Gang Section needs improvement

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ajbns87	Posted: Tuesday, May 1 2012, 15:51
Boss Group: Members Joined: Oct 19, 2009	In the multiplayer groups section, constantly banned members and young immature children are spamming the section almost as badly as the V section, the Mods Docrikowski and Gamesguru, are doing all they can. But I'm wondering whether it could be possible to lock the ability to posting a "new topic" to help reduce the ever growing spam that seems to get posted there. It seems every new member that joins wants to create his own gang immediately, rather than joining an already existing one. Could this forum be updated so that new members can't post new topics (hence create new gangs / unnecessary spam). If say an already existing group wanted to join the gang section on GTAF, they could be given permission from a ledby/mod, if firstly they provide proof that all their members are registered to GTAF. Say like a minimum of 4 user profiles. Anyone else has any thoughts on improving the section, feel free to add here too.

Craig	Posted: Tuesday, May 1 2012, 17:18
Hell Interface Group: Retired Staff Joined: Sep 14, 2007	I think a posting limit before you're allowed to post a topic is a good idea, and maybe the rules could be changed to reflect this and simply explain things. I won't comment much because I know very little about the gang section, so I don't know if that would enhance the community or kill it slowly. Less gangs with more members seems like a better prospect than many gangs with few members though.

ajbns87

Posted: Tuesday, May 1 2012, 17:45

Boss

Group: Members
Joined: Oct 19, 2009

QUOTE (Craig @ Tuesday, May 1 2012, 17:18)

I think a posting limit before you're allowed to post a topic is a good idea, and maybe the rules could be changed to reflect this and simply explain things. I won't comment much because I know very little about the gang section, so I don't know if that would enhance the community or kill it slowly. Less gangs with more members seems like a better prospect than many gangs with few members though.

Thanks Craig.

I consider myself relatively new to the forum as a whole, so my input and thoughts might not be on par with the likes of Docrikowski, AndyGanteks, Booze T or other gang section regulars, but I personally think it would enhance rather than kill it.

Perhaps even a topic could be pinned: Like "Want to make a gang"? (similar to "Want to join a Gang")

Here all the forum guidelines, including advice, guidance, tables and other important stuff could be made clear to all newcomers to the forum.

Overall the spam and issues in the section have been getting gradually worse, and I'm not sure if the ledby's would welcome a change like the one I'm suggesting or not, but I think more definitely needs to be done. I hate the fact that this section gets a bad reputation because of some of these immature idiots, it could be so much better, and something ought to get done before it get's even worse than it is.

AndyGanteks	Posted: Tuesday, May 1 2012, 18:48
Group: Members Joined: Jun 3, 2005	This is mostly the fault of those 1 man 2 man(and similar) new gangs that constantly spam each others' topics, and they get them up to 5 pages in a night, 20 pages in a week, etc, only to get locked afterwards. Hell recent example, that's why the topic of the D12 ended up deep on 2nd page a few times this month. I'd totally ban those 'good luck from ...' posts if i could. And maybe if a gang doesn't get more then 2 members after a month,they get automatically locked to prevent further spam and bumping. I kind of agree with you aj, slowly over the past few months, since October or so, gang section is looking more and more like the V section..

Waddy	Posted: Tuesday, May 1 2012, 19:26
Gods foster son. Group: Forum Admins Joined: Feb 2, 2004	I just dont like the idea of posting restriction, silly rules to follow. People join this forum probably by searching for a GTA specific search, they join maybe to ask a question on a previous GTA game. The ones that stick around after finding their answer then go onto explore other areas, the MP forum is probably the first stop, they see it as a place to join with other members who want the same thing. They maybe a little excited and want to start a gang only to be shot down straight away "READ THE RULES OMG FFS!111ONE!!!" Ever since i have been a member on GTAF there has been gang sections and we had all the rules you have mentioned, and you know what? They didnt make a difference, members still totally ignored it and then every other post was "YOU CANT DO THAT" etc etc. We dont want to alienate new people joining, we want them to stick around. PBM's just need reporting and the staff will deal with it. They are good ideas but they have been done before and we wanted to get away from loads of rules and regs.

ajbns87

Posted: Wednesday, May 2 2012, 12:39

Boss

Group: Members
Joined: Oct 19, 2009

QUOTE (Waddy @ Tuesday, May 1 2012, 19:26)

I just dont like the idea of posting restriction, silly rules to follow. People join this forum probably by searching for a GTA specific search, they join maybe to ask a question on a previous GTA game. The ones that stick around after finding their answer then go onto explore other areas, the MP forum is probably the first stop, they see it as a place to join with other members who want the same thing. They maybe a little excited and want to start a gang only to be shot down straight away "READ THE RULES OMG FFS!111ONE!!!"
Ever since i have been a member on GTAF there has been gang sections and we had all the rules you have mentioned, and you know what? They didnt make a difference, members still totally ignored it and then every other post was "YOU CANT DO THAT" etc etc.

We dont want to alienate new people joining, we want them to stick around.

PBM's just need reporting and the staff will deal with it.

They are good ideas but they have been done before and we wanted to get away from loads of rules and regs.

Thanks for sharing yours thoughts Waddy and Andy G.

I wasn't aware that my suggestion had been applied before (not recently though), and failed to work. Furthermore, I fully understand the concept of not applying too many rules and regulations, at the risk of alienating or putting off newcomers to the forum.

I think the section is attracting more and more immature members, there are obvious exceptions of course, but the section needs sorting.

Could you trial it, by removing the option to post a "New topic" in the section.

Adding a guideline post such as "Application to make a gang".

This topic would remove the crap that newcomers receive like
""READ THE RULES OMG FFS!111ONE!!!", because quite simply in order to make a gang, they would of at least firstly had the maturity to post an application and read the guidelines provided in that topic.

Waddy	Posted: Wednesday, May 2 2012, 16:29
Gods foster son. Group: Forum Admins Joined: Feb 2, 2004	Im afraid we cant/wont trial it. its just not something we want to apply...even if the software would take another change! Sorry dude.