[jlp]

I am looking for community feedback on possible policy changes, through the survey at the top of this post.
Not all of the items are easy to implement, or necessarily practical, but I would like to know which of them the community supports.
They have been ordered alphabetically, and not in any implied order of importance.

Please take a few minutes, and checkoff those policies you agree with for forum management.
I will report any actions we take as a result.

Current forum policies:

Quote:Please use English, and proper English at that.
Be respectful of others; personal differences should be handled elsewhere.
Do not use this forum to promote your non-related business.
Offensive language will not be tolerated. Spam is offensive.
It's a good idea to check if your question has been answered already.
Use meaningful titles when creating new threads.
Stay on topic.
Do not knowingly post copyrighted material.
If you want to format your posts, or to include code in them, use MyCode tags.

Reminder: newly registered users have their first two posts moderated. This may take a few hours or a few days, depending on what the volunteer moderators are up to.

Current moderation practices for policy implementation:
- purge blatant spammers (posts, site, signature)
- warn users re off-topic posts, spammy looking posts / sigs
- warn/purge thread hijackers

[skunkbad]

If it were my decision, and if it were not for all of the good content already in this forum, I'd probably eliminate the forum and tell everyone to use Stack Overflow. For announcements, have people sign up for a mailing list. There's almost no downside to that.

[ciadmin]

@skunkbad ... that suggestion has come up There are other open source projects that use stack overflow for their community. Not sure how they deal with spam, but it seems like the strategy would offload some/all of that off our shoulders.

Stack overflow is also available to install in-house, though you then end up with forum management issues like we have now.

I do NOT want a wiki for CodeIgniter 4 on github. The one in place for CI3 has been so abused & disconnected it isn't funny. I don't know if relying on stackoverflow would end up similar or not.

[skunkbad]

(12-04-2018, 09:32 PM)ciadmin Wrote: @skunkbad ... that suggestion has come up There are other open source projects that use stack overflow for their community. Not sure how they deal with spam, but it seems like the strategy would offload some/all of that off our shoulders.

Stack overflow is also available to install in-house, though you then end up with forum management issues like we have now.

I do NOT want a wiki for CodeIgniter 4 on github. The one in place for CI3 has been so abused & disconnected it isn't funny. I don't know if relying on stackoverflow would end up similar or not.

The real genius of Stack Overflow is the user self moderation, and their point system that encourages unique and answerable questions. Spam and crappy questions are quickly deleted. Real questions get answered quickly because people want the points.

Example: Removing index.php from URLs. I’ve seen this question 1000 times, but asking about this on Stack Overflow may get you penalized for asking a question that already has an answer.

[InsiteFX]

I think if we used no links in the post that it would deter most spam users.

[php_rocs]

@jlp,

I think going the Stack overflow way is not the best way to go about fighting spam for Codeigniter. In my opinion, Codeigniter is in a transition period and I think having an actual forum is going to help during this transition period. A forum makes it more personal (at least to me) and gives the feeling that the community is alive and active. Going to Stack overflow would (in my opinion) loose the personal touch and involvement of the community. This is not to knock Stack overflow which is a great tool but for CI to go to Stack overflow exclusively is not the way to go. If anything I think it would definitely hurt CI and cause even more people to question whether or not it is still active/alive.

Maybe what we need is a MYBB forum tool that is well known for being able to fight spam or (and I say this with the upmost respect) more moderators or try different forum software. Moderators that have proven themselves to the CI team and community.

As the CI community grows this is going to be a challenge that it will always have to deal with. Growing pains is a good sign that the spotlight is gradually coming to the CI community. CI definitely deserves it!

[twpmarketing]

Personally, I find Stack Overflow to be too convoluted and not a source of clear answers to questions. I seldom read anything there. I do recognize that it works for some people.

I do acknowledge the time and effort needed on the part of the CI team to maintain this forum. Thank you for that.

As a moderator on another forum, it is a problem to keep track of the potential and real bad actors. I have exercised the "ban hammer" when my recommended actions were ignored or the forum rules were not followed after repeated warnings. I see no better way to handle those who ignore forum rules.

Spam happens to every forum and I do recommend using the anti-spam lists. If that is used, then I still recommend a channel through which users can lodge objections if, for instance, they get booted due to being on the anti-spam list.

I'll also vote in favor of increasing the post count before granting linking or signature privileges.

I know, it is more work for the moderators... No easy solution seems available.

But, you do deserve thanks for keeping CI alive and growing.

[jreklund]

I have tried to get involved/help people on Stack Overflow (5 answers?), but somehow it dosen't feel as "warm" as a dedicated forum. I know it's hard to keep up and fight back bad content, it's not like you guys get paid to do it.

@php_rocs: I agree, it's going to be hard for all new users to survive a CI3 to CI4 upgrade on Stack Overflows hashtag system. +1 on "janitor" signup so more people can help to keep this community clean.

I have used a lot of resource and information from Stack Overflow that works, but will never get as trustworthy as getting answers from the source itself.

I voted to increase the amount of posts being moderated. But I think signatures should't work before you have made 40+ posts. And if you get caught with a bad signatures. It get's deleted and you privilege removed (warning first ofc).

[ronelb]

I agree with @php_rocs wholeheartedly. Stackoverflow is a great site but CodeIgniter should remain with its own site.

I also agree with @twpmarketing and @jreklund on increasing the number of posts before additional features be available.