New Users

I am always astonished when I check out *Spy* at how many new users have signed up. At any one given time there will be between 15-20 that have just registered. Perhaps as many as 100 per day.
The question I have is what are they doing on here? None of them seem to be posting and for sure are not creating any new threads. I wish there was a way that we could collectively encourage this shadow army of newbies, to join in the community as opposed to being mere bystanders.

Anyone have any theories as to why they remain in the shadows as they do? Any ideas as to bringing them out? Imagine if they did participate, it would give DP a much needed shot in the arm and breath some new life to this site.

 

Wow, I did not realize that DP had that many new signups every day. One thought would be to have an "onboarding" program of some sort. Perhaps they could be asked as to what topics they think they will be most interested in and then links to an interesting thread on each of the topics of interest could be PMed to the new signup. Or maybe there could be an even more creative way to onboard these folks and gently get them engaged. That's a lot of signups.

 

Not bad, not bad at all. Keep them coming folks, we'll come up with some good ideas on this thread and maybe the powers that be, will implement some of them.

 

• Point well taken, perhaps many of our new users are not legit and we are better off without them. But even if only 30-40% are good members, that would still be a plus for the site as a whole.

 

Months ago there was a thread (in Suggestions, if I remember correctly) about all of the spamming on DP. Shawn was working on a way to eliminate signups, immediate spam, then disappear forever spam posters. Apparently, Shawn solved that problem as I have not seen that kind of spam in months. I cannot find that thread now, so either I am too stupid to find it, or it has been deleted.

Anyhow, one of the hallmarks of the spammers was dozens of signups in a row, then more dozens of spam posts. Most of that activity seemed to be happening when Americans were asleep, so it seems likely that most of that spam was originating in the Far East, probably China.

What I see today is pretty much the same modus operandi, massive signups, but with the spam suppressed by whatever Shawn did. However, I recently began looking at the signups closer. It APPEARS that MOST of the signups have names 10 characters long. And most 10-character names NEVER post, while most other signups do post.

Therefore I suggest that MOST, but certainly not all, signups with 10-character names are SPAMMERS that get banned in short order. If that is what is really happening, then that would be the reason for lots and lots of new 'members' that NEVER post.

Edit: I just found the link noted above >>>

https://forums.digitalpoint.com/threads/whats-going-on.2852094/#post-19599460

 

It is beginning to look that way. At first I was naively hoping that this site was making a resurgence with all these new members signing up. But alas, it now appears that we are just getting slammed by spammers.

 

I have only just come back after being away from the board for almost ten years. I might as well be new.
What do I do here? I read. I'm playing catch up
Information noted (above) about the new accounts. The board certainly does seem quieter these days compared to when I joined back in 2007. Still, I am finding there's lot's of good stuff here to keep me busy and interested.

 

As long as we have die hard members like you, the site will live on.

 

Many forums, not just this one are a lot quieter these days, partly because of social media and partly because of "Question & Answer" type websites like StackOverflow

 

Ha ha - thanks. It should live on. It's a great place, full of great information, and people. I had a great time here when I first joined.It was these memories that drew me straight back when I decided to investigate potential online opportunities this time around.

And forum melting pots like Reddit. I liked the old days when forums were all stand-alone.

 

hi im new here can anyone explain what are the dos and donts here exactly. im want a mentor here! someone can help me.

 

https://www.digitalpoint.com/help/

Basically don't be a dick, don't spam and don't post pointless crap, what do you need a mentor for?

 

Best thing to do is to get involved by posting. If you screw up the mods will let you know. They tend to go easy on newcomers, so you shouldn't get into too much trouble here.

 

Thanks! a lot for your reply.

That was actually a Metaphor! i needed some help, usually mentors help! soooo i guess you got why i mentioned it there. LOL!

 

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions about the site. I tend to pop in about 3 times a day for a few minutes at a time.

 

Sure, i will.

 

Maybe start a newbie thread to get them to introduce themselves?

 

Introductions forum pretty well has that covered.

 

I'm a newbie here and it would be super helpful for sure! good ideas