[timokeefe]

Hi everyone,

As many of you know we've had issues with signature spam recently, where (mostly) new users would post low value (or complete garbage) content so that their signature would get views. Obviously we're not keen on this type of content.

As one of a range of methods to combat signature spam, we've decided to charge a $5 fee for all new signatures. Once the fee is paid you are able to add, edit, or remove your signature freely without any costs, and this includes deleting it and adding a new one later.

If you're an existing forum member who has verified your account, then you wont need to pay the fee, and you should see absolutely no difference in what you can do with your signature. You'll still be able to add a new signature, delete it, add it again later, edit it, and so on, all for free. Please let us know if you find that this isn't the case.

We're hoping that this will lead to a reduction in spam across the forum, but we'll also be pushing a couple of other anti-spam measures in the next couple of days.

[AffiliatePrograms]

It does get annoying because it creates a huge amount of clutter to wade through. I almost posted that before having a sig issue myself the other day, and then I posted about almost posting that and my sig issue (lol) as some saw. In fact I would guess that my post about that the other day helped in some small measure motivate some to finally implement a charge, though no doubt it was contemplated long before I said anything.

1. On the one hand, you want people who make good posts to have at least some reward incentive to post here and thereby fill up the forum with good content and make it an appealing place to be that attracts more visitors and traffic. The signature is exactly that small perk that helps with that.

2. On the other hand, you have the spam posting problem.

I have often thought about the idea of charging a nominal fee for joining if I were to run a dating site, for instance, so that you wouldn't just have a zillion spammers signing up if they had to pay even just $.25 by PayPal. Would it work? Would it discourage too many others from signing up?

In the case of the sig's, I think charging is certainly a good idea to try to deal with the problem. However, and I hope nobody is offended by differing opinions or suggestions, in all honesty I would suggest that $5 may be much too much. I have a hunch $1 or $2 would not only be better, but would actually make more money than charging $5. For a lot of other types of forums that may have the same problem (and only if they do) I would suggest even much less than $1 would also be best, just something "nominal."

In all honesty, while it's nice to have the sig option, it really doesn't do as well as I would have thought or liked. In fact it does far worse and is quite a relative disappointment in that regard really. It gets a little bit of traffic, but that's almost all it gets. It almost never results in anything beyond a little traffic, and I've never actually earned a single penny from any of the traffic that has on extremely rare occasions been more than just a little traffic. Has anyone else?

So to tell you the truth, if the sig were $5, and I'm someone in the US where $5 is not as much as in a lot of other places, I would actually move on and not pay it, unless things changed dramatically in terms of how valuable it is. But I'm guessing perhaps $1 or maybe even $2 would seem more "bearable" for something that you normally get for free in forums. and for which the results can be extremely dubious and uncertain.

Well you're in a dilemma here at WF because you have to deal with this problem, and at least you have implemented an idea, which for this source of clutter is a good thing. Perhaps $5 will work fine, but I suspect $1 or $2 would be a "sweet spot" that would work better. Maybe just $1 (or less?) really.

P.S. Am I long-winded or am I long-winded? And who would write that much thought-provoking content on the mobile feed vs. desktop?

[pauloadaoag]

Originally Posted by AffiliatePrograms

P.S. Am I long-winded or am I long-winded? And who would write that much thought-provoking content on the mobile feed vs. desktop?

Haha long winded answers are fine. They show that members really care about the direction the forum is going.

Just want to make it absolutely clear that we implemented paid text sigs not as a revenue measure, but to discourage people who don't care about contributing to discussion in the forum just using the community to expose their links. We will be monitoring it closely and will adjust pricing if needed.

[lgibbon]

Maybe you could remove the sig files of the people
constantly breaking the sig file rules and make them pay again.
There are quite a few pushing the boundaries because nothing gets done.

[pauloadaoag]

We're trying to warn them first and edit the offending signatures ourselves. For repeat offenders, revocation of the signature privilege is a possibility.

[timokeefe]

As is outright banning.

[lgibbon]

Originally Posted by pauloadaoag

We're trying to warn them first and edit the offending signatures ourselves. For repeat offenders, revocation of the signature privilege is a possibility.

It might be an idea to clarify this rule:

Maximum length of sig file is 2 lines which includes any blank lines used for spaces. This excludes an image.

Most would take this to mean you could have an image and 2 lines
of text.
Some are using it to mean an image and as many lines of text they can get away with.

[Hamxii]

I have not any option to edit signature any one can tell me how to edit signature ?? Thank you

[Mario Cristopher]

Originally Posted by Hamxii

I have not any option to edit signature any one can tell me how to edit signature ?? Thank you

Hi,

You must first avail a signature through a paid subscription which you may find here:

http://www.warriorforum.com/payments.php

Sieghart
Warrior Forum Moderator