Logged in to Post

[Sanvean]

How do people feel about having to be logged in to post?  It will cut down on spambots, but it will also mean no anonymous posts.  Please let me know what pitfalls you think this move would create.

[Moofassa]

I'm always logged in anyways.... This would have no effect on me. I think it would be a good change.

I don't know how people can view it as being Non-Newbie Friendly, most sites require membership.

And honestly, if a newbie is seriously looking at playing our mud, it's not hard to register for a GDB handle.

[Kelen]

(clears his throat) Sorry, I couldn't help resist picking the last option. But really, I don't mind the way things are now, but since the others are in support of this, I suppose I am too. Plus cutting down on spam will be nice for everyone.

[Medena]

I voted for the first option. I, too, am always logged in.  However, even though I did vote for an option that was essentially a resounding, unqualifed "YES!, shouted from a rooftop", I guess I do have a small reservation.

Once or twice in the last year I have logged off and then come back on as a guest in order to post something like a question to the staff anonymously so as to not reveal I was playing a certain type of character.  With mandatory login would there be any chance of still being able to post anonymously?

[Sanvean]

The only ways I can think of for anonymous postings are:

a) create a one-time use account for yourself with a free e-mail account (or keep it for future anonymous postings) to do so
b) have a community anonymous account with the password posted in a sticky somewhere.  This would last up until someone used it to flame.

Other people may be able to suggest additional options.

[spawnloser]

If you want to ask a question and don't want people to know that it is you asking it, make a secondary account and use it.

I'm all for having to be logged in.

[Larrath]

Many newbies will start posting on the board without registering, so I'm against this.  Maybe a slightly buffer verification system would help for guest posts instead?

I can see a verification system like this:
3 1 9 15 2 6 0 204 42
Please enter the second green number: ___

The numbers, as well as the number and color of the number needed for verification, would be random.

[Lazloth]

Newbies will get over it.  Virtually every forum in the wide world requires account authentication, and the more tolerant provide only nominal access (eg., one particular forum) where they can post without validating.

[amoeba]

I'm always logged in to read or post. If I want anonymity I use an alternate login. That being said I'm not sure this will eliminate a ton, as I've noticed a lot of them create accounts.  

The problem with spam is that they get better all the time at doing it, and it is not getting any easier to combat  As long as sleezeballs like this one: (www.massmailsoftware.com) create tools any monkey can use, life for sysadmins is only going to get harder.  You have to use multiple countermeasures to limit the oncoming flood. I don't envy Brix'es job any.

Note: I debated putting the website up of the sleezeball, but in the end I think it is useful for people to know where much of this starts.  This is only the tip of the iceberg, there are many others like this, making lots of money selling ways to spam. My feeling is that governments should tax this type of obvious abusive software at 8000% tax rate, enforce it heavilly and drive them out of business.

[jcarter]

Arm's biggest weakness is that it's hard to get into. We don't have an easy to understand setting, we don't have a pretty looking web page, or really anything to catch an eye. It's only once you play your first couple of characters you can really get into it. I think that limitting the GDB in such a manner is just going to serve as pushing potential players away. I'll occasionally check out other MUDs, and when I do I'm damn fickle about the smallest things because there's so many MUDs out there. Shocking grasp on a spell list? I'm gone. Ugly front page? I'm gone. Gonna take down my e-mail for the forums? I'm gone.

[Yokunama]

b) have a community anonymous account with the password posted in a sticky somewhere.  This would last up until someone used it to flame.

I like the idea.

If someone uses it to flame someone, you could easily tace their IP back to their account and drop them a little reminder about flaming, spamming, and other things that are not allowed on the boards.

[Lizzie]

I posted this in another recent thread about the topic. I don't know if staff read it or not (I never assume they do since they say that they don't usually and that's okay). But since you're asking.

Okay most new players, and people who don't play yet but are interested, would only have a reason to post without an account in "ask the staff" and "ask the players." I haven't noticed any spambots in either of those folders. So, why not just make those two folders open to anonymous posts, and make everyone log in for all the others?

Also if you link GDB accounts to game accounts, you can give all players 2 or even 3 "GDB slots". Each slot would have its own e-mail address, so each player can have 1 normal account, 1 for clans only, and 1 for anonymous posting outside the 2 I mentioned above. This way, the staff can very very quickly identify the player, his current character, his account info, with the linked GDB account. The only time the players would be able to do this, is if a poster intentionally set his profile to allow it (if that is an option with this forum code). A lot of games do this, the game account/forum account being linked together.

I hope this is helpful to you.

L. Stanson

[Jherlen]

If you were going to add authentication to creating new accounts, couldn't you just add it to anonymous posts too? (I don't know how phpBB works.)

I wouldn't want the forum to be login-only, and I like posting anon sometimes.

[Anonymous]

Other than laziness I don't understand the benefit of anonymous posting.  It seems half the time it's used to either flame someone or to agree with yourself.  I have a second gdb account for times I wanted to participate in a clan or ask questions without it coming back to me.

[John]

It would discourage:
a) "I just died and I've been waiting 2mins. OMG! I'm addicted" posts
b) "I am an <insert role here> and disagree/agree with points X, Y and Z for reasons A, B and C" type posts.

Also, how would someone using a "community ID" to flame be different then someone posting anonymously to flame? Is it easier to ban people when they flame as forum-coded guests rather then a "community ID"?

[Lazloth]

phpBB2 is flexible enough to allow anon posting only to registered users (one mod here); makes for an easy compromise.

[Akaramu]

I hereby love Larrath, who read my mind, and I fully support his suggestion.

[Cale_Knight]

Yes, I would much rather see a random number/letter generator than forcing newbies to sign up for accounts.

[moab]

I  voted it would be a pain in the butt, but that's because I was not awake and thought you meant "log into the game to post." (have not yet had my coffee).

Please add one to "force us nubs to log in to post."

[Akaramu]

Just for the record, some spambots are smart enough to register (see the one in OOC chatter). In the not so far future, I assume that more spambots will learn how to register.

I dont really think that forcing newbies to register so they can ask a question will hold the bots up for too long.  

[moab]

I like the new-account registration feature that makes you decipher a word from a mixed up graphic.  You know what I'm talking about?  I'm not sure what it's called.  It's available on the phpboard packages I've checked out.

Use that with the must bel logged in to post feature (disabling guest accounts) and we should be good to go.  

IMO

[amoeba]

I like the new-account registration feature that makes you decipher a word from a mixed up graphic.  You know what I'm talking about?  I'm not sure what it's called.  It's available on the phpboard packages I've checked out.

CAPTCHA - "completely automated public Turing test to tell computers and humans apart",

[MorganChaos]

Minor inconvenience. I like the chance to post my opinion on things anonymously to prevent people assuming they know what I'm going to say and writing their response in their head before they read what I've written. I don't do it often, but I do it, and it would suck not being able to.

[Rindan the not logged in]

I like the ability to post anonymous for three reasons.  

First, it is good for n00bs to be able to post without having to go through a registration process.

Second, some times I want to post something that is close to home for my character.  If I am currently playing a well known spice addict and it gets me thinking on spice, I like to not give away my current character.  Maybe I am just paranoid, but I like being able to keep a nice wall between my GDB name and current characters.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, it drives me bat shit nuts that logging out results in the loss of all the post you have not read.  When I read the GDB religiously I wouldn't log in when I knew I wouldn't have the time to read through all the new posts that interested me.

[Xygax]

The proposal, I think, is essentially that you would have to login to post, but that you could also check a box that says, "Display this post Anonymously".  You wouldn't really be giving up your anonymity with respect to other players seeing your posts.

-- X

[daedroug]

just out of curiousity but couldn't you instead add that anti spam technique with the picture  and distorted numbers and letters for people who arn't logged in?

[Fnord]

just out of curiousity but couldn't you instead add that anti spam technique with the picture  and distorted numbers and letters for people who arn't logged in?

That's good when creating an account, as some bots are smart enough to make one without the human test.

[daedroug]

yeah but couldn't you do the same thing for when some one trys to post when they're not logged in?