I mentioned to another member in a recent PM that I come to SciForums, and to this forum in particular to challenge my thinking. I don’t expect to change anyone’s mind – and could really care less if I do. As a result, I spend more time reading than posting. It may not seem like that is true, but check it out for yourselves. I am only involved in 10 of the first 50 threads in the WE&P forum. We have a number of members who, to appearances anyway, post merely to see their name in print - to drive their post count up, perhaps – or to shout from The Mount, “I agree!” If you have nothing original to add to the thread, why post? This has become decidedly worse during the past several months, there has been a trend for posts to wander quickly and drastically away from the point(s) established in the OP. Invariably, they wend their way quickly into the America/Anti-America camps or the Israel is Evil/Palestine is Evil camps, or the Republican Thieves/Liberal Wimps camp… ad nauseum. Truly thoughtful discussion is vanishing, and the question is: how do we get it re-established? The idea is not to eliminate anything that is not strictly on-topic. The occasional jest or sidestep adds to the flavor to a thread but, more often than not, it now derails the discussion completely. Is this what we want? Ideas?
ban the children? mandatory geopolitical quiz? Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Thank-you for illustrating my point so clearly.
goofyfish I have been guilty of doing some of the things you mention above. A lot of us are. I think we get emotionally involved and sometimes quickly reply to something on page two that was already well covered by a post on page one. There are a lot of us, mysef included, who need to do more reading of the entire thread before whippng out a lengthly or inapropriate reply to something that has already been stated. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Off topic posting is horrible. Especially when all the person does is post about how stupid I am and why I didnt answer his question.
Erm...i get the feeling that may be aimed at me as well but i've just joined the forum so i have a lot to put my comments on that i haven't yet and I try to be serious and to be honest i'm looking as much for clarification and discussion as i am to put my opinion across. I'm not trying to spam or be off topic so if i seem that way sorry =( I have put in a few silly comments but they are usually appended to a serious though or reply ^_^.
This post is not aimed at any specific individual. Even The Fish is guilty of it now and again. What I am seeking is input from the members as to how stiffly they want the posts to adhere to the OP. I understand that, like a normal conversation, discussions tend to wander off. I am looking to address the situations were, by the first or third post, a pissing contest has started over totally a unrelated or inappropriate subject. By the way, everyone, there is no need to quote the entire text of a post immediately preceeding yours and then making general comments to address it. :m: Peace.
Did yall see Britney Spears on David Letterman last night? I say delete the posts thats off-topic, or just edit out the parts that dont belong. (HINT HINT: Edit this post!)
The need for excessive editing is is the problem Counselor, it simpy takes too much time for a mod to do all of that editing. Especially in WEP.
It CAN be done. The issue then becomes where the line is drawn. Nobody likes their posts tampered with, myself included. People HATE when something they thought was relevant gets deleted - witness the several threads regarding me in the Feedback forum. So, do we lay down guidlines and allow Pollux and myself to interpret them? We cannot vote on each and every post due to time contraints... As a side note: I have recieved complaints regarding posts from nine different individuals that have not posted in this thread. Here is your opportunity to have an impact on an issue that obviously concerns you. If you do not speak up here, please do not bother to hit the "Report Post" button in the future. :m: Peace.
In order to retain my right to hit the "Report Post" button, I say the following: I don't mind much the occasional god damed swear word but I do mind when it is used in a personal attack by some sh** head. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! I am likely to occasionally hit the button under those conditions.
get to a thread early, lay out some pointers, define some terms, clarify the issue to be discussed, slap a warning. the keyword is pro active.
I have to agree on this goofyfish. At times I read a thread gone totally twisted and lose energy to even compliment it with my point of view. Other times, a thread gets slowly nicely buildup into a meaningful level with the richness of intellectual contributions to later end soured by a natural born comedian. I think the solution is difficult, and those of us with open mind would just have to sort out the bad apples and only register what’s worth learning. Facts of life, I would have to concur. :m:
I like to throw in a bit of humor occasionaly ^_^ but i hope it isn't taking energy away from any serious threads, tell me if i do and I'll put a pound in the spam0r jar. I've so far only "accidently" hi-jacked one thread but i handed it back 2 posts later ^_^. *note, i'm not taking anything said above personally but i don't want to be guilty of ruining a good thread so* (thats my suggestion btw, if i make a post anyone feels is detremental to the thread or just plain stupid tell me, slap me or ignore me, your call ^_^)
Hops! I forgot the solution. I’m sure that I have mentioned this before and I will do it again; The key to well guided forums is “effective monitoring work”. We have well organized threads and what maybe required is for Monitors to guide and “prevent” from topics or subjects spinning out of control. The key solution is in the hands of our super, wonderful, majestic Monitors!! What, …no time? I heard that before! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
If you believe a post is grosly unrelated to the thread and/or just too silly, ignore it. if someone does reply to it, ignore them both, except perhaps for a coment that we should get back on subject and only as a part of an on subject post. If more than two are involved, get a UN resolution.
Pumpkins: "you guys are tooooooo anal in this forum ....see ya 'round the campus, fellas... *kiss kiss*" Discussion forum. Debate forum. That's what this is suppose to be, pumps. Please, just stick to AOL chatrooms, eh? Goofy: Goofy I agree greatly with what you are saying, and I must admitt my own guilt on some occasions. And while I personally believe almost every other forum I visit here regularly (gen phil, rel, ethics, free thoughts, arts) all seem to be going to waste lately, I must admitt I think World Events is doing better than most. Though, still, it is important that we think of a solution to this. So, one idea I've just kind of thought over; I'm reluctant to say the word 'sub-forum', but I think it's the only way I can really voice this. I think under WE&P we should put a forum for something along the lines of Popular Political Debates. Now, my idea was completely written off when it came to philosophy - but I have to say, I think this one might even work better. The PPD forum could be designed for debates about Palestine/Israel, Iraq War and general U.S. bashing/defending. Those three topics seem to cover about 2/3 of the topics in WE&P and, frankly, it's just weakening the forum. I think if we had a forum designed specifically for these arguements, debates in this forum may tend to not stray to them (as so many do). As for how much to moderate the context of this forum for being on topic; I think the swearing has been done a little too tightly as of late, but I'm all for the removing of the off-topic portions of posts. If a swear word is used like any other word in the English language, I see no problem. If it is a designed attack - get rid of it. Thanks, Tyler
Goofy Solutions, gang. We need solutions... That’s a tough one. I agree these boards should not be used as a chat room for teenagers. Tyler has pointed out a serious offender. Sometimes I’ll see a couple of dozen posts from pumpkins in the time span of less than an hour with absolutely no intelligent content whatsoever. Perhaps a form draft letter should be drawn up to submit to those members who view sciforums as an online chat room, have their posts deleted and a stern warning issued. You could even send them a link to an appropriate chat room. This type of issue is prevalent to all posters from time to time, and is not really that big of an issue, imo. However, those who post only to increase their post counts with mindless drivel should be dealt with in swiftian fashion. Did you get that, pumpkins?
