Admin approval when registering on a forum

[Randy]

What are your thoughts on admin approval when you sign up? Do you think its off-putting for your members to have to wait for you to login and approve them manually? Email validation provides them with instant access to the forum after clicking that link in their email.

 

[Peaceful]

Whenever I used to stumble upon a forum with admin approval I normally get put off. If I join a forum it means I am interested and keen to participate right away. Waiting for an admin to approve me would mean it would be less likely for me to return

 

[Ashley]

We don't have administration approval but we do have it where we have to moderate your first post as a new member. After that first post you're on your own.

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

Whenever I used to stumble upon a forum with admin approval I normally get put off. If I join a forum it means I am interested and keen to participate right away. Waiting for an admin to approve me would mean it would be less likely for me to return

Yeah same here. I've joined a forum that had admin approval and then forgot to return when they finally approved me. If they just let me validate my account through email I would have been there posting right after I joined.

We don't have administration approval but we do have it where we have to moderate your first post as a new member. After that first post you're on your own.

I'm not really a fan of that either. I would only implement that on a temporary basis if happen to get an influx of spambots attacking the board.

 

[Ashley]

Well, we're hoping to remove this feature once we get to Ashs server. Everything is supposed to start next month so hopefully it won't be much longer

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

Well, we're hoping to remove this feature once we get to Ashs server. Everything is supposed to start next month so hopefully it won't be much longer

Are you going to stay with phpbb or upgrade to XF?

 

[Ashley]

Are you going to stay with phpbb or upgrade to XF?

For right now we're staying with phpBB. I don't think we could afford an XF license . I'm just going to be grateful for having a tld back.

 

[prophet]

I think it really depends on the size of the community and where you're potentially advertising your community. I've been involved in a larger scale gaming "clan" or "guild" and unfortunately we've had to resort to approval by admin due to others joining the community with malicious intent. For something smaller scale or something generic, I don't see the need for approval outside of email.

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

I think it really depends on the size of the community and where you're potentially advertising your community. I've been involved in a larger scale gaming "clan" or "guild" and unfortunately we've had to resort to approval by admin due to others joining the community with malicious intent. For something smaller scale or something generic, I don't see the need for approval outside of email.

I agree there has to be a reason to implement admin approval (other than paranoia). It’s more of a hindrance than anything.

 

[ROHAN]

I do not use it because it hinders new members from communicating. If you have spambots, there are other ways to stop them.

 

[Webster]

What are your thoughts on admin approval when you sign up? Do you think its off-putting for your members to have to wait for you to login and approve them manually? Email validation provides them with instant access to the forum after clicking that link in their email.

Usually no but there've been times I can think of (the History, Politics and Current Affairs forum was one but they've since closed registrations all together; now to join HPCA you have to know a member there just to register and even then the admins approve you).

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

Usually no but there've been times I can think of (the History, Politics and Current Affairs forum was one but they've since closed registrations all together; now to join HPCA you have to know a member there just to register and even then the admins approve you).

It’s like a secret club now.

 

[Cory]

I think it can deter members' interests in your forum to have to wait to be manually approved. The only time I'd put admin validation on is if a troublesome user kept re-registering with different emails/proxies and causing trouble, and hopefully, that'd only be for a minimal amount of time.

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

I think it can deter members' interests in your forum to have to wait to be manually approved. The only time I'd put admin validation on is if a troublesome user kept re-registering with different emails/proxies and causing trouble, and hopefully, that'd only be for a minimal amount of time.

I've had to deal with that before and they just kept making a billion accounts because they knew I'd have to go through and approve/reject them all. Eventually I just disabled registrations all together for a while (this was several years ago).

 

[Cory]

I've had to deal with that before and they just kept making a billion accounts because they knew I'd have to go through and approve/reject them all. Eventually I just disabled registrations all together for a while (this was several years ago).

It sucks that proxies exist sometimes for reasons like this, otherwise you could just ban their IP and never see them again.

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

It sucks that proxies exist sometimes for reasons like this, otherwise you could just ban their IP and never see them again.

Yeah, IP bans are pointless because of them!

 

[Cory]

Yeah, IP bans are pointless because of them!

Unless people don't know about proxy sites.

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

Unless people don't know about proxy sites.

Trolls do!