Suggestion: minimum post count before links are allowed in a sig

[designgeek]

+1

This sounds good, I don't think a spammer would be interested in reaching a 100 or even 50 post limit to get such a path going, most of them just hop in and spam the hell out of a thread or forum and leave. Kinda like the CD key thing that went down about an hour ago.

 

[dmmcintyre3]

Probably because I reported the guy for sig-link-spam and they've been removed

When you link to a search the results expire. The user could still be there.

 

[jbernie]

This is a reasonable idea and I think it's technically possible.

One concern: It may hurt the iPhone and iPod touch application developers who announce products in the App Store forum, since they often include their links in a signature for the benefit of potential users of their apps.

So, as is often the case, there's a tradeoff involved.

Depending on the complexities involved... could you have an exception list for the developers? Am thinking something to the effect of them requesting exemption and a Mod would do a follow up with them to confirm validity or something? If it were a small 5 post limit then the exempt list would probably be more hassle than anything, but if we are talking 1 month or 100 post type restrictions then the list could be of more benefit. Noting that I have no idea how many developers are on here nor how many such a restriction might impact...

Probably the best thing about the time delay .. how many people are likely to sign up... wait x days/weeks/months for the restriction to pass and then come back and spam? Then again, maybe you could run a cleanup in co-ordination with the date restriction, if posts = 0, last login > X days, total # of logins < 5 then purge the account. Where X is a value just less than the date restriction.

 

[designgeek]

I think setting up exceptions might bombard the mods with spam requests. A post limit may encourage devs to become a member of the community and may boost sales since they would be like "one of our own." I know I totally go for apps I see here. I think a good point would be when the title goes from "newbie" to "member." I doubt that a spammer would be willing to wait for even 30 posts.

 

[Doctor Q]

Depending on the complexities involved... could you have an exception list for the developers?

When we created the App Store and Code Sharing forums we considered asking developers to identify themselves in a formal way so we could give them appropriate forum privileges, but decided it would be an extra burden for them, extra administrative work for us, and not worth the minor benefits. Any new system for limiting links in signatures ought to be automatic, given how many members we now have. That limits our choices.

 

[jbernie]

When we created the App Store and Code Sharing forums we considered asking developers to identify themselves in a formal way so we could give them appropriate forum privileges, but decided it would be an extra burden for them, extra administrative work for us, and not worth the minor benefits. Any new system for limiting links in signatures ought to be automatic, given how many members we now have. That limits our choices.

Roughly how many developer accounts are there? I guess if we had a rough idea of the scope we could adjust our thinking process appropriately. Obviously there are thousands of entities who develop for the various platforms but how many are actually on here in some kind of official way as opposed to being online as say a personal account as they are just Apple enthusiasts outside of work?

 

[Doctor Q]

Roughly how many developer accounts are there? I guess if we had a rough idea of the scope we could adjust our thinking process appropriately. Obviously there are thousands of entities who develop for the various platforms but how many are actually on here in some kind of official way as opposed to being online as say a personal account as they are just Apple enthusiasts outside of work?

We don't have a count since we don't identify and distinguish developers. Even if they are distinguished developers!

There are 7,642 threads in the App Store forum and 714 in the more-recently added Code Sharing forum, so we clearly have many developers participating in the forums.

 

[jbernie]

We don't have a count since we don't identify and distinguish developers. Even if they are distinguished developers!

There are 7,642 threads in the App Store forum and 714 in the more-recently added Code Sharing forum, so we clearly have many developers participating in the forums.

Sounds like a pretty good number... can see the issues with trying to work with them all to get them well authorized for lack of a better word, let alone dealing with the possibly of multiple people from the same group (larger developer) and the like.

 

[iBookG4user]

Perhaps you have a developer group that you can get into on the forums by linking to their app on iTunes? Then you could allow that specific link to be in the signature. You'd have to find a way to limit the links to only iTunes though, I don't know if that would present a problem or not.

 

[Gray-Wolf]

Make them wait 6 months as well. Like the selling issue.