Growing User Base vs. New User Image Requirements
 

I'd like to hear some admin's thoughts around new user requirements vs what it does to user growth.

Does reCaptcha not work as a filter for junk posts? Honest question. These days 10 posts made over 2 days is a pretty high barrier for entry for new users to use features image uploads. I'd like to see bikeforums continue to grow and even get paying members despite all the competition from newer, shinier, easier to join things like Facebook groups. It seems like the current model is mostly working, but is there a plan to evolve this over time?

Granted, bikeforums has awesome content, members (most of them, lol) and just generally has the goods, but I would like for it not quietly fade into the night over the next few years. Maybe user and paying member growth has not slowed at all and this is a moot point. I'd be interested to hear numbers around that.

Really??

Why can't people just post text for a 2 days?

I like posting photos too, but when I started here, I'm sure I didn't post a photo right away ... possibly not for a couple years.

Join a conversation, chat with us, get to know us a bit ... it's not that hard.

Captcha/ReCaptcha...

I don't get what you are trying to say?

How does using them cut down on what you perceive as 'junk posts'?

The answer is: probably not.

It doesn't lead anybody to read the site terms and rules, and therefore you still have confused and upset new members who can't understand why they are restricted from doing this and that, which they are eager to do.

But should we make thiem read our terms and sign off on it, or quiz them about it? Probably not helpful either.

Every site has a different way of doing things, and this confuses new members who may not have realized it. Is it BF's fault?

No.

Just help them along and explain it ot point them to said policies and rules..

And you can't expect them to operate just like you necessarily, they are new and so too were you once.

Have patience, take time to guide and of course, some will not make it. We're not aiming for universal acceptance.

No site really can or does, it works or it doesn't.

And hopefully they lurked a while and figured some things out about BF...some don't. I didn't...I got Tempest and this was the one placr I knew of about bikes back then. But I also was a veteran of several other groups and had ideas about how to behave and what to do. I wasn't perfect. I don't expect anyone else to be inirially either.

So our job is to welcome new members and help them fit in. Some won't no matter. This is true for every site.

PS We don't need no stinking image profile, we need bicyclists, eh Cisco?

I know that a lot of people join up to post a link they found interesting or post a picture of their bike and are frustrated. OTOH, we get a lot of drive-by members that just want to use the forum once and then leave. I am not sure we should accommodate the latter group at the expense of keeping out spammers, who are at an all-time low here. Given the reduction of moderator workload from the old days when we sometimes banned over 100 spammers per hour, I am somewhat unapologetic about these policies. And I know that nobody likes spam.

Not even fried and ketchup doesn't help.

a good example would be that i've been using this forum for years, but never posted. now i have something to ask that i'd love input on, but i'm unable to post it because it needs a photo. i've got a welder available this week and wanted to review the situation with people i trust on here, but i'm not able to. this barrier means i have to wait multiple days, and i don't want to just fill in arbitrary comments just to hit a number. that seems unproductive and like it adds more useless posts to the site. i agree with OP, there's a better way.

I didn't have any problem with this, just look at my post count, even if most of it of late is to Foo.

What's the better way, a couple of the mod staff come to your house and do an interview to make sure you aren't going to spam the forum?
Most of us on here will make comments that aren't entirely productive from time to time, but I'm always amazed at people that are as much of a lurker as you have been. I feel like you probably have had things to offer over the years that you have just kept to yourself.

Unfortunately, because of the amount of traffic BikeForums receives, there really isn't a better way. I would encourage you to engage in conversations and discussions, though. Answer questions people have, add your two cents, etc. If it's on topic, then it isn't arbitrary.

Issue is I think some users sign up to ask a specific question about their bike, and want to post a picture or link of the issue.

You are missing lots of potential new members because of this, although I suspect many of them are one-issue posters.

Look at it from the new member's perspective. They joined what is arguably the biggest/best bicycle forum because they are choosing between two bikes they want to post, or because they can't figure out how Tab A goes into Slot B, and a picture and/or link is going to help them explain their concern. They sign up, start their post, and then are told they have to make 10 posts before they can post a pic and they won't be able to post said pic until the day after tomorrow.

They can get faster replies on red-dit. I agree the policy keeps out a lot of junk and spammers, but it also keeps out some new members who may find themselves part of the BF community.

The kids these days are too soft. I went through the hell of not being able to post pictures for 2 days and it made me a better person.

5 posts per day for 2 days is just fine with me. Most people who have troubles with that are the ones who decide to pad their numbers with junk posts (#1, #2 , #3 , #4 , etc).

No external links for the first couple of days is also just fine. If it is important, describe it. There are a few ways people get caught on that, but generally posting a link to an ad, "is this any good", but it also helps weed out those masquerading as concerned individuals who are just posting their website links for personal profit. So.. just fine. And, of course, those individuals who are posting pure SPAM.

As far as the photo restrictions, that wasn't historically on the site, but it got caught up in the web when photo and attachment systems were updated a couple of years ago. Were photos ever a problem that this is solving? Personally I'd put in an internal exception allowing internal links to either https://www.bikeforums.net/ , or https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikeforums.net-vbulletin while maintaining a no external link policy.

Builds character.

When I was a kid, the forums didn't even have pictures!

When I was a kid, I couldn't even enter the forum because my toga kept falling off.

IMO/E- The great majority of drive by postings are from people that either find a link and post on it or people trying to "for sale" a "rare" bike. (nothing is as cool as bumping a thread no posts in 14 years with "I have a bike with fenders, how much can I get for it?" or "do you still have this bike?")

Then you have the other people that show up here and ask questions and values about a bike they're flipping- then pop up another 3 months down the road asking questions and values about a bike they're flipping. They're not "community," they're not helping people and adding to discourse- it's using people's knowledge to make themselves money and giving nothing back in return.

Then you have the people that are legitimately posting, and legitimately trying to post a link- people in C&V are usually willing to help post those pics.

To me, the 2 day thing is kinda horsehockey- but I'm totally in favor of the 10 post link/pic thing.

RAR

Download cryptic text for an hour or so... then feed it through your UNRAR processor.