I think this pretty much explains it. And due to the no posting within 5 mins of each other, it's become harder to get higher. I realize that guidelines have been expressed that tell us to not question or complain. Oh, we're also not supposed to randomly post to get that count higher. Also, my posts have to be submitted for moderation before they can be posted. Didn't say I couldn't make casual observations or cast opinions, though. After all, this is the internet. So...
I suppose you could say these guidelines are in play to prevent spammers and trolling. I would agree this makes for an effective tool. I would also point out that sites dedicated to Android with much higher traffic than this do an effective job without as much effort. It's easy to see that this site is not for the casual Android enthusiast. I suppose these guidelines are in place to keep them out as well. Would keep the silly questions down to a minimum. However, if someone posts a ROM in another forum, they are to be linked here to DL it. So those people are left without any help from the site that requires them to come here in the first place.
So, this will be my second post. Perhaps by the end of the night, I'll be able to inquire on how to iron out the wrinkles with the ROM I've flashed.
The 5 minutes restriction should end on the 8th post I think. I am not aware of any moderation required before posting, I am pretty sure there is not and that your posts should show up right after you submit them.
The restrictions mostly to stop spammers. I hate to admit I spend several hours a week finding and reporting spammers, hopefully before they get to actually post their links, but I really do spend that much time every week and sometimes more, as well as a number of other members I know of, and that is nothing compared to what the mods do. And still some of it gets through. None of us are paid for it, we just do it because we love it here.
The other reason is best expressed by one of the mod committee members.
The 10 post rule was put in place to make new users think, and hopefully contribute and help others by making useful posts rather than the usual crap like "thanks", "kewl" etc or ask questions which have been asked countless times before. They still have access to dev forums, just cannot post in them. Its not a massive restriction and to provide 10 useful/helpful posts is not hard.
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Fallen Spartan - Moderator Committee
What we really want most is for people to contribute and become part of the community. I know how difficult it is to start. I was a complete Android noob almost one year ago today, and had little experience with forums. I didn't make my second post for almost three months since I wanted to be really sure what I was saying was correct, so I read all the stickied guides in my phone forums. After I started posting in the General and Q&A forums for my phone, I realized people there needed more help than anywhere and the next nine posts went pretty quickly and my reading paid off.
You may be right in saying that this site is not for the casual user. There are a lot of demands on our time as humans in the modern world, and many people just do not have the time to spend here with their families, work, etc. all calling them. Many people come here to get something for their phone and then do not come back until something breaks or there is a new major update. They have no desire to spend time here learning how to do it themselves, they just want it in a step-by-step format. That is not why this site was founded and there are a lot of people trying to keep it oriented in that direction so development here doesn't die off or leave, but there are so many people coming here now that they are overwhelming the people here who do try to help new people that come in and the nature of the site is changing to be more tech support instead of development.
For a good example, take a look at the
General Discussion forum. Just scroll down through the first page or two.
First thing I notice when I look there is the number of [Question] type threads. The Q&A forum isn't that far away, but people just throw their questions in General and then get upset when they don't get answered.
Second thing I notice when I actually view some of the question threads is that many many of them are very device specific. Is it so difficult to post these questions in the device specific forums where they probably have a better chance of getting a good answer than the General Discussion forum?
Third thing I notice reading through many of these threads is that is is very obvious that they have not even attempted one search before posting a new thread with their question. Now, I am not going to say that the search engine here is the greatest thing since sliced bread, but it is painfully apparent that they didn't even try it one time. I think the speed of the Internet has spoiled a lot of us, me included, with the speed of responses. It is simply faster to post a question than to search and read and learn it. People want it now, now, NOW, and they just seem to care about the destination rather than the journey.
This is what frustrates many of us and triggers many of the rant-responses. I am not defending the people doing it or saying that they are justified in doing it, just that I understand it. Reading and answering the same question again and again and again just makes people snap sometimes and say something they regret later. When this simply would not stop in the dev threads some time ago, the decision was made to make a 10 post minimum to try to stop some of it as good devs were simply leaving and not coming back after being harassed away by continuous posts for ETAs, "bug reports" like "WiFi broke, plz fix, kthxbai", and unbelievable demands from people who had never given a dime and weren't going to, not to mention the incessant spam problems.
With the 10 post limit in place and the posting restrictions, some of this problem was resolved, but it is still low enough that people will post utter junk to get to 10 just to post "Thanks for a great ROM" or something similarly eloquent. This is why there is a fair amount of support for raising the dev forum limit to 50 posts, to make it plain that people will not be able to spam to get there and maybe then they will start posting questions in the Q&A forums. There is still a fair amount of support to keep the limit where it is for fear of keeping new people away, but as most other Android sites link back here I am not sure that will be a problem. I don't know and it isn't up to me thank God.
I would also like to say that with the Recognized Contributor program, many of us have tried to take on even more here, writing more guides, trying to reach out to new people, doing our best to be here when needed since we see the new people coming in like a giant tidal wave (1500 new signups per day!!!) and we have to swim... or sink.
So enough soap-boxing for now, my dinner is getting colder. I hope you do stick around as it does get better.
