Deleting posts re: Xbox live subscriptions

[alc6379]

Gang,

I'm guessing people are typing "Free XBox Live Subscription" into Google, and they're coming here. We're on the front page for that keyword:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=free+xbox+live+subscription&btnG=Google+Search

Anyways, I think we might need to be pre-emptive. I've been deleting recent requests for those free 2/3 month subscriptions, because it could easily turn into some lame "OMFG, D00D CN 1 H4B 1 2000???" types of deals.

Should I go back and delete the first instance of that post, where the person actually offered one for free? They had one over a year ago, and it got given away, but people registered just to ask if they could have it.

[Dani]

I have always been very adamant about only deleting a post if that particular post specifically violates the rules. I think deleting a thread because the conversation can attract a younger / more immature / gaming audience is definitely not the way to go.

Especially when you say "it could easily turn into" as opposed to "it is already causing" huge problems.

In fact, I am on the entire opposite side of the spectrum. If buying and selling or giving away Xbox codes is the latest rage, I see absolutely no harm in opening up ONE thread in the Geek's lounge to doing so similar to the Gmail invites thread. I don't see these as being illegal, especially because they have an entire category on eBay devoted to them. If they were, indeed, illegal, eBay would have gotten a handle on the matter by now.

In fact, I think it's fads like these that can really get DaniWeb to grow. So many people come to the site looking for one thing, end up liking what they see, and staying on for different reasons entirely. Geeky traffic is geeky traffic, after all :) Lots of Xbox gamers might be C++ programmers too. I don't think we shouldn't give them a warm welcome because they found us from searching for one thing in Google as opposed to searching for something else in Google.

[Dani]

I've been deleting recent requests for those free 2/3 month subscriptions, because it could easily turn into some lame "OMFG, D00D CN 1 H4B 1 2000???" types of deals.

I definitely disagree with deleting threads that don't violate the rules "because they could be" as opposed to "because they are." If it ain't broke, don't fix it. If there isn't a problem, and there is no past history of a problem (that could be repeating itself), and there are no signs of an upcoming problem ... then all that you are doing is making users feel unwelcome by deleting their post for violating an imaginary rule they didn't know about.

[Comatose]

I Agree with you Dani, but I think those subscriptions are in fact spam.

[Dani]

For me, the difference between spam and not spam is:
not => request for a free trial, has free trials available
is => starting a new thread saying they have for sale

Still, if it's the hot thing to buy, sell, and trade, I see nothing wrong with opening up one thread in the Geek's lounge for it.

[alc6379]

Still, if it's the hot thing to buy, sell, and trade, I see nothing wrong with opening up one thread in the Geek's lounge for it.

Thing is, though, that they're not the rage, and they never have been, at least not on this forum. My concern is that one post from LONG ago has been highly rated for a given search term in Google, and it's causing people to spam, in my opinion.

I could be for creating a single thread if we did get a lot of volume on this topic, but it just seems like it's pointless. Perhaps we should just be vigilant on closing them, or something. I really don't like these types of threads.

[Dani]

> Thing is, though, that they're not the rage, and they never have been, at least not on this forum.
But they ARE all the rage if we're getting a bunch of them. :)

> I really don't like these types of threads.
Personal opinions are irrelevant. Obviously, other people do like these types of threads, or else they wouldn't exist.

[alc6379]

> Thing is, though, that they're not the rage, and they never have been, at least not on this forum.
But they ARE all the rage if we're getting a bunch of them. :)

:p

That's the thing-- they aren't all the rage. The initial thread is getting overblown because of such a high Google ranking. The people asking are just a bunch of freeloaders who don't want to pay for an Xbox Live subscription. Do we really want that type of person here, anyways?

> I really don't like these types of threads.
Personal opinions are irrelevant. Obviously, other people do like these types of threads, or else they wouldn't exist.

Point acknowledged regarding opinions. But, I still contend that people generally aren't interested in these threads. The people posting them are looking for something for nothing, and as such I regard them as being spammy, because a spammer is looking to use our forum as a platform to get their point out without paying. I really don't see the difference in this.

But, before we go any further, I would just like to point out that this isn't something I'm hell-bent on proving my point on. But, it's just that posts like these are junk in my eyes, and to be regarded in the same manner as spam. Call that an opinion, but I think that it's valid enough to consider lumping them into the same category when it comes to post moderation.

[Dani]

My point of view is that 90% of our traffic comes from people arriving at specific threads from Google - and some of them do stick around and turn into regulars. For that reason, I see these members as no different - arriving from a specific thread where some of them can turn into prospective regular members.

For a long time, we ranked #1 in Google for "bridge.dll" for a particular thread on bridge.dll (that eventually got closed because so many people hijacked it after finding it from Google) ... If your rationale held, you would say, "We don't need these people who contribute nothing to the site and are just here to get a quick answer to the same bridge.dll question over and over again - these aren't the type of members we want to be a part of our community." ...... And if your rationale held, everytime a new thread was started about "bridge.dll" it would be deleted.

On the other hand ... the extra exposure we got from that bridge.dll thread is what originally sparked the enormous growth of the MS Windows forum. A lot of the people who originally posted bridge.dll questions came back over time with other questions, or even turned into regular contributing members and frequent visitors.

I work VERY hard on DaniWeb's search engine optimization and each good ranking to an individual thread is a little victory for me, because it means lots of traffic and lots of prospective members - the core of DaniWeb's growth and success.

[alc6379]

Bridge.DLL was different. This is a computer help forum, those people were asking for help. Completely on-topic. You've done an awesome job with the SEO on this forum, no doubt, but going on my premise these posts are spammy it seems like the high PageRank for this particular thread is a double-edged sword.

I agree with you mostly on this: If people come for computer help, and they get what they need from this, a computer help forum, they might be moved to stick around and contribute, or at least ask more questions. More questions answered means more content, and more value is provided to the community as a whole. But I don't see someone having a case of the "gimmies" for a free Xbox subscription sticking around.

[Dani]

But from what I saw, it was an equal number of people saying "gimme free subscriptions" as "I have free subscriptions avaiable" - which makes it similar to the Gmail invites thread where people were trading with each other.

Lots of techies are gamers, and lots use Xbox, and it's in the Geek's Lounge, which makes it completely on-topic and relevant :)

The only way that I will agree with you is if all of the posts are "I want a free Xbox subscription!" and there aren't any posts offering them as well.

[alc6379]

The only way that I will agree with you is if all of the posts are "I want a free Xbox subscription!" and there aren't any posts offering them as well.

I'm not looking at past issues-- my post was made solely on recent posts. All those posts have been "Please gimme one. " I don't object in any way to people offering, and others recieving-- I just take issue with freeloaders.

[Dani]

If it's lots of people whose first and only post on the site is "Give me a free subscription" then I agree with you. However, I don't feel the posts should be deleted if they have other posts on the site or if there is two way communication between people who want and people who have, as is the case with the Gmail invites.

[alc6379]

If it's lots of people whose first and only post on the site is "Give me a free subscription" then I agree with you. However, I don't feel the posts should be deleted if they have other posts on the site or if there is two way communication between people who want and people who have, as is the case with the Gmail invites.

I concur.

We are now officially on the same page :cool: