Suggestion to counter bad new-user behaviour - About xda-developers.com

I'll start off by stating something obvious: Xda is primarily a developers forum, and the main focus is on devs and their valued work...
With that being said, Xda will always continue to attract new users, looking for a quick fix...(thanks to its already existing userbase)...
This doesn't look like stopping anytime soon, unless Xda becomes invite-only...
On to my suggestion:
One of the widespread problem around with new users is that they don't follow the rules...
They post the wrong questions in the wrong places, don't search, hardly provide proper information even if someone wanted to help...and if someone points out the rules, they get flamed, sometimes even abused...and all the users involved may end up with a ban/infraction...
As the regulars may know, the list just goes on...
SO, rather than DISCOURAGING new users from breaking forum rules, why don't we ENCOURAGE them to follow the same...?
So my suggestion, why don't we identify and HIGHLIGHT new users who actually follow the rules, atleast with regards to providing adequate information (like logcats and stuff)?
Maybe create a new section in the Xda Portal, where such users and their threads get featured (once or twice a week), for the simple fact that they exhibit ideal newbie behaviour...
Kind of like, leading people with examples from within their midsts...{something like *recognizing* new members (and members and maybe senior members as well)}
Why the Portal? Because whatever comes on the portal, grabs more eyeballs...
And if the expected way to present problems gets featured often on the Portal, new and old users alike may take note...
They may try and be on their best henceforth, simply because they may want to get featured...
So I leave this idea open for discussion...if people like this idea, I'll try and bring this to the attention of the admins (if they havn't already seen it) and work out the details, and see if it gets implemented...
P.s. *constructive* criticizm and opinion is appreciated on ^this...
Edit: Do not use this thread for getting your 10posts! I will complain to mods, and get your posts deleted with your post count being reset...
Unless you actually have something worthwhile to contribute...
And please stay on topic, this thread isn't to argue on the 10 post limit! That rule/limit shall stay there, irrespective of whether you like it or not...

I like it. Turn something negative into something positive and all that.
But still i feel it's...err...lacking in some ways. Although i can't put my finger in it.
Sent from my rooted tomato using xda app

I keep finding myself coming back to this thread but my thoughts about it are constantly changing.
At first, I simply thought that it was a great idea. I thought that because, as you say, if new members could see other new members being "rewarded" then it could entice them to act the same, in the hopes they would also be featured.
Then thinking not such a great idea because members could simply stick to those particular guidelines (whatever they would be) just to get featured and have their 15 minutes of fame, so to speak.
I've been flitting between those two thoughts more than any others in my mind. Whereas now, I'm pretty much stuck between both because even though I do think it's a great idea, the possible downside could be that members abuse the systematics of it.
All I can truly say at the moment is that even though it's a good idea, it needs to have more of a plan as to what would qualify them being featured and to how it would work.
Now obviously I know that this is only the early stages of an idea, but with a combined effort of people helping to plan this out, it could potentially work out brilliantly.
By the way, if I think of any ideas myself, I'll chuck them in here and see what you think of them.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium

There should be some hard bound rule. One major setback in my opinion is that the "10 post rule", which encouragez them to spam thread everywhere.
This should be somehow modified.
Press Thanks on getting Helped by me

Users who don't make attempts at constructive posts aimed at helping others are creating spam. The rule does not.
I agree that the rule should be modified. I wish that the limit would be higher, like 50 posts. This way the '10-posters' will realize that they cannot possibly spam their way to be able to just hit the limit to post "Thanks for a great ROM", so they won't try, or if they do they will simply find their posts deleted so that they can try, try again.
This is not meant to be mean or cruel, but I would hope that XDA could keep more to its roots as a development site by changing it this way.
Only people who actively participate over a period of time and have proven themselves to be community members will be able to post constructively in a development thread. I believe this should also be applied retroactively, no grandfathering people in this time. If people have been 'members' for all this time instead of 'community members', then that means they haven't been participating or helping by sharing their knowledge with others, so why should they get to cut to the front of the line?
There are a lot of people who monitor the General and Q&A forums waiting for questions, trying to earn thanks and get new thread ideas and to climb the XDA ladder. If 'members' would use those forums as they were intended instead of trying to make the development threads into support threads, I believe they would find a much more welcoming community awaiting them.
I definitely agree with the concept a.cid is trying to do, but cascobel and Kid Carter feel as I do.

mf2112 said:
Users who don't make attempts at constructive posts aimed at helping others are creating spam. The rule does not.
I agree that the rule should be modified. I wish that the limit would be higher, like 50 posts. This way the '10-posters' will realize that they cannot possibly spam their way to be able to just hit the limit to post "Thanks for a great ROM", so they won't try, or if they do they will simply find their posts deleted so that they can try, try again.
This is not meant to be mean or cruel, but I would hope that XDA could keep more to its roots as a development site by changing it this way.
Only people who actively participate over a period of time and have proven themselves to be community members will be able to post constructively in a development thread. I believe this should also be applied retroactively, no grandfathering people in this time. If people have been 'members' for all this time instead of 'community members', then that means they haven't been participating or helping by sharing their knowledge with others, so why should they get to cut to the front of the line?
There are a lot of people who monitor the General and Q&A forums waiting for questions, trying to earn thanks and get new thread ideas and to climb the XDA ladder. If 'members' would use those forums as they were intended instead of trying to make the development threads into support threads, I believe they would find a much more welcoming community awaiting them.
I definitely agree with the concept a.cid is trying to do, but cascobel and Kid Carter feel as I do.
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Yeah you have come up with a good concept of 50 posts.
+1 for that
Press Thanks on getting Helped by me

There won't be any guidelines as such, but instead, we can have a group of members on the lookout for such posts...only they shall posess the vague guidelines...no need for it to become public in that sense...just like how it is for the articles appearing in the portal...
The news writers have guidelines, but these aren't public...but if you'll notice closely, they follow a quite vague trend...
And regarding raising the post limit to 50, I feel that it would drive out potential devs...sure they would find it easy to hang around and participate before they can post in dev section, but most devs have ego's...some may find it insulting that they have to "prove their worth"...
I believe that if we can hammer out all the weaknesses, than this idea can surely blossom into something useful...

a.cid said:
There won't be any guidelines as such, but instead, we can have a group of members on the lookout for such posts...only they shall posess the vague guidelines...no need for it to become public in that sense...just like how it is for the articles appearing in the portal...
The news writers have guidelines, but these aren't public...but if you'll notice closely, they follow a quite vague trend...
And regarding raising the post limit to 50, I feel that it would drive out potential devs...sure they would find it easy to hang around and participate before they can post in dev section, but most devs have ego's...some may find it insulting that they have to "prove their worth"...
I believe that if we can hammer out all the weaknesses, than this idea can surely blossom into something useful...
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Hopefully one of the news writers might chime in here at some point and offer some advice or tips since I do like the idea.
That is a good point, perhaps 30 would be a good number since that is when they go from Junior Member to Member. It is still high enough that they can't really spam to get there without being noticed. I guess if the new member is a really good dev, they could always contact one of the mods and work something out as it mentions in the Postcount limit in developmental fora thread.

mf2112 said:
Hopefully one of the news writers might chime in here at some point and offer some advice or tips since I do like the idea.
That is a good point, perhaps 30 would be a good number since that is when they go from Junior Member to Member. It is still high enough that they can't really spam to get there without being noticed. I guess if the new member is a really good dev, they could always contact one of the mods and work something out as it mentions in the Postcount limit in developmental fora thread.
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I was leaning towards more posts actually. I was thinking about 100 posts, i think that's when they become a senior member. That way they would truly appreciate being able to post in the dev thread and they would probably know better than to post "HEy thanks for the ROm!!1." Usually roms have a discussion thread in the general forum (at least for my device) and they should be encouraged to post there.
I dont know if that's too harsh, but I'm just tired of seeing people with 11 posts posting useless posts in the dev sections.

Avilove.Cullen said:
There should be some hard bound rule. One major setback in my opinion is that the "10 post rule", which encouragez them to spam thread everywhere.
This should be somehow modified.
Press Thanks on getting Helped by me
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EXACTLY This forum is damn stupid, I have a qns to ask the devs of my rom but now? I have to get 10 post filled???!!! WTF seriously, this forum is just encouraging spam. Honestly, if you dont have a qns to ask the devs, why would you wanna create an account? Im still a ''newbie member'' and this post will prolly be scanned by a mod. Mods, I hope you change this stupid rule.

beerope said:
EXACTLY This forum is damn stupid, I have a qns to ask the devs of my rom but now? I have to get 10 post filled???!!! WTF seriously, this forum is just encouraging spam. Honestly, if you dont have a qns to ask the devs, why would you wanna create an account? Im still a ''newbie member'' and this post will prolly be scanned by a mod. Mods, I hope you change this stupid rule.
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Dev area is not for newbie questions...
Your post is what justifies the members wishes of increasing the post count limit...while I'm here lobbying to not increase it...
And the first 10 posts aren't necessarily supposed to be spam...you can contribute at a lot of places and get 10 constructive posts as easily...
Anyways, that not the point of this thread...guys, please be on-topic...

Hello,
I understand you must stop the spam on the forum, but you don't think to the "non english" users !
For me for example, it's really difficult to understand all the long text on certain answers.
I know I must have 10 posts for my counter. OK
For now, i have some answers very helpfull to say for my smartphone (and a official rom to share (chineese N9000)).
But, before making my helpfull posts, I must make 10 reply to any "free forum" and it's seem to me so unnecessary...
So, you are the master and I am the slave... And I would like to share my knowledge... I must have 10 posts before...
thank you
patyan38

Was not able to resist posting in this thread.
So hey, even though I'm an old time lurker in here I started posting just recently and consider myself being a new member on this forums.
To be more specific about the lurking; I rooted about 20 different device models for friends, family and myself over years just using this forums as a guide. So thanks a lot to all the people who made all the custom ROMs and guides!
The reason why I post in here, is because in my opinion no clever forum/reward system on earth can defeat human laziness and stupidity.
You just can't do anything about it. Period.
How do I come to this conclusion? I'll explain!
The problem with ignorant new users is not an xda related problem, it's everywhere.
I come from a very technical field; VFX and 3D graphics and count myself in as a long time (5-10 years) and active user on lots and lots of forums about CGI, VFX, 3D, cinematography, video encoding, computer hardware and overclocking etc. etc.
Before I got my 24/7 job I was moderator on various smaller forums as well.
Now, one would expect that on a forum where people talk about 3D software which costs 5K$ onwards and is mainly used by professionals there shouldn't be too many new people asking stupid questions close to absurdity. Of cause there are, and they will gladly ask their questions which are all answered in stickied FAQs just one millimeter above their useless thread! Again and again and again...
The more specific the niche the forum is about, the less lazy and uneducated members.
(For example doom9 forums about x264 encoding)
More mainstream leads to more 1 time posters trying to get their question answered without even thinking of using a search function.
This is my experience on different forums and I guess mobile phones are mainstream.
What I'm trying to say in this lengthy post is that a new user who is willing to be a part of a community, will follow rules and not behave like a total **** out of free will, regardless, if there are any fancy reward systems or anything else on the forums.
Someone who just wants to ask one question and go will give a flying damn about noob friendly portals, encouragement and whatnot.
Same as he will give a damn about anyone's carefully written FAQ.
It's the internet.
I really gave that a lot of thought myself and I don't know why it is like this.
Maybe it's the society teaching people to get maximum gain with no effort if possible.
Maybe it's:
"Dyslexia is a brain-based type of learning disability that specifically impairs a person's ability to read. These individuals typically read at levels significantly lower than expected despite having normal intelligence."

beerope said:
EXACTLY This forum is damn stupid, I have a qns to ask the devs of my rom but now? I have to get 10 post filled???!!! WTF seriously, this forum is just encouraging spam. Honestly, if you dont have a qns to ask the devs, why would you wanna create an account? Im still a ''newbie member'' and this post will prolly be scanned by a mod. Mods, I hope you change this stupid rule.
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Ask questions in Q&A or general. Development is not for asking questions by users.
The rule is not stupid, and it will not change.

Was not able to resist posting in this thread.<br />
<br />
So hey, even though I'm an old time lurker in here I started posting just recently and consider myself being a new member on this forums.<br />
To be more specific about the lurking; I rooted about 20 different device models for friends, family and myself over years just using this forums as a guide. So thanks a lot to all the people who made all the custom ROMs and guides!<br />
<br />
The reason why I post in here, is because in my opinion no clever forum/reward system on earth can defeat human laziness and stupidity.<br />
You just can't do anything about it. Period.<br />
How do I come to this conclusion? I'll explain!<br />
<br />
The problem with ignorant new users is not an xda related problem, it's everywhere.<br />
I come from a very technical field; VFX and 3D graphics and count myself in as a long time (5-10 years) and active user on lots and lots of forums about CGI, VFX, 3D, cinematography, video encoding, computer hardware and overclocking etc. etc.<br />
Before I got my 24/7 job I was moderator on various smaller forums as well.<br />
<br />
Now, one would expect that on a forum where people talk about 3D software which costs 5K$ onwards and is mainly used by professionals there shouldn't be too many new people asking stupid questions close to absurdity. Of cause there are, and they will gladly ask their questions which are all answered in stickied FAQs just one millimeter above their useless thread! Again and again and again...<br />
<br />
The more specific the niche the forum is about, the less lazy and uneducated members. <br />
(For example doom9 forums about x264 encoding)<br />
More mainstream leads to more 1 time posters trying to get their question answered without even thinking of using a search function.<br />
This is my experience on different forums and I guess mobile phones are mainstream.<br />
<br />
What I'm trying to say in this lengthy post is that a new user who is willing to be a part of a community, will follow rules and not behave like a total **** out of free will, regardless, if there are any fancy reward systems or anything else on the forums.<br />
<br />
Someone who just wants to ask one question and go will give a flying damn about noob friendly portals, encouragement and whatnot.<br />
Same as he will give a damn about anyone's carefully written FAQ.<br />
<br />
It's the internet.<br />
I really gave that a lot of thought myself and I don't know why it is like this.<br />
<br />
Maybe it's the society teaching people to get maximum gain with no effort if possible.<br />
Maybe it's:<br />
<i>"Dyslexia is a brain-based type of learning disability that specifically impairs a person's ability to read. These individuals typically read at levels significantly lower than expected despite having normal intelligence."</i>
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Well, to be frank, you've hit it spot-on...I thought about it, but the only conclusion that I could have is that there is no solution to stupidity and ignorance, as you pointed out...
But atleast we could try and think of other alternatives...
As a regular here, it is really dis-heartening to see the constant barrage and batter of really dumb smartphone-owners, who have certainly no right to own a gadget which has more "brain-power" than most of them have ever possessed, cribbing about stuff that is no one else's problem yet doing nothing possible to show that they have atleast TRIED helping themselves...
I have stopped even bothering to help such people, because the flood just doesn't end..!
The only close-to-feasible solutions that has been suggested to counter that is to make xda-invite only, or raising the dev area limit high enough to deter less dedicated members to even try (though both of them don't find too much support with me)...
Surely, there must be something somewhere...maybe a magical combination of everything suggested so far...
The current system wouldn't be able to hold up much longer...
And as one of my fellow rc, kuzibri, pointed out:
You'll never miss unless you shoot
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Making XDA invite-only would sort of defeat the purpose of having such forums, most roms and works would remain "confined" to those who have been invited.
The 10 posts limit was supposed to (I think) encourage newbies to discover the different forums, ask questions, employ correct grammar (lol), but instead I see them spamming in the Off-Topic section.
There are two solutions IMO:
1. Enforce the 10 posts by limiting to General, Q&A and Apps&Themes forums, making Off-Topic, well, off-limit. Have mods specifically for newbies, erasing any post that doesn't follow the XDA guidelines.
2. Erase the 10 posts, but have a mentor. Attribute one person that during a lapse of time will "accompany" the newbie, give him advice, and if deemed "worthy", give him a green light.
-----------
"You can overclock as much as you want, your phone will always seem too slow."

I like the idea of a system that will reward good noob behaviour, how you could make a system like this work without members manipulating it would be the hard part. Also as for increasing the post count i think an increase would be welcome to most members, but trying to keep it fair also, so a compromise of 25 i think could work. One of the main problems is that the Mods are having a hard time keeping onto of the work load as it stands now (doing a great job though), so maybe in order to help maintain new members and take of some of that work load, XDA could have a new Moderator type, a Junior Moderator whos job is to monitor new members only, making sure they stick to the rules and dont spam to increase their post count, but limiting the Mod powers of these Junior Mods, so they can only remove posts of members who have a post count of 30 or less.

I would like to put forward my two cents in this topic.
HTC one x was my first smartphone and xda completely new. My first day at xda I did not knew that I cannot post in development thread untill i have 10
posts and kept posting in general session regarding development so that I can inc posts to just get pass 10post
From my above experience, I feel few ppl people come to xda for short period of time, for instant results such as rooting unlocking are one of the reasons for spam because since number of posts requirement is 10 they spam , post silly stuff because they need answers fast and cannot wait or lazy to read similar posts. So increasing no of posts requirement will inc in spam . One solution would be create a new user topic in every device thread , which contains all info regarding rooting unlock and faqs, and make this new user topic, rules mandotory for every few user to read it once(instead of 10posts ) . I know ppl are lazy still they gonna post but it will stop spam for someextent
From beast called HTC One X

abhipati said:
I would like to put forward my two cents in this topic.
HTC one x was my first smartphone and xda completely new. My first day at xda I did not knew that I cannot post in development thread untill i have 10
posts and kept posting in general session regarding development so that I can inc posts to just get pass 10post
From my above experience, I feel few ppl people come to xda for short period of time, for instant results such as rooting unlocking are one of the reasons for spam because since number of posts requirement is 10 they spam , post silly stuff because they need answers fast and cannot wait or lazy to read similar posts. So increasing no of posts requirement will inc in spam . One solution would be create a new user topic in every device thread , which contains all info regarding rooting unlock and faqs, and make this new user topic, rules mandotory for every few user to read it once(instead of 10posts ) . I know ppl are lazy still they gonna post but it will stop spam for someextent
From beast called HTC One X
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Virtually every General and/or Q&A device forum has such "new user" guides written by members and stickied to the top of the forums. Users unfortunately do not read them and thus do not post in them.
The problem is that people have the wrong idea that the dev threads are support threads. Those questions do not belong in the dev threads, so by increasing the post limit to a number much higher than 10, those users will not be able to spam their way in without being seen and having their posts deleted so hopefully they won't try to do it and will search and post questions if necessary in the General or Q&A forums.

As a new member here, I have no problem whatsoever with the 10 post limit. I actually didn't even know about it until I saw this thread.
I think the simple fact is that there are some of us that know they have no business posting in a dev thread whether allowed to or not and there are some people that have a sense of entitlement which can't be broken (me me, help me, do it for me, etc.).
I just got my first smartphone and immediately found XDA. I find myself reading thread after thread trying to soak up the vast knowledge on the site and it seems like the correct place for my questions is the FAQ thread in Q&A, not the dev thread. My post count just hit 10 but you will not find any posts from me in the dev threads until I can find something useful (actual test results from a update, information that will help them, etc) to contribute as a way of thanking the devs for their hard work.
I administrate a forum with a couple thousand users and up until now, the only solution we have had to combat the same type of problems is manually approving members 1 by 1. When users apply to the site, they are put in a guest / new user group. Our members report on each new member as they make useful contributions. At some point, an admin promotes them to the members group.
This is a very labor intensive process and most likely will not work for XDA, just wanted to share what we do.

Related

Easter Present - XDA Live 0.3?

Hi Kyphur,
Happy easter all of you!
hope you have nice easter .
Will 0.3 will be released this weekend?
AdoMad
STOP This at once!
If you only READ before you post, stop posting questions repeatedly!
0.3 Will be ready when it's ready and thats it!
yea man just have some patience.
it will some come and we will have some fun ;-)
happy easter to you all.
Okay, this thread is going to go no-where but to some possible bashing.
Could it be closed?
He asked a question... He got his answer, I dont see any reason to argue or cause any grief on this matter whatsoever.
STOP it at once !
I suggest to close this and to ban the noobs who ask this dummies questions !
This Forum
I've been a long time visitor and active member of many forums. However, I only recently have had the fortune of discovering this wonderful forum where unbelievable things are being done. This forum is beneficial to me via my Cingular 8525 and I greatly appreciate the plethora of knowledge contained within this forum and those that help by graciously making this knowledge available to others.
That being said, I cannot believe the despicable elitist attitude of many of the members. I understand and am willing to overlook the use of the term noob or newbie; however, I do not understand the amount of belittling and the attitude that is allowed to propagate in this forum and find it incomprehensible. Not only does it degrade an otherwise amazing forum, it speaks volumes about those charged with moderating the forum.
In my opinion, everyone here would benefit from a dramatic shift in the level of tolerance of this behavior. Furthermore, the moderators should reevaluate their policies and consider changing their stance on this issue.
dallen said:
That being said, I cannot believe the despicable elitist attitude of many of the members. I understand and am willing to overlook the use of the term noob or newbie; however, I do not understand the amount of belittling and the attitude that is allowed to propagate in this forum and find it incomprehensible. Not only does it degrade an otherwise amazing forum, it speaks volumes about those charged with moderating the forum.
Click to expand...
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I don't think the people here are elitists. I believe they are tired. Tired of the same questions being posted over and over. This thread would have been answered with the search function.
This is by far one of the best technical forums around. These forums were created to support development, not for the average phone hobbyists. Everything here should be considered "beta". Unfortunately people think everything is going to work 100% of the time. This will not be the case.
I think the moderators are doing a pretty good job. I do believe that more posts should get removed before the flame job starts.
Long story short....XDA is a great resource...give it a chance. I believe you would have really liked XDA a couple of months ago before "Hofo migration" started aka the "8525 effect". I hope the forums will return to the concise and straight forward technical and developmental forums that they were a couple of months ago.
tco said:
I don't think the people here are elitists. I believe they are tired. Tired of the same questions being posted over and over. This thread would have been answered with the search function.
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tco,
Thanks for replying. I agree with everything that you said. The reason that I highlighted the above is because I take issue with a portion of what you say. If people are tired of answering "simple" questions that they feel could be answered with a simple seach, then why don't they show their diapproval by not answering and allow these types of questions to either go unanswered, where they will quickly fall to the bottom of the message board, or better yet, allow someone that doesn't mind answering these types of question to answer them?
I've sifted through 70 pages of posting after posting just to find the answers to some relatively simple questions that I've had (this in spite of utilizing the advanced searching features). I could have saved a bunch of my time if I weren't so afraid of being chastised for asking a question that has already been answered in some 80-page thread.
I think people should be free to ask questions without fear of being criticized. Maybe a special section of the forum ought to either be dedicated to these types of questions, or a section of the forum ought to be restricted to "senior members." Either way, I strongly feel that the ones that deserve to be harassed are not those with questions, but those that feel that they are too good to simply offer an answer and choose to belittle the asker.
dallen said:
tco,
Thanks for replying. I agree with everything that you said. The reason that I highlighted the above is because I take issue with a portion of what you say. If people are tired of answering "simple" questions that they feel could be answered with a simple seach, then why don't they show their diapproval by not answering and allow these types of questions to either go unanswered, where they will quickly fall to the bottom of the message board, or better yet, allow someone that doesn't mind answering these types of question to answer them?
I've sifted through 70 pages of posting after posting just to find the answers to some relatively simple questions that I've had (this in spite of utilizing the advanced searching features). I could have saved a bunch of my time if I weren't so afraid of being chastised for asking a question that has already been answered in some 80-page thread.
I think people should be free to ask questions without fear of being criticized. Maybe a special section of the forum ought to either be dedicated to these types of questions, or a section of the forum ought to be restricted to "senior members." Either way, I strongly feel that the ones that deserve to be harassed are not those with questions, but those that feel that they are too good to simply offer an answer and choose to belittle the asker.
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Keep in mind you sifted through 70 or 80 pages of posting because they were so many of the same questions being asked. The truth is I am also tired of going through 80 pages to stay of the up to date. In the past 24hrs things have improved compare to the past 4-8 weeks (less postings and more reading, testing and reporting).
dallen said:
I've been a long time visitor and active member of many forums. However, I only recently have had the fortune of discovering this wonderful forum where unbelievable things are being done. This forum is beneficial to me via my Cingular 8525 and I greatly appreciate the plethora of knowledge contained within this forum and those that help by graciously making this knowledge available to others.
That being said, I cannot believe the despicable elitist attitude of many of the members. I understand and am willing to overlook the use of the term noob or newbie; however, I do not understand the amount of belittling and the attitude that is allowed to propagate in this forum and find it incomprehensible. Not only does it degrade an otherwise amazing forum, it speaks volumes about those charged with moderating the forum.
In my opinion, everyone here would benefit from a dramatic shift in the level of tolerance of this behavior. Furthermore, the moderators should reevaluate their policies and consider changing their stance on this issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Their responses are in line and they behold the ability to react however they would like. How would you like it if you put xxx hours building and testing for 100 people to come in and ask the same question over and over, they don't appreciate it 1 bit. don't blame jas for saying **** it and not wanting to publicly release any more, yeah that means I won't see any of his roms, but I would have done the same with the reactions that were seen with 2.0. The site is called xda DEVELOPERS for a reason. this isn't the site for someone that knows **** about their phone but wants to "look cool to their friends" the sooner this is realized the sooner the forum can get back to a civilized manner.
CUSTEL said:
Their responses are in line and they behold the ability to react however they would like.
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Then that means that we are also free to "react however [we] like" to their reactions. I, for one, see these "reactions" as immature, unjustified, and despicable. From now on, I will exercise my "ability to react however like" by calling people out for acting childish.
CUSTEL said:
The site is called xda DEVELOPERS for a reason. this isn't the site for someone that knows **** about their phone but wants to "look cool to their friends" the sooner this is realized the sooner the forum can get back to a civilized manner.
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If this site were intended to be solely for "developers," then registrations would be limited only to that class of members.
dallen said:
Then that means that we are also free to "react however [we] like" to their reactions. I, for one, see these "reactions" as immature, unjustified, and despicable. From now on, I will exercise my "ability to react however like" by calling people out for acting childish.
If this site were intended to be solely for "developers," then registrations would be limited only to that class of members.
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That is the most ignorant thing I have ever read.
First thing... this thread is being locked because the original poster did NOT need to start a thread like this.. This is something he could have read in another thread or pm'd kyphur for...
2nd thing is how the thread was hijacked yet again by people complaining, whining, sharing there opinions on something that wasnt related to the topic... there is already a topic for this that is open to everyone... the mods are taking our stance and working on what we feel should be acceptable.. This sub-fora has done a complete 180 from what it was like earlier this week...
@dallen ... your choice to speak out on the matter here in this thread where it wasnt appropriate and doesnt make it any better than the ones before you.. like i mentioned above there is a thread for this, so before you quickly tell others they were out of line maybe you should look at yourself...
@custel yes this was designed to be a developers forum, however due to the growth of HTC popularity the site has transformed into more than that... just read whats on the homepage of xda-developers.com
Welcome to xda-developers.com
This site is about certain PDA-phones, made by a secretive firm called HTC in Taiwan. Their makers named them 'Wallaby', 'Himalaya', 'Blue Angel', 'Wizard' and 'TyTN', but almost nobody knows them by those names. The mobile provider O2 sells them under the brand-name 'XDA', and that's what we had in our hands first. They're also known as Qtek, MDA, SX-56, Hermes and many, many other names.
Since we develop software for it, we need information, and nobody seemed eager or ready to give us what we needed. So we 'reverse-engineered' the devices, found a lot of information, and shared it with the world. But as our site grew we realised that lots of ordinary users were also suffering from a lack of support. They started using the xda-developers forum to communicate and before long the forum was as much a user forum as it was a developer forum.
We hope that you will enjoy this site and find it as useful as we do. We encourage you to donate or otherwise support this site. Of course absolutely all proceeds from donations will benefit this community.
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A complaint about this section of XDA-DEVS. (Development and Hacking)

quite simply, the the 'development and hacking' section of xda-devs has a cluelessn00b to developer ratio of about 1000-1. I understand that everyone is excited about some of the stuff that goes on in that section, but its bad for several reasons:
firstly, how can any dev communicate when people are continuously rudely demanding information (in broken english or text speek) which is on the first page of a thread or has been communicated several times since then.
secondly, its not safe for the cluelessn00bs... if i was a bit more evil, i could easily make an app to kill to boot loader and pretend that its the latest manila4d or whatever. real devs would probably think about it before running it, clueless noobs would dive right in and we'd have a wave of bricked devices.
i know its hard to fix this kind of issue, and this post is not meant as any disrespect to any mod or admin of xd.com (its clearly disrespect to the cluelessb00ns who cant read the domain name, the forum section nor the first post)
the only suggestions i can personally make are an allow list on threads - managed by the thread owner (and the ability to pass ownership of the first thread would make sense too) or maybe to post in dev+hacking you have to be a senior member (having said that, ive seen some senior members be as clueless and the n00bs)
i beg that some consideration is placed on this, because, in all reality, ive given up on the manila3d thread. theres just no point in me battling the waves of idiocy any longer. the chance of me actually developing? pffft.
It saddens me
I was a bit disappointed hearing this from a marvelous developer such as you are but I believe you are not evil because you have tried your best to bring us the best out of our devices
Please do reconsider...
I hear what you're saying, mate. I lurked around this place for over six months before making my first post, just reading up and learning. People don't want to read anymore...they think that this place is the instant free tech support center.
djboo, I don't agree! Most of the threads in D&H subforum are developer or constructive threads. This is not an easy thing to accomplish, and I think it shows the quality of the forum. You can't disable access to "noobs", developers make their stuff for everyone, not just other developers or experienced people! I'm glad if other people like something I make.
Partially agree...
djboo said:
quite simply, the the 'development and hacking' section of xda-devs has a cluelessn00b to developer ratio of about 1000-1. I understand that everyone is excited about some of the stuff that goes on in that section, but its bad for several reasons:
firstly, how can any dev communicate when people are continuously rudely demanding information (in broken english or text speek) which is on the first page of a thread or has been communicated several times since then.
secondly, its not safe for the cluelessn00bs... if i was a bit more evil, i could easily make an app to kill to boot loader and pretend that its the latest manila4d or whatever. real devs would probably think about it before running it, clueless noobs would dive right in and we'd have a wave of bricked devices.
i know its hard to fix this kind of issue, and this post is not meant as any disrespect to any mod or admin of xd.com (its clearly disrespect to the cluelessb00ns who cant read the domain name, the forum section nor the first post)
the only suggestions i can personally make are an allow list on threads - managed by the thread owner (and the ability to pass ownership of the first thread would make sense too) or maybe to post in dev+hacking you have to be a senior member (having said that, ive seen some senior members be as clueless and the n00bs)
i beg that some consideration is placed on this, because, in all reality, ive given up on the manila3d thread. theres just no point in me battling the waves of idiocy any longer. the chance of me actually developing? pffft.
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I partially second that, although I think that membership seniority based on number of posts isn't the best practice if to implement what you proposed. As I, for example, don't post a lot but read the forum for almost 2 years, and have dev. background (and I guess there a lot of others like that), there are some that post a lot of questions and/or comments that are not that dev. inclined or do not have the knowledge (yet?).
I do see your point here, and me too stopped following the TF3D thread after tons of non development related issues. Maybe putting Dev/Hack as read-only and people would have to ask a mod / admin for posting rights on it? And then giving full access to the Q&A thread / new section? So devs. could enjoy it more, general community could still get the latest (downloading newer version from Dev/Hack, etc.) and get questions answered in an orderly fashion... BUT, what with those nice little apps people write and post here from time to time, that come from someone that is not THAT involved in the community? They'd simply go elsewhere, and I guess this IS the most valuable asset the community have. With all due respects to the "regulars", I think those that pass by once in a while and contribute are
invaluable too. Guess it's the price to pay for innovation, having to sort through the non-sense to find the gems.
In the end, I think the problem here are the filters we use. Maybe we just need to find a better way to organize the data here, so it's easier to follow... What I do hope, is that whatever is done, doesn't change the essence of this great oasis...
I kinda agree with ur second part but i'm sure someone would have told the mods if it was a "dangerous app", rite?
I am a noob
Ok, I understand quite well what you are saying. Being a noob myself, i am learning as much as i can, slowly but I hope surely.
I try to read thoroughfully each thread that I have interest in.
The only regret I have is the search engine. For example, I'm still searching for a thread where it explains how to modify spb mobile shell files to have PI8 as the default calendar. I know the intel is there somewhere, but I'm having a hard time to find the right post/thread.
So maybe one of the possibilities would be to enhance a little the search engine or the way results are shown => enlighten the searched words...
Please reconsider, don't be to hard on the noobs, I think we aren't so bad, some of us want to learn.
And thank you very much for your patience, talent and ideas.
I do agree too that there is too much "I like that.... whats it for?" when a lot of the time the developers do put the information in their posts. BUT..... sometimes these STUPID, RANDOM comments do contribute by putting an idea out there to be expanded on. Sometimes they provide needed feedback and ideas.
If you restrict access to these areas then you may as well shut down the site.
This is a forum and as such there will ALWAYS be those annoying clueless posts but you have to remember that you were once there yourself...
You have to make allowances for those members who DON'T speak english very well as they may be very tech savy but just have difficulty putting their ideas down in English. They may actually give something back..
And thats my 2 cents
hi all
in fact there was a section missing , here , for asking
seems they are doing something very soon , reading the sticky thread
Here
and so the D&H will come back to be free for real dev
djboo perhaps you are a little hasty in this thread and I agree with some of what you say, however, alot of ppl respect everything you and other developers give us immensely! without ppl like yourself alot of us would never use Windows Mobile devices, instead following the masses of other "mind washed" CrApple iphone uses, anyway please don't stop sharing just because a few mindless teenagers didn't get enough Oxygen at birth!
people make their own choices. if you post something which might trigger a brick and someone uses it you can blame him for either trying something without investigating first or for just being plain stupid (depending on the circumstances).
the fact that this section is a target for terrorist idiots action isn't different from any other internet or real forum in the world. people tend to go wherever's warmer and cuddle there.. and try to suck every little ounce of good they can find in that place.
that's why you can find thousands of stupid posts and questions instead having a clear, professional section. not using search, not being able to read rules before posting.. that's international.
as for restricting... I must disagree to the proposal. it would require more work from the dev to find the members he'd like to share this with instead of just posting his work. and being a senior member on this forum means NOTHING considering it depends on the number of posts you have rather on how long you've been around or how much you have contributed to this community.
but what i do suggest is, that a member will have to be at least X months old in this forum to post. this will make people use search and learn before they come up with stupid questions.
cheers.
As a link above has p[pointed out, there is a new forum coming for questions. If you really have a problem with some of this noob questions, PM a mod/report the post.
Also, if you want to post a thread as an announcement, rather than a questions/answers thread, PM a mod to get it locked.
If you don't let new members post, they will never find anything out.
One final thing: you yourself have posted this in an area in which it doesn't belong. It has nothing to do with Development or Hacking, it's about what happens in this forum. As such, I'm going to move the thread to the "About xda-devs" section.
Thread's like this always remind me this post by Kyphur: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=2031989&postcount=45
Ta
Dave
i dont beleive personally in censorship of anysort. seriously. im like a big ass hippy and everything.
but some of the people in the developers section of this site have barely developed full sentances let alone developed on an 'xda' phone. the floods of the same people asking the same questions over and over again is just disheartening.
maybe just the ability for the thread owner to delete posts would help. since about post 40 on the manila3d thread, theres been...ooh. 7 maybe 8 relevant posts? the rest have been 'my device wont turn off' which is answered in the first post.
meh. maybe we should just open up a new thread for the real developing. disguise the topic. then we might get some work done.
djboo said:
i dont beleive personally in censorship of anysort. seriously. im like a big ass hippy and everything.
but some of the people in the developers section of this site have barely developed full sentances let alone developed on an 'xda' phone. the floods of the same people asking the same questions over and over again is just disheartening.
maybe just the ability for the thread owner to delete posts would help. since about post 40 on the manila3d thread, theres been...ooh. 7 maybe 8 relevant posts? the rest have been 'my device wont turn off' which is answered in the first post.
meh. maybe we should just open up a new thread for the real developing. disguise the topic. then we might get some work done.
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If you want closed developing, why not do it via e-mail, or PM?
DaveShaw said:
Thread's like this always remind me this post by Kyphur: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=2031989&postcount=45
Ta
Dave
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that man said it better than i ever could.
l3v5y said:
If you want closed developing, why not do it via e-mail, or PM?
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i dont want closed developing. i want developing. currently the main thread in question is more like doing lines for teacher. once a day, log in, "HTC-CA drivers disable shutdown, TF3D uses those drivers. use manilatoggle to disable TF3D before you power down" x10
djboo said:
i dont beleive personally in censorship of anysort. seriously. im like a big ass hippy and everything.
but some of the people in the developers section of this site have barely developed full sentances let alone developed on an 'xda' phone. the floods of the same people asking the same questions over and over again is just disheartening.
maybe just the ability for the thread owner to delete posts would help. since about post 40 on the manila3d thread, theres been...ooh. 7 maybe 8 relevant posts? the rest have been 'my device wont turn off' which is answered in the first post.
meh. maybe we should just open up a new thread for the real developing. disguise the topic. then we might get some work done.
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djboo... I understand where you are coming from, but I also do not totally agree with your comments. Although I may be a noob, I do have a lot ov experiance in computing. I do not have the time to develop of backwords engineer apps. I wish I did. I would enjoy doing it. I agree with you that the thread owner should be able to delete posts that are off topic, but I think the thread owner should also move a question with an answer to the first page if they see multiple posts. This would make it easier to find some of the common answers. I agree that users should use the search, but it does not always return what you are looking for. I have made a post and been berated for not using the search (when in fact I had). I truly enjoy the work you and the rest of the developers are doing. Without you guys, my phone would be quite boring, but because of the work done on this site, I am quite happy with my phone and how it operates. I have friends that think I am a god because I help them with thier phone, but I would not be able to do half of what I do if it were not for the work done here. I hope you go back to work on Manilla3D. We noobs need the knowledge you provide. As for off topic posts such as the nes on the Manilla3D thread, a lot of them go on due to people endulging these people by answering thier post or flaming them. I have seen senior members do this and all it does is fuel a lot of these guys. Ignore them! Geez, I have had my ligidimate questions ignored, why not ignore the non-ligitimate ones? Anyway, I will get off my soap box. I appreciate everthing all of you developers do and I hope one day I will have the time to contribute to the development community. Take care.
It is possible to set up a "thread owner" or thread based permission system but it would take some work and more importantly a Vbulletin developer to iron out the issues that may come up.
I have tried it on one other site but it was a little difficult. Of course I think a more productive idea is to have developer groups. Vbulletin has a group system built in as of 3.7 and it allows for comments and such. In 3.8 it will allow groups to have their own message boards. With a little help you can set up 3.7 to also have message boards controlled by the owner of the group.
DaveShaw said:
Thread's like this always remind me this post by Kyphur: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=2031989&postcount=45
Ta
Dave
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djboo said:
that man said it better than i ever could.
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Yup that's why it's in my signature under XDA Mantra.

Changes to rules, practices and standards while on XDA?

Have there been some rule, practices or standards changes to how members should be interacting on the forums of XDA?
More now than ever I see an increase in moved threads, derogatory comments from older members and a lack of consistency in regulating and allowing questions, answers and comments to be made on the forums. Is this a fabrication of my own mind or has there been an increase that other have noted?
If there have been changes and if there has been an increase in complaint about usage of the forums, conduct, etc, than why have members not received an updated TOS or an email indicating what the changes are? Why are pinned, stickied threads not universally posted across forums so all members see them regardless of what sub-forum they are in?
In other words, why for 4 years does the forum seem polite, friendly and awesome but today I fear to press SUBMIT on anything?
Is the community being stiffled because there are so many new HTC users and they are newbs and taking advantage of the positive community that XDA is?
Anyway I hope that XDA is not seeing an influx of stupidity in it's user community and thus causing pain to the real heroes on this forum. Some of us have politely used this forum as a resource and LIFE SAFER for our devices and we definately don't want things to change.
Thanks for any input to help me ease back into posting and having dialogs with the rom devs and cooks.
On my personal opinion, I´m not a Mod or Dev, I´m just a simple member
Of course XDA-DEVS has been changing and adapting
Is not the same to have a site with 30 members with more personal and friendly contact between them than to have a site with hundreds of users...
personal friendly contact of course is lost in certain way, I don´t mean that XDA is not friendly anymore, but rules must change and adapt to the big site that has become now
Of course more rules have to apply.
Also imagine you are a Mod and you find that in a year you answered the same question like 1000 times!, of course you´ll be more sensitive when someone ask the same again.
80% of the members here never READ the rules so they don´t care about them, they just want to be attended and answered by their personal needs
In a few words only a few people really respect this site.
Just my personal point of view, not intend to offend anyone
Cheers,
There have been a lot of threads being moved to help with the organization. Mainly with the floods of anonymous questions in the wrong areas.
One major problem seems to be the people who never think to read the wiki, seems that 90% of the 'help' posts could have been answered by looking at the wiki.
(I'm definitely a wiki fan as it helped me to learn to flash my phone correctly).
I imagine the problem is that now these phones are more accessible to a wider public, people turn up without any real idea of how things function in here (and indeed in many forums of all sorts).
I've only been here a short while & at first (after learning how to modify my device) did try to answer a few questions with links to the wiki, but after a few days I've become lazy when I see those 'help ! my phone is bricked !' type threads. Which is actually pretty crap on my part as I'm a noob who learnt by looking (& has still much to learn & look through) & I should make an effort to help out other noobs & relieve a bit of the pressure off the older members & mods.
Maybe an idea would be that someone (or some people) could make a small section of noob help to be added to the first mail a member receives when signing up. It could contain links to the wikis & the general hints upon searching before asking obvious questions.
That´s the main problem
Nobody READS, so if more threads pointing to the Wiki are created is going to be the same, noobs will not READ, because as I´ve said before only a few members really care for this site, the mayority only cares for it´s own device problems, want to be answered and in the best case you get a thank you...
Thresher said:
Have there been some rule, practices or standards changes to how members should be interacting on the forums of XDA?
More now than ever I see an increase in moved threads, derogatory comments from older members and a lack of consistency in regulating and allowing questions, answers and comments to be made on the forums. Is this a fabrication of my own mind or has there been an increase that other have noted?
If there have been changes and if there has been an increase in complaint about usage of the forums, conduct, etc, than why have members not received an updated TOS or an email indicating what the changes are? Why are pinned, stickied threads not universally posted across forums so all members see them regardless of what sub-forum they are in?
In other words, why for 4 years does the forum seem polite, friendly and awesome but today I fear to press SUBMIT on anything?
Is the community being stiffled because there are so many new HTC users and they are newbs and taking advantage of the positive community that XDA is?
Anyway I hope that XDA is not seeing an influx of stupidity in it's user community and thus causing pain to the real heroes on this forum. Some of us have politely used this forum as a resource and LIFE SAFER for our devices and we definately don't want things to change.
Thanks for any input to help me ease back into posting and having dialogs with the rom devs and cooks.
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Please See:
TheChampJT said:
There have been a lot of threads being moved to help with the organization. Mainly with the floods of anonymous questions in the wrong areas.
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aE3-ink said:
One major problem seems to be the people who never think to read the wiki, seems that 90% of the 'help' posts could have been answered by looking at the wiki.
(I'm definitely a wiki fan as it helped me to learn to flash my phone correctly).
I imagine the problem is that now these phones are more accessible to a wider public, people turn up without any real idea of how things function in here (and indeed in many forums of all sorts).
I've only been here a short while & at first (after learning how to modify my device) did try to answer a few questions with links to the wiki, but after a few days I've become lazy when I see those 'help ! my phone is bricked !' type threads. Which is actually pretty crap on my part as I'm a noob who learnt by looking (& has still much to learn & look through) & I should make an effort to help out other noobs & relieve a bit of the pressure off the older members & mods.
Maybe an idea would be that someone (or some people) could make a small section of noob help to be added to the first mail a member receives when signing up. It could contain links to the wikis & the general hints upon searching before asking obvious questions.
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orb3000 said:
That´s the main problem
Nobody READS, so if more threads pointing to the Wiki are created is going to be the same, noobs will not READ, because as I´ve said before only a few members really care for this site, the mayority only cares for it´s own device problems, want to be answered and in the best case you get a thank you...
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So yeah, there have been an influx of "stupid" newbs. people who take without regard for the informal structure that has existed for years.
There haven't been any Changed to the Rules. Just maybe MORE enforcement to respond to MORE infractions.
orb3000 said:
That´s the main problem
Nobody READS, so if more threads pointing to the Wiki are created is going to be the same, noobs will not READ, because as I´ve said before only a few members really care for this site, the mayority only cares for it´s own device problems, want to be answered and in the best case you get a thank you...
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What I meant was to not create new threads but answering the posts with the link to the wiki. I just did a few here :
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=481763
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=481739
Mainly trying to make them go to the wiki to find their answer.
I guess it's doing half the work for them but I can imagine that some people come along & aren't used to digging around & sometimes need a wee shove to help them along.
Of course some just don't care & I imagine you long timers & mods/admin get really tired of them, so us newer members should start to help out even if it is only in a small way.
orb3000 said:
Of course more rules have to apply.
Also imagine you are a Mod and you find that in a year you answered the same question like 1000 times!, of course you´ll be more sensitive when someone ask the same again.
80% of the members here never READ the rules so they don´t care about them, they just want to be attended and answered by their personal needs
In a few words only a few people really respect this site.
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Good point, well taken.
Thanks, for the input. I do appreciate it.
Actually, if you read the guidelines Peter P wrote all them years ago they still apply.
For example:
1. Check if something hasn't been asked before - a lot of the mod activity is enforcing this, removing / closing redundant questions that already have answers. The other day I closed a thread with the answer of the wiki home page, nothing more (I was feeling mean ), and 10 minutes later I saw the user download the software they asked for - they must have found the software by searching and reading the wiki .
Just my 2p's worth,
Dave
@Thresher
I guess JimmyMcgee is a bit harsh (stupid newbs), but has a good point anyways. I have been a member of this since July 2005 and this place has not changed a bit. Every single value and rule is the same as when I joined. The structure that this site has, has worked for many years, making this a haven for people that either want to learn or simply need help. It is not the site's rules and regulations that have changed, but the quality of people joining the site...
Over the past year, I have seen virtually every single one of the main and most common sense rules being broken. Point and case, do you know how many threads in Chinese, German, French, Italian (I have yet to see one in Spanish but I have seen a few posts with a lot of cursing in Spanish ) and an endless number of other languages have been started over the last year?? This is an English speaking forum and if I am not mistaken, one of the rules is "please post in English so others can understand"... one would think thats common sense. Of course, you will have the good ol' fashioned person (to avoid name calling) that will rant about how they don't speak English and that it is very unfair how they cannot ask questions (or read the comments) because of that... To that I say, "Google is a wonderful thing, you know? You can do things such as writing your stuff and then using the translate function to turn your question into something that some people might actually be able to understand." Believe me, my first language is Spanish and I would like nothing more than to make less effort into writing, but hey it's not a matter of what I like and what is more convenient... it's common sense.
Now, I read your original thread in the Q&A question where you complained that you posted something in the Raphael forums and got moved somewhere else. That thread where you placed your post clearly stated that no posts/replies were supposed to be made. So, the mods decided to move it where they saw fit to belong. That is what the mods are here for, to turn this utterly, disorganized, never ending chaos that we call a forum and make it enjoyable for them as well as for other members. And they do a great job at that!
Long story short, (again quoting JimmyMcgee)
"There haven't been any Changed to the Rules. Just maybe MORE enforcement to respond to MORE infraction."
Thanks for understanding.
The longer one is on the site, the more one answers the same questions over and over the less nice you are going to be about it.
Loads and loads of people have google search XDA link in there sig, and 90% of questions have been answered at least once before, sometimes even on the same page.
People are lazy, and want it handed to them on a plate, its sad.
The world is constantly developing and changing, the internet reaches more places in the world than ever. With satallites, virtually the whole earth is covered by some sort of cell service ( well except my downstairs office where I can never get a signal ). With the advent of global email and texts, more people than ever have cell phones, and the number of PDA's grow every month.
What used to be a small forum of enthusiats trying out and sharing hacks, to try to make their phones better, has turned into one of , if not the best source of information on the net for Windows Mobile phones. I have not been to a windows mobile , HTC or carrier forum on the net that doesn't reference XDA to people with " unanswerable " questions.
With this designation of " the authority " comes the influx of human nature. "The I want it and I want it now's." The people who think that this is HTC's tech support. The people who don't really care about their phones and don't want to, but just have one question and cannot see why you cannot just anwer it and let them get on with their lives, etc...etc.... Go to any other enthusiast site and see how ignorant ( ie: unknowledgeable ) people get treated, not much differently. " I know that this is a high performance engine forum, where people trade ideas on how to increase the horse power of high performance cars, but can someone tell me where the dipstick is on my 1999 mini van ?"
Too bad there wasn't a way to route every noob or web redirect through a home page that includes the " what XDA is " and the posting rules page, before they can navigate to the site itself. Maybe for at least their first 10 posts or more. The fustrations with redundant questions, ungrateful noobs, people that think this is tech support are endemic of any forum. But I really think that ti is not a problem here, as much as I have seen on other sites. And if someone wants to remedy it, I think the remedy has to work friom the noobs up and not from the seniors down.
Google is a wonderful thing but as Google admits to: human nature, vocabulary, language and grammar make search engine results wildly different for each user. Google also has issues with short words and abbreviations which are used a lot throughout XDA.
The WIKI is great.
I guess other forums I use have a feature to show you similar questions based on the language you used before you finish your post. I wonder if this forum has that ability. I think it comes as part of the vBulletin package but it takes a toll on the server due to DB hits.

Why So Hostile?

Hi!
I really enjoy the forum but why is it so hostile to new users? For example, being forced to do a CAPTCHA every time I write a new post, and when I wanted to share my desktop in the share your desktop thread in the Galaxy Tab 10.1 forum I was blocked because I'm new, and then when I went to fix a typo in a post I'd just made, it told me I had to wait FIVE minutes! Believe me, I understand what a problem spammers are. I am a moderator on another tech forum and I used to be a moderator for MTV. I get it. But treating all your new users as if they are spammers and making them jump through hoops or blocking them from being able to do simple things like share a screenshot just gives off a "we hate new users, we know you're all evil spammers so we hope this frustrates you enough to drive you away" vibe.
I understand that your rules are your rules and respect that, and I like it here. I just wanted to put in my two cents about the impression it gives new users.
BretonGirl said:
Hi!
I really enjoy the forum but why is it so hostile to new users? For example, being forced to do a CAPTCHA every time I write a new post, and when I wanted to share my desktop in the share your desktop thread in the Galaxy Tab 10.1 forum I was blocked because I'm new, and then when I went to fix a typo in a post I'd just made, it told me I had to wait FIVE minutes! Believe me, I understand what a problem spammers are. I am a moderator on another tech forum and I used to be a moderator for MTV. I get it. But treating all your new users as if they are spammers and making them jump through hoops or blocking them from being able to do simple things like share a screenshot just gives off a "we hate new users, we know you're all evil spammers so we hope this frustrates you enough to drive you away" vibe.
I understand that your rules are your rules and respect that, and I like it here. I just wanted to put in my two cents about the impression it gives new users.
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even though ive given you a thanks or this, i do believe its set correctly. This forum has soooooo many existing users plus the new ones joining everyday its very suprising how little advertising,spamming goes on here and i do think its contributed by the new user rules.
I myself have only ever been a mod for a 200+ forum and the amount of spam we had to delete each day was a joke, imagine how many links around the web lead to xda....the amount of spam this site would be suffering had they not placed these rules the xda maybe not what we all cherish today
edit "NOTE", lol just wait until you accidentally post in the wrong section
I understand your situation, considering that you have been a forum moderator in other forums
But when I was a new user i never got to enter any captcha or so !
I have no clue that Captcha was being used on XDA to be honest!
But one thing that can help you is that you can answer others's questions in the Q and A forum of the device(s) you own. Helps to get that 10 post thing done early, especially if you know enough to help someone else out
Anyways all the best and you can PM me if you need any more help or you may contact a senior admin
just my 2 (+1) cents p) and Peace!
I've never been a moderator for any forum and even I know the effect spammers can have if the proper procedures don't take place.
But you gotta know, it's only for a few posts...it's not like you'll be entering captcha codes in forever and never be able to share weblinks or screen shots.
Just ride it out, we all had to
Well, this is a touchy subject.
Being such a high traffic forum we really do need aggressive anti spam measures.
As for the restrictions on the development sections.... We'll that's also a touchy subject but for entirely different reasons.
Once upon a time XDA was populated solely by developers, developers who developed for no other reason than the love of developing. Then the smartphone became accessible to more and more people, which led to more and more members who weren't developers. This led to lots and lots of questions, many of which were placed in the development forums, which isn't the right place for non development related questions. Therefore a system was put in place which prevents new users from posting in the development sections with the intention of giving them the opportunity to get to know how XDA works before jumping straight in and spamming up the hallowed halls of the development forums.....
That's about it really.. Check out the sticky in this section for a more detailed explanation
Sent From My Fingers To Your Face.....
I appreciate everyone's replies. I have no problem with the 10 posts before getting access to the developer's section. You certainly don't want anything but quality in a section like that.
I also understand the spam issue. One of my day jobs is as a staff writer for a blog hosted by a company that makes anti-spam software. I know more than I ever wanted to on the subject!
This is a great forum!
I agree
The forum is very anti-noob. I hate entering capta images that I can hardly read, can only post every 5 minutes, this really sucks. I hope when I hit 10 posts this crap goes away
I like the spam features that this site has in place, I think more forum sites need to put something like this in place. It's not that hard to get 10 posts if you're helping people out.
Chaotic Peace said:
I like the spam features that this site has in place, I think more forum sites need to put something like this in place. It's not that hard to get 10 posts if you're helping people out.
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most new users on this forum are looking for help , so i guess most users first 10 post will be for asking help and not giving .
i kind of like the idea of captcha on the first few post i may use it on my site. i have a xbox modding site and it generates a bit of spam from time to time.
webjunky said:
most new users on this forum are looking for help , so i guess most users first 10 post will be for asking help and not giving .
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Yep, and at the same time most new users don't understand the concept of searching the forums so their first 10 posts which are asking rather than helping would probably have already been asked previously. i.e. forum gets cluttered up, which is pretty much a form of spam.
Chaotic Peace said:
I like the spam features that this site has in place, I think more forum sites need to put something like this in place. It's not that hard to get 10 posts if you're helping people out.
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Yeah exactly! And making ten posts isn't that time consuming either at the same time.
webjunky said:
most new users on this forum are looking for help , so i guess most users first 10 post will be for asking help and not giving .
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This is true as well. But if they need help they should be posting in the Q&A sections of their device not the development section.
I think the rules are there for a reason and the MODs and Admin have thought a lot on this issue and its only for first 10 posts.
It's not too bad, it's worth it.
---------- Post added at 10:41 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:35 PM ----------
I think if people were able to sign in with their google accounts though there wouldn't be need for all this...
conantroutman said:
This led to lots and lots of questions, many of which were placed in the development forums, which isn't the right place for non development related questions. Therefore a system was put in place which prevents new users from posting in the development sections with the intention of giving them the opportunity to get to know how XDA works before jumping straight in and spamming up the hallowed halls of the development
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And now they post Questions in the general forums =.=
Sent from my E15i using Tapatalk
We're always trying to make things better on the forums. This means we have to try stuff to see if it works. It's basically trial & error for the most part.
The spamming has decreased alot the past couple of months with the new captchas and 10 post rule. Still, we need to find a way to make it less difficult to join our forums and more difficult to post spam. Ideas are always welcome of course.
Annoying for non noobs
I still haven't made my 10 posts because all the stuff I want to respond to is in the developer forums so now I have to search the boards for things to reply to to actually find something to respond even though I've been a member for over a year and a user of this website for a few years!
Whilst I understand the reasoning security vs usability can sometimes be a massive P.I.T.A
Slotty_AU said:
I still haven't made my 10 posts because all the stuff I want to respond to is in the developer forums so now I have to search the boards for things to reply to to actually find something to respond even though I've been a member for over a year and a user of this website for a few years!
Whilst I understand the reasoning security vs usability can sometimes be a massive P.I.T.A
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Is it so much to ask that you read for a bit first, pick up some knowledge and experience, help a few people in the 90+% of the site which is completely open to you such as your devices General or Q&A forums or any of the General discussion forums, to participate with quality posts instead of BS posts, in return for being able to post into any of the ROM threads from any dev on this site?
I've had the immense privilege of watching this site grow since just a couple months after it introduced a few new phone models to the original O2 XDA. I actually get my soap opera fix and tech fix all in one! I'm hooked.
It's not just spam. I was a horrendous new user, posting in the wrong forum, responding to emotional posts enough to encourage them, I even chewed out a guy for blasting a noob. The problem is organic, and though spam has become part of that (probably the hugest part, now) it's that organic nature of this forum that makes it so great. Really tough problem to grow something cleanly without squelching it.
I was wondering if XDA could track a user's searches, or forums "read" for more than a minute, and after 30 or so, then stop the captchas. It seems like over the years it's folks who don't search & read (spammers or otherwise) that are the detraction. Maybe something like being in "reader" status as a step to becoming a new user & able to post at all.
1. I could have used it.
2. I'm putting this here, in the weird forum for this topic it's in, to see what people think. Wanting to have input as a developer is definitely a magnification of the problem. I'm glad it's here.
(ThinkPad Tablet:Tapatalk 2)

[Feature request] An approach to freing the dev sections from Off-topic and Spam

Hello fellow XDA-Users,
I have been a member of this forum for quite some time now, and currently spend my time in the Optimus 2X section.
People from there might recognize me from my guide on how to build cyanogenmod7 from source and some bits and pieces
from the O2X section.
Some of you might know, that LG delayed the update for this phone quite a bit, which brings me to the purpose of this
thread: The amount of spam and Off-Topic in the general section as well as the development section has blown up
insanely over the last 2-3 months, and this has caused a lot of tension between users and mods, among users and of course
users and devs. While, in case of the general section, this might be bearable, it is not for the dev section, since the real
devs can't work properly because all the useful information gets buried under the same questions and off-topic again and again.
Just recently, a mod was required to close a thread containing bleeding edge information and made it clear that he had no
intention of reopening it again.
I have spent a lot of time thinking about this, and I want to dump my thoughts for a solution in this thread. While
I don't know to which degree these can be implemented or if they might contradict the philosphy or user-rights of XDA,
I still want to post them. These ideas apply first and foremost to the dev section. I see the dev section as a read-only
section for anyone that doesn't have anything to contribute towards the development, no matter how long he has been
here or how many posts he already made. Therefore I propose the following mechanics to keep the dev sections clear of Spam.
Allow only recognized developers, contributors and the other verified ranks in the forums to start threads in the dev section.
This prevents off topic threads from being created in the first place. If someone new really wants to start a new thread because
he really has something useful to share, I imagine some sort of verification process where users can submit their threads and
moderators, or maybe even the parties allowed to post already, to review and approve the topics. This will create additional workload
on the moderators, but I believe it won't be that much more compared to the endless reports they are receiving right now. Also, allowing
a larger base of users (recognized contributors/developers) to approve the topics will reduce the workload even further.
To prevent the spamming of existing threads, apply the same strategy as mentioned above with the following changes:
For a specific threads, the thread starter (and possibly a list of users defined by the thread starter) can either approve single
posts or users in general to being able to post in the thread. The user, after being approved, will be able to post freely in the
thread, or maybe even in all threads by the approving thread starter.
I know these are very strict rules, but since they are only applied to the dev sections, I think they are worth considering, since it
will reduce all posts made in this section to those really dealing with dev stuff. Like I already mentioned, it may increase the workload
on whatever mods/users will have to approve. This gave life to my idea of expanding this userbase to the recognized developers/contributors
as well.
I see that my concept is anything but precisely laid out, but I think it represents a good base to create a system, that will make the
dev sections of this forum what they used to be: A place where developers can develop without having to read through pages of spam and
off topic and thus be more productive and less pissed off. The approval also puts another step into the process of thread/post creation
that might make users reconsider if they really want to post or perform a simple search first.
Thanks for your time!
Also, in order for this thread to be recognized, please give it a good rating. Thank you.
aMpeX
edit: Just to make myself clear again, this approach is far from perfect, but I believe with some input and discussion, we can make it so.
Please feel free to post your opinions, corrections or extensions to this idea.
I will try to collect some ideas from the discussion to summarize it here:
Inspired by anasdcool71's post:
Give OPs the opportunity to decide whether they want to moderate their thread, or accept any comment that is made during thread creation
by ticking a checkbox for example.
Hear, hear. I have said almost exactly the same thing myself before now and couldn't agree more with your thoughts. It's not an ideal solution, but maybe XDA need to take an uber-strict approach to stop this destruction by its own users.
this topic needs ofc a lot of discussion, expecially since i know neither about the capabilities of the code nor how the owners of XDA want to approach it.
I feel by starting this discussion we can iron out a system that works.
I feel that there is simply no other solution than being a little strict on the dev sections. Users still have enough room to post in the other sections, but in the dev sections, where all the magic happens, this is not helping at all, so I think it makes sense restricting these sections in that manner.
The 2 features are quite good, but still there are certain restrictions.
For the 1st point :-
You said that RCs, RDs and other verified ranks should be allowed to create a thread. Well, most RCs have been given the rank because of their polite and courteous nature throughout the site, and some of their work on guides, ROMs and kernels. RDs are kinda the same, just that their work is an expert one. So basically Senior Members or Members create threads for their ROMs and kernels in the dev section, and then if their work is good enough, they are appointed as RCs and RDs as per the requirement. So this feature cannot extend to only RCs and RDs as it may block the opportunities of other members to become one. Even if a Senior Member is allowed in this feature to create a thread, many good rom devs, who might be new to XDA, may feel the frustration to complete not 10, but 100 posts!
For the 2nd point :-
The OP of the thread might not know the user himself so he might not choose users correctly. Some users holding only the Junior Member or Member title might know a lot of info about that particular rom/kernel. Furthermore, this feature will really prove tiresome for the OP as there will be a lot of users waiting for his/her approval. And as far as the case for spam goes, the OP may inform the particular mod to remove the posts.
anasdcool71 said:
The 2 features are quite good, but still there are certain restrictions.
For the 1st point :-
You said that RCs, RDs and other verified ranks should be allowed to create a thread. Well, most RCs have been given the rank because of their polite and courteous nature throughout the site, and some of their work on guides, ROMs and kernels. RDs are kinda the same, just that their work is an expert one. So basically Senior Members or Members create threads for their ROMs and kernels in the dev section, and then if their work is good enough, they are appointed as RCs and RDs as per the requirement. So this feature cannot extend to only RCs and RDs as it may block the opportunities of other members to become one. Even if a Senior Member is allowed in this feature to create a thread, many good rom devs, who might be new to XDA, may feel the frustration to complete not 10, but 100 posts!
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I know this approach wasn't the best. My chain of thaught was simply to try to restrict the userbase that can start a thread. To enable non RDs and RCs to start threads, I included the idea of an approval by either MODs and/or RDs and RCs. After a user has been approved once, he retains the right to start threads and post in the dev section.
I guess my bigger picture is to build a welldefined group of users allowed to post in the dev section, and also easen the way for this group to include new members, since I believe creating a new verified group and manage applications is just too much work.
anasdcool71 said:
For the 2nd point :-
The OP of the thread might not know the user himself so he might not choose users correctly. Some users holding only the Junior Member or Member title might know a lot of info about that particular rom/kernel. Furthermore, this feature will really prove tiresome for the OP as there will be a lot of users waiting for his/her approval.
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This is also a weak point of my proposition, my idea was to provide some sort of inbox where OPs can see the posts submitted and simply approve the ones he deems fit, thereby weeding out the useless information and SPAM. It is a lot of work ofc, but I, for one, would prefer a clean and moderated dev thread over one bloated with Spam.
Maybe one could let the OP decide which model he wants his thread to follow by, by simply ticking a checkbox during thread creation.
Interesting idea.
I believe I've brought up all of the above suggestions at some point or another (not dismissing or anything, just I have looked into this for a long period of time, several years now in fact!)
I'll try to summarise the benefits and disadvantages of each key suggestion:
1) Allow only "Recognized *" and above to make new threads in dev.
I'd love nothing more than this... The trouble is users wouldn't want it! They will complain if we implement this, since not every developer on XDA is an RD... Some may not have applied, some may have applied but not had it processed yet. Others may have applied and been accepted (but we only add the users to the RD group once per month to reduce time spent on it), and some may have been rejected for not meeting the criteria.
This would end up upsetting more people than it would benefit, causing more arguing and bickering from them
2) Restrict who can post in a thread.
This is what we already aim to do with the 10 post rule. The trouble is that if we raise it, it keeps out genuine contributors. If we lower it, we get crap through. Right now, we think 10 is about the optimum, but that's not to say we're not adverse to ever changing it if needed.
The issue with giving the OP control over who can post is that some people would abuse this. For example, I don't imagine many devs who would "approve" posts critical of their ROM, or giving negative feedback on it. Part of the way XDA works is it ensures that every thread is outwith the control of its owner, so feedback isn't being hidden or removed because it isn't agreed with by the OP of the thread. That's why XDA doesn't follow the trend of a few other sites to give thread owners moderator abilities in their own threads.
We've got a team of mods who are impartial and can deal with issues without considering if a post is "beneficial" to user perception of the developer or not (like a dev would do if he was approving posts).
We do constantly try to think of new ways to solve these problems, and you've given me a few new ones to think about
Thanks
maybe then we should focus on the part of my idea that easens the entry into the group of users that are allowed to posts, not necesarily tieing it to the RC RD status, but unblocking the restrictions individually and extending the committee to administer these admissions from MODs and Admins to RD/RCs.
This would require a one-time effort by new devs, submitting their new ROM/thread to the dev sections, and having it approved by aforementioned group.
pulser_g2 said:
2) Restrict who can post in a thread.
This is what we already aim to do with the 10 post rule. The trouble is that if we raise it, it keeps out genuine contributors. If we lower it, we get crap through. Right now, we think 10 is about the optimum, but that's not to say we're not adverse to ever changing it if needed.
The issue with giving the OP control over who can post is that some people would abuse this. For example, I don't imagine many devs who would "approve" posts critical of their ROM, or giving negative feedback on it. Part of the way XDA works is it ensures that every thread is outwith the control of its owner, so feedback isn't being hidden or removed because it isn't agreed with by the OP of the thread. That's why XDA doesn't follow the trend of a few other sites to give thread owners moderator abilities in their own threads.
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I agree totally about the 10 post limit.. As i have seen many examples of the spam/useless post by newbies/noobs who post in dev section... As our samsung galaxy y duos dev section when created had not got this restriction on it (just an accidental miss i feel).. but its corrected now.. so i have seen how worse it may get if this limit is revoked.. and i have been thinking of an idea as many times i have come across new users complaining that they know about android stuff and they wanted to help dev in development and by the time they complete 10 useful post routine valuable time will be wasted etc... So i thought of this idea when i read the op's message in this thread...
How about providing OP a option to exclude a newbie member who has not made a single post yet to make posts in dev section..? So that if the dev feels/knows the user will be good for his thread and he can contribute to development?
and lets also put another rule to keep spammers away.. as there is a loop hole in my suggestion.. which is when a spammer may create 2 accounts and in one account he will obtain 10 posts and create a thread in dev section.. then spam the thread with another account by making him exception..
So we can add this option to OP of the thread only if the thread has been say one month / one week old... as this will make sure that the thread is not created for spamming and thus it also ensures actual development is going on in the thread and the dev is known.. this exclusion is only for that thread on dev sub forum.. i dont know this may be a too much workload on server..
I was suggesting this exclusion method because i have seen around 5-10 members who PM me whenever they have some issue with my kernel or any other rom related to my device for that matter... i am happy and i have no issues to help them at all.. i have also kindly suggested them to make 10 valuable/useful posts in Q & A section and post in my threads instead of M as it might help other users too who may have same issue/doubt.. but i really cant say it directly into their faces and they may not understand my point ... so i have been interacting with such users through PM and i feel they should have interacted more with forums instead of just one person.. and there might be many others who might have contacting through PM only..
So please consider this..
Also this really is a great suggestion too...
anasdcool71 said:
@pulser_g2 - The if-else statement in your sig is really great. :good:
And I've come up with a request. I've seen that many new users don't actually know/get the reason behind the 10-post limit. I'm not talking anything particularly about spammers, but there are some good users who just don't know the reason. I've just seen so many posts in so many threads saying "this 10-post limit is so frustrating","i have to PM the dev","i can't even report a bug",etc. Not one or two or 10, but many posts like this. So my request was that they'd be directed to that thread "10-post count limit in development fora", after they register. I'm sure many of them will understand. After all, it isn't that hard to get to 10 posts.
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It's an eternal problem than,us, Admins,Mods and all Recognized Tribe against which we are constantly fighting.
In the RC'stribe, we try to think and are trying to find solutions that would enable to reduce the number of useless posts.
I says reduce, cause we can't delete all of these posts.
But the real problem, it's a mentality problem due to Internet.
Actually, with Internet, people can and wanting all, now and quickly. I'm writing a question, I want my answer now!
A large majority of users don't take the time for read and seek. They want everything quickly and now.
And against this fact, we cannot fight!!
For whoever mentioned it, the ten post message does link and explain why... But nobody reads it...
pulser_g2 said:
For whoever mentioned it, the ten post message does link and explain why... But nobody reads it...
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Why ? I don't understand what you mean exactly
I have wrote a post on RC chat about this problem and send the link
philos64 said:
Why ? I don't understand what you mean exactly
I have wrote a post on RC chat about this problem and send the link
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i think he means the 10 post limit sticky thread is already linked and also its explained why its there but still no new user reads it..
philos64 said:
Why ? I don't understand what you mean exactly
I have wrote a post on RC chat about this problem and send the link
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I mean that someone mentioned perhaps making it clearer to users why they can't post etc...
I replied to say that the message already explains this and links them to a thread with information
pulser_g2 said:
I mean that someone mentioned perhaps making it clearer to users why they can't post etc...
I replied to say that the message already explains this and links them to a thread with information
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Click to collapse
Sorry @pulser_g2
But I understand what you mean
It's better clear. Thanks

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