Why Cant I Post A Link...?

how many

oh, okay. I understand

So how many posts do you need to make before you become "established"?

Oh, thanks.

With the forum upgrade due shortly this will no longer be required. Sorry it has caused you some inconvenience but with the levels of spam we were being subjected to it was the best solution for us.

Sorry you lost your review. I usually find that anything I have written is usually retrievable just by clicking the back button on my browser. The text is, more often than not, still there.

But if you are writing a long reply or such, it really is better to compose these in a text editor such as Notepad or TextEdit. That way should any problem occur with the internet connection you still have your submission saved.

If you can understand the reasoning behind the URL restriction for new members and the fact that it was as a result of people signing up just to post links to free iPod schemes, then that is helpful.
Since August 2004 we have had to ban 319 people just for trying to spam the forums with links to free iPods or other devices.
Some of these were simple post and run registrations, others were a bit more subtle and posted a few innocuous messages then rolled out their spam.
We felt we had to do something to stop this abuse of our forums and so we set up the restriction amongst other things.

As I stated earlier in this thread we hope the upgrade will mean we can remove this restriction.

Thanks for your support of iLounge and we're pleased you finally decided to join ;)

Originally posted by Swimming_Bird
There ae many other methods to handle spammers, anywhere from post time limits to some sort of human confermation system (inputing alphanumeric codes from pictures)

not being able to post links is extremely irritating. I would at least like to have some way to "verify" my account in some way so that i can post links.

I understand spamming is an issue but it causes a lot of issues for normal people who just want to contribute.
The ability for new members to post links was disabled because we have had a problem with real people signing up just to post links to iPod pyramid schemes (free iPod sites) and the like. Visual confirmation is no use in this case, as we are dealing with a real person rather than a spam bot.

I know it's annoying, and is another example of a minority spoiling things for the majority. However it was a step that was deemed necessary in order to keep our forums free from spam.

Thanks for your patience, and if you stick around the limit will eventually be lifted.

TOM

While we understand your frustration at this restriction at the moment it is something which is working. Other members will help you with posting a link or you can always PM one of the staff to edit your post to include a working URL.

I feel that most users who cannot post links would say that the inability to do so is not a minor annoyance, but a major one. I can tell you that almost every single time I have tried to post something, the inability to post a link has crippled my post to the point where it's almost not worth posting it at all, and I feel so frustrated that it makes me want to never return here. So it then becomes a catch-22: not being able to post links causes me to post less often, and with a low post count, I may never gain the ability to post links.

I'd be willing to bet that over three-fourths of the registered users here have never even glanced at the Forums Policy thread, and for good reason. At 4,104 words, it's about twice as long as the average software end user license agreement (EULA). I urge you to read the forum rules at Doom9's forum, which is one of the most respected and most read forums on the internet. It contains just 16 rules, consisting of only 482 words, or approximately one-ninth the length of the iLounge Forums Policy. I guarantee that at least ninety percent of the registered users there have read the rules in their entirety, and that helps create forums that contain a higher level of mutual respect among users, and just as important, better content.

I honestly feel insulted that a person at my age, and with my education and intelligence, must ask a moderator to edit my post just so I can include a simple, helpful link. I feel like a five-year-old, asking my teacher if I am allowed to use the restroom.

The only explanation that seems reasonable to me would be that there are too few moderators to properly regulate these forums, or that the moderators do not have enough time to do so. If that is the case, please say so, and I will never bring up this topic again.

Muro,
You may think that the Forum Policy is too long but unfortunately we have had to add to it as time has gone on to cover various topics. It is really down to common sense and the ability to know right from wrong - many sites work on the same principles so what you wouldn't do on one, you wouldn't do on many. We also try to explain the reasons for a rule as well as the rule. You'd be surprised just how many sites have actually copied our policy for use in their forums, so we must have been doing something right...

The Moderator Guidelines don't need to be read by most - they were put there because we had a request to publish them by a member, to clarify the actual work the Mods do.

Sorry if you feel like a five year old, but you can blame the five year olds who use the forums for referral schemes (the reason for the posting restrictions on new members), who troll, flame, abuse, post pornographic links, spam, beg, poach members and generally come here to cause trouble. Hence the reason why we explain the rules...

There has been a reduction in the posting of free iPod spam (whether due to people realising they don't work or our block on new members being allowed to post URLs) so we will look at lifting the URL posting limit. We have had to ban 332 since August 2004 for this problem, and we were banning 60 a month at one point, so it was a big problem we needed to stop.

The Moderators here do a very good job and they fit it in between other things such as work, home life, family and we have a team which is spread around the world so as to ensure that there is always the chance of one being online. In fact as I write this there are 4 on line...

Maybe we can write a "Lite" version for those with a short attention span...

FORUM POLICY - LITE VERSION
No Advertising
No Flaming
No Blatant "Fanboyism"
No Trolling
No Profanity
No Sock Puppets/Smurfs (Multiple accounts)
No Links to Illegal Software or to "Warez" sites
No Discussion of File Sharing Methods
No Free/Cheap iPod 'schemes'
No Cross Posting
No Excessive and Unnecessary Posting
Post in the Appropriate Forum
Use Descriptive Topic Subject
Stay On Topic
Read the FAQs Before Posting a Question or Problem
Read the Tips & Tricks Before Posting a Question or Tip
Search the Forums
Provide Machine, OS, & iPod Specifics
Signature size - no bigger than 300x50x5kb
"Userbar" limits - max of 2
No use of Official iLounge Forum Titles and Signature Graphics
No Cyber Begging or Panhandling
No Non-iPod DAPs discussion
No Poaching/Pimping/Soliciting members and advertising of website forums

Full explanation of Policies can be found HERE (http://forums.ilounge.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7588)

Share the Wealth!

The forums are an important aspect of iLounge and it's members are just as important. We listen to what you have to say and if we feel that a suggestion will make an improvement we'll consider it. An example of how we listen - here (http://forums.ilounge.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=154275).
Thanks for bringing this up and I hope you will continue to be a part of the community here.

E_R,
Do not be too harse - as a result of Muro's post we are looking to initiate some changes. If we did not want feedback or suggestions then we would not have this forum. We appreciate postive feedback and if it is going to improve things then we are only too happy to work on it.

Following on from Muro's post we have tweaked the Forum Policy to make it more compact, for "easy reading", while still retaining the actual meat of the policies.

New Look Forum Policy ( http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/ilounge/forumpolicy/)

It was ifrogz case on lastest ipod case section. I dunno what is going on but junior and freshman lounger was posting a link... so can anyone explain what is going on?

oh, ok i thought it was some ridiculous high # of post.. like 500 maybe...

On a messageboard I used to frequent there were ways for "lurkers" who read a great deal of posts but did not frequently post to gain posting rights (ie. links) as well. I don't know if vBulletin has this type of feature.

With the upgrade we have more tools at our disposal to deal with spammers, so the URL restriction has been turned off.

We will see how it goes. The issue of spammers will never go away, but we seem to be in a quiet period so no sense in new members suffering needlessly.

The toolbox has some neat toys in it - I like the one which melts a spammers keyboard....

...to their lap ;)