| Please read the long but necessary explanation below before voting! |
| Yes, the automatic restriction is worthwhile even though it affects PM's |
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71% |
[ 32 ] |
| No, the restriction in PM's would be too annoying, let's keep it as it is. |
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28% |
[ 13 ] |
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| Total Votes : 45 |
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| Author |
Message |
Marcos Avila
Moderators
Joined: 05 Feb 2003
Location: Santo Andre (Brazil)
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 Posted: 2005.01.14(Fri)2:11 Post subject: Automatic restriction of "One-liners" |
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Dear Members,
Each discussion forum has its particular set of rules that aim at modelling it towards the likes of its target audience. In this board, which is targeted towards more adult, mature fishkeepers (not to be confused with fishkeeping experience level), we do not appreciate overly short, trivial and superficial replies in topics. We believe they are not only unnecessary, but also consume precious space and resources, are irritating to other members, and generally compromise the quality of the visitor experience on the board. Here's what the guidelines have to say about it:
| Quote: |  Participants that abuse of posting short messages that contribute nothing to ongoing discussions (including one-line messages saying little more than 'Cool', 'Thanks' or 'I agree') may have these posts deleted as well. This type of behavior is harmful to the board and frustrating to those who click on the message expecting to read something relevant.
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As many times we've stated, we value members in terms of the quality of their posts, not the quantity, and to this end we have even removed the line that used to show the total number of posts from each member.
This is certainly not the way many other boards out there operate...they tend to give high value to quantity and will even stimulate people to post as much as they can by granting higher ranks/stars/points depending exclusively on the number of posts, regardless of their content.
Because of this, many people arrive here with such a mentality, they register and immediately start posting all sorts of one-liners and even one-worders that add nothing new to topics, mistakingly assuming that it will somehow quickly improve their "status" on this board. Policing and intervening in such cases has always been a rather unpleasant and inevitably abrasive part of the daily lives of our esteemed moderators.
Recently, Tommy has brought my attention to a modification that can be made on the board, so that any message that is too short can be automatically prevented from being posted. The user will get an error message and a reminder to take some extra time and try to make his post a more useful and worthwile read for everyone. I'm sure that most capable and well-intentioned members will take this as a positive reminder and quickly elaborate a little more on their post, rather than resorting to some childish attitude such as adding more useless words/characters just to beat the restriction limit.
The only problem with this modification is that it will automatically affect posts sent by Private Messenging...unfortunately for now there's no way to apply the restriction to public posting while allowing short posts in private, which would be the most desirable situation so we could encourage people to post short replies by PM instead.
Thus, here is the topic of the survey. Since I obviously don't know what goes on in Private Messenging, I'd like to know if you would consider it overly annoying to have that restriction applied in PM's as well, or if you believe that the benefits of restricting overly short/superficial posts on the board are worth the inevitable restriction in PM's.
Thanks for reading and for sharing your opinion. Feel free to comment below as well...
_________________
Success with a fish/tank is measured in YEARS, not months or weeks... |
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SLACkra
Advisors
Joined: 06 Feb 2003
Location: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
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| Posted: 2005.01.14(Fri)4:48 Post subject: |
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marcos how would the system tell if its a one liner. for the pms people could trick the system so if they need to say a one liner they can go enter enter enter enter then say there name. would the system see that as a one liner?
andrew |
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Marcos Avila
Moderators
Joined: 05 Feb 2003
Location: Santo Andre (Brazil)
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| Posted: 2005.01.14(Fri)6:56 Post subject: |
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Slackra, don't worry about such details now, there's a more important issue to discuss. The restriction is in terms of minimum number of characters.
_________________
Success with a fish/tank is measured in YEARS, not months or weeks... |
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NOAH
Regulars
Joined: 28 Jan 2004
Location: mississippi
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| Posted: 2005.01.14(Fri)8:10 Post subject: |
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Not to be a smart &%# Marcos ,but how short is short?1-3 words,1-6 words ect,ect.Like in the photo section that is all that is reqired at times to reply.I feel kinda stupid asking ,but ihad to ask.Correct me if iam wrong for asking that question.
_________________
simplicity works best with a little patience |
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Huntress
Moderators
Joined: 05 Feb 2003
Location: Houston TX
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| Posted: 2005.01.14(Fri)10:34 Post subject: |
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Marcos, my vote has been cast, give me your torch. 
I say do it, considering my PMs are rarely, if ever, one liners.
_________________
"Feminae bene moratea historiam raro faciunt" |
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DJ Mix
Members
Joined: 21 Sep 2004
Location: Johnston County, N.C.
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| Posted: 2005.01.14(Fri)11:52 Post subject: |
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Tho I have used PM's as a way to say a simple "Thank you", I think that, when necessary, I can come up with a little more to say to someone who has helped me. I also agree that one line posts with no relevent info are annoying at best, and can be very time consuming when trying to use the features of the forum.
_________________
D & J |
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McP
Advisors
Joined: 24 Jul 2004
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| Posted: 2005.01.14(Fri)13:15 Post subject: |
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I say go for it. I don't see any reason why a PM has to be short anyway  but do you have any idea what the character limit would be? |
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number6
Moderators
Joined: 07 Feb 2003
Location: Ontario, Canada
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| Posted: 2005.01.14(Fri)13:42 Post subject: |
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| @-McP wrote: | | but do you have any idea what the character limit would be? |
it is selectable. If implemented, a number would be picked.
I.e. the phrase' OK, cool thanks!  ' is 19 characters so a 20 char limit wouldn't permit that to be that short.
_________________
"Just don't look in my fish room honey... it's just better for all of us. " |
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McP
Advisors
Joined: 24 Jul 2004
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| Posted: 2005.01.14(Fri)14:07 Post subject: |
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well that sounds like the best invention since the python  I'm definetely saying do it. Short PM's can go to IMHO  |
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SLACkra
Advisors
Joined: 06 Feb 2003
Location: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
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| Posted: 2005.01.14(Fri)17:46 Post subject: |
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actually marcos I voted no because I thought the pm system would be rather annoying. but I guess it would mean a lot less work for the moderators. any chance you could change my vote to yes?
cheers
andrew |
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