I posted to campingforums.com, let me check it out.' you now can post without moderation, WOW its the bee's knees!'

:great: Perfect! Can we get this stickied?


:sarcastic: :rofl:

[toedtoes]

Re: Help newbies out.

Just to follow up with my prior post, my other forum uses Simple Machines, and the questionnaire security is built into the forum software.

Shortpants - you need to post that on every board.