Let's Be Fair To Lurkers

[RustySabre]

The first thing I thought when I saw this section was "oh no, let the lurker wars begin!". In all fairness, though, I thought the concept of a lurker was someone that wasn't a member of the forum who basically waits until a set of codes are posted and grabs one if they possibly can, all the while not leaving their footprint anywhere on the forums. Here the situation is even worse. If you're not a member you can't even read these threads, which means "lurkers" here have to be registered members of the forum. To that I say "come on!" If you can take the time to register and take the time to put a promo code into iTunes or the App Store on your device, you can surly take a moment to post a "thank you" to the developer.

This does three things:

1. Makes the developer feel appreciated
2. Lets other members know a code is gone (if you can post the code you took, even better)
3. Prevents every promo code thread from becoming a thread where people moan about "all those darn lurkers and I couldn't get a code <mumble, grumble>".

This was one of the things that annoyed me most about a certain other really popular forum that I'm a member of, and I don't want to see this happen here as well.

Thanks for reading, and sorry for the PSA

[Thunderclaw]

I totally agree.

Why not even make this forum have a minimum post count that you'd need to read it?

[RustySabre]

I totally agree.

Why not even make this forum have a minimum post count that you'd need to read it?

I'm not sure that's really practical at this point. The forums are too new, so the count would have to be low enough that someone could come on and just write junk on a few threads to boost their count. I think the administrators have done what they can by locking out the threads to unregistered readers. After that it's up to the code takers to be responsible.

[Ron]

I have no problem with people reading the forums. I do that at other sites. It is another form of app news and reviews. The only beef I have is when "lurkers" ,or members for that matter, don't post when they have used a promo code. I consider this common courtesy. Thanks goes to Louis for remedying it here....

[RustySabre]

I have no problem with people reading the forums. I do that at other sites. It is another form of app news and reviews. The only beef I have is when "lurkers" ,or members for that matter, don't post when they have used a promo code. I consider this common courtesy. Thanks goes to Louis for remedying it here....

Actually he didn't quite remedy it, which is why I brought this up in the first place. At least you have to be a member to read the threads in the giveaways forum, which is definitely a step in the right direction. Unfortunately, people can still sign up, take a code or codes, and still not post that they've done so. There really is no way to fix that problem. I guess this was really meant more for the people that take and don't post, rather than to swell discussion with the people that do have manners.

[Ron]

@Rustysabre - Ah Ha, I did not realize. This, then, goes back to my "Thank You" thread in App Giveaways. Thanks again to those who post the code they used...

[juubee]

That's why I proposed the idea of a sort of mod where you put [hide] message [/hide]
so that people that did not POST in THE thread cannot see the content of that message.

This would be the best way (that I know of) to fix the issue, and it seems foolproof because you have to post to see the code/message.

[RustySabre]

@Rustysabre - Ah Ha, I did not realize. This, then, goes back to my "Thank You" thread in App Giveaways. Thanks again to those who post the code they used...

Actually, I will admit that my subject heading was a bit "uninformative". And I will also confess that I did have one ulterior motive: a hope that I could stem the inevitable tide of grumbling by people who do follow the rules. It was really sad how many threads on TouchArcade devolved into "man, some <grumble, grumble> lurkers got all the codes", to which the reply is "yeah, <grumble, grumble>, and I really wanted to try it". All this over 99 cent games no less! While not being in their exact position, as a developer I can just imagine their frustrations when they try and do something nice by giving away codes and all people do is complain. Anyway, I need to get off my soapbox before I start feeling too clean

That's why I proposed the idea of a sort of mod where you put [hide] message [/hide]
so that people that did not POST in THE thread cannot see the content of that message.

This would be the best way (that I know of) to fix the issue, and it seems foolproof because you have to post to see the code/message.

I guess I'm not following this one. So you're saying you wouldn't see the message until you've posted in the thread? How do you know what you're posting about? Please further enlighten us clueless ones!

[OTGGamer]

At the very least is there a way to restrict certain threads or forums (like the App Giveaways) only to people who are registered and logged in.
I know that registered users might still just take a code w/o a thanks, but at least it'd keep people just browsing the forums w/o registering from grabbing them.

[RustySabre]

At the very least is there a way to restrict certain threads or forums (like the App Giveaways) only to people who are registered and logged in.
I know that registered users might still just take a code w/o a thanks, but at least it'd keep people just browsing the forums w/o registering from grabbing them.

Louis already does that. That was why I wondered in the initial post of this thread if there was a difference between "lurkers" and "registered users without manners".