Quote:
Originally Posted by Rattlehead
(Post 318245)
Just a quick question...
Is this the off-topic thread that Nearmiss proposed a while back? Judging from what Blackdog has said, I don't think so.
If someone can clear this up, I'd appreciate it.
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Off topic discussions are certainly ok in here but actually this thread is pretty generic, so i don't know how easy it would be to keep track of a longer conversation with a more focused subject matter.
This is more like a place to vent some frustration, speculate and engage in forum dueling without taking over unrelated threads, which means a single thread can do the job because personal exchanges between members are either short or repetitive in nature and as such, easier to keep track of for the participants without needing dedicated threads.
What Nearmiss proposed was an entire off-topic section. I don't want to overstep my boundaries, being the new guy and all, so i'm not going to do something i haven't cleared with him or Alpha first but if you guys want such a section i'll ask them about it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by klem
(Post 318219)
It's a nice try Blackdog but you'll never win or you'll find yourself on a 24/7 mission.
I know you're trying to keep threads clean and readable and I wish it could be so but I think you're flogging a dead horse. People can't resist replying to a post they feel strongly about, time and again. Some of course are just there to goad.
I'm an offender too (not a goader I hope) but I'm trying to resist re-entering old arguments and thats not easy when someone has actually quoted your post.
Most of these repetitive threads don't really need to be worried about. They just take up server space. Let them vent their spleens. The fact is that anything in a thread past about page 3 is either a valuable piece of work (not often) or has become a general discussion or a competely worthless slanging match. You can definitely tell by page 5! Just act on the justified 'reported' posts and if necessary ban people. It won't stop them though, they'll either create a new account or come back after the ban.
My advice to people that don't like certain posters is to add them to their ignore list and let their blood presure come down. Its working a treat for me and one well known Troll ('Troll' IMHO). I would also suggest people assess the thread for the first few pages and decide whether its even worth bothering with. Why repeat an argument that's already been posted? (I know, I know, and I'm trying.) Back round the circle, if they do keep bothering with it, let them get on with it.
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Actually i thought i was up for some trouble but i was surprised how easy it is: instead of having to plead with everyone who might derail a perfectly good thread to let the rest of the participants have the kind of discussion they set out to (and getting sucked into the off-topic debates myself), all it takes is clicking a few check-boxes to select some posts and pressing the "move" button.
It actually saves me a lot of time, because i don't have to quote and answer every person that might be going off-topic and ask them to stay on the original subject. Hopefully it saves the same amount of time for the other participants.
Other than that i browse the forum daily, sometimes twice a day, so it's pretty easy to keep track of things and sooner or later most people will be coming here on their own if they just want to have a bit of a verbal brawl. If for example i'm having a one-on-one exchange with somebody in another thread and we're going off topic, i might as well ask him "hey, let's take this to the arguments thread, will reply to you there, is this ok?".
In other words, the workload is pretty light (much lighter than having to reply to and convince people not to derail threads): the forum interface is easy to use and the amount of duelists is not that big anyway. ;-)
