During the winter, I implemented upgrades to the forum software. Most of them were bug fixes, but it also included a design change as well as some enhanced functionality. Keep in mind the updates come from the manufacturer I do not code the forum software. I merely implement it and make a few tweaks.
There are a few changes you may have noticed that are designed to reduce spam:
You have to log in to see links and pictures.
Many spammers post links to their site across hundreds of forums, regardless of how relevant the forum is to their site. They do this because search engines will boost a site's rankings if it has a lot of links pointing to it. Spammers post massive amounts of links to their sites in forums with the hopes that it will boost their search rankings.
By placing the links behind a login, the search engines cannot see the links and will not index them. Therefore, there's no benefit to their search rankings. Therefore, there's less incentive for spammers to post links on the forums. In addition, if only members can see the links, that's less people clicking on them, which further reduces the incentive.
Some of them post banners instead, so the images are blocked behind the login too.
There's a small minority of people who think advertisers wanted to see more members logged in. Nothing could be further from the truth. Advertisers don't care about that. All they care about is whether or not their ad can be seen and it can regardless of login status. The change above had everything to do with reducing spam, and absolutely nothing to do with advertisers.
New members cannot post links until their 11th post.
This was also done to reduce spam. Many spammers login and then post their spam on the first post and leave (for the reasons mentioned above). This restriction prevents that from happening by making it more time-consuming and difficult for them to do their deed.
It's a little more difficult to register.
Yes, this is true. Again, this was done to reduce spam. Many spammers use automated programs, called bots to register and post spam on unsophisticated forums. This enables them to post their spam in thousands of forums quickly. The new registration process effectively blocks these bots very well. 8-)
All of these changes were designed to reduce spam. I know you don't realize it, but we were getting spammed almost daily (sometimes several times a day) before implementing these changes. You didn't see it because the moderators stayed on top of it. But since implementing the changes, the spam has been drastically reduced to a small handful per month.
In addition to the changes above, a more recent change was implemented; namely the removal of the post count.
This was due to numerous arguments and fights over post counts. Some members even left because they felt criticized about their post count.
It seems some members were placing far too much value - and reading too much into - a person's post count. A few members wouldn't trust somebody with a low post count; others felt somebody with a low post count meant they had little bass fishing experience; while still others felt that a high post count meant that they had earned more latitude to bend the rules of forum conduct. None of this could be further from the truth.
And then there were those that felt segregated and shunned by members because they had a low post count. This led to races to get more post counts in order to avoid scrutiny. However, they were then criticized for padding their post count!
Needless to say, it got way out of hand. None of this behavior is representative of the conduct I expect from our members!
Anything that divides the membership this much has to go, so I removed it after consulting with the moderators and receiving their approval.
However, please note that you can still view one's post count by viewing their profile. Also note the designation for Newbie, Junior, Full, Senior, and Been posting a long time , which you can all still see today, are all based on post count (see the FAQs for more info).
That said, it's been brought to my attention that some members liked the post count because it helped them know who to welcome (a low post count meant they're a new member that needs to be welcomed). To that end, I have reduced the number of posts that it takes to become a Junior member. A Newbie now has less than 25 posts. Hopefully this will encourage everyone to welcome our newest members anyone with a Newbie designation.
Keep in mind, however, that some folks just don't post much, even though they come here all the time. So it may take them a year or so to become a Junior. Yet another reason why post count is irrelevant, and why it's gone.
As you can see, all of these changes are designed to support the members. It's the membership that is most important to the moderators and I. We want your stay here to be as comfortable and as trouble-free as possible. Our job here is to ensure that you feel at home here and enjoy coming back. These upgrades to the forums were designed to move us in that direction.
I hope you can now see why they were implemented and can see how they are benefiting you.
Enjoy!
