Trial accounts - time for some shackles

[akmc_in_au]

This is an often discussed subject, though it has tended to be discussed more in Q&A (often as an off-shoot of an entirely different topic) and a couple of other forums rather than here. I scrolled back a few pages (and did a search) in Feature Requests but couldn't find anything in the way of a "codified" request relating to trial accounts, so I figured what the hey, let's have one.

(If anyone's wondering why I'm raising this subject now, one look at the Artistic Questions forum (and the trial account that's causing the problem) should be sufficient.)

IMHO the increased restrictions should be (along the lines of, and taking into account input in other threads):
- No Forum posting by trial members aside from in the Q&A Forum. (The Admins have previously advised that a policy of "no posting at all" won't fly because they're concerned that some trial members won't become paid members);
- A maximum of (say) 1 new thread per day in that Forum;
- A maximum of... say, two (?) posts per day;
- Zero tolerance for spam; one spam = a deleted account;
- Accounts are automatically deleted say 90 (?) days after the trial period expires. Let's face it, if they haven't ponied up the cash by then, they ain't gonna.
- A character recognition system for posts by trial members to prevent automated spam.

Ladies and gentlemen of the Forums, I throw the floor open for your agreement, disagreement or alternative suggestions.

[djwixx]

I agree with the idea. Personally I think trial accounts should be locked down after 30 days, but they hang around for months.

My pet hate is trial account holders asking questions in the forums that people have the courtesy to reply to and they never return to at least acknowledge the reply. Given that, I would prefer (as in profiles) that you can see the status of someones account, without needing to visit their profiles.

[bobfloyd]

Agreed!

[sheila]

Agreed. But it won't happen. PBase has always had bad housekeeping in the past and trial accounts is one of them. We still get spammed and Feature Requests is a misnomer Few of these requests get addressed and its only because of the good intent of many PBasers that we have slide shows and more professional looking stylesheets.

I'm not having a whinge...just stating the facts!!

Sheila

[morbius]

Agreed. But it won't happen. PBase has always had bad housekeeping in the past and trial accounts is one of them. We still get spammed and Feature Requests is a misnomer Few of these requests get addressed and its only because of the good intent of many PBasers that we have slide shows and more professional looking stylesheets.

I'm not having a whinge...just stating the facts!!

Sheila

Sheila,

Poor housekeep in the past, definitely. But I think things are chnaging at PBase with some new blood recently taken on board.