Resolved: DU should not allow new members posting privileges ....

[grasswire]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by MADem (a host of the 2016 Postmortem forum).

....in the six weeks prior to a presidential election.

The trollism is currently insufferable.

Why allow these paid trolls to clutter up the site we have invested our time and resources in?

Yes, some good new members might be temporarily stymied. That would be the price of a peaceful, useful site.

Or perhaps there should be a higher membership fee for joining in the last six weeks prior to a presidential election. Fifty bucks might work.

[LiberalEsto]

1. I agree with you nt

[uppityperson]

2. Seems more like a meta post. I think they stop allowing new signups a week or 2 before election.

[grasswire]

4. meta threads only reach a small # of DU-ers. nt

[uppityperson]

10. Each forum reaches only a small # of Duers. Just saying it may be locked here as not fitting SOP

Post it in meta anyway to reach more also. Musing here, wondering where to post to get an admin answer as I hope they do limit them again as it gets nuts. Good question.

[enlightenment]

3. Given that you do not have to pay for a membership

that allows posting privileges, your second scenario is unworkable.

Personally, I find the first rather authoritarian.

Also, the word you want to use is "proposed" - "resolved" is used after a decision has been made. Since you are in no position to unilaterally make the decision, it is not the appropriate term.

I am assuming you are not being satirical, although I suspect you may claim that out when you start getting your arse handed to you in this thread.

[sufrommich]

5. What is the worst that happens if you

encounter a troll,a temporary annoyance? That's worth silencing new members? No thanks, it's an internet forum not life and death.

[grasswire]

7. no, the worst that happens is that they often introduce disinformation...

...and even propaganda. We're seeing multiple instances of this. It could be called the Glip model of Internet posting.

It's not "a troll, a temporary annoyance". It's many trolls in a day. Trolls who leave disinformation. Disinformation requires that another member must bother to refute it, because not everyone reading DU is totally savvy about every topic.

[HooptieWagon]

8. That's ridiculous.

The trolls are smoked out pretty quickly, and their temporary visits are often quite entertaining, in a village idiot sort of way.
If you want to rid DU of annoying posters, start with the puritans, the serial alerters, and the (allegedly nonexistant) astroturfers.

[UCmeNdc]

9. I was a little confused since,

it did seem to me that some posts were being submitted by Romney supporters.
This confirmed my suspicions. Thanks!

[Blue Yorker]

11. How many posts do I need until I become a Serious Person?

473?

708?

How much of a Serious Person am I now?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

12. If You're Here, Win Or God Forbid Lose You Will Be Embraced

.

[TalkingDog]

13. I found that the utter disdain quieted to glowering suspicion at about 700 posts

After 1000 it seems to lessen even more.

I still get called a rightwing troll on occasion for not holding the "proper" viewpoint on letting adults be adults.

Welcome to DU, where the hazing consists of spell check and PC language monitoring.

[woolldog]

14. 374 posts

[RC]

16. It used to be 1000 posts.

The long timers will remember the "700 Club".

[Rosco T.]

15. Allow existing 'established' members to 'sponsor' or 'vouch' for new members in that time frame?

[MADem]

17. Please post this kind of thing in META. It has NO PLACE in POLITICS-12. Thank you.