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[The Fifth Horseman]

It's getting bloody annoying to see the number of n00bs asking questions like "how do u download", "where do u downlaod" etc.

So, a few suggested solutions to this:

1. Prevent guest accounts from posting on the discussion threads altogether.
A bit too drastic.

2. Install a word filter that will block any guest posts in the game discussion forum that contain the words "how" or "where" and "download", as well as those that contain anything about e-mailing.
Kinda complicated, but seems like the right way to go.

3. Install a redirect page that displays after clicking the discussion link from the review, and stays on the screen for 30 seconds before redirecting to the actual thread. Put a message on that page that reads "This game has been removed due to a request from ESA. Do not ask where/how can you download a copy, nor request it to be sent to you via e-mail.". Make it so that the page displays only to users that are not logged in to the forum.

[Abi79]

1. Prevent guest accounts from posting on the discussion threads altogether.
A bit too drastic.

Not a good idea. There are some guests (e.g Gamefreak) who actually are helpful.

2. Install a word filter that will block any guest posts in the game discussion forum that contain the words "how" or "where" and "download", as well as those that contain anything about e-mailing.
Kinda complicated, but seems like the right way to go.

"how download" or "where download"? Hm... I agree, but there might be a sentence like "How good is this game? I would download it, but it's big and I want to know what I should expect for it"

3. Install a redirect page that displays after clicking the discussion link from the review, and stays on the screen for 30 seconds before redirecting to the actual thread. Put a message on that page that reads "This game has been removed due to a request from ESA. Do not ask where/how can you download a copy, nor request it to be sent to you via e-mail.". Make it so that the page displays only to users that are not logged in to the forum.

Good idea k: 30 seconds might be too much though. Maybe 20 seconds?

[A. J. Raffles]

Originally posted by the_fifth_horseman@Feb 27 2006, 06:17 PM
2. Install a word filter that will block any guest posts in the game discussion forum that contain the words "how" or "where" and "download", as well as those that contain anything about e-mailing.
Kinda complicated, but seems like the right way to go.

Bad idea. Just think of all those poor people who are stuck in an adventure game and are asking for advice:

Originally posted by Guest_badSpellar+--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Guest_badSpellar)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>how do u get the cat to eat the chocolate-covered goldfish??? and where do u find the crumpled map of lisbon? :help: also i lost my manual do u know if ther is any place where i could find download a scan of the manual? thx [/b]

would get filtered, for example, whereas

<!--QuoteBegin-Guest_CAPS
ESA SUCKS!!! ISN'T THERE ANY WAY TO FIND THIS GAME FOR FREE????[/quote] would not.

Besides, it isn't just the guests who ask for warez, but plenty of registered users as well.

[The Fifth Horseman]

From my experience, 90% of the warez-requesting spam in the Games Discussion is produced by guests.

Ok, just thought about #4:

4. Every post made by Guests must be approved by a moderator before it displays to other users.
Adds more work for mods - though one or more can always be recruited just for this purpose. Otherwise, no drawbacks.

[TheVoid]

Originally posted by the_fifth_horseman@Feb 27 2006, 08:17 PM
Ok, just thought about #4:

4. Every post made by Guests must be approved by a moderator before it displays to other users.
Adds more work for mods - though one or more can always be recruited just for this purpose. Otherwise, no drawbacks.

Actually, replying or deleting every "Esa-requesting" post would be less work than that. Most of guests just comment about the game or ask for advice; and we have a lot of guests. In my opinion, a mass filtering of guests is too much to do compared to the actual annoyance.

An option could be to add "Esa-protected / Not for download" as a subtitle of the proper threads in the forum.

[Blood-Pigggy]

How about just making a new section in the "Genre" area that says "Protected" or such, then once they enter the sub-section it flashes Horseman's "These games are unavailabe due to ESA protection, you cannot, and will not be able to download them" that'll probably cut down on the annoying guests/users.

Then you just shove all the protected games into the section.
This will also cut-down on the dissapointed people who pop into the RPG section, get excited seeing Ultima 7, then annoyed when they notice they can't download it.
So if they're seperated, they can surf among the available games without any false hopes.

[Mr Miau]

Originally posted by Blood-Pigggy@Feb 28 2006, 12:34 AM
How about just making a new section in the "Genre" area that says "Protected" or such, then once they enter the sub-section it flashes Horseman's "These games are unavailabe due to ESA protection, you cannot, and will not be able to download them" that'll probably cut down on the annoying guests/users.

Then you just shove all the protected games into the section.
This will also cut-down on the dissapointed people who pop into the RPG section, get excited seeing Ultima 7, then annoyed when they notice they can't download it.
So if they're seperated, they can surf among the available games without any false hopes.

Very good idea! k:

[marko river]

Originally posted by Mr Miau@Feb 28 2006, 01:44 PM
Very good idea! k:

Good idea indeed.

I also like horseman's suggestion no.3 if possible to realize.

[The Good Soldier Švejk]

thats easy to fix.Only registred users anymore.No Guests.That will drastically lower that questions.

[Bobbin Threadbare]

@soldier dude: Read the entire topic.

I agree with this thing. You should also make it say click here when you have read this thing at the bottom. It would be annoying to wait an entire 20seconds. Plus users (I mean regular users ie Danny) woulld find this extremeley annoying. Is it possible to limit it to guests only?