The Flat Earth Society

The Flat Earth Society => Suggestions & Concerns => Topic started by: Dr David Thork on March 16, 2021, 05:18:06 PM

Title: Post limit on DMs
Post by: Dr David Thork on March 16, 2021, 05:18:06 PM
I'm fine with people DMing me if they want. But I get a lot of driveby DMs that I don't need. Today by someone with one post ...

The earth is round rethink your life  ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Or by a two post hit and runner
Hi there.  I am trying to find someone to interview for an ethnographic study for college.  I am interested in addressing the sociologistic aspects of the FET.  Would you be willing to help me out?

Or from this zero post catfish
(https://forum.tfes.org/index.php?action=dlattach;attach=2988;type=avatar) Hi there,

I notice that you are a member in this online community. I am a student at DePaul University doing a study on these types of communities, and it would be very helpful to my research to learn about your experiences as a participant. 
Would you be willing to participate in a short interview, via email?  No personal data (including site pseudonym if applicable) will be kept; the site will not be identified by name in the research presentation; and the goal is not to ridicule or delegitimize the site. This is a sociology class and we are studying virtual communities as a
microcosm of material world communities.
Thank you for your time!

Lily Green

Or this 3 post guy
Hi

I am not looking for a rant.
I am simply looking for a quick interview for a radio piece that i am doing, not for an assessment but for my own project. It is not very long so the interview will not be in depth.
I understand that the short time i have i will not be able to fully explore the entire flat earth theory. But all i wish to ask questions about is the flat earth theory its self, your opinions of those who do not support it, and how you became aware of the flat earth theory and your introduction to it.
The emphasis is not on weather the earth is flat or not, it is far more focused on the people who believe it is.

Would you be interested in doing this interview?
It can be done over the phone if you wish

Kind Regards
David

Or this person with zero posts
I would like to ask you a series of questions for a project that I am conducting in my class, in which I am proving the Earth Flat. Would you mind if I asked you a couple of questions?

or this one post wonder
I am a NASA physicist who knows the earth to be round, I would love it if you were to email me so we could have an in-depth discussion on the matter.
Dr. Rachel Bishton

Zero posts ... justs stops by to say
Do you really believe in a flat earth. Cause the earth is round so go fuck your self

Its annoying.

Can we have a tick option we can set where we can set say a 20 min post limit before we start getting inbox abuse? If you've been here and made 100 posts ... knock yourself out. Abuse me. But you should have to earn that privilege. It shouldn't be granted to every child in America with internet access just by creating an account.

Title: Re: Post limit on DMs
Post by: Dr David Thork on March 16, 2021, 05:32:51 PM
Sometimes I reply. I'm never nice. for example the NASA scientist got this response.

Dr. Rachel Bishton huh? A NASA Physicist.

Let me have a more accurate guess.

You are 15 years old. You have a carefully curated fortnite account with lots of DLC extras. Girls frighten you but there aren't any in your bedroom ... ever ... so that's a relief. You're smaller than the average boy. That annoys you. Sport is something that other people do. You wonder why oh why acne decided to your face would be the perfect home. You need to buy more tissues because you've been going through them at an incredible rate recently. Your computer is an ageing potato. An old i5 with a nerfed Nvidia heap of disappointment inside. You like Jordan Peterson. You dislike Ellen DeGeneres. You wonder who will get all of Jay Leno's cars when he dies. You like Star wars. You don't like the new star wars. You figure you are smarter than most kids your age and that someday you'll be rich. You won't be rich. You have bad hair and your school bag is a source of constant ridicule. You are close to your mother, she got you that bag. You need to open your curtains and change your bed sheets. You won't do either. And with all that going on you decided to come on the internet and find someone even more wretched than you, so that you would feel better about yourself. But you picked Baby Thork and I'm awesome. You just can't catch a break.
Title: Re: Post limit on DMs
Post by: Rama Set on March 16, 2021, 07:56:20 PM
Fortnite doesn't have DLCs.  Git gud, scrub.
Title: Re: Post limit on DMs
Post by: Dr David Thork on March 16, 2021, 08:36:18 PM
Fortnite doesn't have DLCs.  Git gud, scrub.
I've never played it. It is a game for children.

Sooooo, anyone want to wade in and stop me getting abused by noobs?
Title: Re: Post limit on DMs
Post by: stack on March 16, 2021, 09:13:44 PM
Fortnite doesn't have DLCs.  Git gud, scrub.
I've never played it. It is a game for children.

Sooooo, anyone want to wade in and stop me getting abused by noobs?

Why not just ignore or delete them? Why do you feel the need to respond?
Title: Re: Post limit on DMs
Post by: Clyde Frog on March 16, 2021, 09:19:03 PM
Fortnite doesn't have DLCs.  Git gud, scrub.
I've never played it. It is a game for children.

Sooooo, anyone want to wade in and stop me getting abused by noobs?
I'll do what I can, but I'm not the mage you might expect me to be. That said, barring any changes made on the administrative side, you can close your PMs to people that you don't specifically white list. There's only so many people that post here, it wouldn't take too terribly long to white list the people you actually care to receive messages from, and anyone trying to message you and getting a notification that they are unable to can then post a thread in AR crying about the injustice and you can decide whether to correct the issue OR perhaps there was no issue to correct and the system is working as intended. Modify Profile -> Buddies/Ignore List... -> Add names to list -> Modify Profile -> Personal Messaging -> Change the dropdown about who you want to receive messages from so it only shows Admins and people on your buddy list.
Title: Re: Post limit on DMs
Post by: Dr David Thork on March 16, 2021, 10:02:25 PM
Why not just ignore or delete them?
I've been ignoring and deleting them for however many years this site has been running for.

Why do you feel the need to respond?
I usually don't respond. But sometimes I start to feel the rage. It begins to boil inside of me. I can feel my blood pressure rise and my neck and fists tighten. And when I feel the rage, I want to hurt someone. Badly.  >o< I want to reach through my monitor and choke the life from their stupid irritating body. But I can't. So I sent them a shitty DM instead.

Speaking of people I'd like to choke ...
That said, barring any changes made on the administrative side, you can close your PMs to people that you don't specifically white list.
This isn't facebook. I'm not friending and unfollowing people one by one.
Title: Re: Post limit on DMs
Post by: Pete Svarrior on March 17, 2021, 12:05:30 AM
Seems sensible to me. I see no reason why someone with, say, <10 posts should have PM privileges at all. They're either spammers or naggers trying to solicit Thork's services without going through appropriate channels.

I get a fair number of similar PMs, and while I've never been bothered by them, I can certainly see how they'd get annoying to some.
Title: Re: Post limit on DMs
Post by: stack on March 17, 2021, 01:53:45 AM
Seems sensible to me. I see no reason why someone with, say, <10 posts should have PM privileges at all. They're either spammers or naggers trying to solicit Thork's services without going through appropriate channels.

I get a fair number of similar PMs, and while I've never been bothered by them, I can certainly see how they'd get annoying to some.

From the SM wiki:

Post count under which users must enter code when sending personal messages. - This setting will force users to enter a code shown on a verification image each time they are sending a personal message. Only users with a post count below the number set will need to enter the code - this should help combat automated spamming scripts.
https://wiki.simplemachines.org/smf/SMF2.0:Security_and_Moderation

I wonder if this could be easily modified/extended to instead of making a user under a certain number of posts enter a code to just block them from sending a DM when under a certain number of posts.
Title: Re: Post limit on DMs
Post by: Pete Svarrior on March 17, 2021, 01:59:11 AM
We're discussing a single if statement here. This is not a technically challenging change to make. The only question is whether we broadly agree if it would be desirable. So far, it looks like the answer is "yes"
Title: Re: Post limit on DMs
Post by: Kokorikos on March 17, 2021, 11:18:43 AM
Yes, but isn't it that people with a very low number of posts (like me) are those who would most likely need to contact someone such as a moderator in case they have a question?

Edited to better phrase what I wanted to say.
Title: Re: Post limit on DMs
Post by: Clyde Frog on March 17, 2021, 12:26:15 PM
I think it's a good idea. Kokorikos, if you really need to hit a small post number, like let's say 10 is the target to circumvent most spam for example, it's pretty easy to hop into the lower boards and hit that number. But someone who is just here to send annoying PMs and then disappear never to be seen or heard from again isn't likely to invest that kind of effort.
Title: Re: Post limit on DMs
Post by: Rama Set on March 17, 2021, 12:43:00 PM
I cant imagine that you need to DM anyone before having 10 posts. Spend more time engaging publicly, quote posts you want specific responses to and you will be at 10 posts in no time.
Title: Re: Post limit on DMs
Post by: Kokorikos on March 17, 2021, 01:38:50 PM
Valid points. You convinced me, it is fair.
Title: Re: Post limit on DMs
Post by: Pete Svarrior on March 17, 2021, 11:40:22 PM
I think this is important to highlight - I am only in favour of such a restriction if the number of posts required was very low. I'd say 10 is a reasonable maximum - anything more than that would be needlessly draconian.
Title: Re: Post limit on DMs
Post by: JSS on March 18, 2021, 01:38:37 PM
I cant imagine that you need to DM anyone before having 10 posts. Spend more time engaging publicly, quote posts you want specific responses to and you will be at 10 posts in no time.

I've created accounts on forums simply to PM a user who I wanted to reply to in private about something, either giving them information or asking a question.

I think if I had to make 10 fake posts firsts I'd simply not bother and never visit again.
Title: Re: Post limit on DMs
Post by: Shane on March 18, 2021, 02:07:22 PM
What would you need to DM a member, as a new user, that couldnt be discussed publicly primarily, and then later perhaps discussed privately? If a member so chooses, they can make their email address public for whatever inquiries someone who is not comfortable posting might have.

edit : i am just dumb
Title: Re: Post limit on DMs
Post by: Pete Svarrior on March 18, 2021, 03:01:42 PM
I think if I had to make 10 fake posts firsts I'd simply not bother and never visit again.
Considering the quality of DMs that we've seen from 0-post wonders (my experience with this is just as terrible as Thork's), and the absolutely terrible netiquette that just registering an account just to bother someone in private would be, it seems to me like you've just strengthened the case for doing this.

The current voices appear to be overwhelmingly in favour, but there has been some disagreement. I'll keep this thread open for comments, but if the consensus remains fairly stable, I'll try to implement this this weekend.
Title: Re: Post limit on DMs
Post by: AATW on March 18, 2021, 03:13:58 PM
As much as I think it's funny that Thork gets harassed like this, overall I agree this makes sense as a rule.
Title: Re: Post limit on DMs
Post by: xasop on March 18, 2021, 04:01:31 PM
I am in agreement also. Actually, I thought we already discussed this at some point and agreed on it, but I may be wrong.
Title: Re: Post limit on DMs
Post by: Dr David Thork on March 18, 2021, 09:05:43 PM
u are clearly uneducated if you make your moneny from only fans so it makes sense why you are dumb enugh to belive in that flat earth

HAIL NASA

i'm suprised your not an anti-vaxxer


Hurry up!  >o<

Title: Re: Post limit on DMs
Post by: stack on March 19, 2021, 04:48:02 AM
u are clearly uneducated if you make your moneny from only fans so it makes sense why you are dumb enugh to belive in that flat earth

HAIL NASA

i'm suprised your not an anti-vaxxer


Hurry up!  >o<

As much as it pains me to admit this, you may have a valid point.

I vote <10 posts, no DMs.