Custom profile field: Invited by

[fer]

I've added a new custom field to user profiles, labelled: Invited by. The idea is that when you register you have to indicate who invited you, and afterwards this is something that everyone can see. There are two reasons why I think this might be useful:

• It tells hosts who to ask if they see an account request that they weren't expecting
• It incentivises us all to take responsibility for the guests we invite

You can see this feature in action by looking at your own profile (I've populated the field with my nick for all existing forum accounts).

What do people think? Would you prefer it if the value was only visible to moderators?

[Xiathorn]

I'm not a huge fan of this. I feel that, once a guest is in, they're in on their own merits. Invitation by someone implies subordination to that individual if it's considered anything of relevence, even in the most minor part.

A record of where everyone came from for admin purposes could be useful during the initial time a guest is here, but once they've played with us for a few weeks I feel that should be removed and the individual be seen as a completely independent entity.

[fer]

I hadn't thought of it that way, but I agree that if the data suggests subordination to the original inviter then we shouldn't make it public.

From the administration perspective, I'd really like to retain it (but make it visible to moderators only). It's just so we have an easy record of who each person was invited by. In the (hopefully) rare instance that an issue comes up with a guest, that would be good information to have. Making a commitment to delete the data after a specified period is probably unrealistic. Is everyone more comfortable with that approach?

[Lor]

I see what you're saying, but I do agree that people under this system should stand on their own merits. It would obviously make people more accountable for who they invite, but I'd also not like to be associated with the actions for someone I invite who turns absolutely horrendous like 12 months down the line. =S

Certainly it should be visible to admins perhaps, but maybe no the general public.

[fer]

The field has been changed in the following ways:

• You only get asked about it when you register your account on the forum (but it is a required field)
• The associated message text is: "The nick of the player who invited you to folk. This information will only be visible to forum moderators. Please note that you cannot edit this later."
• You cannot edit it later on
• Nobody else, besides moderators, will be able to see this information

Also, have a look at the thread Proposed text for: How do invitations work? for thoughts on the extent to which guests are responsible for the people they invite to folk. Would be great to get your thoughts.

[Xiathorn]

The only concern I can see is if somebody who is good keeps inviting people who are disruptive. It's a hypothetical situation that is unlikely to occur and can almost certainly be handled in an ad-hoc manner, but I think it's important to consider. After all, optimism is key and I'd be loathe to tell someone "Hey, can you stop inviting people? Everyone you have invited has caused problems."

[fer]

I'd be loathe to tell someone "Hey, can you stop inviting people? Everyone you have invited has caused problems."

There's always the possibility that we have to ask someone to stop inviting people (at least for a bit), but I thought we could just common sense here, rather than legislate with lots of rules. If someone kept inviting people that weren't working out, the chances are that we'd have a bigger issue on our hands anyway - such as the person themself isn't working out.

[Xiathorn]

That's what I thought, yeah. I doubt we need to formalise that in the rules at all, but it's useful for hosts to know the "standard" in advance, even if it's a guideline more than a rule.