Wasnt it formerly 15 days before you could start a thread? Or something.
Dos, some of yes dont just shrug our shoulders and accept status quo. The same advice could go to ignoring posts you dont like or their threads.
Just saying.
I don’t think any of us mind questions. That’s why we’re here. But why would someone join just to make half a dozen posts that consist of a single question (mostly looking for subjective opinions) without any frame of reference or context and then disappear? It seems like their only purpose is to start a debate. Since we’ve all read the TOS 
we know that can’t possibly be the reason because it would be a clear violation. So we’re left to wonder.
@doschicos This is a wonderful thread that allows posters to vent, and it hopefully keeps the frustration from spilling over into other threads. As was astutely observed by @lucyvanpelt, it wasn’t just the repetitive “prettiest campus” thread, it was the fact that a “new”poster arrived in late June, shortly after this lovely (ahem) forum redo, waited a week and then spammed the forum with 6 clickbait threads in one day, and has neither responded nor returned. Posters have every right to vent their ongoing frustration and, as you and others have said, feel free to move along if the posts aren’t to your liking. Snarky retorts are no different, nor any better than venting.
The “pretty campuses” thread was just an example, as it seems to be part of a bigger issue. Sometimes it’s helpful to sit further back in the theater and observe everything going on on the screen.
@Knowsstuff Welcome to my life lol.
Has anyone looked at the “activity” option? Anyone have any prior observation or knowledge about how many new posters join in a day? Am aware the AP scores just came out which may be a variable, but just noticed that yesterday it shows 91 new posters . Seems really high.
91?? on the 4th of July weekend?
yeah, that does seem high.
@menloparkmom - it’s dated yesterday- not even the whole weekend. Just one day.
@jym626
that really IS a large # of new posters.
seems very fishy to me. I would not put it past the new owners to try to skew the post results in order to attract advertisers.
all they seem to care about is the ability to make $$$$
Conspiracy theories… Love it! ?.
This should be about the time or maybe in a week or two with new threads on doing essays and need application help etc. So I am being very cautious on who I attempt to help. Yes, I have fallen pry already…but as stated we are all here since we enjoy helping…
I also view it as if some “real” person reads the thread maybe they can gander some value from it.
I learn something new almost daily… Plus it is /was fun.
I can’t read the light type. Even changing my screen’s brightness, I have to strain and it hurts my eyes.
The recent activity summary has increased to 108 new sign-ups for July 6th. The join rate seems roughly similar before and after the update, usually >100 each day. However, a good portion of the new member names sound like automated robots.
On a vBulletin forum I used to own, I’d often get huge numbers of robots joining. There were times that so many robots viewed the PHP join page at once, that it brought down the hosting server. The most effective way I found to stop the robots was to have the sign-up page require a correct answer to a random selection of personalized, unique questions that are not found on any other forum sign-up page – things a robot would not be programmed to answer correctly. For example, something like: Which of the following colleges are not fictional – Faber, Monsters U, Starfleet Academy, Harvard, or Greendale Community?
Rather than robots, it sounds like people are more concerned with whether there are paid forum posters to drive up traffic. These services do exist. You can find many in a Google search. I tried them once, when I was starting my previous forum. The paid posts were so low quality that I ended up deleting all the posts on the first day and never using this type of paid poster service again. I have no idea whether this site uses them. If they are used, there isn’t much you that can be done to stop them.
Another discussed concern is real posters making low quality posts. I like the idea of limiting the number of new threads and/or posts during a trial period, then allowing unlimited posts after having advanced in member status. Not allowing any new threads and/or posts would be more effective, but would also drive away a huge portion of new posters from the site.
However, the far bigger issue is the new forum structure with awkward navigation and poor usability. Having fewer visible threads and awkward forum navigation makes issues with the fewer visible threads more noticeable, including things like lower quality new posts, articles featured prominently in the forum navigation, outdated featured threads, and outdated sticky threads. Some of these things aren’t worse than before, but are more noticeable now.
@doschicos I pointed out some anomalies that seemed odd to me given the timing of the re-design. You disagreed, fine, disagree. But that doesn’t mean that you are right (or even that I am right for that matter). The behavior of the poster I was pointing out was outside the norms of most new posters. Others found it strange, also. Just as I am welcome to post less here, right back at ya.
@Data10 thanks for those insights. Always helpful to hear from “owners” of other sites.
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
On a related note, please remember that ToS applies to this thread. What may seem innocent to the writer may come across as insulting to the reader, so try to keep sarcasm to a minimum.
Thanks @Data10. Very helpful. Is there any way to discern if the newbies here with new threads/posts (aside from the droll content) are real vs bots?
Thanks @O2BonCC I should have clarified I am using the app. I’m going to try the browser on my phone to see if it works better. I remember having to do that on the last update.
A new poster has to have 15 meaningful posts in order to use the PM function. That’s the “or something” you were probably thinking of…and that is still the case.
I’ve had a great long 4th weekend and hope you all have too. And I just finished a very good Oregon pinot gris from a can that I purchased at Trader Joe’s ( @doschicos another good reason to shop at Trader Joe’s!) and i’m here to say that it’s time for the owners of CC (whoever they might be) to put aside this foolishness and roll back this new release. Your traffic is tanking, your readers are armed with torches and pitchforks, your problems with your readers will surely soon become a national news story (given the number of national news sites that have cited this forum), and there’s no happy ending ahead.
Yes, it’s humiliating, yes it’s expensive, yes, heads are going to roll. But heads are going to roll anyway now that you have a website that doesn’t generate revenue. Don’t be known as the group that killed the vibrant community here…step up and do the right thing. Do the hard thing. And do it now while you still have a site to save. On our side, we all promise (I think I can say this with confidence) that we will help you move past this and the site will be in good shape for the September tsunami.
Where do I sign up to be one of these paid forum posters? It seems to me I can create accounts and ask off-the-wall questions in such a way that not even the most astute long-term member would question. 
Ok…I had a new thing happen tonight. I am always asked to sign in…so I did. Usually that takes me to the landing page of this. Well tonight I was asked to sign in a second time. The second time, the words “sign in” were in a rectangle outlined in black. Never happened before.
If I don’t sign in, I can’t see my bookmarks…and therefore have to hunt and peck to find things…