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Is there anyway to block posts on the resent threads section from people that are just trying to inflate their post count by copy and pasting the same generic message into every introduction post.

For example, today I logged on and immediately hit the recent threads post to check out whats new (I do this often enough that I rarely miss a post, convenient). But today, and usually at least once a week I will log on and the entire recent post section will be all introductions up to a month old with the same generic message posted on every one of them.

Here is one user that does this http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/listByUser/9950.page
If you look at the his/her recent post you can see 11 posts made with the exact same text all within a minute.


For a solution, I wonder if it is possible to implement a script that checks recent posts for exact copies. Sort of like the text box that prompts when you make a post without punctuation or capital letters.

Or

Maybe you could add a timer to posting, I really doubt anyone can read eleven threads in under 60 second and still have the time to post something worth reading.

Wouldn't the punishment for this behavior be existing as someone who's that concerned about their post count?

Yes, but that still doesn't solve the problem of filling up my Recent post link.

I am happy to encourage that behaviour as it does help new users feel welcome, and prevents +1 crap from flooding out into the rest of the forum.

Recent threads is a slight annoyance, but yeah I can see if you check it at the wrong time how that would become very annoying.

I'll look into updating recent threads to ignore replies in the introductions forum and only including original posts there.

That would be perfect.


But as for the encouragement of new member I think it does the opposite.

If I was a new member to a forum and I got a response to my into post thats great. But if I then look at the other intro posts and find out a whole lot of people just cut and paste the same message into everyones forum without even reading it I would feel like this website is either full of bots or people that don't give a crap enough to even read what I post.

You have a point there. However, there are users who may see that, even if their welcome message is exactly the same as is with the other last 10 who joined, still may feel something as at least someone can see them and hear them, and respond to their greetings.

And i don't think it's such a big issue as saying that is no more than something standard, much like what you say when you meet someone (i would venture a guess to say that most of us always in real life use the same salute)

And before you ask, yes, i do greet new members saying "Hi there!" and i do the same for most of them, but i do read what they say, and if i feel there is something more to be said than "Hi there!" (something like them requesting an opinion) i do it. And i do not care very much for my post count as there is no prize attached to it, i simply tend to post there only for the reasons i stated above. I didn't get my welcome messages, i could at least let others get them

I don't mind if you use the same greeting, Its the fact that its obviously not genuine if the poster doesn't even spend the time to read what a new person has said.


As you mentioned a lot of new people sign up with a question they would like to ask, if the first 5 posts are a cut and paste spam greeting with out even an acknowledgement, I can guarantee they will be disenfranchised.

Yes, that is true. It's quite a shame when a new user comes with a question and all he gets in response is "Hello", "Welcome", and the like, because no one actually reads what he has to say.
But if he only says "hi, i'm X, glad to be here", then there is no question to respond him to

And something that bothered me about it it's not the response in itself, but i remember seeing 2 users fighting to be the first who actually post their greetings, and stating that in the thread, and nothing else. That i find to be, hm, er, a little lack of common sense, perhaps?

I only use the intro. forum to get my last few posts to see if I get a new title (I'm a whore for them), and then its only if I have less than 10 left or something.

Not a big deal.

I may post the same message nearly everytime, but I type it out then and there, doesn't feel right if it was just copied and pasted. If I can't answer the question it stays the same, if I can I answer it.

I only post a few every now and then. At the same time - i'm not the only person that does this.

I don't care about post count or titles. I'm just here to talk about wargaming. It really is a party here in Dakka anways.
The solution - could be - not count post counts in the intro thread?


I apologize - though, and do not mean to spam your eyes.

Sorry.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
For example:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/283081.page


I see "welcome to dakka" x 5 heh.

''Welcome to Dakka!''

Pfft, yeah right. The only people that should be allowed to post in introductory threads should be mods and DCM's. Everyone else looking to get a ''upgrade'' in terms of title should be laughed off the forum. I couldn't care less how many messages someone has posted; it doesn't make their opinion more valid; it normally just cripples them with an ego. These welcome spammers act like they're grinding levels in WoW or something.

Mods and DCM's.

I'll say it again to clarify, some people really like increasing their post counts and for new users who have never had online personal interaction of this sort (no matter how copy/paste it is), it is better than nothing. It is also significantly better than copy/paste posts appearing in other forums or other sections of the site which would happen if we locked it down, and is why it is tolerated if not welcome. This discussion is starting to go in circles a bit. I've already stated I'll remove intro replies from the recent threads list which solves the issue raised in the first place so I'm locking this thread now.