Hi, Was a bit dissapointed that the writers collab corner was off limits (it says 100 posts, 90 days of membership is required). Were there a lot of spam of fake accounts in the past? Anyways I'll stick around to post eventually, but wanted to know why that section is off limits as i dont really see the harm. (Other sections as such as comment on your writing chapter - I kind of onderstand (novels short story's)). Tnx!
Hi VisualNovelArts, and welcome to the forum. I'm one of the mods around here, so I can give you a definitive answer to your question. The reason for the 100 posts and 90 day membership requirement is, in short, to force you to become an engaged member of the community. We've got over 50,000 members "officially" on the books, but there's a substantial portion of that number who came in, made one or two posts requesting help, and then disappeared back into the ether. Now, there's nothing wrong with that, but a forum like ours can't function without people putting back in as well as taking out. Furthermore, there's the issue of figuring out who to ask for help and who to offer help to. Once you've completed your 90 days (and 100 posts isn't hard in that amount of time), you'll be a known quantity. People will understand the degree and usefulness of what you bring to the group, as well as having a feel for the sort of help that you need. No one here is without flaws in their writing, but neither do they have nothing to contribute. Even someone who is a weak writer can be an astute reader, and the initial period lets everyone suss each other out. So hang around, get to know some people, drop in on pretty much any discussion taking place, and before you know it, you'll have found a clique tribe of like-minded people who might, if they're in the right place in their lives, be willing to swap betas or even collaborate with you. Also, last thing, please be sure to check out New Member Quick Start and Forum Rules for a full guide to what flies and what doesn't, and if you have any questions, feel free to bring them up in the appropriate section or to pm me or one of the other active mods (currently @jannert and @big soft moose). Whoops, and last, yeah, there are a ton of fake spam accounts. Swatting them down is one of our main drudgeries around here. If you see one, don't hesitate to hit "report" and tell us.
Also if you want another member to collaborate with you on a project they have to have a reasonable level of comfort and confidence with you - no one is going to collaborate with someone who's made one post and could be anyone. There's also the issue that without limits that forum would attract a lot of drive by adverts for off site projects, which is not what its for and is also against the rules
Which brings up the question: why aren't members who show up and post one question, never to be seen again, purged on a regular basis? There must be a script for this software that does that. It would make searching the list for a member whose screen name you don't quite remember a lot easier.
In that case it would be better if the search function actually showed approximate matches. I guess we could technically purge, but what about members who return later (they can't reuse their username since it's already in use, by a then banned account)? Where do we set the limit for posts and time?
Speaking with the mod hat off to one side, you never know when somebody's going to pop back up. In the last few months, there have been a number of members who joined, participated, and stopped posting before I ever became a member who have chosen to rejoin. And the ones that don't? Well, they still joined at one point or another, and there's no need to delete them entirely, it's not like they're taking up space.
