Fixing the problems with the forums and trolls

[Glaucus]

bloodline wrote:
Wayne, Kees, Red!!! Lads lads lads... lets keep this on topic please :lol:

Please Bloodline, no laughing allowed! However it's perfectly fine to insult someone.

  - Mike

[Glaucus]

And if someone trolls, ignore them, no matter how tempting it is to reply!

Exactly! Perhaps we should penalize those who respond to the troll!

EDIT: Of course I'm just kidding.

  - Mike

[Cyberus]

Glaucus wrote:

1. People using HTML in their posts - often enormous images, which also appear in people's replies to the offending post.

Why shouldn't people take advantage of the World Wide Web when posting on a web forum?!? Perhaps we should turn A.org into a telnet/gopher server then?!?

I agree, in any case it is only recently that people have started to find it annoying. Everything in moderation eh?

2. People posting garbage like "this is my 4000th post". I think this is the worst kind of crapflooding.

It's called a right of passage. It's goofy, no argument there, but at the same time it's good to (self) honor those long time users of Amiga.org, with which without there would not BE an Amiga.org.

Not only that, but I always thought those posts were meant to be a little tongue-in-cheek. I might write, "1000 posts, WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOO!" But if people seriously find the prospect of posting a certain number of times here truly exciting....
 Besides, its like a birthday, you don't relish the fact you're getting older, but you might as well remark on the fact!

3. People posting stuff for the sake of it, that doesn't actually say anything.

Well that's highly subjective. Communication is always good. I'm surprised people are so anal about this crap-flooding BS. Personally, I think it livens things up a bit. I mean, A.org is full of wacky characters, many of which I strongly disagree with, while others I'm indifferent with, but I'd never want to see anyone be removed. If someone's a goof, well, the world is full of goofs and that tells me that even goofs have a role to play.

Again I agree with you, but there is a line between someone having different views (politics is often the case), and someone who makes the whole AOrg experience less enjoyable through personal attacks, trolling, etc etc

I personally find the differing views, the odd subtle bit of trolling from people who usually talk sense, the occasional joke and pi$$take quite enjoyable, but its when someones sole purpose to troll...

Anyway, as has been said, lets lead by example. Now if only all the right-wingers hadn't fled the DMZ under a socialist barrage we could get some real discussions going! :-D

[Methuselas]

@Glaucus

For once, Mike, you and I are in COMPLETE agreeance with one another. It's nice to have the simple fun in the forums. Granted, it CAN get out of hand, but I don't think that we should completely do away with it.

[Matt_H]

by alx on 2004/1/26 16:59:00

@mikeymike

I never said anything about moderating comments up

I think that's a good idea, actually.

Anyone remember clickBOOM's Portal service? Any user had the option to mark a poll/list for deletion. After three marks, it was automatically deleted.

Something similar could work here. An "Alert!" button at the bottom of posts. Members with a longer chronological presence  on A.Org would get more power. IE, someone who's been here 6 months has 1 vote. Year-old members could get 2 votes, 1.5 years, 3 votes, etc. After something like 10 alert votes, a post would automatically be deleted or reported directly to moderators for a decision. The number of alert votes on a post should be kept private to avoid swaying opinions - each member should independently come to a conclusion.

Safeguards to prevent abuse would be the hard part...

My 2¢ :-)

[Damion]

I agree with what Ilwrath said...things will
eventually settle back down.

[Hooligan_DCS]

Rename "Talk-About" to "Mud-Corner" and leave it there.

[Glaucus]

-D- wrote:
I agree with what Ilwrath said...things will
eventually settle back down.

Yeah, me too. Funny how I missed his post first time around. Everything he said sounds about right to me.

  - Mike

[Glaucus]

1) refining the rules?
2) Getting stricter? (good idea or bad?)
3) Re-hashing the forums into a new schema to include more forums for personal discussion?

Well, I think someone else already suggested it, but I like the idea of patrolling all the forums except for the Talk-About forum more strictly. The way I see it, the Talk-About (or DMZ as I still think of it as) is not really about anything at all. Talking about the Mars lander in the Talk-About forum is as relevant as talking about the color of air or making fun of Michael Jackson. However, posting about smoking dope in the Amiga Hardware forum is obviously unwanted and justifiably deleted or moved to the Talk-About.

Btw Wayne, I think you mentioned in another thread that the Talk-About forum has "ballooned", out growing all other forums. I think it's a clear sign that people are more interested in socializing, as there's really few new things to discuss about Amigas any more. I think it's important for all of us in the community to just stay in touch, even if all we talk about is crap. I think the Amiga.org community has a spirit of it's own and I'm not sure it really needs to be overly regulated. I think this is the easiest and most likely to succeed scenario.

  - Mike

[whabang]

I think that one of the causes to the degeneration of the DMZ is athat we're loosing regulars - fast.
T-bone is gone (what happened to him anyway?), EyeAm(sp?)  is gone, Mips is gone, Coder, Rodney, Kronos, and several others atr rarely here anymore.
This means that the discussions cannot be the same anymore; there are new kids on the block.

I think that most people are fed up with the political discussions for a while. This has allways come and gone in waves, all depending on the foreign politics of the US. :-) Those discussions allways ended up in a big argument between Glaccus, KennyR and Iamaboringperson anyway...

I think that a small ammount of crapflooding should be allowed (WEEEEEEEEKEEEEEND!!! :-P), but during the last few weeks things has turned to the extreme; threads like "sumner7's picture paradise" is kinda rediculous(sp?).

I think that the moderator's should use their common sense and shut down that totally lack substance. Filling double-post threads are fun (gotta love Punkie's sis! :-D), but they quickly take up a lot of space. Pointless flamewars should be stopped at once.

In general I think that a little more active moderation could help, allthough I'm sure that the problem will go away after a while.

Whew! That has to be the longes thread I've typed for a while!

[bloodline]

Glaucus wrote:

1) refining the rules?
2) Getting stricter? (good idea or bad?)
3) Re-hashing the forums into a new schema to include more forums for personal discussion?

Well, I think someone else already suggested it, but I like the idea of patrolling all the forums except for the Talk-About forum more strictly. The way I see it, the Talk-About (or DMZ as I still think of it as) is not really about anything at all. Talking about the Mars lander in the Talk-About forum is as relevant as talking about the color of air or making fun of Michael Jackson. However, posting about smoking dope in the Amiga Hardware forum is obviously unwanted and justifiably deleted or moved to the Talk-About.

Btw Wayne, I think you mentioned in another thread that the Talk-About forum has "ballooned", out growing all other forums. I think it's a clear sign that people are more interested in socializing, as there's really few new things to discuss about Amigas any more. I think it's important for all of us in the community to just stay in touch, even if all we talk about is crap. I think the Amiga.org community has a spirit of it's own and I'm not sure it really needs to be overly regulated. I think this is the easiest and most likely to succeed scenario.

  - Mike

Simple solution, 10 free posts per month, want any more and you have to pay a $5 subscription fee.

I'm gonna be really unpopular now :-(

[Speelgoedmannetje]

redrumloa wrote:
I would have to guess that the 'anything goes' theme will be no more. Maybe changed to 'Any intelligent discussion' that is 1)In good taste, 2)legal, 3)Not for the sake only trolling alone. Maybe also add 4)Political arguements are allowed until they get unreasonably heated, at which time they will be closed.

 :-?

Sorry, I disagree with this fiercely. "Good taste", is probably the most subjective thing I've ever heard and to me that is a no-go for a policy. And for the second: legal? Well, everyone lives in a different country with a different law, so what's exactly legal?
And btw. wasn't trolling included in the policy? Just warn those who are only trolling, and let them at least say their word why they posted it, and if that just does not make sense as well and they continue trolling, ban them.
and this thread really ended up in a troll thread.

[mikeymike]

Sorry, I disagree with this fiercely. "Good taste", is probably the most subjective thing I've ever heard and to me that is a no-go for a policy.

Well look at it like this.  You rely on the judgement of the Amiga.org staff to moderate these forums.  If that didn't happen, only trolls would come here.  You're relying on our judgement already, so "good taste" is nothing new.  I've told users to remove avatars on the grounds of "good taste" and that was hardly controversial.

And for the second: legal?  Well, everyone lives in a different country with a different law, so what's exactly legal?

Eye of the beholder.  Ie. the moderators.

And btw. wasn't trolling included in the policy?

Yes, it is redundant.

[Speelgoedmannetje]

mikeymike wrote:

And for the second: legal?  Well, everyone lives in a different country with a different law, so what's exactly legal?

Eye of the beholder.  Ie. the moderators.

hmm, so I better shut up about politicians goin' to whores, since many moderators come from countries where such is forbidden

[redrumloa]

hmm, so I better shut up about politicians goin' to whores, since many moderators come from countries where such is forbidden

No, no the moderators would only do so in extreme situations I'm sure. There has to be some level of moderation or anarchy will reign.

[mikeymike]

Speelgoedmannetje wrote:

mikeymike wrote:

And for the second: legal?  Well, everyone lives in a different country with a different law, so what's exactly legal?

Eye of the beholder.  Ie. the moderators.

hmm, so I better shut up about politicians goin' to whores, since many moderators come from countries where such is forbidden

You didn't really take in what I said, did you? :-)