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Body-Guard
Unstoppable!


Joined: 08 Jan 2006
Location: Hungary

PostPosted: Sat Jan 26, 2013 3:58 pm    Post subject: The forums Reply with quote

Hi!

This one was always in my mind, so here it comes. Why is the whole forum account activation procedure so necessary? I mean, sadly more people leave the Doom community than come to it nowadays, not only to Zdaemon, but to Doom overall. This is not intended to be an another "Doom of Doom" topic but this has to be talked about to try to find a solution or at least avoid bigger fallback in the number of people. The point is, even if newbies would come to the forums, most of them find it difficult or not worthy to register since it requires approval of moderators instead of a straight activation email. I know that, back in 2004 when I first joined Zdaemon, I was just waiting for the mail which never arrived.

I also noticed this forum uses some old phpbb engine which I bet is used because it has the least exploits by far. I know moderators are afraid of spammers and trolls and all, but does that really worth it? Is the mail activation not working because of technical reasons or because of trollphobia? The forums are slowly dying, it could use some fresh faces, and we could make it easier for them to join and to get help.
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Evolution
Wicked Sick!


Joined: 06 Sep 2005

PostPosted: Sat Jan 26, 2013 4:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yeah, this.
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phenex2
Unstoppable!


Joined: 10 Jan 2008

PostPosted: Sat Jan 26, 2013 5:22 pm    Post subject: Re: The forums Reply with quote

Lets start with the obvious:
Body-Guard wrote:
This is not intended to be an another "Doom of Doom" topic [...]
[...]
The forums are slowly dying [...]

GG!

Next let me say that ZDaemon is about playing Doom. The forums are not necessary to play the game.
Players can get instant help on IRC. The forums are a 'bonus' and i doubt someone leaves, because he can't write a single PM on IRC to one of the mods as he is told to after the registration on the forums.

Body-Guard wrote:
Why is the whole forum account activation procedure so necessary?

It is. Please have a look at the memberslist. You will see that we get around 400 account registrations daily by spammer bots.

Body-Guard wrote:
I also noticed this forum uses some old phpbb engine which I bet is used because it has the least exploits by far.

It is used because it is stable and has all the features we need. do you need dancing bears, karma points and birthday notifications?
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Body-Guard
Unstoppable!


Joined: 08 Jan 2006
Location: Hungary

PostPosted: Sat Jan 26, 2013 5:39 pm    Post subject: Re: The forums Reply with quote

phenex2 wrote:
Lets start with the obvious:
Body-Guard wrote:
This is not intended to be an another "Doom of Doom" topic [...]
[...]
The forums are slowly dying [...]

GG!


Grabbing words out of context. The forums are very not the same as they were 7 or 8 years before, that is a fact, whatever you, or me say. New faces would boost the spirit here too so it wouldn't feel like a graveyard. Sometimes it feels I am posting to myself cause there are no replies.

phenex2 wrote:

Next let me say that ZDaemon is about playing Doom. The forums are not necessary to play the game.
Players can get instant help on IRC. The forums are a 'bonus' and i doubt someone leaves, because he can't write a single PM on IRC to one of the mods as he is told to after the registration on the forums.


It is not about leaving, it is about making things easy for the newcomers. Reporting bugs and requesting features are done through the forums. I don't think any of the developers would keep track of these if they were posted on IRC...And besides, forums are an important part of a community. How would you eg. announce new wads? It is a great motivation for modders when people are eagerly waiting for a new stuff to come out. When you post something and no one replies, that's quite not of a motivation if you ask. Refreshing the game experience is one important part which keeps doom going, and the forums are vital part of it.

phenex2 wrote:
You will see that we get around 400 account registrations daily by spammer bots.


That is a problem I agree. Still, Zdoom and Zandronum handle this without requiring real users PMing admins.
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phenex2
Unstoppable!


Joined: 10 Jan 2008

PostPosted: Sat Jan 26, 2013 6:08 pm    Post subject: Re: The forums Reply with quote

Body-Guard wrote:
it is about making things easy for the newcomers.

You think that the current way is 'hard'. I think it is not. Other forums make you solve insane captchas and/or ask some question you need to answer and in the end you need to open your mails and click some link. I consider that much harder.
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Body-Guard
Unstoppable!


Joined: 08 Jan 2006
Location: Hungary

PostPosted: Sat Jan 26, 2013 6:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yeah, but people are used to these nowadays. Captchas and questions are common, not only in forums, but eg. at download sites, web ordering etc etc..., and I'd say it is far more usual to encounter forums like those with automatic activation than one like this.

Newbies might have no idea what to do here even if they are told. Not to mention some may don't speak english that well. Some might find the forums earlier than the link to the download, and some might don't want to download the whole game or an IRC client just to have their account activated to ask around.
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AF-Domains.net
Dark Messenger of IRC


Joined: 01 Jun 2002
Location: United Kingdom

PostPosted: Sat Jan 26, 2013 7:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

This isn't changing. That's the way it is done here.

The verification is absolutely necessary.

In the end, if someone registers here and they want their account activated, all they need to do is send a PM to one of the administrators on IRC.

Raider, Kilgore, phenex2 or [DUI]AF-Domains

As long as the account name they've registered is mentioned in the first message, there won't be a problem.

When you download ZDaemon, all of the necessary software is contained, it's not as if you have to download each component individually. Don't try to make it sound like a big deal, it isn't.
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Body-Guard
Unstoppable!


Joined: 08 Jan 2006
Location: Hungary

PostPosted: Sat Jan 26, 2013 7:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ok, it was just an idea. I guess we will never know how would the forums look like the other way around.
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Kilgore
Air Cavalry


Joined: 17 Jun 2003
Location: Up the river

PostPosted: Sat Jan 26, 2013 10:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

You're right; we won't.
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