Thinking it might be time to close new registration, aka new users.  They don't read the FAQs and half the time seem to be trolls or banned users coming back.  I understand some people are late to the game, so for those maybe we could make a few exceptions if they have a user vouch for them?

You were a new member once?

Haha, that's funny.. Nice one smeagolsama!!

So is this thread a joke or serious?

I think it's serious, but it just sounds like a joke.

Well, I've been trying to join a site that has "closed" registration.

Emailed the owner several times, included references, had other people email on my behalf. Etc.

All the while, this particular site is dead as heck, and getting deader by the day.

Bad idea. A forum will die slowly without new blood.

It's usually the new guys that post and make things lively/controversial.

Ya!  Everybody including Dain would have been a new member once. 

At this point in time with the number of game forums out there, CheapASSgamer, GameTZ, PlanetVB, KLOV, GameFly forums, IGN forums, Penny Arcade Forums, not counting oldie but goldies (DP, warpzone, playthenes, lostlevels, etc) I can't imagine there being somebody wanting to join not able to find a reference on one of the sites (lots of users, have the same usernames otherwise you can always just request to join).  I know for example if somebody on one of those sites wanted to join NA and sent me a PM on one of those sites, I wouldn't mind vouching for them if I could check their posting history/feedback to make sure they weren't a troll.

For example, I never knew about NA until I seen it mention on GameTZ where I had an account .  I never knew about GameTZ until I  seen it referenced on CheapAssGamer.

It would be wonderful if ALL users, old and new, would read the FAQ section from time to time but we are not going to deny membership to anyone just because they are new. Just remember we were all new at one time.

I think one of the best things about the site would be lost though....new users joining, getting their questions answered, NES fixed, etc. and then leaving. If you have to wait for that, or find somebody from this site to reference you...that'd make them not join and find some place else. While I wish the forum could just stay with all members as it is right now, I don't think that'd be best over all.

A new member joined recently and hooked some of us up with Protos. 

The bad new users seem few and far between to me.  And when they are bad, atleast they are entertaining for a while, and then go away quickly.

Keep in mind guys this is a suggestion. So any feedback, positive or negative is appreciated as long as it is constructive. So far ALL FEEDBACK that has been posted has been beneficial, as I'd expect it to be from NA.

This is just something that has been on my mind for a few weeks, and well if I'm in the minority, I'm in the minority and I'm in the minority and will live with it!

Nuh uhh.. My posts were sort of mean.. haha

New people often give this site a much needed comic relief.


(JK)

Like in real life I judge a person based off of character and not skin color ...or in this case post count. You have to take the good with the bad when it comes to online society. Without new people there would be no old people.

idk a few of the sites i use are invite only, seems fine the way it is though.

In my very humble opinion, a ridiculous and elitist suggestion and totally against all the values NA stands for. Say I'm a new member who's looking for some reliable collector to buy my old games like Little Samson and Flintstones 2, or just get some advice and help on how to best sell this stuff. You want to deny access? Or the other way around, I'm looking to start a new collection and would gladly pay nice monnys for your pile of commons, and you want to deny access?

Also, suggesting that all/most people who're ever going to be interested in retro gaming would already be either here, or at least somewhere else in the "retro sphere" is just ludicrous. I for instance have been a gamer for 20+ years and only this February did the thought of getting all of this stuff back for real first crossed my mind. After this I have, if nothing else, helped several people's busineses here by thousands of dollars.

Also you might be oldschool enough to think of this site still strictly from NES point of view, but first of all there's absolutely nothing backing the idea that even all people ever interested in NES would be "in" at this point, and that doesn't even begin to mention the rest of the retro "field". There's been a lot of talk of the "N64 generation" coming to "age" these days, in the coming months and years. One day a person who grew up with Gamecube is going to come knocking NA's doors, looking to build up a collection, and the best help to do it he can get. Are we going to deny him access unless he has references?

We have 15 active mods and 3 admin. That seems like more than enough people to be on top of member misconduct. There is a page moderator button on every post which should make it easy to flag down one. So far the mod team here really seems be doing right by locking threads and keeping this place minty. I haven't seen these trolls, but if you do then report them. Banned users should be able to be IP banned and mods/admin should be able to check for dupe accounts if some shenanigans are going on.

Closing registration seems to be an extreme measure to take care of minor site upkeep with that the mod team seem to already be doing a good job of.

While I appreciate your kind words, PLEASE DO NOT USE THE PAGE MODERATOR BUTTON UNLESS IT IS AN EMERGENCY, a pm to one of us is sufficient the vast majority of the time.

Believe me I wish everyone, especially new users, would read the FAQ.  I don't think closing of the site is the answer however.  One of the things that makes NA great is the welcoming environment we have, at least in my opinion. 

NA was and still is the only gaming site I am a member of, if a referral would have been required I never would have been able to join.  I didn't know anyone on the site before I joined and now consider many to be good friends, so that would have been a real shame.

While I understand the frustration that sometimes comes with an influx of new users that don't know the vibe yet or understand the rules, I don't think closing off registration would ever be the solution we'd want to pursue. Being an open community is like being part of a soup kitchen -- you're going to have people take advantage of you from time to time, but that doesn't mean you close the soup kitchen unless you can prove you're hungry. That said, I'm hungry and oddly enough, soup sounds kinda good right now.

I think it just comes with the territory of owning and running a popular site. I was new at one time and joining the site has been a ton of fun for me. I probably would not have come back if I needed to jump through a lot of hoops... I am glad it was easy to join!

We could just start taking meal tickets

No soup for you???

Wait would this boot users with the "new" tag or just low post/transaction count?

I'm fairly new and won't way in on this since I'm biased and all but before closing registration shouldn't there be more of a cleanup of dead/troll members? I can't tell you the times I've gone through member directory to see last post was in 07 or 09.

^We're not closing anything, and we're not booting anyone.

I think we should clean up some of the inactive accounts (people that haven't posted in years or are simply register but not post count). This site is very new user friendly and easy to join. To give an example, Sega 16 lets you register but it took no joke, months to get my account activated. It makes you feel that they could care less that you want to be a part of their community and it sends a bad impression. I think things in general are fine the way they are, turning people away isn't really a good solution if you ask me. Like JD said, we all had to start somewhere.

Unless you fail to bring us Soup!