Super Mario Bros. X Forums

Say a new user joins and wants to share their SMBX level/project/episode/graphics but they're too eager and don't read the rules and as a consequence get their topic locked or deleted. It can be a nuisance to moderate the thread, and it can be a nuisance for other members that report these threads and/or expect more from how this is all run. This has somewhat improved with making it easier to upload screenshots from the forums (the most commonly violated rule) but not by much, and it's fostered a sort of "smbx kids don't follow the rules" attitude, which is a set back for new users to the community. I think the site system itself can be improved to a point where it becomes more difficult to break these standards rules, and I have some ideas though I'm not sure which would be the most efficient/practical:

• Passwords: With forums that require posting standards (i.e. screenshots, project information, proof of progress) a password to access the forum can be placed in the rules, similar to the way a new member would access the Discord server.
• User groups: The "Newly Registered Users" group could be utilized to prevent posting in topics that require standards, and until they've joined another group where it can be verified they've read the rules or they're a regular registered user they can then post.
• Welcome messages: A welcome message PM/page could maybe be used to present the rules directly in front of the new user so there's no chance of missing them.
• Flexible/clear rules: Rules could be tweaked to have the same meaning but be more generalized and clear to avoid confusion. Like the screenshots per world rule in the Projects forum could be generalized to include hub episodes, and so on.

I'm leaning more toward passwords and using user groups to create a better structure, but I'd also like to know more thoughts about this whether they be your own ideas or critiques/support for any of the ones I came up with.

I think that passwords is just a petty, overcomplicated solution to a somewhat unexistant problem. It's not too hard for a staff member to send a PM to help out a new user instead of just hiding a password in a bunch of rules. This also helps make the staff seem more approachable and new users know they have someone to come to if they need help with something, which I know has been a problem in the past

PixelPest wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 02, 2018 7:05 pm

I think that passwords is just a petty, overcomplicated solution to a somewhat unexistant problem. It's not too hard for a staff member to send a PM to help out a new user instead of just hiding a password in a bunch of rules. This also helps make the staff seem more approachable and new users know they have someone to come to if they need help with something, which I know has been a problem in the past

Ah, yes. The PM to new users is a a good idea. This helps people shape the staff as attentive and bring them closer. I, somehow, am still tense around mods and admins (Or literally any member with a role, like the Social Media Team), in fact, I'm feeling a little hesitant just quoting you and I believe this change can modify how we perceive the staff.

The rules are already visible enough, given the pink bars. There will still always be new users making joke project threads or just not caring about reading rules or not thinking that there could exist special rules. If someone ignores pink rule bars then it's also plausible they'll ignore the "Private messages [1]".

Also it's now easy for users to report such threads as there's a new premade report reason, thanks for that.

It will always be there but does it have to be prevalent enough to merit a new report reason, and cause routine reports and clean up? I'm looking at it like double posts where it's more of a cosmetic and standards thing rather than moderation issue where users need to be talked down and and worked with on a particular issue, and now that we've made a slight change to the forum (the anti-double post extension) it makes it far more fool proof and I don't see why something similar could be done for screenshots/project info. When I saw your suggestion for the new report reason it made sense because it's a prevalent enough issue, and at the same time I was thinking over all of this so it doesn't have to be.

Thread approval was discussed more than once before but it still has its downsides, right?

Yeah I've brought that up before too but it has downsides that were pointed out. It'd prevent threads from going up not following standards rules sure, but it doesn't do anything to help the staff with more effectively moderating the forums. Plus it'd be confusing for new users.