Suggestion: limit access to private forums by minimum post c

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Due to some recent episodes with regard to WP, I'd like to make a suggestion. Wrongplanet, at the moment has 2 private sections, namely the Members-Only section and the "Adult Autism Issues" section. The problem is, they're not as private as one would might think if people can register on the site simply to gain access to them and then take screenshots of threads inside those forums before posting them up on another site. My question is, in order to limit this from happening, is it possible that you can limit access to those subforums by a minimum post count, the same way that you limited access to the Adult Section by using an age block? Say, for example, put a different kind of block on those subforums, where nobody can read them or post in them if they've made less than 10 posts or something. It may not stop something like that from happening completely but at least it would prevent people who just lurking and hanging around in the background from entering those sections and if someone was thinking doing this, then it would force them to make themselves visible in the forums.

It's just a suggestion.

you're a mind reader, aren't you?
i've been thinking that for a while, something small and attainable like 10-15 would be prime, and enough for the user's real attitude/disposition to come through. although i'm not sure whether it would be a good idea to show the exact # of posts needed.

I can see the possibility of people making pointless posts just to get into those sections, though I think people would notice.

Anyway, I'd like to see what Alex has to say about this.

I would think something like a 50 post or so minimum to post in member's only? It makes sense to me, adds some privacy.. no lurking.

The people you have to worry about are those who made the least posts (say less than 10) and those who have made the most (say hundreds and hundreds).

I don't mind trolls who are harmless, I do mind bullies though. Unfortunately people who have made tons and tons of posts sometimes get special privilege.

Good idea, OP! But, as 886 suggested, maybe the minimum should be 50 or even 100 posts. Also, how about creating a minimum membership period (a month?) before having access to the Members Only and Adult sub-forums? That should deter intruders.

Also, how about mandatory captcha for becoming a member and for posting before reaching a post count of 10 or something to filter out spambots? Or is there something like that already in place?

Having a minimum time period won't work as well because someone can just register and then wait. Also, I tend to think that a minimum of a 100 posts may be bit high, I was thinking of a post count that easily attainable but enough for the new member to make themselves known in the forum, just so that we know that they're not going into the private sections when they're just lurkers and not really contributing to the community. If people want to lurk before joining, then I don't see the need for going into those forums because the rest of the board is public, I've lurked here for 2 years before even registering as a member, so I obviously wasn't able to read those sections during that time.

Also, there are or were already captchas used during the registration process to stop spambots. My reason for this suggestion was more to prevent lurkers from taking screenshots of posts and threads in the Member-Only and Adult sections and then posting them up on another website like what the Kiwi Farms guys have been doing. Those sections are supposed to be private and the problem with allowing lurkers who have not yet contributed anything to WP into those them is that we don't really know who they are.

I think this is a good idea and I'd suggest requiring both a minimum number of posts and being registered for a certain time. Deleted posts don't count, so spammers can't get in. Obviously this will not deter someone really determined, but 99% of trolls would lose interest if they knew they had to wait, say, a month and make 50 or 100 posts.

Seems reasonable to me, lots of forums have a policy of having to have a certain number of posts before being able to view private sections/forums. I also would suggest if people coming just to take screen shots and put on other sites...for say mockery perhaps is getting to be an issue, The Haven should also be made private since people post about vulnerable/sensitive sort of topics/posts there which don't need screen-shoted.

That may be a little too much, I mean having to copy a stupid captcha for every post till you reach a certain number would probably turn away a lot of potential members to the site...I know its the kind of thing that would turn me away and a minimum of 100 would be too much.....the having to be a site member for a month though isn't a bad idea.

I was just thinking a 50 post minimum would add the sense of security so trolls from other forums and lurkers can't read posts the OP wouldn't want someone to read? That made the most sense to me.

50 seems pretty reasonable. If there would have to be a time limit as well, I'd say 3 weeks is enough?
It might also be more effective (or 'strict') than the age block in Adult Autism, since you can change your age anytime in a couple of moments and no-one would know the better, same can't be said for reaching a number of posts like 50. You could post in counting threads exactly 50 times, but once you stop posting at that time or start posting in adult/hidden topics suddenly with a change in attitude, it becomes obvious what your 'agenda' might be.

If there would have to be one more forum 'hidden', it's The Haven. +1.

50 is a bit much, but in regards to the counting threads, why not restrict the post count such that posts made in certain forums (eg. off the wall) will not count towards it? It'll certainly require more effort from the user.

They'll go into the Off The Wall section & play a game or count & make 15 post with one word or number responses.

Wonderful. I still haven't gotten a reply from Alex to this thread but in mean time, the Adult forum has become the favourite source of screenshots for the Kiwis. They've been taking screenshots of every thread on the topic of masturbation and having a good old laugh about them. I don't know why they find the topic of masturbation so funny but it's as though none of them have ever spanked the monkey before.

I don't care if they post screenshots from any of the other sections but the Adult and Members Only forums are supposed to be private.

that's been brought up before. some threads in there do allow for much more real content than others (i.e: "post an obscure fact"), though "discounting" an entire forum from the post count is clearly a lot easier than going through every thread on there.

* Do not post just to post. Your post count can be reset if administrators feel you're doing this. - i'm not a site admin so i don't know if that's possible, and some mod privileges were changed during the site move but if not, it seems more like a sort of "threat" to discourage such frequent posting.