Should we adopt a policy on installing mods (i.e. plugins)?

[Diderot Mirabeau]

As you may remember I have a few times advocated over email to install one or two mods to the phpBB, which would allow us better protection against bulletin boad spamming while reducing the need for manual intervention to validate new users.

Upon reflection of an idea to improve the options available when conducting polls by installing a mod it occurred to me that there might well be a number of ways that we could enhance the functionality and ease of use of our forums by systematically going through the list of available mods and picking out those that seem to address a particular, recognised need for our boards.

However, I seem to recall our Dean making an argument against installing (too many) mods as they allegedly have some drawbacks including the risk of incompatibilities as well as potentially making any upgrade of the basic forum software harder since a mod may have locked some of the files that need to be replaced by the upgrade.

I would point out that the fact that we have already installed an RSS mod and that our forums have not been upgrade to the latest version for a few weeks now seems to indicate that these concerns may not be as pressing as we think.

In short I'd like us to consider and possibly decide on a principled policy on the permissibility of adopting mods for our forums to enhance their functionality and address better the needs of our community.

As further justification of my proposal I'd like to mention that I have discovered the following mods, which I personally believe could considered useful additions to our forums' basic functionality:
[list:36dfthel][url=http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.ph ... 3:36dfthel]Hide Zero Posters[/url:36dfthel]
[url=http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.ph ... 3:36dfthel]Null Vote[/url:36dfthel]
[url=http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.ph ... 0:36dfthel]Put average posts per day under user's avatar[/url:36dfthel]
[url=http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.ph ... 8:36dfthel]Report Posts to Moderators[/url:36dfthel]
[url=http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.ph ... 2:36dfthel]Advanced Vote Manager[/url:36dfthel]
[url=http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.ph ... 0:36dfthel]Temporarily Ban a User[/url:36dfthel]
[/list:u:36dfthel]
Please note that deciding on a policy of adopting mods does not automatically entail that we should install [b:36dfthel]all[/b:36dfthel] of the mods mentioned in the above. If we choose to allow mods I suggest that we subsequently take individual decisions regarding the feasibility of any mod suggested for installation by a moderator. I merely list the mods in the above to illustrate and perhaps justify my suggestion that we at least consider the possibility for extra, useful functionality as offered by the above mods.

[Patroklus Murakami]

I'd like to hear more about the pros and cons. While many of these modifications sound useful I'm not technically literate enough to know what the implications are.

Any other views?

[Diderot Mirabeau]

This proposal didn't pass because not enough votes were cast in favour of it.

[Diderot Mirabeau]

Colleagues could I please have your attention around this issue, thanks?

I'm beginning to receive reports that legitimate prospective users of these forums are being denied their rightful access to them because their 'application' is not being reviewed and approved in a timely manner.

It would be most unhelpful if we failed to maintain our duties as moderators of these forums.

The reason why people's registration emails are being missed is undoubtedly that we're being perpetually flooded with an immense amount of spammy registration requests to the extent that we now have between 500 - 600 registered users most of which are not approved for posting. Due to the clumsy user interface of phpBB pruning these users is a veritable pain and it doesn't address the influx of new registration emails between which legitimate applications seem to be lost.

I would therefore like to re-submit my proposal that we seriously consider installing some plugins to the discussion board - the most important of which would be the one to effectively put a plug into spammy user registrations - that I have dealt with at length in a previous email to you all. I'd urge you to please reconsider your decision to not participate in the vote and instead cast a vote in favour so we can get along with this business and be seen to act as more effective moderators by the citizens of our community.

[Fernando Book]

Diderot,

I suppose we need to improve the registration process, but I don't think we should vote on a technical question. At least, I shouldn't vote on a question I don't have the minimal background to reason my decision. But I support any improvemente we make.

[Diderot Mirabeau]

Just as a follow up to my previous post I've investigated the user base and found that of the 645 presently registered users around 589 are spam registrations, which I cannot delete easily because of the cumbersome way in which this system enables you to perform user management (i.e. having to look up the user by entering the full username, pressing enter and then checking a delete box and submitting the operation. Imagine having to do that for 589 users many of which have rather depressing or difficult to spell names).

As a stop gap measure I've posted a notice in the "Questions and Answers" forum encouraging any newly registered member to notify the moderators of his/her registration by sending an IM in world to any of us.