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Why cant I PM in this forum?
- Thread starter fungg3
- Start date
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The forum rules and FAQ will tell you that there is a minimum post count.
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Hello and Welcome 
From the FAQ, specifically
You have the required posts but seeing as you joined today you fall short of the second item in that list.
Give it until tomorrow and it should be working for you
From the FAQ, specifically
You have the required posts but seeing as you joined today you fall short of the second item in that list.
Give it until tomorrow and it should be working for you
Hello and Welcome
From the FAQ, specifically
You have the required posts but seeing as you joined today you fall short of the second item in that list.
Give it until tomorrow and it should be working for you
Thank you guys!
I'm sure this has been discussed to death. Just wanted to throw my 0.02 in...
POSIT: Making MacRumors harder to enter into via Post Minimums is counter-intuitive to maintaining a healthy community. Post minimums are a waste of time.
The case:
- Joined a long time ago, haven't been active poster (just not a big poster).
- Recently had an issue, googled, and a macrumors post came up.
- Logged in, posted & a reply offered to help with said issue; requires some private communication. The question now becomes: how?
- No PM facility because I have < 5 posts. No indication of this in my profile; have to search a completely different page just to understand that there are missing features that I would find useful in this situation.
- Am stuck; either the other user has to post some private info (like email or IM) publicly on the forum, or i do. Neither solution is acceptable.
RESULT:
MacRumors is preventing me from using the site in a useful way without requiring I jump through imposed hoops. I don't like jumping through hoops and hold anyone who demands it in disdain. MacRumors thus discourages me to contribute to the site and interact with its users.
CONCLUSION:
Post minimums make it difficult to connect, wastes everyone's time.
There are many many options for mac forums, just about anyone can throw a forum up these days. MacRumors is not particularly special in this regard.
If you can reply to this issue in a reasonably civil manner, I'd love to hear from you. If you want to spout off because someone was critical, save it (read the other posts already, no need to repeat yourself).
POSIT: Making MacRumors harder to enter into via Post Minimums is counter-intuitive to maintaining a healthy community. Post minimums are a waste of time.
The case:
- Joined a long time ago, haven't been active poster (just not a big poster).
- Recently had an issue, googled, and a macrumors post came up.
- Logged in, posted & a reply offered to help with said issue; requires some private communication. The question now becomes: how?
- No PM facility because I have < 5 posts. No indication of this in my profile; have to search a completely different page just to understand that there are missing features that I would find useful in this situation.
- Am stuck; either the other user has to post some private info (like email or IM) publicly on the forum, or i do. Neither solution is acceptable.
RESULT:
MacRumors is preventing me from using the site in a useful way without requiring I jump through imposed hoops. I don't like jumping through hoops and hold anyone who demands it in disdain. MacRumors thus discourages me to contribute to the site and interact with its users.
CONCLUSION:
Post minimums make it difficult to connect, wastes everyone's time.
There are many many options for mac forums, just about anyone can throw a forum up these days. MacRumors is not particularly special in this regard.
If you can reply to this issue in a reasonably civil manner, I'd love to hear from you. If you want to spout off because someone was critical, save it (read the other posts already, no need to repeat yourself).
It's a waste of time from your perspective, but there are reasons why rule exists. One of the big ones is to reduce spam from spambots that automatically create accounts here and send people PM spam. I've been on the receiving end of this before so yes, it does happen.
Also, most people should be using the public forums, rather than doing PM where others can't benefit from the discussion of a problem. I'd rather users with less than 5 posts not be able to contact me, and I usually tell them to create a thread instead of contacting me directly. Some contact me through my web site after reading my post, and I tell them to create a thread.
That's my perspective.
I agree that post minimums can be an issue for some people. When looking at forums in general even requiring registration can pose an issue and a potential place where a member may give up and leave.
It is useful to hear that the block in place isn't expressly clear when you come across it and is perhaps an area of frustration for you.
There are a multitude of reasons as to why the current minimum is in place and it was something we were hesitant to put in place due to some of the issues you raised. However they are a necessary step, the limits were set intentionally low so that genuine users are less likely to be affected. It is also worth pointing out that these steps have been in place for well over a year now and have had very very few genuine members raise this issue.
It is useful to hear that the block in place isn't expressly clear when you come across it and is perhaps an area of frustration for you.
There are a multitude of reasons as to why the current minimum is in place and it was something we were hesitant to put in place due to some of the issues you raised. However they are a necessary step, the limits were set intentionally low so that genuine users are less likely to be affected. It is also worth pointing out that these steps have been in place for well over a year now and have had very very few genuine members raise this issue.
The cumulative effect of the rule is a better forum community. So yes, I do feel it encourages community. You just need to take a broader perspective to see the that the rule results in a better community as a whole, even if for a specific individual it may appear as a turnoff or non-community-like. Again, that's my perspective on it.
I appreciate and respect all of these replies. Thank you.
Perhaps the distinction is that the solution makes it more difficult for new users to join, at the cost of appeasing the existing.
If there haven't been many complaints in over a year, I guess it's working well enough.
That said, if the reason is spam, would think a minimum of 2 posts would be reasonable to prevent spam? Or perhaps require captchas for the first x posts, that sort of thing.
If not, perhaps it's possible to find a better anti-spam solution. Have machines reliably beat re-captcha? (http://recaptcha.net/)
Minor issue, but forcing people to "be in a community" doesn't really foster community overall; more just habituates them towards getting in line.
Perhaps the distinction is that the solution makes it more difficult for new users to join, at the cost of appeasing the existing.
If there haven't been many complaints in over a year, I guess it's working well enough.
That said, if the reason is spam, would think a minimum of 2 posts would be reasonable to prevent spam? Or perhaps require captchas for the first x posts, that sort of thing.
If not, perhaps it's possible to find a better anti-spam solution. Have machines reliably beat re-captcha? (http://recaptcha.net/)
Minor issue, but forcing people to "be in a community" doesn't really foster community overall; more just habituates them towards getting in line.
As with everything in life it is a balancing act. Before putting these measures in place we were unfortunately subject to PM system spam. Since these measures have been in place I can't remember having to deal with such a case.
The minimum was subject to a fair amount of discussion before implementing, it was felt that 2 did not prevent enough of a stop from spam bots and that 5 would.
It really isn't that secure and members have to pass that step on the registration process.
It is a fine line between trying to prevent abuse and putting up too many blocks. Obviously user feedback as to how well the decision is working out in real world use is vital and we appreciate it. It was/is felt that 5 posts for a genuine users to access the PM system is a reasonable level. It is worth pointing out that you are now over the minimum level.
I see. Having considered the replies, I continue to maintain that fewer barriers to entry are better for the community, and that there are other options besides imposed minimums to mitigate the core issue (perhaps at the cost of some leisure time for those working on the site maybe, but i guess those ad dollars are worth something); do appreciate the discussion just the same.
I probably don't have more to offer this thread.
re: pm limit raised
woot woot!
I probably don't have more to offer this thread.
re: pm limit raised
woot woot!
