Maybe half of the 'Post a question on first post after joining 3 minutes ago' people never come back, and the regulars are being nice answering to no one. Would it be rude/bad/arrogant/? to program in that you can't post on the day you sign up for DF? That would mean they at least have to remember DF for 24 hours before asking a question.

 

Not a bad idea. My thoughts are people are searching for answers on the internet, find something that matches their question here, create an account, ask a question and then forget where they asked the question....

 

I think that would drive away more folks. People come here to solve problems, for the most part. Sure, we have some that post, then disappear, but, they are the minority. When you have a problem with your vehicle, you aren't going to want to wait 24 hours to get ideas on possible fixes.......

 

I see these type of forums as a place for enthusiasts, not just for random people trying to fix one problem. If I were programming here, for curiosity, I'd do a pull for each member of the date gap between last post and join date. I bet a huge amount of 'members' come and go within a week, many in one day.

This suggestion is also something that can be tried for a while and reversed if problematic. I know in my case, I'm really hesitant to get into a longish reply to a join-day-first-post. I feel I'm likely wasting my time.

 

I may or may not check join date, number of posts, etc, before answering a question..... (provided I actually have a possible answer.....) Probably why my post count is so high.