It's not that hard to sign up. It's actually pretty damn easy with no details required with the exception of e-mail. Anonymous, you can still post as that name.

Is it possible to have a further addition to the filter and remove any posts by Booga?

Isaac, I thnk this is a waste of time. from what I can see, all that changes is that you have to click on a link to open the anon post. It does not stop anon postings. I dont like it that you have to log in each time you visit the site!! our family visit many times a day! why should all the people at this house have the same log in (in my name) I am not resposible for their thoughts or what they write, but it will be linked to me. where is the provision to change my pass word? I am not sure what are you wanting to achieve from this trial? In a nut shell, I dont like it.

Great Idea IMO.

I see your point "mum #9387" - there are five people who have access to this computer. So the question Isaac is - is there only going to be one email address allowed per IP allowed or can I allocate 5 different email boxes under the same IP? Thanks.

Well, realistically, aside from Booga, Spadge, and Denny Crane, the village idiots, the vast majority of bullshit sniping on this forum is from anonymous posters.

If you want your posts to be read, you pick an alias and put it in the Name/Author box. Not hard at all. You can change it - a number of people use a few aliases. The other site moderators cannot trace an alias beyond that. And whether you use an alias or not, I can trace your posting history by IP or individual computer in most cases - so using an alias or a registered account doesn't change much.

If you don't want to have to quickly click and expand anonymous posts to read them, get an email account that doesn't identify you, and sign up to the site. You can still use multiple aliases. You can still post anonymously yourself. That covers a family at home who all read and post to the site. And if you don't think one of you cops responsibility for the rest, you might like to read the T&C from your ISP. The owner of the connection is usually responsible for what is posted from it.

Short of enforcing registration for all posters, I'm not sure how everyone expects me to cover all bases plus protect myself legally, which (sorry to say) trumps your preferences.

In the future, registered users may be able to select to have anonymous posts ignored, set to ignore specific aliases, and so on.

As always, I'm happy to take suggestions.

I like it isaac! the box around each post makes them stand out as well.

But, can we make it so anyone who posts as 'anonymous', can only read posts by 'anonymous' and not anyone with a nickname?

I cant think of another forum where you can even post anonymously.
Everywhere these days you have to sign in to contribute. I dont see what the problem is myself.

Neptuneboy - no, it's important that anyone can at least read the forum without having to sign up.

Skip - correct. OzHoops, for example, enforces registration and has moderators pruning posts. A massive forum like Slashdot allows a mixture of anonymous and registered users, but relies on a moderation and meta-moderation system to keep the cream at the top.

Another thing I am considering is requiring any new poster to be vetted by an already vetted contributor (think, Circle of Trust) before they can post without automatic approval. e.g., I tag Skip as being reliable, he tags Bizzy, etc. If Bizzy tags Denny Crane who then screws up, Bizzy's reliability is put into question. This could go a long way to eliminating the small amount of spam that bypasses the various checks I have in place. May not work with the system allowing Anonymous posters, so could go nowhere with that one.

Also, I'm hoping to find time to implement an easier method to lodge a complaint against a dodgy post to draw it to the attention of moderators.

Woohoo! I am reliable!!

I'll try not to let you down Isaac!

Skip reliable?
I like the changes.
Whatever it takes to allow Isaac to keep this community on line needs to be supprted.

excellent changes isaac, as long as your arse is covered that should be your only concern

Great changes Isaac, I for one have had the shits for a long time with faceless Anonymous posters! Well done. And, thanks for all you do with this forum!

Interesting idea - I will keep it in mind next time I'm tinkering with the code.

GDay Isaac

With the sign in - is it possible that I stay signed in unless I actually hit a signout button? This just saves me signing in everytime I hit the website (ie im very lazy)

#129577

There is nothing to stop you changing your alias everytime you post. You can even have your alias as 'anon'

129577, as Skip has said, you can register, and still change your alias or post Anonymously if you insist. For individual, reasonable comments, anon is fine. If you are involved in a conversation, just pick a random name (a street name, a country name, whatever) and use that just for that thread.

The change was made at midnight on Sunday (just under 13,000 page views on that day). Since then, the count of page views is on an upwards trend, but it will be best to wait for another few days of data as the weekends are traditionally quieter.

Monday had 19,000+ page views. The Monday before had under 11,000 page views. At present, the "Last 7 days" count of posts is at 1,445 which is very healthy (close to a record?) considering that it is the NBL off-season, the NBA is a little quiet leading into the play-offs and there is not as much ABL talk as in past years.

If you are someone who makes reasonable posts then it is a big deal to me that you might walk away, but I need to coax the herd towards an easier to manage position.

Statman - normally it does maintain your login. If you return to the site and it's forgotten you, chances are that the server crashed. Until I get the time to shift the site to a better host and out of its current database, that situation won't improve. When you see just a white screen and the site won't load - that's the site taking a lie down. Imagine that the site is a hermit crab - right now, it's a big fat crab stuffed into a tiny, tiny shell!

Fair enough explanation. I feel the 1 button to show all anon posts within a thread is a top idea, although not knowing the tech side of it I do not know how big a job it is.

For the flow of the thread I think it is important to see the anon comments by default, with a button to hide them prehaps?

Sorry, I forgot to add that a while ago someone brought up that an I.P. address that you can see might be usefull so that posters could see if they are really having debates with 3 or 4 different posters, or just one.

I for one would think that would be really usefull when entering into a debate, as you may be entering into a debate hosted by one person, backing him or herself up.

The burden needs to be on those who won't register, not the other way around. Those that register to contribute are more likely to be valuable contributors to the forum and adding to the community feel - not a concrete rule, but a trend. If there is one button, it will be pushed by non-registered members, I think.

The IP address issue is a little difficult - I am not going to divulge those publically. I could hash them (one way encryption, sort of) so that people could compare and see without knowing the actual IP, but it could harm other users.

When I note in a thread that someone has posted three times in a row, it's usually because it's very likely (I can see that it's the same computer as well as the same IP in most cases, short time span, similar style, etc). But if, say, Skip posts, and then there's an anon posting from the same IP, people could take that new 'evidence' to say with confidence that it's him posting it, when it may not be at all.

Jury's out on that one. I don't think people posting multiple times to push an issue to be a significant problem. Mostly, multiple anonymous posts just make for a difficult to follow conversation that would be easily improved by people using temporary aliases. Which makes me think, maybe I'll build in a random Name suggestion for people who are anonymous - make it a bit easier for them.

Re anon's comments and releasing IP's  does anyone legal know if there could be issues there with the privacy act  the forum would be effectively giving out personal details of posters to all and sundry? Eg say someone at a club / organisation has something to say but it needs to be off record, it could compromise their role even though it could well be valid info and info that needs to be shared, maybe a personal opinion that they need to distance themselves from?
Plus with a family and often a few friends who might get together, they can be using the same pc which in turn will show the same ip but it could be several contributors.
More work for Isaac but is it a thought to add if you can code to register an icon that pops up on a post which indicates same IP similar to grrr! but doesn't release #?

Isaac, I understand the desire to have posters supply some tag to their post so that conversations can take place and a flow is retained but I don't understand the group view that a tag like 'mumps' is in some way, braver than an anonymous post given that tagged posters also post anonymously when they have a contentious issue and most don't know the identity of the tagged poster anyway.
As to posting IP's, the only thing I would be sure of is that you would get a more sanitised version of the forum and a more politically correct one and I'm not sure that's ideal. I'm mindful of the implications of a public forum for all concerned but I think more good comes from free speech than harm.

Many would prefer a sanitised version of the forum, so I have to pick a compromise between those that want that, and those that like more banter and more heated disputes.