Wondering if there is a way when you click the button to add someone as a friend you don’t really know – to add a sentence or two to the invitation? Example would be I wanted to send a PM to someone I saw fishing an area I plan to visit to ask some questions. But I need to “friend” them first. If they don’t me or know the context… they might not make the connection or accept the invitation..
Not sure of web protocol but in real life when meeting someone new it is always good to introduce yourself first before starting a conversation or stating your needs. This seems to be lost with many of the emails I receive work related. Some are so badly stated I dont even reply. If you cant introduce your self like a real person I dont want much else to do with that person. Go crap in a bucket for a while.
That last comment pertains to my work
I took a chance on you Frydog! LOL!
Pfft you had french frys in your avatar. ’nuff said.
On a more serious note, the reason behind the “friend request” was to stop the spammers or spambots. If there was a place to send a message with the request I would be getting hundreds of friend request with a note attached saying…
“Lose 10 pounds from your nose” 
I like the idea, but its going to make the whole friend thing even more uncomfortable, going to have to make an opening statement or something on why they should be my friend.
Ultimate goal would just to get rid of the need to be friends to PM.
Ultimate goal would just to get rid of the need to be friends to PM.
We could do that as long as everyone agrees that dealing with spam is no big deal. Based on how people acted like the world had come to an end following our one spamming I’d go so far as to say that the current arrangement is here to stay.
Wondering if there is a way when you click the button to add someone as a friend you don’t really know – to add a sentence or two to the invitation? Example would be I wanted to send a PM to someone I saw fishing an area I plan to visit to ask some questions. But I need to “friend” them first. If they don’t me or know the context… they might not make the connection or accept the invitation..
When someone sends me a friend request, here or on other sites, if I don’t immediately recognize that person’s name I click on their username and check out their posts or other content. It usually takes seconds to figure out if the friend request is coming from someone legit that I’m willing to chat with.
I’m not on facebook so don’t know how its handled there, but I am very active on Linkedin which requires you to check how you are connected to a person you want to invite as well as providing a sentence or two to introduce yourself. I guess I’m just used to it there…
Interesting, I have about 10 requests to be “friends” out there and I’m batting about .500 Maybe with a further detailed introduction my percentage would be higher, maybe not. Heck, if it weren’t for my tasty french fry avatar (thanks to my Graphic Arts major son who designed it) I wouldn’t even have BK in my corner!!
But I totally get it and in this world of SPAM I think you guys are doing the right thing to require some kind of a fire wall against Tina, Senko-worm virus, etc. I just think a chance to make an introduction might be a way to reach out to the broader IDO community you want to make selective connections with.
All in all, kudos on the new site – I like the changes.
How do the public messages work? Could you send them a public message first to introduce yourself and explain that you have fishing questions you’d like to PM them about? That way they’ll be more prepared for your friend request and likely to accept, especially if you’ve not interacted with them before.
I have about 10 requests to be “friends” out there and I’m batting about .500 Maybe with a further detailed introduction my percentage would be higher, maybe not.
I’m definitely not opposed to this suggestion. Honestly I think it would be a nice touch that I’d consider adding in the future.
Just a suggestion but could you possibly do a required post count (like around 5 or 10) before being able to send messages? That would then allow you to filter out the spammers as they should be easily recognizable if they do try and get their post count up. I’ve seen it done on other boards and it seems to work well. Also adding a captcha at registration if there isn’t one already would help considerably.
Just a suggestion but could you possibly do a required post count (like around 5 or 10) before being able to send messages?
That’s not a bad suggestion and I think that would eliminate some / most of the spam. But spammers can easily make the posts needed to access certain features. BK actually had one spammer posts thousands of times in the matter of minutes in a single forum as a way to punish us for deleting his posts earlier this spring. There’s no perfect system but requiring an accepted friend request prior to be able to send messages definitely seems to be about as good as system as there is out there.
Don’t you require a moderator to review a first-time post before it becomes viewable and that user is able to post again? I know nothing is ever perfect and some will slip through, just throwing out some suggestions on things I have seen that work we’ll on other forums.
Also putting a 20 second timer between posts will greatly reduce that machine gun effect BK experienced.
Also a little spam in my inbox is fine with me, it helps clear out the cobwebs that accumulate in mine.
BTW who ever falls for spam anyway?
Also putting a 20 second timer between posts will greatly reduce that machine gun effect BK experienced.
Trust me, we have that locked down. Now.
All I know is its a pita. It takes twice as long to contact someone the first time and the deny or cancel option that is so readily available seems caddy to me.
All I know is its a pita. It takes twice as long to contact someone the first time and the deny or cancel option that is so readily available seems caddy to me.
The plan is to make a message sent to a “non-friend” act as the friend request. So the PITA factor will be reduced by 50% and peace will return to the valley.
For me to take this and future gripes seriously you need to say two positive things about the new PM system which makes the old one look… dumb, in comparison.
I thought I fixed it so Mike thought he couldn’t get in.
Sorry James, that’s neither a positive or a negative.
Just to be clear…Do you have to “friend” someone first before you can send them a PM?? I am not sure what was wrong with the old PM system. I never had any spam in 4 yrs.
Yes, they must be a friend first.
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