New Member Policy Removed

[Hapori Tohu]

For the last few years, BZPower has had a policy in place requiring the first five posts (originally ten) of all new members to be approved before they are able to utilize all the features BZPower has to offer. Today it brings me great pleasure to announce that we will no longer be requiring new user to go through this process. New accounts will still be approved by the Administration, but once activated they will be free to post as they see fit. I appreciate the patience of all our new members in the past few years and hope that this change will help encourage more discussion on the forums.View the full article

[Creep Of The Deep]

I can't help but feel that, while being a good choice, it might bring about more spammers.

 

But whatever, that's just what I think.

[Makuta_of_Oz]

Nek minnit, mass adbot posts.

[-Windrider-]

 

 

I haven't run into many spambots lately while approving accounts.

(source)

 

 

I really don't think we will have to worry about adbots and the like. The New Member policy was not even instated to fight against them. Besides, I think the possibility of a couple of spam posts, which can be hidden and dealt with quite quickly, is a small price to pay for making BZPower a less restrictive and more welcoming website for new members.

[Kopekemaster]

I don't think it will change the number of spambots.

 

But maybe we can get some more traffic on here for once!

[Toa_Of_Justice]

Do new members still need to make a certain number of posts before they can PM other members?

 

-Toa Of Justice

[-Windrider-]

Do new members still need to make a certain number of posts before they can PM other members?

 

-Toa Of Justice

 

Once a new account is approved, it will be in the Members group and will have the full privileges of the group, including access to the PM system.

This applies to accounts created after the removal today, though; accounts in the New Members group prior will (I believe) still have to make the five posts before they are put in the Members group.

[Art Vandelay]

Well I'm glad this finally happened. It's long overdue, IMO. But definitely better late than never. I'm really liking the changes around here so far. (Good job admins! ) It seems like Windrider's Tracker topic has been getting through to people.

[25K Now!]

Well, this'll be nice.

 

No longer shall my friend's account disappear whenever he tries to join BZPower.

[Mare Tranquillitatis]

Well, this could turn out being a vital choice for the survival of BZP. It definitely looks more welcoming. I personally didn't care much about the ten post requirement at the time I joined this site, but I suppose some people could find it restricting. It may not look a good thing to someone, generally speaking, however I feel like it will be just an overall improvement. Nice job!

[Gatanui]

You may be proud of the decision and honestly, it's a good and logical choice. However, now I'll have even less to do as a Forum Mentor. Oh well, change requires some sacrifices I guess, and I do believe this is a change for the better. -Gata

[Van Hohenheim]

ah, I like this. I made an account in 2011, I think. forgot all about it, until march 2013. I found the new post system a bit annoying, as I couldn't see my posts and I thought something was wrong with them, or the had gotten deleted.

[~Shockwave~]

Nice, I think we are heading in the right direction.

[Toaraga]

However, now I'll have even less to do as a Forum Mentor.

I was gonna say something about putting the Forum Mentors out of work.

 

As restrictive as people think BZP is with some of its regulations, such as this, I have seen other forums that have about the same restrictions or more, and I don't know that they caused any more or less problems. (I think purpose and relevancy of a forum will make or break it more than anything else.) I recently wanted to download a specific file on a site I frequent (or infrequent) yet had never previously joined, but I had to join the forum to do so, and even then to access that file, I still had to contribute at least 5 posts to the site. It might've been a deterrent had I not really wanted that file or found some places I wished to add something.

 

©1984-2013 Toaraga EAM

[Unauthorized Autobiography]

Though it really doesn't affect me, awesome.

[cerebralTurbulence]

So, I've just joined, and posted once (not counting this one). Will my remaining four (three) posts need to be approved?

[Black Six]

So, I've just joined, and posted once (not counting this one). Will my remaining four (three) posts need to be approved?

Because you joined before the policy was repealed, your posts will need to be approved still.

[Kanakalackin]

I'm glad that this policy was removed. It was quite unnecessary and turned people away from BZP because it was a very frustrating process.

[Ektris]

It's a small change and a policy I never thought hurt anything (especially after the post count was reduced), but if there's a hope it will entice others to join, I can't say it's such a bad thing to be removed.~|ET|~

[Sumiki]

Our esteemed Forum Mentors now have even less to do. In any event, this is a step in the right direction for revitalizing BZPower. In my time on the staff I've never run across a suspicious New Member post to approve, so this is a definite improvement.

[cerebralTurbulence]

 

So, I've just joined, and posted once (not counting this one). Will my remaining four (three) posts need to be approved?

Because you joined before the policy was repealed, your posts will need to be approved still.

 

Oh well. I can wait, I suppose. Thanks for the quick response! BZPower moderators are the quickest, most on-the-ball moderators I've yet seen on the Internet.

[Velox]

I think this was a great choice--hopefully this will make the forums more inviting to new members. Hopefully we can find something else for the FM team to do, though.