Wasn't it 3 posts??

[jjreal]

I feel like last time I logged on it required only 3 posts now its up to five. I myself am not an avid poster and I feel like I'm being blocked by the site. Its damn frustrating!

[Voolf]

It you are reffering to Private Message, as far as i know it was always unlocked after first 5 initial posts.

[Mouse]

Well at least it isn't 50

[ChickPea]

Hey Voolf, I think he's probably referring to the fact that the first five comments from new members have to be manually approved by CLs.

Hi jjreal, I'm sorry you're frustrated but no-one is trying to block you. We require all new members have their first few comments manually approved to stop spam. It's always been five comments, which really isn't so many. If you reply to this comment, that'll be your fifth comment and after that new posts will go through automatically.

The fight against spam is relentless. We recently had to implement a new policy where profiles are also locked down until you make five comments, as the latest spam trick is to fill profiles with nonsense text and links to dubious sites. Because these spammers never posted, it was harder to spot them. I'm telling you this in the hope you'll understand why we have to take these measures. Spammers sign up for this site every single day hoping to pollute the forums with their garbage. I can understand it might be annoying to have to wait an hour or two before your comments appear, but we have to consider the user experience for the site overall. Spam kills forums, but these days there's almost none at the Guild because of the measures we have in place.

So, go post one more comment and then you'll be a full member and free to post without moderation.

[Mouse]

Cheer up. Its not as if you are the only one who has to pass the test.

Every single last one of us here has passed the same 5 comment test when we first singed up.

Even people who are ultimately destined to become CLs like ChickPea had to go through it when they first signed up

[Glacialis]

I thought it was posting five *topics*, and as a (currently) unskilled amateur I didn't think I had enough material to start five threads. Woohoo!

[ChickPea]

Nope, five comments. Once you've made five, a script runs once an hour to upgrade you to a regular member and comments will post automatically after that. Easiest way to 'upgrade' yourself is to have a browse through Finished Maps and leave a few comments on maps you like.

Welcome to the Guild!

[swiss]

Nope, five comments. Once you've made five, a script runs once an hour to upgrade you to a regular member and comments will post automatically after that. Easiest way to 'upgrade' yourself is to have a browse through Finished Maps and leave a few comments on maps you like.

Welcome to the Guild!

I made 5 comments last night but I don't think that script ran for me

[ChickPea]

Hi swiss. Firstly, welcome to the forum.

The reason your comments haven't been showing is because they've been sitting in moderation. Making posts in random threads saying little more than "2/5" and "3/5" makes us think you're either a bot or a spammer, as we get plenty of those trying to sneak past us.

I can see now that you're not a bot, so I've approved a couple of your posts, but we're not going to approve comments where you are blatantly only trying to boost your post count. It adds nothing to the forum discussions, and it's a little disrespectful to the person whose thread you're posting in.

All you have to do is pick a few threads and say a variation of 'Nice map' and your comments will be approved immediately. Have a browse through Finished Maps and spread some love, and you'll soon be a full member of the site.

[swiss]

Hi swiss. Firstly, welcome to the forum.

The reason your comments haven't been showing is because they've been sitting in moderation. Making posts in random threads saying little more than "2/5" and "3/5" makes us think you're either a bot or a spammer, as we get plenty of those trying to sneak past us.

I can see now that you're not a bot, so I've approved a couple of your posts, but we're not going to approve comments where you are blatantly only trying to boost your post count. It adds nothing to the forum discussions, and it's a little disrespectful to the person whose thread you're posting in.

All you have to do is pick a few threads and say a variation of 'Nice map' and your comments will be approved immediately. Have a browse through Finished Maps and spread some love, and you'll soon be a full member of the site.

Apologies. I've never seen a spam deterrent that consists of incentivizing people to post a bunch of messages when they sign up. Seems a bit ironic. The thumbnail page of the finished maps is off limits to me (the page in question: https://www.cartographersguild.com/finished_thumbs.php). It says "You must be a Guild Member to view this page." Can you grant me access to that page? Cheers,

Sincerely,

Not a robot