Vrogy said:
I think you're way, way, WAY overstating the amount of people that will be. How many total accounts have been banned here, and how many people become interested in building halo costumes?
I don't think that's going to even work. Couple reasons.. Tor and other free proxies, free email addresses, and the necessity to make these resources available to new members. I don't think any of those are changing, and unless you want to get a huuuuuuge blacklist of free proxies going, or get some dystopianesque interview process going in which you must provide a valid photo ID and biometrics, there's not going to be any shutting people out.
Personally, I think shutting people out is a terrible idea, which won't even work. Right now, information is in the process of becoming free. I don't think a halo costuming club is going to be able to stand in the way of an entire cultural shift.
In any case, I don't think the value of these boards is in the stickies. It's in the community of people with a common interest, all the brains that check in here every little while. The various psychological pressures which drive people here are going to make a 405th wiki-rip a poor substitute anyways, so.. don't sweat it so much. :rolleyes
The idea, to me, isn't to block anyone from the wiki except for those that earn a ban. You're right, it's not a lot of people that have been banned, but those that have, were banned for a reason.
I recognize that making a foolproof block against those individuals isn't going to happen, but I want at least a roadblock set-up to stop the average user with no real hacking knowledge. The folks that would use our information are kinda' limited to folks that are either here already, or have been here. If nothing else, by ducking a ban, that person knows they need to keep their head down and keep up the respect level with others, to stop from earning a new ban.
Do that for a little while and you'll see that people treat you better, and you start seeing the advantages of working with folks, rather than against them. It's actually advantageous for them to have that kind of learning experience, plus a way to distance themselves from their past wrongs so that people aren't like.. "ohh god, it's that guy again..". It's that kind of negative reputation that can kill a members ability to get along, or improve their behavior... everyone knows them as a troublemaker, and they are EXTREMELY RARELY given the benefit of the doubt by the community.
You're exactly right in that the tutorials, while valuable, pale in comparison to the value of the forum members themselves. The wiki itself is probably going to be primarily a link system, at least at first, but as discussions move back and forth from the wiki, more information will likely end up being there.. availible to.. members or the general public at large.
If I do a WIP and someone is completely disrespectful of it, and they are constantly repeating that pattern with others, I don't want them to always be part of my community, or otherwise attached to it. I don't want them to continue to be able to post comments, or worse, make changes to my material, etc.
Also, it should be pointed out that "no respect" folks tend to chase off the people who make the most efforts to share their projects, and often prove to be amongst the more skilled and with the best resources to improve the community's ability to do things. Those folks with those resources don't really NEED to be here, they merely WANT to be here, to enjoy the ride as it were, and to be in a place where there's a like-minded love of what they're doing. Faced with repeated disrespect, the experience is no longer a good one.
As folks chase-off those people.. the common denominator lowers... That's how a community goes "to the dogs" and fades away. That's why the rules are in-place, and that's why mods enforce them. Enforcement can be overdone, and underdone, with varying results, but I beleive a healthy balance must be maintained in-order to keep-up the value of the community.
Here's another question, based on your responces versus my point..
Any ban that can be ducked can also be ducked here on the forums. Does that suggest, keeping with your idea, that the sign-in, and banning, etc, isn't useful on forums? If there's still value in it, why shouldn't we have that value extend to the wiki as well?