I visited a BB the other day that used probationary periods for its new members and was wondering if it would be good idea over here.
Say you used a period of 30 days or maybe posts. During that time new members can post in existing threads but cannot start a thread of their own. After the post count/time period has passed they either get full posting rights or get booted off.
What do you think? Is it possible with the board software? Is it even a good idea? I’m of the mind that it may help trap a few socks/trolls/jerks/drooling morons before they cause too much hassle.
There is no automated process for it, so we have to do it manually: keep track of new registrations, change their privileges after X amount of days/posts. And the socks/trolls/jerks/drooling morons could just register names and wait 30 days before being a PITA.
And that applies to the Comments forums, too. I know I’ve seen several people say that they first joined the board through the “Comment on this column” link on a column they found either through the front page or a web search engine.
Bear in mind, too, that a lot of people just plain lurk for a long time before posting anything, including people who are going to cause trouble - often they’re just waiting for an opportune time. In a perfect world, new members would read the FAQ and not ask silly (to us) questions, but I’ll take this imperfect board any day.
