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March, 2024

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Idea for integration of new members.

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fujarome
Posts: 8630 - Karma: 1,561
Like anyone who's been here for more than a few years, i've noticed that many new members (and some old, i won't lie) post some stupid, unnecessary shit, are trolls, or just overall contribute absolutely nothing to this site. I mean...have you looked in NSG lately?! Even ski gabber seems to get worse over time.

So what i'm proposing is a member status system that i've seen on a few other forums. It would require some restructrering, more heavy moderating, but i think it would helpe to make things a bit less like 4chan around here.

The way it works on this other site is as follows...

All new members are listed as lobby members. The lobby is a forum section specifically devoted to them, where they can post what they want etc, with fairly strict moderating, but they can only post there. If they start posting really stupid shit, they get banned right there.

The next level is forum member. They can post in the lobby/wherever else they want, like we can now on here. Mods would basically have to continue to do like they currently do.

The biggest difference is that new members basically have to prove themselves as being decent members before being allowed to post in all the forums. That way we don't end up with a new member who does nothing but post the words "ball sack" in every thread for 2 days before being banned. I'm not saying it has to be super-strict because....well...the stupid shit is what makes ns what it is, but it just seems to be getting out of hand.

I'm not sure how this would work on here, because we'd definitely need at least 1 new forum section for new members, and it would increase the workload for mods, but it would make the site a bit more reputable i think, and make it worth visiting more often. Again, i don't even know if this is remotely feasible for newschoolers.

But...you know...take it however you want, hate it, love it, i just thought i'd put the idea out there.
Apr 12 2009 12:32AM
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no_steeze
Posts: 23992 - Karma: 4,267
generally the donator's forum isn't as dumb as NSG can get but that being said not many people post there regularly
Apr 12 2009 12:47AM
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fujarome
Posts: 8630 - Karma: 1,561
i figured as such. unfortunate. I just wish we could do something about this

I'd love to donate a bit to NS, but despite how much i enjoy this site, i just don't have the money.
Apr 12 2009 1:00AM
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MatRich
Posts: 4789 - Karma: 1,812

this would be a good idea for sure but I see one issue. its not favorable to getting more members. with less content available on the lobby forrums and less people to interact with. Newschoolers would look like a boring place to people who are new the the site. these new members would probably find the lack of interaction boring and end up leaving the website before actualy knowing what its like

Apr 12 2009 4:36PM
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Justin.B
Posts: 2257 - Karma: 721
exactly, and not to mention who decides when the new members become full members, the fact that we'd need a whole wack of new mods and a whole new forum section I just dont think it would work. Its a cool idea but like mat said, the site wouldn't be seen as very welcoming.
Apr 12 2009 5:04PM
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fujarome
Posts: 8630 - Karma: 1,561
yea, thats the problem i was thinking. it's a huge judgment call by the mods on who gets promoted. And it would definitely take a lot of work. I was just throwing the general idea out there, it could be altered and changed to whatever would fit this site better.

I know the site might lose some of it's appeal, but i think we'd lose mostly people who don't contribute much. The way this works is that in order to be a full member, you pretty much just have to not be a dumbass. They can be as strict or loose as they want with it. The amount of stupidity would go down, while the amount of good, useful information would go up. It all depends on whatever direction they want this site to go in, as a reputable, helpful source of info, or 4chan with a skiing theme.

(this only applies to the forums, i believe the rest of this site to be top notch when it comes to info, blogs, results, updates etc.)
Apr 12 2009 5:55PM
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summersover
Posts: 5777 - Karma: 233
yeah i love contributers but no one posts there
even site discussion is my favorite section because legitimate thoughts and conversation on issues goes down without pointless flaming or general immaturity
like most people i think stupidity is funny but it gets irritating after a while
Contributers FTW
Apr 12 2009 11:02PM
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Justin.B
Posts: 2257 - Karma: 721
ya exaclty. Contributors is awesome because we can hve actual conversations and Hot girl thread ftw! same with site discussion.
Apr 12 2009 11:03PM
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Dustin.
Posts: 13839 - Karma: 7,704
I think a lot of people join because it's really easy and they can get some quick answers to their questions.  Then they get hooked on NS, that's how I got on here.
Apr 13 2009 1:33PM
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Malcolm
Posts: 15949 - Karma: 9,429
im not going to lie, i started laughing when i read the thing about "ball sack"
Apr 13 2009 3:33PM
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fujarome
Posts: 8630 - Karma: 1,561
haha, i thought it was funny the first time i read it, but then when it came up like 10 times in 1 thread it got old. and that was the only example i could think of for this
Apr 13 2009 8:22PM
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B.Aussie
Posts: 5851 - Karma: 4,522
It sounds like a good idea in practice. But it would probably be very hard on the site. ie, lots of pressure on mods, and interest wouldn't be generated with new people.  Although it would be interesing how many people came to this site and didn't know about the forums it took me a year to realise they were there.
Apr 14 2009 8:49AM
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Silence
Posts: 16030 - Karma: 149
Yeah i've heard a lot of people stumble upon the site and check out pics/articles/videos etc for ages and then they realise that the forums exist
Apr 14 2009 5:23PM
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Malcolm
Posts: 15949 - Karma: 9,429
i actually found out about the site through the forums. i kept searching how to tricks in google and i kept finding pages in the ns forums. i couldnt get my account to activate for the longest time though...
Apr 14 2009 7:03PM
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fujarome
Posts: 8630 - Karma: 1,561
i see what you're saying, but i think a lot of the people who would be turned away would be the ones who in the end, post stupid shit. I'm not saying we need nazi-esque mods who deleted anything with swears, or is pointless. I just think this system, once altered to fit NS, would provide the forums with more quality members, more people who either already are knowledgeable, or wish to learn some more about skiing
Apr 14 2009 7:15PM
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Black.Bird
Posts: 2566 - Karma: 684
True that, when I discovered NS a while back, I tried becoming a member and my account would never activate. So I would always sign in as a guest and look at the forum, pics, and videos.
Apr 15 2009 8:44AM
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.Brink.
Posts: 1622 - Karma: 188
way too big of a hassle
Apr 15 2009 1:42PM
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fujarome
Posts: 8630 - Karma: 1,561
who? me? Nah i'm not at all like that. I love riding with anyone. And i suck in the park anyways, so i can't hate on them at all.

 I don't 100% believe this idea would work or be good for NS, but i figured it was an interesting concept to throw out there and see what people though.
Apr 16 2009 9:10AM
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fujarome
Posts: 8630 - Karma: 1,561
yea, i'm starting to think at this point, it would be too late to implement on NS. If it was still new with only a few hundred to a few thousand members, then it might work fine, but once you already have over 100,000 people in, it would just be too hard to start using.
Apr 16 2009 12:51PM
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t_rob
Posts: 6433 - Karma: 11,458
this website has proven time and time again that post counts are a joke. It won't work well.
Apr 22 2009 1:52AM
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fujarome
Posts: 8630 - Karma: 1,561
it doesn't go by post count. actually its kind of the opposite. You could make 30 quality posts, and be promoted to a regular member before someone who's made 10,000 shitty posts. It's all about quality, not quantity.
Apr 22 2009 10:59AM
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summersover
Posts: 5777 - Karma: 233
Yeah but who is gonna judge if every post is quality or not
That's like hundreds of thousands of posts a day
Apr 22 2009 11:26AM
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doritos
Posts: 7368 - Karma: 53
Well, the Lobby thing wouldn't have to be moderated, really... Who gives a rat's ass if the new people have to deal with shitty posts? It could just be used as a testing ground -- if you're flooding it with shit, you never get moved up. That simple. The Lobby members should be able to view the other forums too, just not post in them. Honestly though, stupidity and immaturity in NSG is funny as hell, it's just annoying when it moves to other forums like LM and SG.
Apr 22 2009 1:44PM
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fujarome
Posts: 8630 - Karma: 1,561
oh yeah definitely, to just about everything you said. Lobby members can still read everything else, just not post. I love the stupidity etc, but sometimes it just feels like its getting out of hand. lately though its been much much better
Apr 22 2009 2:43PM
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SkierX
Posts: 16253 - Karma: 538
I disagree. I'd rather deal with all the retarded posts for the few great brand-new member posts, than to just limit their abilities.
Apr 22 2009 3:29PM
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fujarome
Posts: 8630 - Karma: 1,561
i was wondering what a mod would think about this, so thanks for responding

i understand where you're coming from though. Like i said, i never thought this idea would be used or anything, but i was just putting it out there to see what people thought
Apr 22 2009 3:48PM
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SkierX
Posts: 16253 - Karma: 538
My opinion may differ as I am a newer mod and have yet to become jaded by deleting mindless posts and threads; so a veteren mod might look at the idea differently.
Apr 22 2009 4:42PM
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sconniestyle
Posts: 3945 - Karma: 26

taking this thought a bit further, if a system like this was put into place, and the rate of new memberships per year went down significantly, it could have an impact on the revenue the site brings in through ads, and that would affect the contests, parties, store, and anything else this site has developed over the years.

i think that is a very elitist system though. one of the best things about ns is the access you have to a huge group of skiers across the world. implementing that would take it away from the new members who are most likely to be stoked on becoming a part of the community.

it's a free website, you shouldn't have to earn your way onto it.

Apr 23 2009 6:30PM
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ECfreeski3
Posts: 12019 - Karma: 125
dude we're on the internet, not a fucking soccer team. im sorry but if youre really so worried about new members being able to post, you are a FAG
Apr 23 2009 7:06PM
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fujarome
Posts: 8630 - Karma: 1,561
^why the hate man? Again, i'm not saying that this should be used exactly as i said or anything, i was just throwing it out there to see what people think.

and if you look back, this was created back when nsg in particular seemed to be heading downhill fast, before the mods really picked up and came down hard on the crap. Now things have improved enough that something like this wouldn't be needed
Apr 24 2009 12:03AM
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ECfreeski3
Posts: 12019 - Karma: 125
well what i said i see as being hate on hate. i just dont see why people on here are worried about new people posting. how much sense would it make to you if you just found out about this site and you couldnt even post on it because people were elitist and wanted to limit what you could do on the site?
Apr 24 2009 1:38AM
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fujarome
Posts: 8630 - Karma: 1,561
ok, i see what you're saying. and its not that new people can't post (i'm talking about the other forum i've seen this on) they just can't post wherever they like. They have their own special forum for when they are brand new members and just getting the hang of it. They can still access the whole thing and do what the want, just not post in certain forum sections
Apr 24 2009 9:08AM
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