I do not get two things.

[A.S. aka nanocomp.invent.]

Let's assume someone donates $100 to beta archive every month, but they do not get FTP access. While someone uploads something that gets approval, and they get FTP access, even if they pay nothing. The FTP servers are paid from donations and out of pocket expenses from the admins.

Doesn't this look a bit back wards? Like you donate money for FTP, and do not get access to it. While someone who uploads to FTP, and does not donate money gets FTP access.


Also on a side note. @mrPJ and/or @andy, I am not getting what you guys are talking about in the first post in https://www.betaarchive.com/forum/viewt ... =1&t=37300 . Can you explain in a dumbed down way. Its the talk about git-hub and the list of what is not allowed. If those things are not allowed then what software are we allowed to upload in the first place? The list seems to say almost everything is prohibited? I keep trying to re-read it but still, I do not get it.

[DBlake]

That list specifically says source code is not eligible for FTP access or acceptance.

[tjd2]

Someone can donate 5$ to betaarchive, but if he does not contribute, he is almost useless (sorry if i am saying something stupid. This is how i understand it)

[mrpijey]

That's an extreme scenario that has never and will never happen. Several members here have contributed in other significant ways and gotten FTP access without uploading a single release. These are general guidelines that apply to the 99.9% that would not go out of their way to contribute in other ways. So if you think you can offer us something better than releases contact us and let us know.

That post covers source code, that's it. We don't accept or allow any kind of source code, legit or not.

[Andy]

Donating will never get you FTP access. You have to contribute something to the archive. Donations are purely voluntary as a thank you for the hard work we do preserving software.

[computebrute]

It used to be different back when I signed up. Back then you were only required to have 10 "contributing posts" and you were granted access.

I feel it is quicker to get access nowadays. I contributed 10 or so items before I got FTP access; but who am I to complain.

[AlphaBeta]

It used to be different back when I signed up. Back then you were only required to have 10 "contributing posts" and you were granted access.

The problem is that these "contributing posts" weren't further defined, so it of course meant everybody tried to spam their way to 10 posts.

In my honest opinion a certain number of contributing posts (with a better definition, of course) could have been kept as a part of the FTP requirements together with the "upload a release" requirement BA has now, so the new members get to interact with the community at least a little bit. I remember that a problem many members had with the old requirements was that many people would come, make 10 posts, get FTP access and then never appear on the forum, only leeching from the server when required. Now the new requirements solved the leeching problem by requiring new members to upload something in return for FTP access, but there is now a lot of users with zero posts that have FTP access. Now of course the community is much healthier than it was in 2013 but I dare say that if BetaArchive does not encourage new members interested in FTP access to even just try to interact with the community, then the forum might as well be scrapped in a few years with only the FTP service being kept.

[Hyoenmadan86]

In my honest opinion a certain number of contributing posts (with a better definition, of course) could have been kept as a part of the FTP requirements together with the "upload a release" requirement BA has now, so the new members get to interact with the community at least a little bit. I remember that a problem many members had with the old requirements was that many people would come, make 10 posts, get FTP access and then never appear on the forum, only leeching from the server when required. Now the new requirements solved the leeching problem by requiring new members to upload something in return for FTP access, but there is now a lot of users with zero posts that have FTP access. Now of course the community is much healthier than it was in 2013 but I dare say that if BetaArchive does not encourage new members interested in FTP access to even just try to interact with the community, then the forum might as well be scrapped in a few years with only the FTP service being kept.

Encouraging != Forcing, and forcing interaction through an extra rule to get FTP access never has come with a good outcome. In the old days we had the forum spammed with at least 10 copies of the same useless questions or topics you could find in Winbeta or similar sites. Better let users decide if, after their contribution, they want to contribute a bit with the forum writting something they really find useful to them.

If Betaarchive doesn't have 100 posts per day doesn't matter. What really matters is even one post per week, but it being at least a real post, and not a spammy one made with the sole purpose to fill an endosed artificial requirement to get FTP access.

Right now things are fine as how them are with respect to FTP access requirements.

[SistemaRayoXP]

And even so, the requirement is still here, in some way. You must make at least three posts to be able to post in some subforums. And to avoid that your account will get deleted, you must login in at least 6 months, or make 25 posts (Doing the 25 posts will keep your account forever). So in many ways you are incited to login to the site, that makes you to get interest in the outcoming topics, and to integrate with the community.

[AlphaBeta]

Offtopic Comment

And to avoid that your account will get deleted, you must login in at least 6 months, or make 25 posts (Doing the 25 posts will keep your account forever).

The "regular user pruning" mentioned in the rules actually hasn't occured since like 2010.

[Andy]

That doesn't mean we won't do it again though, but it'll only apply to those with under 25 posts typically.

[A.S. aka nanocomp.invent.]

And even so, the requirement is still here, in some way. You must make at least three posts to be able to post in some subforums. And to avoid that your account will get deleted, you must login in at least 6 months, or make 25 posts (Doing the 25 posts will keep your account forever). So in many ways you are incited to login to the site, that makes you to get interest in the outcoming topics, and to integrate with the community.

So theorectically by me making this reply post my account can never get deleted.

[SistemaRayoXP]

By making that post your account will never be deleted for inactivity. If you do something that goes against the rules, obviously you could get banned, nevermind the post count

[Overdoze]

By making that post your account will never be deleted for inactivity. If you do something that goes against the rules, obviously you could get banned, nevermind the post count

banned != deleted. I don't think there's any reason for Andy to delete someone's account besides inactivity.

[mrpijey]

We don't delete any posts from banned or deleted members as it would break the discussion thread. Only in some extreme circumstances would they be deleted (or rather, moved offline) if they violated any rules or contained confidential information.

[Random_User]

In my honest opinion a certain number of contributing posts (with a better definition, of course) could have been kept as a part of the FTP requirements together with the "upload a release" requirement BA has now, so the new members get to interact with the community at least a little bit.

That was briefly in effect when the upload requirement was initially implemented -- 50 contributing posts were required in addition to the upload. The 50-post requirement was dropped shortly afterwards based on members' criticism of it.

[Andy]

We dropped it because we actually found it decreased post quality fairly significantly. People were literally finding ways to make a post that would count and make it the bare minimum. We also didn't have the time to go through and look at whether posts were abiding by the rules or not before accepting a user.

[Bender]

We dropped it because we actually found it decreased post quality fairly significantly. People were literally finding ways to make a post that would count and make it the bare minimum. We also didn't have the time to go through and look at whether posts were abiding by the rules or not before accepting a user.

Or there would be huge threads with a few brand new members replying needlessly. That was fun to clean up!

I don't miss those days. Plus, with the requirements that we have now with formatting of releases it has improved the quality of the content uploaded, though some of the older content was removed.