Quicksand Fans

I recently had someone contact me via a channel outside of QSF. They said that they'd been trying to PM me here but to no avail.

Turns out that I'm unable to access any of the PM functionality - I can't read or send them. I was completely unaware that I was receiving messages. The sender was equally unaware that their messages were not being delivered.

So, if it's alright, I'd like to be removed from the probation group.

Also it might be useful to allow people to respond to PMs, but not initiate them with people who haven't contacted them first. Although I do acknowledge that the infrastructure of this site is quite old, so I don't know if that's a possible solution.

Sorry, but the problems that led to this policy are ongoing.

I suggest that you continue to use the channel you mentioned.

It's not up to me to remove the need for these policies. It's either going to be God or the FBI. My money is on God, but you never know.

I took a flick through the list of people in the probation group, and yep, you definitely have a problem. I certainly agree that the current "suspicious until proven otherwise" policy is necessary.

However, you are alienating legitimate new members - albeit unintentionally. You probably need to have a formal method allowing people to apply to have themselves removed from the probation group. Probably having some fixed rules such that members need to have been on the forum for some time and made at least X sensible posts.

Any chance one can get re-instated from the probationary group? Pretty sure I've been a member for close to 10 years...just haven't posted that much. There were a couple important messages I had in my inbox detailing some sinking locations to explore...hope I didn't permanently lose access to them!

One Stuck Fox, not sure if that was me you're referring to? I remember trying to message you at one point but was never sure whether it actually had gone through. Now I know why!

Sorry, but the problems that led to this policy are ongoing.

It's not up to me to remove the need for these policies. It's either going to be God or the FBI. My money is on God, but you never know.

dlodoski wrote:Sorry, but the problems that led to this policy are ongoing.

It's not up to me to remove the need for these policies. It's either going to be God or the FBI. My money is on God, but you never know.

My question wasn't about the need to have the policy though. I'm all for getting rid of spam messages/accounts. PhpBB does offer some anti-spam mods instead of just Captcha that may be worth considering. My frustration with a probationary group as it's implemented right now is that it casts a wide net. Sure, it'll stop the spam but it also prevents new members from trying to become more active in the community. If one can't use the full functionality of the site, then they'll just move on to a different platform. If it's a manual move to put people on the list, could a post threshold not be implemented instead?

Deepinswamp wrote: My question wasn't about the need to have the policy though. I'm all for getting rid of spam messages/accounts. PhpBB does offer some anti-spam mods instead of just Captcha that may be worth considering. My frustration with a probationary group as it's implemented right now is that it casts a wide net. Sure, it'll stop the spam but it also prevents new members from trying to become more active in the community. If one can't use the full functionality of the site, then they'll just move on to a different platform. If it's a manual move to put people on the list, could a post threshold not be implemented instead?

You seem pretty active already.

Take a moment and ask yourself; if you wanted to join and cause trouble via PM or otherwise, how would you go about it? (Answer - just like this).

We have retreated on this issue to a more entrenched position and we're not coming out.

The primary function of the board remains intact. Long standing, vulnerable members are safer than they were. Job done.

Hey guys.

@admins...

Not sure if this is related to my new thread on PMs being stuck in Outbox?
viewtopic.php?f=20&t=24868

Wondered if me being a fairly new member on site, whether I have restrictions on messaging?

Wanted to throw in my input on this as well - definitely understand the reasoning for having this system in place, but would it not be possible to just promote people out of the probationary group once they've participated enough to prove that they want to be active members in the community?

I've had my account for a few years now too, and I thought it was just a case of 'Have X amount of posts approved by a moderator and then you can become a full member' so I'm a little lost on this, and it's a bit of a shame when I want to reply to an active topic or post a new one, only to have to wait for my post to be manually approved (and have it already be nudged off of the front page of posts by that point).

I have looked at the list of users newer than me and there are many who are registered, and newer ones that are "newly-registered". There seems to be a period of time a few years ago that joiners are all only in probation. Do most of these people just stop trying to post messages so probationers are a very tiny minority that you dont mind having to approve each of their posts?

I guess I would just start a new account and hope to become registered. but that is not something i want to do. i dont want to create an account just to try to get around the probation period joiners. So I will just endeur being probation as long as you moderator folks want to stand on that position insted of donig a periodic review of them to see if anyone deserves to be razed to registered status.

i did have an even older acct I stopped using before i set up this one but i lost the password for it. it was a regular registered acct that allowed me PM and post without waiting for approval.