Potential Rule Change

[drgoodtrips]

Originally Posted by Tim

I haven't noticed any spammers like that recently, although while I am posting regularly I am not here for most of the time so I must miss the night time antics.

I'm confused about the vote part. When did the hoi polloi start having a say in the rules? That is a sincere question. Forums are definitely not democracies and couldn't be: benevolent (hopefully) dictatorship is the model.

I'm just wondering why we are asked for our opinion on this rule?

I see that this thread has been closed, but I wanted to offer a point of clarification in case you're reading.

The reason for posting this as a poll, in my mind, is mainly that the poster requesting the rule is asking for an increase in the amount of subjective application of rules by the moderation staff. Unlike imposing a rule such as "don't use swear words not allowed on network television", this cannot be easily and objectively enforced, so I think it only makes sense to see if the "customers" of the site are in favor of such a thing.

Pending a re-opening of the poll, the results don't seem decisively enough in the affirmative to warrant any kind of action (though the sample size is admittedly small).

Also, consider that there are the occasional poster that uses the three threads per day for all it's worth to create three threads per day about the exact same topic.

[drgoodtrips]

Re-opened, per discussion in the mod forum. Vote and post at will, but please don't make this a discussion of who you think is guilty of what. This is just intended to get a general feel for people's opinions on this.

[Traveler]

Excellent idea, i would definately support it.

[Kash]

After re-reading the original post and some of the comments here, I would like to change my vote to support such a measure. I guess I missed the part that require unanimous moderator agreement before any actions were taken. Since the moderation staff is just as varied in their beliefs and opinions, I have little concern for abuse.

[noahath]

Originally Posted by Captain Trips

There hasn't been a lot of spamming here lately. Unless I, like you, am missing a ton of it at night.

Which I seriously doubt.

This is more about personal issues and pissing matches than it is about "spamming." That's what it looks like to me.

The suggestion largely stems from a small number of posters who post multiple threads each day on very similar topics. It was for this very reason that we recently enacted limitations on the number of threads a person can create each day.

What has basically happened within the Forum is we have some members we believe that "quantity = quality"; thus we have a plethora of threads that do little than take up space, when it would be far better to have fewer threads but with more detailed discussion within them.

I don't think I need to point out the members that I'm speaking of, as I think many can work that out for themselves.

[Traveler]

If this was implemented would it be in conjunction with the 3 a day rule on new threads?

Just because this was implemented i wouldn't wanna see the 3 thread limit per day disappear.

[noahath]

Originally Posted by Traveler

If this was implemented would it be in conjunction with the 3 a day rule on new threads?

Just because this was implemented i wouldn't wanna see the 3 thread limit per day disappear.

I would see the three thread per day rule staying, and the two working in conjunction.

[pramjockey]

To me it seems that it would add yet another layer of complexity to an already difficult job. I'm not sure that there would be any real benefit, and to be brutally honest, adding another rule to a set that is only somewhat enforced doesn't seem to really be adding anything to the situation.

I suspect that if the current rules were more effectively enforced that much of this particular issue would be moot.

[Traveler]

Originally Posted by noahath

I would see the three thread per day rule staying, and the two working in conjunction.

That's great.

[AwareAndiCare]

Originally Posted by noahath

I would see the three thread per day rule staying, and the two working in conjunction.

I would be in favor of this rule if all the mods made each decision also, some things i think can be misconstrued very easily so my interpretation might not be the original intent.

[noahath]

I think people may be getting worried that mods will start to penalise people for posting. That is not the intention of this proposed change. The intention is to focus on those members who post multiple threads on the same issue time-after-time-after-time-after-time etc, with little-to-no variation on their commentary. In actual fact, IF this change is enacted 99.9% of posters on the Forum will never be affected by it.

[Imperator]

Originally Posted by noahath

I think people may be getting worried that mods will start to penalise people for posting. That is not the intention of this proposed change. The intention is to focus on those members who post multiple threads on the same issue time-after-time-after-time-after-time etc, with little-to-no variation on their commentary. In actual fact, IF this change is enacted 99.9% of posters on the Forum will never be affected by it.

well said.

[Si modo]

Originally Posted by pramjockey

To me it seems that it would add yet another layer of complexity to an already difficult job. I'm not sure that there would be any real benefit, and to be brutally honest, adding another rule to a set that is only somewhat enforced doesn't seem to really be adding anything to the situation.

I suspect that if the current rules were more effectively enforced that much of this particular issue would be moot.

Yes. The KISS rule seems to be a good idea in many cases, especially when one donates their time.

[AwareAndiCare]

Originally Posted by Si modo

Yes. The KISS rule seems to be a good idea in many cases, especially when one donates their time.

I agree they do a great service and i sympathize,12 years ago i and 2 others formed the AA channel on the undernet when there were only 2 servers for IRC before the internet went windows IE. I served as channel Admin and the others took the other 8 hour shifts. I don't envy the responsibility that being a mod entails, hats off ladies and gents.

[mudwhistle]

As long as content isn't a major consideration I have no problem with it.

Let's not become like The Democrat Underground or Hannity's site were opposing viewpoints are not allowed.