Banning Mobile Devices from Posting

Water Pokémon Master

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What do you guys think about banning all mobile devices from posting here, such as the 3DS, smart phones, etc.? It seems that almost everyone who uses these writes very short, shallow, and grammatically incorrect posts that just come across as spammy crap.
 
I would be against it. I use my phone a lot when I'm on campus, and even though I don't post too often, it would be handy if I wasn't near a computer for a while. Perhaps make a bigger warning penalty for those using their mobile device to post spam?
 
Well, if the mods are on top of the spam like they should be, then it wouldn't be a problem, would it?

I don't think banning them is necessary. I mean, if we're looking to appeal to everyone, then we should keep everything open.
 
I would oppose such legislation. Many users post solely from mobile devices, and restricting their usage could severely inhibit the accessibility to our site for those people. Especially during the school year when people are busy and about, cutting off mobile users is severing an artery of our community's livelihood. People who join PokeBeach should have read the rules. If someone makes a poor post, they will face consequences; that said, their choice of medium should not be discriminated against.
 
A lot of people access the Internet primarily through phones, and Pokebeach falls among that. They frequent the forums, they post, and their posts are meaningful.
I even take my 3DS with me on trips when I'm away from home, just so I can keep in touch with Pokebeach sometimes.

But the quality of posts has absolutely nothing to do with what medium you use to access the Internet.
One person could access Pokebeach only from a phone and have long meaninful posts. Another one could access it through a desktop and talk like a 5-year-old.

In short? No, this would be a silly rule. Don't ban mobile device posting. Not only is that impractical, it's near impossible to actually enforce.
 
I used to post from my phone until I upgraded to a better one that has autocorrect and no way of viewing the mobile version of sites. My vote is don't ban it. There are many people who visit these sites from mobile devices, and I know two who do that are very constructive. Yes, there are spam posts, but don't let a few rotten apples spoil the bunch.
 
I am against it. I post here almost everything from my mobile phone because I don't have a computer most of the time. If it will happen I will probably wont be able to continune posting here.
 
Water Pokémon Master said:
What do you guys think about banning all mobile devices from posting here, such as the 3DS, smart phones, etc.? It seems that almost everyone who uses these writes very short, shallow, and grammatically incorrect posts that just come across as spammy crap.

r u sure about dat - sent from my computer

Now that I've had my fun, let's get serious here. People with computers may have unintelligent posts and people with phones may write smart and thought out posts. Don't hate the device, hate the poster.
 
I know I'm just chewing up and spitting out everyone else's words here, but I'm against it.

1. How could you possibly enforce such a rule other than making a rule saying so?

2. Is it possible to know every device someone can log in and post with?

3. How would you actually be able to tell what device the post came from?

4. How could you actually ban the specific device?

5. What if you or any Mod/S-Mod had an emergency and the only way to get in touch was anything BUT a computer? <--- A very important question I would like to know the answer to!
 
There's not much left for me to really add to this discussion, but has a different word count limit been considered? Bumping the minimum requirement up to 20 words or whatever might help weedle out the more extreme spam.

It would be interesting to know how much of our posts come from mobile users, how more likely spam is to come from a mobile user, stuff like that. Is it feasable to ask DE to pull out a database of members warned in the last 6-12 months for spam, and compare device usage?
 
Maybe if the mods did their work more on moderating spam/grammar rather than other trivial matters then this wouldn't even be a problem. The internet now is more accessed through phones/portable devices rather than computer.

Besides, this is a conversational forum, not an English class, let some people have some form of relaxation. It's like tying a leash to everyone especially when some people here aren't even having English as their first language anyway (me for example)

A last note would be

- If moderators can't even efficiently moderate these shallow, stupid posts that you're talking about, what more moderating every post that comes from a mobile device lol.
 
I think they should not be banned. I don't usually post from my computer, but now that school has started I think i will post from my computer more. I primarily post from my iPad mini- and I love writing on there. The keyboard allows me to type as quick as a computer, and I think it is really useful. There should be a higher warning issued if there is incorrect grammar or spelling in the post. But just out of curiosity, how do you know if it is posted from a mobile device, if the "Sent from Taptalk 2" isn't issued?
 
Brave Vesperia said:
1. How could you possibly enforce such a rule other than making a rule saying so?

2. Is it possible to know every device someone can log in and post with?

3. How would you actually be able to tell what device the post came from?

4. How could you actually ban the specific device?

The user agents of smartphones and tablets are different than those of desktops and laptops. Basically, there's a string of text sent with your request for data from a site that the site can use to alter things. That's how most sites distinguish whether or not to give you their mobile version. Don't quote me on saying this is exactly how it works, but I think it's the gist of it. I'd recommend messing around with this extension if you're curious. As for banning stuff, we could feasibly hide the login forms from the mobile version, and have the login URL redirect elsewhere if someone tries to use the URL directly.

As for my opinion on banning mobile: I generally agree with everyone else about mobile stuff providing a good deal of convenience of access, and also question if there's a direct correlation between mobile users and amount of spam, but in addition, I think banning mobile might just look plain arrogant and out-of-date. Some people already think MyBB is somewhat outdated (pleh), but banning mobile would be much worse.
 
I don't post from my iPhone but I search the forums a lot when i'm at school with it. As long as I can still view everything as I normally would be able to then I don't really care if that option is removed.

Maybe you can just block certain members from being able to post on mobile devices? Just a thought.
 
The only thing that really bothers me about people posting on mobile devices is when they sign off with "sent from X device", it's really unnecessary to say that.
 
Bolt the Cat said:
The only thing that really bothers me about people posting on mobile devices is when they sign off with "sent from X device", it's really unnecessary to say that.

I think it does that automatically, but I could be wrong.
 
Brave Vesperia said:
5. What if you or any Mod/S-Mod had an emergency and the only way to get in touch was anything BUT a computer? <--- A very important question I would like to know the answer to!

It's been a week. Any answer, WPM? (I don't mean this in a rude way, sorry if it comes across like that, just wondering what your answer is)
 
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