15 post rule
 

I'd REALLY like to post a thread about T.O. being cut from the Cowboy's, but I can't post a link to the article because I don't have 15 posts.

I know the reason why--so folks won't sign up just to promote their site--but it's frustrating as hell to not be allowed to bring something to the board.

Oh, well--off to get another dozen posts I guess.

Yeah, that's a hard and fast rule that does a great job keeping the spam mostly under control. You can post the text of the article in a quote, though and still accomplish exactly the same thing.

it isn't only here, I have the same problem in other sites. I enjoy reading a lot of the threads, but don't want to post just to say , "I agree", I'll post when I have something to say, but like you, I have been frustrated to find that when I want to post something worthwhile, I am blocked from adding links, or in the case of a different site, I couldn't post pictures. But, rules are rules (thanks for letting me get credit for another post :) )

You can't post images til you get to 15 posts either, cheater.

But at least we've got each other to drive up our post counts, right? :thumbsup:

As long as you guys understand why we have the rule and why it isn't going to change, no problem. If there's something that you need help with and think an exception should be made, just ask me or any other admin. We certainly don't want to silence anyone when they have something important to share, but we also don't want to have to delete every 4th thread as spam, which was the case at one point.

like jazz said, you could cut and paste the article.

if you really wanted the link, and we see that its a genuine attempt to generate discussion and that it is needed for the thread, none of the mods would have any objection to edit your post to include the link.

just post normally, and you automatically find yourself past the threshold in no time

I like to think of it like this, when people post a general discussion thread we ask that the OP doesn't just post a link or a photo and press submit. We require a discussion to be framed around the article/link. It goes a little further than, "Discuss" which some people like to do, but we also require that the OP submit for the discussion a starting point which is simply their own opinion. If you're asking of the community to discuss a topic and soliciting opinion, the community asks that you start off with your own opinion.

In that same vein, could you follow my logic in thinking that because we have a large attraction to spammers that one has to earn the right to post photos and links by just simple participation. We used to have people ear avatars and that actually hindered the community growth because people saw that you had no avatar, you must be a noob and your opinion here has no weight. We recently did away with the join date for the very same reason.

The places where "thanks" is usually offered up as a post, don't count against your post count. Thus in order to participate in some of our adult oriented areas as a contributor, you've got to contribute to the over all community in some manner. I see this as a fair trade of equals. There are other parts of the forum you can't even see yet and won't until there has been a fair trade in quality contribution and intelligent participation.

It is how we try to keep the level of intelligence on this forum, not just by anti-spam methods but also by community culture standards. Discussion forums are a participatory space, and we'd like you to participate.

Jump in, the water's fine.