Originally Posted by Mary2e
The idea of minimum posts before starting new thread is a good one. I've also seen minimum posts required before being able to post a link. That one may get rid of the people who register only to advertise their business.
Speaking as one of the many who mostly lurk, I can't see any problems with this type of restriction. ^ In the rare case where a valid thread needs a link, one of the friendly followups can reformat that info I'm certain...
Sadly I suspect that the reality is that no matter what system is in place, people will always try to 'game' the system - it's just the techniques that change. For a message board post padding is common; for FF points, it's a $25 SEA-LAX fare that permits routing through HKG or LHR (anyone find one? you can spoon feed that to me if you want
); for accomodation, booking a year of zero dollar reservations in a five star hotel. And for some of us there is the old standby of reading and posting to FT from work
Would it help the moderators if minimum post counts blocked some advertisers? I would think it might discourage casual/lazy scammers, but that's something the mods would know better... I'd hate to see a rule change like this, if it results in mods playing whack-a-mole on new post-padders...