- x Foman123 x
- |
- Master Forum Ninja
- gamertag: [none]
- user homepage:
Posted by: prometheus25
I really see no problem with the status quo. If people see no intrinsic value in their account, it is an error on behalf of the user, not the system.
Negligent use of accounts does not arise from lack of value, it arises from the desire to use them for negligent purposes.Although I usually agree with Prommy, I would disagree with this.
While it is true that a user's account has whatever intrinsic value it is assigned by the user, I think that this site's current issues with alt accounts, flaming, and spamming are not the result users not intrinsically valuing their accounts, but rather of the system adding zero extrinsic value to any account.
Currently, a user on a two-week old alternate account has all of the exact same privileges and rights as a user who has only used one account for the last 7 or 8 years. There are around 40 community accounts out of the millions in existence here that have moderator tools, but that's it. The system tells every single other user here that once they are past the two-week mark (and thus are able to start creating groups), their account will never gain any further value. If a user doesn't care about creating a private group, then his or her account has the same value as a one-DAY old account.
Add in the facts that: (1) a new account can be created in a matter of minutes, for free; (2) there is no limit to the number of alternate accounts a user may have; (3) the system's method of deterring usage of alternate accounts is pitiful; (4) the moderators completely lack any tools for detecting alternate accounts except experience and judgment, and this is well-known by our more prolific trolls; (5) the tying of personal information to your account is HIGHLY discouraged, and users who have made their real-life identities known in the past have often been targeted for account theft or dissemination of highly personal information (including me).
What this all adds up to is a website that is essentially completely anonymous and which places an extrinsic value of zero on any particular user's account.
It sounds insane to me to think that adding certain measures to this website to increase the value of a single account would not be effective.
Imagine, hypothetically, that the site were able to put into place a measure that utterly ensured a one-account-to-one-user ratio, and that users' rights and privileges grew over time if they posted within the forum rules, and that such rights and privileges could be taken away in the event that they didn't post within the forum rules. It seems unthinkable that forums like the Flood and the Halo: Reach Forum would suffer from the flamebaiting/flaming/spamming problems that they currently have.
I don't think that the Bungie Web Team is particularly against adding value to accounts; they are mostly concerned with the best way to do it that does not make it difficult or impossible for new users to join up and be able to immediately (or at least quickly) start participating.
I have seen a new trend on some websites that I really like: telephone number verification (I think others have suggested this before as well). A phone number is not terribly sensitive information and can be easily changed. Each account would have to be matched with a phone number, verified by a phone call or text message code that the user must then enter on the site before he or she can begin posting. The phone number would, obviously, be kept confidential and only visible to website administrators.
Most of us only have one or two phone numbers, and very few people over the age of 13 or so do not have their own phone number. If every account were required to be matched up with a phone number before it could start posting, this would go a long way towards ensuring a one- or possibly two-or-three-account per person website.
I'm still in favor of other privileges and rights for long-time members, but this post is quite long enough, and that, perhaps, is another post for another thread :-)
[Edited on 02.24.2012 10:04 AM PST]