Waiting Period Before Being Able To Post In Spam.

Honestly, I don't think it's a good idea for brand new members to be able to immediately head straight to spam. Two reasons.

1. They [should have] joined this site for the Roleplaying and should use the time they spend on here trying to get to know the site and the roleplaying scene.
2. When they're a real newbie and they act obnoxious and ditsy they cause an annoyance in Spam Members, which can occasionally lead to Spammers doing...bad things.

I'm not justifying when a newbie gets flamed at all. I'm just trying to say that we can sort of prevent this by putting a post#-minimum to post in Spam. I think they should be allowed in the other Off-Topic forums, because those have legit discussions/whatnot and can be very helpful for a newly socializing RPG Member, but I think we can all agree that Spam isn't really somewhere that a brand-new member should be venturing.

EDIT: I also meant to say that I think they should be allowed to see it, just not interact, so they can see what it's like and understand how to go in there and not be a complete idiot.

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Originally Posted by Bela

1. They [should have] joined this site for the Roleplaying and should use the time they spend on here trying to get to know the site and the roleplaying scene.

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Agreed, though usually people head blindly into spam sections to get social contacts or forum games, ie their expectations are different. Also take note many roleplayers are of the speedy variety, who go to spam to kill time until the next post.

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2. When they're a real newbie and they act obnoxious and ditsy they cause an annoyance in Spam Members, which can occasionally lead to Spammers doing...bad things.

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For which those spammers should be punished as they're the ones breaking the rules. "You should not go there because you haven't reached an acceptable state of conformity (by standards of the spammers) and certain individuals will be fucking jerks to you." is a sucky argument. If we'd go for say, advanced roleplays, we could say people don't act according to the rules and guidelines of that forum because they don't meet minimum requirements (spell check, quantity of text, etc.) We'd get that. However if someone posts an anime/twilight/highschool roleplay in advanced, despite the dislike of quite a few advanced members of the genre, the only thing they can do is not join those roleplays. As long as it abides the advanced rules and guidelines, it's legit. But spam has no rules, nor guidelines (other than stuff like don't troll free,) therefore you can't make new members abide anything except the forum wide ones. You do have the same option of ignoring them if you don't like them. Or, you know, not go into the topics they create. Like, you know, everyone else, in every other section. Personal preference is therefore a moot reason.

All sections are public sections and no matter how you word it, any feeling that spam is any different or should be treated as a private clubhouse is... Frankly, completely false. Also non-Fonz-cool. Shit don't fly.

I'm not in any way trying to make Spam seem special. Trust me, even being a Spammer I know Spam is just random place to spout randomness, nothing "big" no matter how many time we make the jokes that it is.

And I completely agree that people who break the rules should be punished. I just was thinking that we could add a small layer of protection to let the newbies get see if Spam is really a place they want to hang out in before they go bumbling in without warning that at times Spam can be a bit harsh, although I don't think it's nearly as bad as it used to be.

I didn't even mean it'd have to be a huge post count maybe just a post count of 100 so they'd atleast had a little time to explore the other real parts of RPG before falling into the pit that is the Spam section.

As much as I agree, I'm afraid people would think Spammers are essentially the Plastics in a "You can't sit with us!" type way.

But Kestrel is right, some people do only go in there for the forum games, and excluding them from that isn't really fair.

P.S. I think this has been brought up before. /goes off to search

EDIT: Yup.

I'd just do away with the Spam elitists that think that they are superior to others because they have good standing on an internet sub-forum.

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Originally Posted by Bela

1. They [should have] joined this site for the Roleplaying and should use the time they spend on here trying to get to know the site and the roleplaying scene.

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Fair point, but if the concern is that people joined a roleplaying site and then are getting sucked into the non-RP sections of it first, then you should be lobbying to bar them from the entirety of the OOC section of the site. It's an argument with equal merit for all OOC sections of the site, not an argument just for Spam. I think barring them from any part of the OOC section would be silly, so I have to disagree.

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Originally Posted by Bela

2. When they're a real newbie and they act obnoxious and ditsy they cause an annoyance in Spam Members, which can occasionally lead to Spammers doing...bad things.

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Eh, there have been tons of people with months and thousands of posts under their belt who come in and act obnoxious and ditsy and thus incited some bad things in Spam. Post count and join date has nothing to do with it really, outside of a few morons who think those actually matter. Look at Sherlock, for example: she stepped right into Spam and had zero problems because she's awesome. On the other hand, look at all the people who've been around for ages and still get shit from all sides. Using newness as an indication of worth is bad and inaccurate.

Also, if you're wishing to prevent Spam folks from doing bad things, you should be trying that from the Spam side of things. It's like rape (yes, I know, bear with me). In this context you're basically saying "hey, so, we should keep women out of this area of town until they grow up a little bit because they might get raped," which is silly because age has very little bearing on it. You should instead be saying "hey, people who live here, stop fucking raping people, fuck." By the way, being obnoxious and ditsy are equivalent to wearing revealing clothes in this metaphor, which again are is tied to age or experience. It just doesn't make sense as an argument.

Plus, I'd really hate to RP with someone for 100 posts only to watch them get swallowed by Spam, never to return. Nope. Show me their true colors immediately. If that color is the color of canned meat product, I'll pass, thanks.

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Originally Posted by Kestrel

All sections are public sections and no matter how you word it, any feeling that spam is any different or should be treated as a private clubhouse is... Frankly, completely false. Also non-Fonz-cool. Shit don't fly.

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Amen.

But... I was always under the impression that people who headed straight to Spam were just alts of older and/or banned members, anyway?

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Originally Posted by Unlit

Plus, I'd really hate to RP with someone for 100 posts only to watch them get swallowed by Spam, never to return. Nope. Show me their true colors immediately. If that color is the color of canned meat product, I'll pass, thanks.

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I would think that if they commit for a hundred posts, they'd get more deeply involved in the plot than just swallowing them up by Spam.

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But... I was always under the impression that people who headed straight to Spam were just alts of older and/or banned members, anyway?

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Not always. Some are just going for the forum games or are killing time while finding RPs. Or just idiots.

There should be a guide to Spam.
Just sayin'.

It is hard to join spam though. I've been here four years, nearly five and I attempted to join spam. It does feel like a private thing. A club house or in fact a secret gang. It's awkward and uncomfortable there