So, my suggestion for the upper echelon - open a new section called "WTF" and whenever a mod sees such a thread, he can move it there. I think that way we'll be able to use it for lols.
Hmm.. I think that was what the lounge section was for...
If you don't have the time to read through a thread, than there's no point in posting at all. One hardly can add anything relevant to a discussion they didn't even read. How can one discuss something without hearing/reading other peoples point of view? I'm sorry but I find it annoying and rude when people do that.
Me too. Like when I just finished reading a whole thread and then someone asks a question that was answered in the same page. On the other hand, sometimes the threads are so long and a question was already answered on a very older post and in these situations, I don't find it rude.
I like Black.Cat's idea with the -1 button the most, but would balance it with a +1 button, like reddit
Thanks for your input but I don't think a (+1) button would do us good (at least not for the issue at hand). A (-1) button would hide garbage posts. While a (+1) would just be another reason for forum begging. Besides, there's already a (+1) button - the thanks button. You see that when people posts useful posts, it says ____users thank ___for this useful post. It highlights the posts because a lot of users found it useful. A (+1) cannot be used to bring top comments to the top because that would conflict with the chronological nature of the forum. A chronological thread would let people know how the conversation got into wherever it is.
feel free to report instances of post inflation, since it is against the rules. if nobody reports it, it's possible that no mods would ever come across it.
depending on which mod responds to the report, it may be dealt with in different ways. low quality posts aren't necessarily always post inflation. we're all asked to just use our discretion on this. blatant spam is always an instant ban though.
we typically don't infraction people for simply being ignorant, if it's not a rule violation. that's what the -rep button is for.
as of right now, there are around 20 of us mods, and the user count is growing by about 2000 per week, so do the math. the task of educating new users is something everybody has to chip in on for it to work.
there are mountains of posts that get deleted every day, which you don't see. all the bullshit you see on the forum is the stuff that's slipped through the cracks, probably because nobody's reported it yet. we don't mind multiple reports for the same thing, so don't just assume somebody else will take care of it.
imo i think concepts like a "
-1 button" are gonna have to be inevitable in the future for preserving forum wide post quality. we do read all of your feedback/suggestions and discuss them privately, even if we don't publicly reply to them. so keep em coming
Yeah, I think that's what we can all agree to - that everyone should pitch in to remove the garbage posts. Unfortunately, we, as a community (myself included), seem to be waiting for that magic red button that would clean up the forum. You wan't a clean forum? Do your part in the cleaning.
Personal opinion:
I often toss out a quick reply to someone wihout ever looking at what is going on in the thread. If I can help, Ill do it. For instance I did not read every post in this thread.
5 people telling me to try xx software means nothing to me. People recommenced Market Samurai and it is total crap. 60 people telling me to get xxx software tells me that people who know what the heck they are talking about like that software. I have done that myself and not to increase my post count.
What happens if the thread has some really good information that you read and later you go back and it is gone because too many people agreed with each other. Are you going to have the mods start deleting at the post level?
Isnt this everyones forum? Even the new guys? Arent they essential to the community we have here?
Like children, shouldn't we be tolerant of their immature behaivior until they learn the rules of this community? (And guide them the right direction with a REALLY firm hand)
You raised some very good points. However, if other people's opinions about a software or a method is that important to you, as I'm sure it is important to a lot of people, maybe we should start using the polls. Let's face it. Polls are a better way of achieving this. You get the results of what everyone thinks even without reading the whole thread. Plus, you get to see who voted for what.
For guiding newbies with a firm hand, I agree. For tolerating imature behavior, I do not. I truly believe that experienced users in their field would be able to guide others more efficiently if the forum is not chock-full of garbage posts. Clean forums with intelligent discussions would draw more intelligent minds to the conversations. The newbie's job is to read and implement what they can so that someday they can contribute too. Everyone who's ever earned anything here did that. We all know that.
I don't understand why anything on a forum is based off post counts. There are a number of other factors that could have be used like account age, reputation and thanked count.
In my opinion, PM restrictions based on post count serves (or served) a purpose - to detract mass account creation for the purposes of PM-ing other newbies to scam them. If we base the PM restriction on account age, a lot of people wouldn't be able to PM even though they aren't doing anything wrong. If we base it on rep and thanks there'll be more rep and thanks begging. If we keep what we have now, (the post count based system) we get a lot of garbage posts.
In this scenario, the optimal solution would be to keep the post count based system but prevent users with a negative rep from PM-ing. This way, if they want to PM, they still need to post a number of posts but they would have to make sure they are useful posts or else they will be neg repped and prevented to PM.
===============================================
TLDR version and Conclusion:
If we want to keep BHW noob friendly but high quality, all the solutions we would come up with would point to two things.
1. Community Action- everyone should pitch in. Whether its neg reps or (-1) buttons, we have to
make the effort of giving it
2. Tough love - use the buttons for those who deserve it. If they really want to learn, they'd stick around and read and contribute.
