Changing Access to the Script Vault

[MystressNyx]

This has been discussed a bit, but at the time we did not have the power to make any such changes. Now we do. So I'd like to renew discussions regarding how users gain access to the script vault. I am leaning heavily toward a time requirement as it cannot be falsely inflated as post count can. We'd like input on that idea as well as any other suggestions anyone may have. The only thing that is certain is that the method of granting access WILL be changing.

[Harkins]

Why is there any restriction at all?

[karnedge]

Why is there any restriction at all?

I'm honestly with Harkins with this one. By the time, someone gets enough posts (if used legitimately) or gets over the time requirement, that user is probably well versed with all the help they have asked for and work on. I mean I only say this because I've heard that most of the scripts are pretty much for very beginnings and not exactly usable by advanced programmers or even novice.

And is it feasible to allow more scripts to be added by the general population (obviously reviewed beforehand by admins and users alike).

[MystressNyx]

The original intent was to basically force participation so that no one could saunter over, download all the scripts, and never return leaving the forum with no community.

Also, we're not against the prospect of removing the restrictions all together. It's just that the last time this was discussed, that was not the favored route.

[Nox]

I agree with MystressNyx and it should be time truly spent on forum, maybe combined requirement - posts and time (to reflect the participation), so we eliminate the thing that someone either
1) signup, plays tetris for a month and they after whole this time comes back and downloads everything
2) open a tab in browser and use for example Opera's nice feature of auto-refresh

[karnedge]

Makes sense... and keep in mind, I haven't taken a look at the scripts so they could be pretty valuable. So take the criticism with a grain of salt.

[JGadrow]

I'm also in favor of just opening it up. If they take the scripts and don't stick around, it's really their loss. The scripts are NOT the valuable resource of this site, the active and knowledgable users are.

[travo]

I havent looked at the actual code in the scripts, but from the names of them, I think someone might be able to maybe get an idea of how to do something, but as Makari said, the users of this site are the best part of the site.

[jannesiera]

What's the aim of the vault?

Is it to reward active members? - Don't promote it, so let it be a surprise.

Is it to "gather" new members? - Promote with post count / time count.

Is it to help new bbgame developpers? - Make it available for everyone.

[Chris]

Make 1-2 scripts (ex: ExoFusion and Nova Traders) public (a big topic, posted at the very top for all would-be-spammers-to-get-post-count to see), the rest stay the way they are now (so the incentive to participate is still here).

Personally, I think it is not important and I would rather you to focus on important things, like game competition which is due many months already...

[Scion]

Originally i thought that the vault should be opened up for the public with no restriction.....

However now i have a new improved idea...

Most of the scripts are available from other locations ...scourceforge, official websites etc...

so how about having a post that provides the links to all the publicly available scripts out there...and make that post viewable to all....that way if a new user wants to get a hold of the scripts then they can, and BBGZ doenst have to use up its bandwidth making them available to someone who may never come back to the community.

then you can have a second area that has those scripts plus all the other scripts that have been accumulated or uploaded. This section could then be restricted to active community members (bassed on post count/time or whatever). This area would be provided as a convienience to the community, a sort of one stop shop where we can go if we want to take a look at a script. It would also provide us with a sort of bibliothek of scripts that may no longer be publicly available...

my 2 cents.

[travo]

I say things that have been uploaded that were created by the community should be for people in the community... Dont advertise it though. By 55 posts, most people are part of the community, right?

[JGadrow]

I'm definitely in favor of eliminating post count requirements. Yes, 55 posts will make you 'part of the community' but are you a welcome part or just an annoyance trying to get your post count up so you can grab the scripts and leave?

A timed solution is better. However, Scion's idea is pretty good. Make a post linking to the external sources for the public scripts so that bbgamezone's bandwith isn't used for all of these downloads and we 'should' have most of the freeloaders weeded out.

Then, have the 'members only' section be a function of time logged in / time as a member. If you simply do it as time as a member, Johnny can go and create an account, wait a month and then access the section whenever he wants. However, if you make it solely based on time logged in, He can create an account and stay logged into it all day to get his time logged in to a reasonable rate.

For 'reasonable' values, I'd say you should identify some key members of the site and average their time as member with their time online and say that is your baseline for being a 'member.' Or, maybe take the lowest result of those instead as they're all considered 'key' members so the lowest of those should be considered 'baseline?'

However, you want to realize a few exceptions. For example: Harkins, who I believe to be a valuable part of this community already, hasn't been here very long at all and probably should NOT be used to measure total member time requirement.

I believe this would be the most accurate system and the hardest to bypass by artificial means. Add to the fact that you're providing links to go and download the scripts externally and the section becomes, primarily, used only by actually active members of the community.

[jannesiera]

I was also thinking another way to do it. You could introduce some sort of voting system alike the reputation system.

But instead everyone who already is a 'member' (let's just call it like that ) has one vote for each other user, which (s)he can decide to give or not o give at any time. When a new user has enough 'votes' he becomes a 'member'. This 'votes' cannot be reduced (like for example in the reputation system), or maybe just by admins/mods.

[ckumarjha]

I don't have access to the scripts yet. So i don't know what kind of scripts are there. But I believe that the members of this forum are more valuable asset than the scripts. So if any one is here just to download the scripts then they are loosing out a lot. But still making beginner level scripts public for all won't harm cause most people who have just started out would learn them pretty quickly and won't have any use for them..... but make the advanced scripts accessible only to those members who reach a certain level of activity or have contributed enough to the community of this forum

This is just a suggestion though