Ok, I shall tell, and there should be a post in the Admin forum that mirrors this, even not exactly.
The first thing that must be understood here is that I believe that having a newbie forum is part of the problem. They get too comfortable in there and thus too cocky. Now, I referencing from history here in that at one time, when you Mickeyredlad for example joined this forum, the newbie did not exist. It's not that the site didn't have its fair share of idiots back then, it did, but the majority were controlled by the users themselves. Examples of this are quite clear for those that remember those days, but what in general happened was that as soon as a new poster came along and started acting the goat, he/she were basically mobbed by the rest of the membership either A) Coaxing them never to post again, B) changing their tune and becoming sensible, C) getting worse and thus banned. This was self regulation. One of the wonderful things about it was that idiots were visible a mile off, and required very little work on the part of the moderating team to deal with. They stuck out like sore thumbs. Therefore, my premise is that the newbie must be destroyed, removed, etc. and self regulation restored in order for there being any chance of sensible football discussion every again. Regarding moderator work, apart from WUMs and invasions (which will be dealt with) this actually will reduce moderator work rather than increase it.
Those not willing to accept that premise or the solutions to problems created by the removal of the newbie can stop reading now.
Questions now arise in regards to WUMs and invasions. So, we will deal with those quite simply.
This forum software this board currently runs on is not perfect, but it has several interesting features that can be used to stop the likes of Slabber and his chums as well as forum invasions. I will be frank about this in that I always enjoyed the banter with new members from other teams around Europe when it came to European matches, and it's sad that is and seemingly has to be lost, but if a buffer is required, a buffer shall be proposed, and one that requires far less effort on the part of the moderators than the current newbie system does.
Firstly it is necessary to understand the mindset of the modern WUM.
A) They are only out to cause havoc.
B) They want to cause free havoc now.
C) They have little patience.
Raoul when he was head honcho around here, basically because Niall fecked off to Outer Mongolia or somewhere for years, had a way of controlling the membership. What he used to do was close the forum to new members for specific time windows (normall a month if I remember correctly). Anyone joining during those windows would not have immediate access to the site, but rather appear on a list. Once a month (if that was what it was), Raoul would look through and either approve or deny membership. Many forums still do this. It is however a little task intensive, but with enough moderators, is it really difficult to have one per day scour the list of new applications for that day to check against possible known weirdos? Possibly, possibly not, I think not.
However, I don't wan to cause moderator work, I want to get rid of it as much as possible in this regard. So, the software should be used.
A) What you first do is give guests a maximum of 20 thread views per cookie. Not forum views, thread views. After this, they are either obliged to join, or clear their cookies to get another 20 views. What this does is deter total nutters straight away, too difficult fanny around and losing all those saved passwords to dodgy sites. It also encourages people to join and identify themselves. It also helps alleviate matchday bandwidth problems.
B) Upon joining the forum, people are required to wait 2 weeks (or even a month) before they can post - but can view the forum without the thread viewing limit that guests will have. This removes site invasion possibilities and also will deter most WUMs, who have little patience, and will go on to attack other sites. Some may still be waiting, but they do this in the newbie in any case.
C) After the specified time period, these new waiting members are transfered into a "Newbie" user group, but without the newbie forums. They get access to the entire site, but are restricted. Basically, they cannot start new threads until they have 100 posts, and they cannot post more than ten posts per day (24 hours). They also cannot post images or other external links, have no PMs, etc. A layered approach will be used in that the more posts they make, the more access they have to the site facilities. For example, 200 posts yo post a link, 500 posts to post an image, whatever. This is done my moving them through several different groups until they get to "Full Member". Obviously in this layered approach, the higher the level, the more posts they can make within the specified time frame.
D) Any of these new users that do not make more than 5 posts in their first week are deleted automatically. Anyone not posting 5 posts per week in these lower groups get put down to the group below, finally ending in deletion.
E) Infraction and reputation points are removed in their current form, rather serving to move people not from newbie to full member, but rather up and down the ladder of layered usergroups.
What this does, is provide a buffer and requires very little moderator input. What you have at the end of the day is self regulation of posters that make it to full member, yet at the same time, server level controls on what they can and cannot do when they still are not full members.
This is only a basic overview and would need the details fleshing out, but it is far fairer to all.
