Still can't post without moderation

[McCarthy84]

I posted 6 posts so far, 1 wasn't published at all for whatever reason, now I finally do have my 4 minimum post online in order to post directly without having to wait an entire day for moderation, and now I got to see the same "you have to wait for a mod" message again even though its my 5th posts.

I'm trying to install my scanner in my truck, have the center console and dash all open and can't finish this project because I'm forced to wait yet another day to (hopeful) get some answers from some forum members. Tonight I'll have to drive around with an open dash or put everything back together.

Then I searched for mods being online hoping I could send a PM real quick and the only mod around doesn't accept PMs and asks in his signature line to send an email instead. I can't find his email address anywhere on his profile site. So I go on "Contact Us" and end up in some Wiki pages without any email addresses to be seen.

I do understand that you guys want to limit spammer accounts - I owned a forum which I even coded myself back in the 90s - but this really isn't inviting at all and leaves the impression "we are big enough, we don't care for more members".

 

[mikewazowski]

I posted 6 posts so far, 1 wasn't published at all for whatever reason, now I finally do have my 4 minimum post online in order to post directly without having to wait an entire day for moderation, and now I got to see the same "you have to wait for a mod" message again even though its my 5th posts.

Where did you see four? That's not the limit for removing moderation.

Then I searched for mods being online hoping I could send a PM real quick and the only mod around doesn't accept PMs and asks in his signature line to send an email instead. I can't find his email address anywhere on his profile site. So I go on "Contact Us" and end up in some Wiki pages without any email addresses to be seen.

If you click on my name in any post you will see an option to email me.

Emailing a Moderator still wouldn't have made a difference in your status. Every new member goes through the moderation process and there's very few reasons to short cut that. Sorry.

 

[McCarthy84]

Where did you see four? That's not the limit for removing moderation.



If you click on my name in any post you will see an option to email me.

Emailing a Moderator still wouldn't have made a difference in your status. Every new member goes through the moderation process and there's very few reasons to short cut that. Sorry.

For the first 6 posts I got after clicking the "Submit Reply" button a popup window indicating that the first 4 post will be moderated and that one has to wait for up to 24 hours. I'm using IE 11, maybe the users of other browsers get a different message, but mine clearly said 4 posts.

Glad I can finally post in 'real-time'.

 

[krbvroc1]

I had the same problem. If 4 posts is not the moderation limit then someone should change the javascript alert window text that pops up on my screen saying new users first 4 posts will be moderated.

 

[Jay911]

maybe the users of other browsers get a different message, but mine clearly said 4 posts.

Everybody sees that, including the people who have thousands of posts, and post in the forums that need approval for posts to appear (Official Announcements & News comes to mind). There's a lot in this forum's code that hasn't been updated in a very long time - some of it due to claims that custom code prevents them from updating to the latest version of vB, some of it for no explicable reason (like updating the text described above).

The thing about not accepting PMs... never understood that. One or two moderators ages ago (RIP) seemed to start the trend, and then others must have thought they would look cooler if they did it too. Never understood why it gained any traction.

Have you posted a thread asking for help on your install? I don't see one.

 

[McCarthy84]

Everybody sees that, including the people who have thousands of posts, and post in the forums that need approval for posts to appear (Official Announcements & News comes to mind). There's a lot in this forum's code that hasn't been updated in a very long time - some of it due to claims that custom code prevents them from updating to the latest version of vB, some of it for no explicable reason (like updating the text described above).

The thing about not accepting PMs... never understood that. One or two moderators ages ago (RIP) seemed to start the trend, and then others must have thought they would look cooler if they did it too. Never understood why it gained any traction.

Have you posted a thread asking for help on your install? I don't see one.

I was 'set free' and can post now without moderation.

I'm certain that this forum loses a bunch of new folks over this. It is quite demotivating when you write a first, long post, just to be notified that it will be moderated. It is somewhat comparable with forums that only activate new member accounts manually by mods. I signed up for forums and never went back because of this. It realty takes the wind out of your sails.

In this case I was willing to hang in for 4 post but when I realized that this number doesn't mean squat, I was about to just dump this forum and move on. I'm sure a steady number of people get hung up on that and don't try to contact a mod, let alone open a thread that also won't be posted right away.

This JavaScript popup text could be changed within minutes. vBulletin, especially in a 3.XX version is a tiny system. I currently work on a Magento online shop system that is partly based on the Zend Framework. The classes and code files alone are well beyond 1 GB.

Anyway, this is not my party. Glad I can communicate with some folks about my new hobby.

 

[fxdscon]

This may seem conflicting with the pop-up message, but it is part of the required reading for new members:

Attention new members who have yet to post or have received a message that your posts are being moderated:

Currently we are not disclosing the number of posts that need approval before the account is upgraded to normal status, which enables the above features.

From:

https://forums.radioreference.com/forum-rules-guidelines/304708-attention-all-new-members.html

.

 

[krbvroc1]

This may seem conflicting with the pop-up message, but it is part of the required reading for new members:

From:

https://forums.radioreference.com/forum-rules-guidelines/304708-attention-all-new-members.html

.

With all respect, that makes little sense. I understand the pains of forum admin having run forums before.

But if this is the case just remove the number from the popup message...Change it to 'due to abuse your posts are moderated until an undisclosed number of posts'. You are pointing to a post about 'required reading' for new members, however, what takes precedence a 3 year old forum post or an immediate javascript popup feedback alert everytime I post. Most people would feel the popup takes precedence over some old forum post. There is absolutely no way to reconcile which is the accurate one.

 

[fxdscon]

There is absolutely no way to reconcile which is the accurate one.

Well... if you're still being moderated after 4 posts, common sense would be your guide as to which one is accurate. Just sayin' .

.

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[krbvroc1]

Well... if you're still being moderated after 4 posts, common sense would be your guide as to which one is accurate. Just sayin' .

.

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That is one way to look at it, but I wouldn't say common sense dictates. Since I was constantly getting forum/server timeouts and site not available messages I was in troubleshooting mode - unsure if my posts were working, etc.

I also skimmed the lengthy welcome email. Having been on web forums for decades, I tend not to need to read etiquette posts, so I had not even read that particular post.

The welcome email says

' Finally, all new users are set to moderated status for their first few posts, which means an administrator has to approve your posts. Be patient when posting as a new user - your posts will be approved as quickly as possible. This is done to prevent spammers posting in the forums. '

So that is yet another opportunity to inform new members that the 'first few posts' has been changed to some undisclosed number, rather than buried in an etiquette forum.

Personally, unlike the OP, I don't feel like this is something that would drive people away, I just think it is poor design and makes for a poor / clumsy user experience -- especially for a site asking for money.

 

[KK4JUG]

Personally, unlike the OP, I don't feel like this is something that would drive people away, I just think it is poor design and makes for a poor / clumsy user experience -- especially for a site asking for money.

But it doesn't seem that you've paid any money so you don't have a dog in that fight.

 

[krbvroc1]

But it doesn't seem that you've paid any money so you don't have a dog in that fight.

As a new user of less than a week, not yet. And new users, potential subscribers, are exactly the people you want to having a good user experience. But thanks for the welcome!

 

[KK4JUG]

As a new user of less than a week, not yet. And new users, potential subscribers, are exactly the people you want to having a good user experience. But thanks for the welcome!

Always happy to help.

 

[mikewazowski]

Wow, you make a change to the number of posts required before a new member can post unmoderated and you miss some pop-up and you would have thought the world had ended.

If I get time, I'll change the pop-up to reflect the proper number or delete the number entirely from the pop-up and add a comment that if you feel you are important enough to skip the moderation process, that you can email me and I'll upgrade your status.

I think this horse has been beaten enough now.