Any chance of making ET a "pay-site" with a monthly subscription so that we can get rid of all of these EGOTISTICAL MORONS that have so many aliases?
This has all been covered before: Hi Baron and Andre, You guys already know a few things about me and many here do also (I'm known to be tough on spammers, trouble makers, lurkers, pikers and anything else that scares away quality members)... Here's my suggestions which some have said are radical and others said are needed temporarily...some copied from an earlier feedback suggestion and others have been added: http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showt...=5&pagenumber=4 1. Show traders partial IP addresses with their message posts. Yes...it's possible that a hacker can use info from a complete IP address... partial IP address seems like a valid solution. 2. Require credit card registration in which there's no charge or only a small $1 fee... surely all the great traders can afford to cough up $1...besides...its tax deductible. 3. All potential new members go through one of those registration process that requires them to answer questions, click on "I Agree" sections just like you see when opening up a broker account... This is extremely useful because those questions can be also used as info to help advertisers tailor their ads. 4. Make a list of inappropriate words that if typed in a message post...the message post can't be posted... it gets rejected until the poster removes the offensive word. 5. Spammers are banned immediately...no warnings... because they had agreed via clicking that "I Agree" statement to not spam in the registration process I mentioned above. Contact the host of their website...send them copies of the SPAM. In fact...any alias that's a member of ET and spamming other discussion forums or Bulletin Boards...should automatically be banned. I know for fact there are 7 ET members that are spamming other locations under the same user name... Hold them accountable for their online actions elsewhere if the info that is presented is proof (verifiable) I know for fact there are 3 active ET members that have made some serious threats to cause harm at other locations. 6. Fix your ignore list. If I make the effort to put someone on my ignore list...I don't even want to know they exist anymore. Therefore, current method is not a true ignore...we can still see the user name in a thread that's on our ignore list. Yahoo! has it setup so not even the name shows up in a thread. This doesn't solve the problem if a following reply quotes someone on the ignore list... at least we can't see the original post nor their names. Also, set it so that if someone on our ignore list starts a thread...that thread doesn't appear at all... we'll never know it existed unless someone quotes a message from that invisible thread in another thread. 7. User names that get identified as trouble makers...get silenced for 30 days although they can still view posts. Along with an email that they must respond if they want the silence to be lifted at the end of 30 days. It's obvious this suggestion treats some like kids...however...if they didn't act like children...they wouldn't be silenced. 8. Ken_DTU posted this and I think it has some merit... http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showt...=1&pagenumber=9 To add a nice twist to that...verified members via credit card... can view and post messages... those that don't want to provide their credit card info to Baron nor pay a $1 fee... can only view and not be able to post messages. http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showt...1&pagenumber=12 9. Their should be a test of one of the forums to see how moderating ones own thread will work or not work... I suggest the Trade Journal threads be the test area. Those that start their own Journals and don't like an irritant poster...can simply ban that poster (not delete messages) from making further comments... 10. The banning of Hotmail or any other popular spammer domains is useless... Here are other popular spammer domains... Yahoo, AOL, Netscape, Comcast, Sympatico et cetera. 11. Get an association with a Anti-Spam organization and post a visiable link next to the edit/quote/complain menu that sends the message post directily to the Spam organization... ET advertisers and Sponsors will not have a "Spam" notification menu in their message posts. 12. VERY IMPORTANT...show members the other aliases they have at this board. I believe Motley Fool has this feature or something like it. 13. Get one of the Advertisers or Sponsors to sponsor an actual trading tournament... Monthly prizes for winners or top 3 places like free subscriptions, small cash prizes et cetera... Then post the top 3 people and a trading biography/profile in a Tournament Thread. Then have a grand champion trade-off at the end of each quarter or year. 14. Make that Terms of Use (TOU) visable at the top of the board somewhere... not tucked away...below in small letters. By the way...TOU needs some serious updating. There needs to be specifics about what happens when spam occurs, chronic personal attacks, chronic verbal abuse, racial slurs and anything else that some people would lose there jobs if they did such in a work environment... Post a tough stance and don't back down... hold traders accountable for what they say and remove that wall of anonymity via introducing credit card registration process. 15. Allow thread ratings or member ratings...only those that are verified members can vote. Geeeshhh...try something or one thing from these suggestions... some of which have been posted before by other members. Baron and Andre, think about this... would it hurt to test or try something from the above ??? P.S. I have about another dozen or so suggestions. However, this post is long enough already. NihabaAshi Bottom line is that the site is exactly what Baron and the moderators want it to be. If it weren't, they'd change it.
With respect, I think this would be a bad idea. Running off potential members with privacy threatening registration requirements is exactly the wrong thing to do. I also totally disagree about the state of this site. I think the problem is not immature posters or those with multiple screen names, although I do find that a bit odd I admit. Instead, it seems to me the site is becoming kind of boring. The fun police seem to descend on anyone who is not deadly serious. I think the turning point may have been when posters actually were angry about the infamous Shill Securities, a lampoon worthy of being in the WSJ. And need I mention the Huge One? Personally, I miss TradeRx and some of the other zanie characters. I know its not everyone's taste, but this game can be tough. Enjoy a laugh when you can.
That's not what I said. I said I'd enjoy some laughs. The site is humor-challenged at the moment. Where is Mr. Subliminal when we need him? Leon can't do it all.
i'm not trying to stop the suggestions/complaints, but if you think ET is so bad, start your own site.
And no one is suggesting banning people and deleting posts just because they're "zany". This isn't about violins on television.
Considering that all but a few of your posts have been in Chit Chat, it's unlikely that any changes would affect you.