ezboard locking me out of certain topics

[evilspungebob]

WTF?? ...says I have to be an ezboard supporter? They really picked a fine way of keeping ppl here. Not.

Please explain.

[LostInWilderness]

Theories and Speculation is Ezsupporter only for the next day. Non-ezsupporter members can post anywhere else. T&S will be open tomorrow evening at 9PM eastern.

[sculpey]

well, huh.

[sawyerhasbestlines]

I'm unable to post my own topic. I can only reply.

LIW or another mod, if you read this, will you bump my thread in theories: "Desmond is protecting the world" since I can't go there till tomorrow. :\

[IllinoisGirlRGFan]

it is also spoilers from when I tried it...Not being able to lurk and reading what people say is really bothersome...Why do this when a new Lost premired?

[LostInWilderness]

Spoilers seems to be OK. Are you sure your problem isn't an Ezboard performance problem? I know I'm having real problems loading pages and posting.

[MJBinNC]

Good idea, LIW. Maybe next week we could do that to GD for about a 24 hour period? Have you looked at it? The episode thread is already at least 5pgs long and there are multiple "new" threads about the episode. Like we said - a ME society....can't be bothered to read or follow any guidelines.

[sawyerhasbestlines]

They did this to control the flooding of multiple posts.

What sucks, is we can't lurk in theories. And what also sucks is there is no warning on the lock-out.

At least some of you are still able to post a topic in discussions. I can't start my own topic anywhere. All I can do is reply.

[JacksGirlfriend]

The only area affected by this is Theories. We are trying to cut down on the amount of duplicate and non-theory threads that invariably get started in there by people who do not bother to read the guidelines. This will save us "cleanup" time. EZ supporters are still welcome to post since generally they are the ones with considerable time invested in this board and the ones who will follow the guidelines.

For those interested EZ supporter is only $7 for six months and helps us keep our costs down by subtracting your page views from our total. It is a great benefit to us to have as many EZ supporters as we can get. There are personal benefits as well for those who have it. Visit the EZ board site to see if you're interested.

Tomorrow Theories will be open once again to everyone. Until then you are welcome to read and post in the other areas of the board.

[sculpey]

I'm a supporter even though for some odd reason I don't have that little icon, so I'm a stealth supporter I guess. Having followed the discussion about what to do with the T&S board, I'm a bit surprised that this lockout was sprung out of the blue. Not to let people lurk seems a bit out of line. Can people still get into T&S Lite?

[sawyerhasbestlines]

Can someone please tell me why other non EZ supporters can start a new topic in discussions, and I can not?

And why can't we lurk in theories?

[equinox]

IllinoisGirlRGFan wrote:
Not being able to lurk and reading what people say is really bothersome...
I agree. I can't see why they don't at least let people read the T&S board.
Why do this
I guess this is part of the new policy for encouraging the starting of more duplicate threads. Since people can't post their replies in the appropriate threads, they now need to start new duplicate T&S threads on the other boards.

[pinkluxe]

good to know that it's not permanent at least. But I wish we could lurk darnit. There's no harm in that. Wouldn't it give people who will go there after the 24hrs to post a head start on reading the posts that are currently going up? At least that way, they might actually take the time to read them (since that's all they could do) instead of just posting like idiots.

I am given no choice but to go elsewhere now. Harumph.

[LostInWilderness]

Suil Liath made T&S ezsupporter-only to read as well as post. Please continue to add your comments about that in this thread. SHBL, I don't know why you can't open threads in GD. It's something specific with your ID. Unfortunately, I think you'll need to file a bug with ezboard.

[clayseason1]

There's no harm in that. Wouldn't it give people who will go there after the 24hrs to post a head start on reading the posts that are currently going up?

But there are no new theories (yet) being started in T&S.
hmm........

There are some older threads being bumped as those theories are based (at least in part if not all) on much we learned tonight. Everyone has already read those threads (haven't they?). So really tomorrow, one would only need to read the few added posts to those threads to catch up.

[JacksGirlfriend]

That's the point. The people posting in Theories right now are those USED to posting in theories. They know what to do and where to do it.

Believe me - tomorrow is going to be a better day in Theories than the usual Thursday.

[sawyerhasbestlines]

What I see happening are theories being posted in discussions right now. There are a couple good ones going on.

I'm thinking with theories closed off, there will be a log jam instead in discussions, with some good stuff being quickly lost to oblivian.

[LostInWilderness]

Keep track of what you think should be moved into T&S tomorrow evening SHBL. There are clearly a couple threads here that should, imo, but I won't do it now because too many people couldn't access them.

ETA: And let me make another plug for my T&S and T&S Classic idea here. Those theories you like would be in the new T&S right now, and at least one could be moved into T&S classic right now, and others probably tomorrow.

[Choppin Broccoli]

Um, hey dude (doing my best Hurley impression here). You may not be able to get into "Theories," but you can still start New Topics and reply to old ones in "General Discussion." The buttons are still there; you just can't see them. Just roll your mouse over that area until your cursor turns into the little finger icon, and then wait a second for the box underneath it to pop up. It will tell you which button your mouse is on. If you get the "New Poll" button at the top, just move it to the right until you get the "New Topic" button.

Hope I'm not giving away any classified board secrets here, but those buttons are still there, even if you can't see them.

[I like to listen]

What is the secret for posting in the locked thread;
Ethan = Rommel in T&S?

[Chokmah62]

Won't this do just the opposite of your goal? Posters will start new T&S type thread in GD because they can't add to T&S threads.

I understand what you are trying to do and that there is no easy answer but at least being able to read in T&S would better solution.

Thanks for trying to keep us organized.

[Lockesbastardson]

I agree with those who say that non-supporters should at least be allowed to read T&S.... it was quite a bummer when as soon as tonight's show aired I rushed here and couldn't read any theories about it.

[IllinoisGirlRGFan]

Open it up, make it fair to everyone...cause it is not fair, I have always been a lurker on this board...I want to read theories and speculation but I can't cause you mods closed it to non ezboard supporters..
Money is really tight right now and I cannot buy ez-supporter, bills come first...You are going to lose supporters for this bone headed move.

[sawyerhasbestlines]

but you can still start New Topics and reply to old ones in "General Discussion." The buttons are still there; you just can't see them.

ChopinBrocoli, Thanks for the advice. I tried this, but am still only able to reply and not post a new topic. The little hand doesn't come up over the invisible post new topic button. Any other ideas?

Are other people with non EZ supporter able to post a new topic? Has your buttons disappeared also?

[Cindyannie]

Too many rules and rulers on this site. Going to mortystv site where you can post a new thread about whatever you like without getting bashed for it. Don't you complainers in here know there are other sites for Lost?

[drabauer]

For the record, IMO closing T&S completely to all but ezsupporters in this way was a terrible idea: to 1) spring this on posters without warning and 2) disable reading! How are we to encourage posters to add to existing threads if THEY CAN'T READ THE DAMNED THINGS!

And 24 hours is too long IMO. Should just be overnight, and open by noon the next day.

I realize it's a moot point, but we have got to act more smoothly and thoughtfully around here!

[Penny4urthoughts]

I am sensing a lot of hostility towards the T&S situation. In sense we are all stuck in a non-execute mode! So much for the world. 108 and counting down. 3.......2......1.......

[mnchick]

For the record, IMO closing T&S completely to all but ezsupporters in this way was a terrible idea: to 1) spring this on posters without warning and 2) disable reading! How are we to encourage posters to add to existing threads if THEY CAN'T READ THE DAMNED THINGS!



I know I am new to the board but I have to agree here. :( People like myself who are new may read the guidelines but may forget at times what they are and yes, should review them. I know it is annoying when people do not read the rules and guidelines section, I am an admin myself on a couple of boards. But we at least give notice when we are closing threads to only designated posters.
And while $7.00 may seem like a little bit of money to you , to someone else, it may not seem like so little to spend for EZsupporter.

For myself, if I am really that gung ho to read others theories, I will buy the EZsupporter. But to someone who may not have the $7.00 to spend, it is not fair to close certain sections to only those who are EZsupporters or buy the service. I understand why you want people to become EZsupporters but at the same time, I don't think that blocking certain sections only to those who purchase it is going to cut down on duplicate theory threads and the like. People will just start the new threads elsewhere.

Edit: I look around the site today and while I really do like it here, it seems there is a lot of rules and a lot of animosity if someone even breaks the rules once. Hmm..on a messageboard with thousands of people, you can not always expect everything to be perfect ya know? Just a thought...

I'm sorry..that's just how I feel. I think it is a little unfair...

[Noubourne]

I used to be an EZ Supporter but I will never pay them $1 ever again.

All three of the other boards I used to post on crashed or lost huge monster chunks of posts at one time or another.

The EZ Board system is not very reliable in my experience.

Eventually, all three of the other boards using the service switched after continued problems with loss of data.

[EvilGrouse]

Exactly. I came here to talk, and put my comments in the appropriate area. Ok. You wanna shut off access to a certain point for a short time? You're gonna get angry people flooding the GD section. Gee, that makes sense. NOT.

[sawyerhasbestlines]

I used to be an EZ Supporter but I will never pay them $1 ever again.

I'm starting to feel that way myself. Ever since T&S got shut down, all my ez support features stopped working. Buttons disappeard, inbox screwed up, avatars gone....

The only reason I am able to do this now, is I spent 5 hours searching for a new browser, installed it, amongst dozens of other little tweaking. I don't want to have to do this weekly.

[saladdays0]

I am also against having the T&S section closed for 24 hours. First, you have to let people know if you're going to do something like that. Second, it makes no sense to me to not allow for reading of that section. Reading and not being able to post, I believe, would actually help you better attain your objective. If people see that their theory has already been posted, they are much more likely to reply instead of creating their own. Third, people are going to create such duplicate threads in other portions of the site if they can't even see what is being posted in T&S.

[Chokmah62]

I was just starting to like posting here now this ...

http://www.comedyontap.com/features/images/larrythomas/point.gif

NO T&S FOR YOU!

I see this thread being locked and/or deleted soon.

[MonsterEatsPilot]

Wow.

Well I suddenly feel like a second class citizen.

Despite being a member (under Purrkins) since August 26, 2004, -- always being respectful, helpful and at times (I think) contributing useful information to a wide variety of topics, the Powers That Be sure showed me where I belong.

Thanks.

It is a shame the Fuselage doesn't have the input of such minds like drabauer, SHBL, Jay's Tao, awsecond and others (you know who you are)... because I would be there in a heartbeat engaging in discussion with them instead of taking part in this elitest forum.

But since our intelligent users keep on posting here, I come back, oh, wait -- I can't share in a discussion with them anymore as I have been relegated to the back of the plane despite my long term commitment and loyalty to this forum.

And do the Powers That Be realize that once the 24 hour ban has ended there will be a flood of duplicate posts anyway because a large majority of the users CAN'T READ WHAT IS BEING WRITTEN AND SO INSTEAD OF JOINING IN CONVERSATION THEY WILL START THEIR OWN!!!???

But perhaps that is not the point. Perhaps the point is to turn users off so they will leave the forum for good.

This is effective.

Sure worked on me.

MEP / Purrkins

[Chokmah62]

Bump
Drizzle Drazzle Druzzle Drage
Back you go to the first page

[killbuckner]

I am an ez supporter and a poster in T&S and I think it sucks that people can't even see those posts right now. If its possible to make it so that only supporters can start a new post for the first few hours then thats perfect. If it has to be that for the first few hours that section is read only then I guess that would be OK. But its pretty ridiculous that people can't even see what theories were out there to see how they came out. I was trying to send a link to my friend for a post that I thought held up pretty well but I can't until tomorrow. Thats just not good policy.

[NeillT006]

KB:

I actually asked TPTB your question: why suspend both posting AND reading? Apparently the technology of the board is such that you can't do one without the other.

N.

PS:

Thinking about changing your name to Grafagnino?

[Dynagirl]

If you spent time in T&S, reading important announcements or stickies, you would have known that this was planned, that it would last 24 hours, etc for ezsupporters. I don't have a problem with it. To me, $7 is a small price to pay for what I get out of the site. *shrug* Just my humble opinion...

[SeattleFilmMaker]

How much time, exactly, are we supposed to spend in T&S to get that message? I was on until at least 2-3 PM yesterday, and saw NOTHING about this. I'm not going to log on every 5 minutes; I love the show, and I'm obsessed about it, but I do have a life.

When you have an important closure like this, it's a good idea to POST IT VERY CLEARLY, at the top of the page, in BIG LETTERS.

I understand that this is a free service, and that's great, but let us know a bit more before you close the most important forum here, and especially when it's right after an episode! What's the logic of that? Didn't you guys know it would get bad?

I get the whole "cleanup" thing, but I also think, and I've said this before, that there's got to be a way (maybe not on EZboard) to get people to READ things before posting. I'm sure someone could come up with how to do it.

And we CERTAINLY should be able to READ the damned thing.

Planning Prevents Problems.

-E

[strifey7]

Um, the board isn't free. With the amount of traffic it gets, I'm sure they have to pay somewhere in the thousands of dollars to keep it running yearly. You want a solution? Donate to the board to help defray the cost, and I'm sure they'd keep everything open.

[Warthawg1]

My comment about this situation (which I made over at the almost dead T & S board today ) was that I thought the main problem here was the administrations propensity to overreact to situations.. in essence using napalm to kill a single roach.

I see that as a much bigger problem than duplicate threads.

It seems to just be me and maybe one or two others posting anything over there, so if it was the goal to limit duplicate threads... they certainly have accomplished it.

Mr. Cliche' man would say they have thrown the baby out with the bath water.

ETA: Oh btw.. if anyone wants to associate duplicate threads with the rising cost of maintaining this site... let me point out some facts: T & S board - 5816 posts Lostaways board - 30885.

[Lockesbastardson]

I came here expecting to be able to get back into T&S..... at first I understood why they did it but now it's just really damn annoying.

And to those who say just spend the $7 and become an ezsupporter.... this is the only ez board I post at and as wonderful as I think it is I'm not going to pay money just to chat a about a television show..... there are too many boards out there that are free where I can do that.

[jmb3rg3r]

As a Webmaster myself, I can sympathize with the traffic issue and the cost of hosting.

However, this does not seem to be a terribly effective solution, nor do I see the logic in isolating the T&S board for special treatment.

Newbies who don't follow the rules will just go post the same thing they were going to post where-ever they can (as they have been here all day).

Is there a way to regulate the ability of newcomers to *start* threads but allow them to respond to existing threats until they have reached some threshhold number of posts?

There are many Lost boards around the Web. This one seems to have more rigid rules than many of the others. I don't know why that is, maybe it's a good thing, but if I'm going to be locked out after the show airs every week, well, as has been noted by others, there are plenty of boards out there.

[lhorg]

Don't be fooled.It is not locked because of newsbies posting too many thread. The real reason is that administrator want to make money.

[SeattleFilmMaker]

One of the ideas with a site like EZ board, or, at least, the Ideal idea, is that some people pay a little, some people pay more, just so that others can use it for free.

Some people, who have higher earnings, pay more taxes, so that we can have Welfare, right?

-E

[BooneWasABoar]

:rollin

The politics of this site is almost as fun as the show... God help us if Lost moves to HBO.

[clayseason1]

There are some posters on this board that I would gladly chip in to see what they think (most of them are ez supporters).

There are some posters on this board that cannot afford to contribute or become an ez supporter (I can remember the days when $7 extra bucks in my pocket meant all the difference in the world.) Some of these posters contribute to the conversations both in intellect and wit. I and others may sponsor such individuals (i.e. gift of ez support).

One of the ideas with a site like EZ board, or, at least, the Ideal idea, is that some people pay a little, some people pay more, just so that others can use it for free.
Based on this, I think the people that contribute should have a say in who can use it for free.

So why should I pay for you?

[sawyerhasbestlines]

I hope all of you don't bail.

Have a little patience. Last season this board was the best one out there. They have just grown so huge in the last 3 weeks, that they don't know how to deal with it.

Initially I supported the member idea to theories. Now I've changed my mind. It's a total disaster.

People will post wherever. Now we have good theories being posted in discussions, and good posters new and veteran being turned off.

Let's talk to the mods, and try a new solution next week.

[evilspungebob]

didn't I just go and open up a can of worms....

[sawyerhasbestlines]

I don't think you opened a can of worms. It's something that needs to get sorted out. Any ideas?

[5 Piece Chicken Dinner]

The best idea I just had was to get you the gift of EZ supporter,

I've been a lurker forever with a few posts and you always crack my sh*t up, you get the early X-mas gift. It should post to your account soon.

[evilspungebob]

5 Piece, to whom are you refering?

[simonwt]

i wanna post my "theory" of LOST, cause i think i'm pretty close, everything in my theorie matches what i think. There are still some holes in it, but they are very minor and can be explained one way or the other. So i'd like to share it and hear what you guys think of it. Where should i post this now ? :\

[clayseason1]

i wanna post my "theory" of LOST, cause i think i'm pretty close, everything in my theorie matches what i think. There are still some holes in it, but they are very minor and can be explained one way or the other. So i'd like to share it and hear what you guys think of it. Where should i post this now
Theories and Speculations forum

It's something that needs to get sorted out. Any ideas?
I don't know if this would work, but what if..........
After an episode airs, posters will start threads on main topics (example: the insignia on the shark). Sticky the first thread discussing that particular topic. Then immediately close any duplicates that pop up and add duplicate to that title of the closed thread.
There are currently 23 spots for threads on the first page of general discussion. I think that's ample space for "main" ideas that can be more fully discussed.
Then when the duplicates die down - remove the sticky.

We have between 1500 and 2000+ viewing the board after an episode. This will cut down on the extra views on duplicate threads expecially if you add duplicate to the closed thread.

[5 Piece Chicken Dinner]

sorry pineapple, I was referring to Sawyer

[sawyerhasbestlines]

^^^^
:eek :D

There is a Santa Claus!

[luckiegirl001]

Long time lurker, first time poster, ezsupporter.............
The best idea I just had was to get you the gift of EZ supporter,
this is what I did also. For some of us $7 isn't such a big deal, we can help those for whom it is a big deal. Click on their name to see their profile, click on "buy me EzSupporter" and go from there. It feels good, and it's fun to pay it forward. ;)

The costs of running this board have got to be in the thousands of dollars per year. For the doofus that said Administration is trying to make money? All money donated to this board stays with this board, it's not like cash that the administrator can just take out and spend at whim! Once you've donated, that money belongs to ezboard.

[sawyerhasbestlines]

Hi Luckie(lurker)girl,

Welcome to the sunlight. I lurked for a while myself, but once I started posting, it got hard to shut me up.

Click on their name to see their profile, click on "buy me EzSupporter" and go from there.

I just clicked on 5 Piece, and he/she doesn't have one.... even though he/she bought me one. So I'm going to recipricate - and find someone else.

[luckiegirl001]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v34/auntnynah/web%20stuff/thumb.gif

paying it forward is FUN!

[5 Piece Chicken Dinner]

:D thanks for the hook-up!, now I just need to find out how to put up a big ol' piece of chicken under my name! :lol

[sawyerhasbestlines]

5 Piece,

How to get an avatar:

(I'm really bad at describing this, but there is a better "how to" get an avatar in the help forum)

But basically, you find your image, shrink it to the right size using something like photoshop. Then you have to open up a free account at image shack. Then you import the image to image shack. Once it's there, copy the html name and paste it into the "edit your profile" part of your control center including the image size. It's easy once you do it.

KF2 helped me with the multiple Ethan image part - that's beyond me.

[Dynagirl]

This subject appears to have been beaten to death, but have to get in my last word. 8)

How much time, exactly, are we supposed to spend in T&S to get that message? I was on until at least 2-3 PM yesterday, and saw NOTHING about this. I'm not going to log on every 5 minutes; I love the show, and I'm obsessed about it, but I do have a life.

I spend about a half an hour per day on here, not 24/7 and I managed to be aware of this. :)

And to those who say just spend the $7 and become an ezsupporter.... this is the only ez board I post at and as wonderful as I think it is I'm not going to pay money just to chat a about a television show..... there are too many boards out there that are free where I can do that.

As was mentioned, I also initially thought this was a good idea (I'm a newbie, so I don't really chime in with my opinion just yet, but there were a lot of ideas thrown out there and this did seem like a reasonable one) Obviously, this has turned into a large fiasco. I'm sure it all get worked out. :D

Despite this not exactly working out, I still think that if you're going to post here quite frequently, it's helpful to become an ezsupporter. I knew after reading the posts for about 2 weeks that I would be spending a lot of time on here. In my opinion, this is the best "Lost" forum, that's why I'm here and that's why I decided to skip Starbucks this week and pony up the 7 bucks. :p ;)

Donna B.

[5 Piece Chicken Dinner]

great thanks SHBL,

now i can take on the world with a full stomach of chicken!

[Suil Liath]

I had a thread on T&S which very few people participated in, regarding this very issue.

I called it "New Theory on Jack and Desmond" because it has been determined that very few people read any thread with the words "Please Read" or "Guidelines" or "Forum Rules" in it.

So the statistical probability that someone would read a thread entitled "Please Read -- Help in Handling T&S" was pretty small.

Anyway. we had whatever responses we were going to get. So as far as that thread goes, it's locked and and the mods are taking everything under advisement.

Since she spends the most amount of energy and resources with the indeces so that people CAN do searches and CAN find topics easily, I have asked drabauer to spearhead this little project. I feel certain that she is the best one for the job, as she has spent the most time in that forum and knows the ins and outs intimately.

For those of you are are curious what this board will cost us to run when the gold community status runs out, you may pm me. It's a big number. For six months. A really big number. And it goes up every day. If half the current membership contributed $1.00 we'd cover it.

The alternative (one of them) is to let the gold status expire and just be free.

What that will do is we won't have invisible boards (which means I have to delete anything invisible, which includes the Basement which is currently invisible) and we won't have a chat room.

We are discussing other alternatives, such as moving to a dedicated server etc. The parts we need to sort out are moving posts, membership etc so that you lovely folks don't have to re register someplace.

Because we don't want to lose membership in our effort to make things easier for people.

Xander would link to us on his news site, and this would remain as a free, skelatal,scaled down version for the purposes of redirecting traffic to the new forum.

There are many moving parts to this project and we have been discussing this since June -- that's how many moving parts there are.

What will happen if we aren't moved by then is that 30 days prior to our membership running out, I will freeze page views to lower the cost. The renewal is based on that 30 day period when all is said and done.

This means that people will be limited to a certain number of page views a day. I'm not sure if we'd do that for non supporters only -- probably so because the cost goes down when ezsupporters view pages.

Some of the inconveniences will be temporary -- such as no chat room, or limited page views for non supporters.

The board has outgrown ezboard's ability to host it in a cost effective fashion. Xander's site is well known to the producers, newspapers, news agencies and consequently so is the fan forum. It isn't going to go away, that's for sure.

And yes, I am contacting ezboard to tell them we are contemplating leaving or being a free community because it's too expensive to run as a gold community.

ETA: FYI

For The premiere episode there were 94,974 page views of which 1170 were by ezsupporters, meaning that 1.2% of the page views were by ezsupporters.

For Episode Two, there were 105,844 page views of which 2341 were by ezsupporters. A whopping 2.2% of the page views were by ezsupporters.

On the day in question (10/5/) and this includes the lockdown, there were 39,711 page views of wh ich 1,731 were ezsupporters, 4.4% of the page views.

I just throw that out there to illustrate what's going on. Last year I crunched some numbers and found out that 5% of the posters were supporting 95%.

Just so you know.

[sawyerhasbestlines]

now i can take on the world with a full stomach of chicken!

5 Piece you are lookin finger lickin good with your new avatar! I'm trying to figure out how you escaped the ubiquitous box shape. I like it.

Also, to let you know, I started a thank you thread in communities, and your buying me an ez supporter, started other people getting them for others also. It's spreading.

--------

Suil,

After reading your post, I think people will realize that lurking costs money too. I think people think that only posting costs. Am I correct that lurking is a price also?

SHBL

[I like to listen]

I just throw that out there to illustrate what's going on. Last year I crunched some numbers and found out that 5% of the posters were supporting 95%.
lol, the 2005 definition of elitist according to some. Then again, I guess the other 95% has reveled so much for the 5%!

I bought ezSupporter when I was unemployed (sans income).
Test drive, then buy or go to another dealership.

I admit I'm not a total supporter of the board as I have not donated to the community chest. It will happen if this community begins the change to ezSupporter, instead of freeloading complainer.

I respect anyone who has already made that leap of faith. I hope to join you.

[Mattie]

In the politest way possible: it's really inexcusable for anyone to not have ezSupporter. As poor as you may be, you can afford 25¢ a week. That's all the $12 a year comes out to.

[minnesotaadvocate]

Is there a way to regulate the ability of newcomers to *start* threads but allow them to respond to existing threats until they have reached some threshhold number of posts?
I think this is a great idea! In addition, maybe have them wait 24 hours before they can post at all. (New members are shut out of posting on many boards for a certain period of time.) The reasons I think this is a good idea:

1. New members (and non-members) can still read everything.

2. Many of the "I don't know if this has been posted yet, but did you know that the numbers add up to 108?" posts are made by new members (or lurkers) as their initial post.

A light bulb goes off in a lurker's head and he thinks he's made the greatest discovery since sliced bread and just can't wait to share it with the rest of us. So he registers and posts immediately, not realizing that there are 5 other threads on the same page with the same epiphany.

If you make a new member wait 24 hours before he can post, he'll take time to actually READ some of the other threads and learn that his discovery has already been discussed to death. If he really DOES have a great discovery/theory that can't wait 24 hours (or if he catches a serious error in someone else's post), he can PM a mod and have the mod post what he wants to say (giving him credit, of course) or override the 24-hour rule.

Thoughts?

Signed,
an ezSupporter who has yet to start a thread in this forum.
(At least I don't remember ever starting one.)