But how do you handle things if people don’t have to register? What if someone spams over and over, or flames, you can’t ban them like you can if they are registered. It’s a security problem.
Originally posted by M. James
But how do you handle things if people don’t have to register? What if someone spams over and over, or flames, you can’t ban them like you can if they are registered. It’s a security problem.
True, but I think there is a way you can ban them without being registered, which is by their IP address. Most forums will still provide the admins and moderators with this information even if the user is unregistered.
However, from the previous info that I obtained from reading other posts, it stated that an IP address wouldn’t be accurate for targeting a specific individual, but rather that individual and some number of others.
Also, in the case of the networks, if you blocked that address, you would be preventing the individual from entering your site, as well as thousands of other people from entering your site, (as all the other people who use this network would also be prevented from entering).
Thus, I am curious to know, how is any moderator able to ban people by their IP address if they become an uncooperative problem (since there are a lot of problems currently associated with blocking people by IP addresses)?
True, true, but you have to admit not requiring registration does have it’s downsides. Like you won’t be able to measure how large your community is because people can just come and go with different names.
Originally posted by OllieO
This is why it’s so important to welcome people when they make a first post - not only will it make them feel at home, but it will encourage them to stay and feel liked; it also sends out a message to other lurkers that when they post they will be welcomed into the group.
[/B]
Well said Ollie!
Apart from the obvious of getting people to actually see and join your forum, Ollies point about making people feel welcome is probably the most important aspect of running a forum. I browsed these forum pages for a while before plucking up the courage to post a question or reply and I bet I’m not the only one. It can be intimidating when you find a forum that you consider yourself to be “in the knowledge” only to to find after reading a few posts that your so called knowledge only scratches the surface compared to other members. After taking the plunge and posting my first reply expecting to be a lamb to the slaughter I simply received a few nudges towards forum etiquette and a nice friendly smile (thanks Nicky and Sparky). Only then did I grow in confidence and was prepared to offer what advise I could without fear of ridicule or flaming.
So everybody out there asking how to improve a forum’s membership just remmember this- If a visitor is a regular user of forums then he his probably already a member of one that’s better than yours so why should he bother and if he isn’t a user of forums why should he bother if he’s made to feel unwelcome or uncomfortable.
Nuff said…must sleep 
A lot of talking has been done about welcoming a new member.
Well, we had our test here on this thread, and nobody did anything. Dontom was a new member, with his first post made on this thread. . .
Dontom, I welcome you to sitepointforums.com :sparty:
I hope sitepointforums.com becomes enjoyable enough to become one of your regular activities, while also becoming a knowledgeable experience 
Originally posted by webwizard
[B]Dontom, I welcome you to sitepointforums.com :sparty:
I hope sitepointforums.com becomes enjoyable enough to become one of your regular activities, while also becoming a knowledgeable experience [/B]
Thank you Webwizard - I already read this forum regularly - now there was a topic I could contribute - so I replied (hoping to get some new members in my forum :))
Tom
>>Thus, I am curious to know, how is any moderator able to ban people by their IP address if they become an uncooperative problem (since there are a lot of problems currently associated with blocking people by IP addresses)
Simple answer: You can’t ban anyone from a forum.
My users come from all walks of life. Over 60 and under 20, everywere in between. We have Ph.D’s, blue collars, students, teachers, and slackers. AOL’ers who are on the net for the first time and people who’ve been BBS’ing since 300 baud.
You can’t ban anyone that knows what they’re doing on the net.
Proxies, AOL spiders, different ISPs, and the anonymizer all prevent you from actually being able to stop someone. The best course of action is not to let your crisis get that far to where you must implement a ban.
If it does go that far and you have to try an IP ban someone, hope that they’re not on AOL or WebTV… you can’t ban either of them without banning a huge chunk of users. Then the next day when your personal troll dials in again, they have a new IP and your ban is useless. Even better is when they discover that they can hang up, call right back, and get past the ban.
If you get the “ignorant troll” then yes, locking in their post name with cookies (ala vB 2.0), or banning their username will work. Until they discover the tasty morsel (cookie) that is holding them in check.
Maybe your troll comes from just one ISP and you feel safe banning that ISP for a while. Don’t worry, they will discover the anonymizer sooner or later. Or even better, truly anonymous proxies.
On my board, security is a way of life and people know these tricks. I haven’t been able to ban someone in many years but keeping the tempers in check is a good way of prevention. To do this, we have a few custom vB hacks: karma and the global ignore user.
Blocking someone’s IP or username can’t and won’t stop them if they’re dead serious about being a problem and flaming or spamming a message board. It can stop someone temporarily, which is often enough to buy enough time for them to lose interest or (if you’re lucky) they won’t be smart enough to know their way around it.
::taking notes::
hehe, this is great!
i have been wanting to start a forum and its parent site with alot of growing content since last month but i’ve been really busy with my current work
all these lists and comments about forums will help me out in the future, thanks!
Olie, Everyone thanks for the tips. I just started mine
and would love for all of you to go post. I feel like the
lonely “Maytag Repairman”.
I appreciate all your help.
Hi guys,
I’ve been trying quite hard to involve the COMMUNITY but to no aval, only 150 members registered in 3months. For the forums I’ve been getting 500 page views but seems like there’s no involvement in the forums.
I was thinking about having other personal sites webmaster to help with the forums. I was wondering if you can guys can provide me w/ suggestions what remunerations( if any) that I should provide so they can really help me to kickstart with the community.
Thanks. Your help greatly appreciated.
Originally posted by csc123
[B]Hi guys,
I’ve been trying quite hard to involve the COMMUNITY but to no aval, only 150 members registered in 3months. For the forums I’ve been getting 500 page views but seems like there’s no involvement in the forums.
I was thinking about having other personal sites webmaster to help with the forums. I was wondering if you can guys can provide me w/ suggestions what remunerations( if any) that I should provide so they can really help me to kickstart with the community.
Thanks. Your help greatly appreciated. [/B]
You already have some members, and if no one is posting, you need to consider running a contest to spark interest and motivate people to get involved. Offer a prize to the best poster, or even to a random new member. Anything helps.
I think offering a contest will only make the visitor raise only for temporary session only. They will come, or even posts, just to win the prize. After that, visitor are gone…
So, you must have a very good/attractive forum so the visitor will stay thinking the forums are so infomative/helpful/useful.
Well, I personally think numbers of members means nothing if they’re not active. I’d rather have the 15 (hey, i just started ) very active members on my forum (many post at least once or twice a day, that’s very high participation) than having 100 members where only 1-2 of them post.
If you can’t get your own friends onto the forums to chat, why not get in contact with some of the members themselves and even get a few to participate regularly? If your forums always have new posts and replies, it’ll greatly enhance your chances of making them truly active.
I AGREE! I have about 250 members and only about 20 actively post, which I feel is a lame number of members posting. Some people will sign up and post like 10 in one day, but then I never see them again. It really bothers me. People just lose intrest and drift away.
So far, I have seen lots of good tips on forum promotion. I would say that having a successful forum mainly requires loyal visitors that are your websites following :). I think that SP has done an excellent job with the site and the forums since the start and that is why we are all here. I personally have been using the forums (and the site) since it started (I was a member before under a different name for you people checking out when I signed up!)
Originally posted by dethfire
<font face=“verdana, arial, helvetica” size=“2” class=“mfont”>I AGREE! I have about 250 members and only about 20 actively post, which I feel is a lame number of members posting. Some people will sign up and post like 10 in one day, but then I never see them again. It really bothers me. People just lose intrest and drift away.</font>
I know precisely how you feel. One of the most frustrating things in running message boards is when you get a new member you looks to be a big-time regular contributor. He/she comes and posts a lot in the first day or two, or maybe even a week, but then never comes back. It’s very frustrating and gets kind of unprofessional and not very fun to have to try to get in contact with some of these members to get them to post again.
I know it. Many times I’ll ICQ them or email them inviting them back, but I feel like I’m hassling them. THey say they are to busy and such and well… what can ya do = )
I know how you feel also, how about being open for 3 months, 72 members with not a single active poster???
That is bad and It means any new thread must be started by me and I’ve really run out of thread to start already.
Any tips?
Physicsforums doesn’t need to icq people and stuff as your doing a great time. You started ages after me and you’ve got twice as many users, 8 times as many posts and load of active members.
Maybe its because you email everyone frequently and have member days and chats.
Peter
Make that 73 members, just gained another. Hopefully its an activbe member. Probably not, just need help on my sript. Alas (what an uncommonly used word), I need help
Peter