Advertising and Improved Discussion

The main problem with advertisements that ppl have been agonising over is not with long-time members doing a little bit of promotion in signatures etc, but with people turning up once to post an advertisement and then pretty much leaving. For this reason severe action, such as 48-hour IP banning, does not work because the offender will likely not be coming back anyway.

IMO the answer is to create a "member points" system. It works like this: Five or six people are appointed to assess members for their contribution to the board. Post count, promoting Entmoot at other sites, knowledge of LOTR, time they have been here....all would be taken into consideration. Post quality would be the biggest one. Each member would be reviewed every one months and the "points" they have earned would be in their custom title.

Now the points system could go from 1-10. Each level of points would get certain privileges. Now the relation to advertising is this: when your points got to three or four, you would be allowed one thread to advertise your site.
Possibly even have the option of a link at the bottom of the page when your points got to 8 or 9.

The point is this: people would be encouraged to stay and post, and to post with quality and quantity, in order to earn those three points. The potential advertiser would be less enticed to spam the board, where the thread will be edited and closed, and more likely to stay and contribute something to the board, with the reward eventually being that they are allowed to make a topic about what they want to advertise, one that will be left.

Of course, you will probably think this idea unwieldy, too complicated, or feel it won't work. I don't know - I'm not in the position of having to implement it. But it is an idea - one which I hope will be helpful.

For me...

"promoting Entmoot at other sites" - zero
"knowledge of LOTR" - zero
"Post quality" - zero

Of course, I don't have anything to advertise any more, anyways, ever since I bailed from PTS...

For me...

"promoting Entmoot at other sites" - (10)
"knowledge of LOTR" - (9)
"Post quality" - (-19)

Total Score: 0

I havn't read any of the LOTR books since I was in third grade. After this next Star Wars novel...I plan on buying the books again. Well I've never owned them, before I just checked them out of the library. All I remeber is that little Hobbit guy and Gandolf...who I think was a wise old man....

I always enjoy reading your ideas, but as you realized, this idea strikes me as unnecessary and counterproductive. We already have a large base of members who contribute a lot. Nothing is going to stop advertisers, not even a weird point system. Points would be too much trouble.

Now if you could come up with a way to ZAP people anytime they advertised inappropriately, then that would be something.

Oh, now that's absolutely ridiculous!

Oh, by the way, I've got a new RealAudio of my Hobbit Day interview, just check out the website in my signature...

DZZZZZT! BZZZZTDZZZT! GRNZZZZZZZNGDT!

YOW!

Aside from being counter-productive that idea would be pointless. Spammers don't come back, they aren't LOTR fans, they'd have no reason to. Getting rid of the add so that it does not profit them at all (which is what we do) is the best way to deal with spam.

I guess its just a part of housekeeping.

You have to run around picking up after the little spammers!

I'm glad that's one problem that has passed me by so far. (if you don't include the ammount I get in my e-mail)

oh.... I liked they idea of the points, especially the clause saying Elf Lords would automatically start at 10 points