'Thank You' Posts

[FriskyFerret]

For new users, have the applicant type a line on the registration form thus:
I HAVE READ THE FORUM RULES AND WILL NOT POST USELESS 'THANK YOU' MESSAGES. Validate the input field for an exact string match.

Or require them to state that or a similar sentence in their activation email.

I once joined an exclusive forum who had a very strict rule against reposting certain sensitive information elsewhere. The mod made you type out the three main rules of the forum that must not be broken in your application email. They had to be in order with no spelling errors or mistakes. Nobody on that forum could claim ignorance of the most important rules.

[mbandala]

I think that is a good idea, but probably not so straightforward to implement. I personally made the mistake of posting "Thank you" when I joined the forum, but it wasn't because I didn't read the rules, it was because I got confused when I so so many "thank you" in old posts. So I thought it wasn't very bad to break that rule. However when I saw the sentence "You are not allowed to view links, check the Announcements Board" it took me a little while to figure out what I needed to do.

I guess that many guys join the forum because they what to see juicy links straightaway. They are so desperate to download stuff that they don't stop to think why the are asked to check the Announcement Board. So most of them end up posting useless "why" questions.

I suggest to insert a direct link to the Announcements Board instead of the sentence "You are not allowed to view links, check the Announcements Board". If you think about that, it will work because they want to click on link to "something" the really want and when they do, they'll end up in the Announcements Board section automatically...

[pickit2]

I try and delete any old thank you and dead posts I find, but there are so many out there. Its hard keeping up with the foolish posts made this week.