At this point, the forum is mostly dead to me. I used to be active in about a half dozen boards. Now once every few days, I check the "new replies" link up top, check maybe 2 or 3 of the threads, click "mark as read" on the rest, and check Dev&tech for big news maybe a couple of times each week.
Feel free to go back to page 14 and check the post histories of the people I've got on ignore (everyone except DiamondCardz). I have, and I'm not missing anything.
Ad signatures aren't the only problem here, but they sure are a big part of the decline.
Better handling of the ignore function (don't bump threads in the notify and replies lists when the only new posts are from ignored users) and ignore list syndication would help revitalize this place.
Maybe the staff could perform a small investigation on users that have been ignored by the highest percentage of members and if they are spamming, the staff would message them and disallow their sig for a while if they keep spamming
As it was previously said, I think allowing ads in signatures is good for new members, for the forum and for Bitcoin if it is handled correctly; it gives back to the new members that can accumulate some bitcoins while becoming part of the community; we should be careful not to always ask for changes that benefit us at the expense of others. Let's ask the new members if they want to disallow ads in the signatures.
When you don't like to see endless advertisements for PD or RGC you can always check "Don't show users' signatures." in "Look and Layout Preferences", you won't see the signature ads anymore and you will have a clear thread but you will still get the spam from the half dozen members that spam to get money;these members should be dealt with by staff : it is not easy to punish them since they usually kind of post comments related to topics but you can still tell they post for money because their posts are not interesting to read and usually don't add
anything to the discussion
This sounds like a good idea. I am new here and I usually find myself at other people's nonconstructive posts. You might also want to take a look at this guy, which I have seen posting with extreme frequency (look at the amount of time between posts as well as their content): (EDIT: DELETED FOR PRIVACY'S SAKE). Many of the posts either repeat what has already been said or are just off-topic. But I am also not a mod (in fact, quite new) and don't know the criteria for a post to be considered spam.
Can you PM me the member nickname please?
Maybe people are coming at this from the wrong angle? The focus is (understandably) on the annoying people who post a lot in order to inflate their post count and get more revenue from the sig sponsors. However, maybe the better people to target are the sponsors rather than just the abusive posters. Given that the forum itself sells ads, maybe a well crafted message to signature sponsors showing how advertising with the forum directly is more efficient than annoying a large segment of the forum's user base might have a very positive effect. Maybe even PMs from users about excessive posting by some users will convince the sig sponsor to reign them in.
Obviously, I am a signature seller, and the sad fact is it is one of the best ways to get BTC these days while also learning more about bitcoin.
If you wouldn't make more money after 300-500posts or so that would limit the rubbish posts
In my opinion if there is no signature campaigns people will try to promote their service anyway with posts leading to their site or somhow try to encourage you with wrong link, etc. With ad in your sig it is clear that this space is for advertising and nothing else. Just my opinion.
You can disallow signatures as well
