Minimum post (comment) count before you can start new discussions?

UnderDog

Hi guys,

Just wondering whether you feel the need for new users to get a certain minimum post count (comments in this case) before they can start new discussions?
I just saw 1 post that received 2 flags at once. So that raized my eyebrows a little. I handled that post and now it's gone from the topics list, but it makes me wonder whether you feel the need for new users to first show that they can post normal comments before they can start their own topics?

Disadvantage is that it will increase posts like 'I agree' and 'I have that same problem' (in older posts), just for users to get their post count up to speed...

Advantage is that new users will learn a bit of what is expected of them before they post.

Oh... and we need a plugin for this functionality... @peregrine ... pretty please? :-)

mcu_hq

My vote is to let new users, regardless of post count, post new discussions. The few bad apples shouldn't be allowed to ruin it for everyone else. A lot of new interesting topics are brought up from new users. By putting this restriction in place, you may see less discussion which I think is a bad thing for Vanilla.

peregrine

agree with mcu_hq.

Todd

Since this is a support community asking a question is often be a member's first post. More free-form communities sometimes do have a minimum post requirement and that's valid, but I think it wouldn't be good for this community.

Whatever Akismet doesn't catch the community will and I don't think spam will be much of a problem.

422

Hall of shame is needed ;)

peregrine

too bad something can't be done with hbf's wiki too - it is getting trashed by some miscreants.

UnderDog

peregrine said: too bad something can't be done with hbf's wiki too - it is getting trashed by some miscreants.

Yep, working on it every day to keep them out, but can't handle it on my own, sorry.