What Do People Think About Topic Regulation In Forums?, And When Are Y

[Monk]

This thread is clearly heading for the same fate. I mean, the discussion has now turned to the definition of trolling. It certainly must be closed then as it has deviated from it's original title?

CLOSE IT. We really don't need it. Or any of these other topics. Why is it such a big deal when topics are closed?

If I may I'd like to assume a cordial chatting atmosphere if only because that is my default mode - in addition to Exhophase's quieries I'd love to know what the "any of these other topics" are - is it the whole "off-topic" forum? More? Less? And... why is it such a big deal when threads are left open, in your opinion?

I mean - it's pretty certain that the resulting conversation is not going to approach the benefits of the ludicrously overstated space exploration analogy that I proposed earlier, but then the costs are (it seems to me) considerably lower than NASA's budget too. I'd be interested in at least trying to understand the "why" of enforced closures in greater depth than I've been able to ascertain to date.

 

[Exophase]

I'm trying to say it doesn't really matter. Why argue about mods closing threads? It's not like the mods are going to go around and re-open threads that were unfairly closed.

But they could end up locking new threads less............

But you're right, why argue to try to get anything you don't like changed ;P

 

[Monk]

Create seperate topics if you wish, but unless it's discussion cube, please keep it on topic with regards to the topic title.

Ummm, I confess - I went and had a look-see at the current discussion cube thread again. I don't think that is really the discussion for me

 

[Auritribe]

I just wanted to let you all know that I saved 15% on my car insurance by switching to Geico.

Have a great day.

 

[sam fisher]

CLOSE IT. We really don't need it. Or any of these other topics. Why is it such a big deal when topics are closed?

I'm sorry, is this topic interfering with your sucking up to the moderation team? This is off topic.

I'm trying to say it doesn't really matter. Why argue about mods closing threads? It's not like the mods are going to go around and re-open threads that were unfairly closed.

We live in a universe where we move linearly through the dimension of time at a constant velocity. As such event and changes that occur now can actually effect the future! Who would of thought it possible?

 

[gp2.eXe]

I said I wouldn't bother anymore, but here I'll leave you with some thoughts from the GP32Xtreme Boards Rules.

For the Mods:
QUOTE

- Our purpose is to share, help and support others
- Be respectful of others' opinions
...
- DO NOT post the same topic in multiple forums. If you are unsure of which forum a thread should go under, just state that in your post, and a moderator will move the thread to the correct forum. Multiple posts are unnecessary and will be deleted.
- Always be civil and courteous. This forum is visited by people from all over the world of different ages, genders, and races. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Also, see Flaming, Right to Privacy, and Racism.
...
- Ranting is prohibited - a rant is a post which is long-winded, redundant and filled with angry, non-constructive comments. A free exchange of ideas is essential to building a strong sense of community and helpful in the development of the game, but rants are disruptive and incite flaming and trolling. Please post your thoughts in a concise, clear manner and avoid going off on rambling tangents.



OK, maybe we get slightly off-topic, but closing threads because of that means you want this forum to be on-topic only, thus making the subforum's name "off-topic forum" useless. In fact it has a label that reads: "Have something interesting to say that's not strictly GP32 / GP2X (and you can add Wiz / Pandora) related? Use this forum as your very own personal soap box and tell us all about it." We need to have different things to say, that's what makes a comunity. We won't get to know each other unless free discussion takes place. If a thread in the main forums has no more purpose and its drifting from the original topic, it should at least be moved to off-topic, not locked IMHO.

For the rest of us:
QUOTE

-GP32X requires that members respect the decision of moderators. Threads and posts questioning the actions or decisions of forum moderations will be deleted on sight, and the appropriate action taken (up to and including forum bans) against the thread starter and/or participants. However, as a member you reserve the right to PM any moderator or administrator (Hando) regarding action taken at GP32X forums.
...
- Ranting is prohibited - a rant is a post which is long-winded, redundant and filled with angry, non-constructive comments. A free exchange of ideas is essential to building a strong sense of community and helpful in the development of the game, but rants are disruptive and incite flaming and trolling. Please post your thoughts in a concise, clear manner and avoid going off on rambling tangents.
...



So it seems that maybe what we need is a bit of balance from both sides. We shouldn't get too much off-topic in the main forums. And especially try not to annoy the Mods. They do an important and not-so-easy job.

With that said, this thread has run it's course. Further concern should be PMed to the closest Mod.
Thanks.

@Auritribe
Good for you.

 

[Auritribe]

I said I wouldn't bother anymore, but here I'll leave you with some thoughts from the GP32Xtreme Boards Rules.

For the Mods:
QUOTE

- Our purpose is to share, help and support others
- Be respectful of others' opinions
...
- DO NOT post the same topic in multiple forums. If you are unsure of which forum a thread should go under, just state that in your post, and a moderator will move the thread to the correct forum. Multiple posts are unnecessary and will be deleted.
- Always be civil and courteous. This forum is visited by people from all over the world of different ages, genders, and races. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Also, see Flaming, Right to Privacy, and Racism.
...
- Ranting is prohibited - a rant is a post which is long-winded, redundant and filled with angry, non-constructive comments. A free exchange of ideas is essential to building a strong sense of community and helpful in the development of the game, but rants are disruptive and incite flaming and trolling. Please post your thoughts in a concise, clear manner and avoid going off on rambling tangents.

OK, maybe we get slightly off-topic, but closing threads because of that means you want this forum to be on-topic only, thus making the subforum's name "off-topic forum" useless. In fact it has a label that reads: "Have something interesting to say that's not strictly GP32 / GP2X (and you can add Wiz / Pandora) related? Use this forum as your very own personal soap box and tell us all about it." We need to have different things to say, that's what makes a comunity. We won't get to know each other unless free discussion takes place. If a thread in the main forums has no more purpose and its drifting from the original topic, it should at least be moved to off-topic, not locked IMHO.

For the rest of us:
QUOTE

-GP32X requires that members respect the decision of moderators. Threads and posts questioning the actions or decisions of forum moderations will be deleted on sight, and the appropriate action taken (up to and including forum bans) against the thread starter and/or participants. However, as a member you reserve the right to PM any moderator or administrator (Hando) regarding action taken at GP32X forums.
...
- Ranting is prohibited - a rant is a post which is long-winded, redundant and filled with angry, non-constructive comments. A free exchange of ideas is essential to building a strong sense of community and helpful in the development of the game, but rants are disruptive and incite flaming and trolling. Please post your thoughts in a concise, clear manner and avoid going off on rambling tangents.
...



So it seems that maybe what we need is a bit of balance from both sides. We shouldn't get too much off-topic in the main forums. And especially try not to annoy the Mods. They do an important and not-so-easy job.

With that said, this thread has run it's course. Further concern should be PMed to the closest Mod.
Thanks.

@Auritribe
Good for you.


It was a joke, dammit.

 

[Monk]

It was a joke, dammit.

I saw that - I almost made a jokey response but in the end decided against it because I feared too many OT posts might get the thread locked. No joke.

 

[gp32rich]

Threads can be split so the off-topic posts can be put into a brand new thread

I'm sure that there is a feature in the moderating options that allows a mod to split posts out of a thread into one of their own.

I think it was a lot of work, so the mods would have to spend time doing it, to do it right.

And then the original poster would have to go off and find the new thread <_<

 

[u9i]

Too many posts to read everything.

So i will just give my thoughts on this topic... I think threads are being closed exceptionally often because (some) people here are exceptionally rude. I have countless times read "closing before flame war starts" etc. as people seem to have difficulty maintaining any kind of decent manner while online. This automatically causes moderation to become extreme... welcome to our world!

If we could show some decency and respect for each other we might not even need moderators... wouldn't that be a nice little (fantasy?) world?

 

[Exophase]

Too many posts to read everything.

So i will just give my thoughts on this topic... I think threads are being closed exceptionally often because (some) people here are exceptionally rude. I have countless times read "closing before flame war starts" etc. as people seem to have difficulty maintaining any kind of decent manner while online. This automatically causes moderation to become extreme... welcome to our world!

If we could show some decency and respect for each other we might not even need moderators... wouldn't that be a nice little (fantasy?) world?

I disagree, I think mods have been closing or threatening to close things for a lot of reasons that don't have to do with being civil. Decency and respect doesn't seem to really come into play and I doubt things would be much different if people were...

 

[dsraa]

Too many posts to read everything.

So i will just give my thoughts on this topic... I think threads are being closed exceptionally often because (some) people here are exceptionally rude. I have countless times read "closing before flame war starts" etc. as people seem to have difficulty maintaining any kind of decent manner while online. This automatically causes moderation to become extreme... welcome to our world!

If we could show some decency and respect for each other we might not even need moderators... wouldn't that be a nice little (fantasy?) world?

I disagree, I think mods have been closing or threatening to close things for a lot of reasons that don't have to do with being civil. Decency and respect doesn't seem to really come into play and I doubt things would be much different if people were...


Ex, while this may be true, I see it both ways. Yes, threads do get closed quite quickly around here, and yes some are for good reasons such as 'flame wars'. Many many many times I have read threads here that went into a blantent black hole of insults and the like, even from some in this very topic, of whom I will not mention any names. :-\

However, I as I'm sure many of you agree, feel that there really should be more of a balance. before a topic does go wildly off-topic and finally turn into a flame war about who's the bigger spelling error nazi (DUCKS), or the like. I think the mods should be giving warnings in some cases rather than just arbitrarily closing topics. It would be a nice and needed shift from the current "CLOSE EVERY TOPIC THAT SKEWS ANYWHERE" idealism.


DSR

 

[WarmFluffyUK]

I think the mods should be giving warnings in some cases rather than just arbitrarily closing topics.

We do give warnings and we have a warn system in effect for that very reason, but we don't publicly advertise these warn levels as that would be in the realms of name and shame.

I don't think we close threads off the cuff, usually there's a reason. It's very rare I close or hide a topic, it's usually because of spamming or abuse!

 

[foft]

FWIW I agree there has been excessive closing of threads. This is a recent (i.e. last 6 months-year) development.

edit: I think Exophase's posts are some of the most interesting/insightful, so the fact he is raising this should mean more consideration is given to it...

 

[gp2.eXe]

It was a joke, dammit.

I saw that - I almost made a jokey response but in the end decided against it because I feared too many OT posts might get the thread locked. No joke.


Yep, I knew it was on purpose, and that just proves my point. Even if someone makes an OT comment AND someone else follows up it doesn't mean that the whole thread has been screwed up and nothing can be done about it. We can be Off-Topic and get it back On-Topic at the same time. (and viceversa)

 

[Bramrash]

FWIW I agree there has been excessive closing of threads. This is a recent (i.e. last 6 months-year) development.

edit: I think Exophase's posts are some of the most interesting/insightful, so the fact he is raising this should mean more consideration is given to it...

I agree completely, I remember posting in another thread a few months ago about threads starting to be closed unnecessarily. For me it does come down to the community aspect. If there is a thread that is currently very active, and someone has a question or point to bring up that is only loosely linked to the original post in that thread, then I think they should be allowed to post it there. Let the conversations flow, build a community, not a userguide. (I think that last sentence could be the theme of a massive rock concert raising money for internet communities with having their homes destroyed by mods ).

 

[Username]

Yep, I knew it was on purpose, and that just proves my point. Even if someone makes an OT comment AND someone else follows up it doesn't mean that the whole thread has been screwed up and nothing can be done about it. We can be Off-Topic and get it back On-Topic at the same time. (and viceversa)

The whole topic has been screwed up. Guys, you know what to do.

 

[Nova]

The whole topic has been screwed up. Guys, you know what to do.

Make a poll?

 

[Sphinxter]

There has been excessive creating of stupid threads that need to be closed in the last six months.

 

[gp2.eXe]

Yep, I knew it was on purpose, and that just proves my point. Even if someone makes an OT comment AND someone else follows up it doesn't mean that the whole thread has been screwed up and nothing can be done about it. We can be Off-Topic and get it back On-Topic at the same time. (and viceversa)

The whole topic has been screwed up. Guys, you know what to do.

Aha! Now you prove my point even further.

You say its screwed, but got it back on topic in the end, because we're talking about why threads get locked for being "screwed up".

The whole topic has been screwed up. Guys, you know what to do.


Make a poll?

Now Nova gets it off-topic again...

There has been excessive creating of stupid threads that need to be closed in the last six months.

And Sphinxter doesn't care about that and continues On-Topic no matter what.

(BTW that's true, stupid threads or double posting are supposed to be unnecessary and thus should be locked. They go against the GP32Xtreme Rules.)

Conclusion: There will be off-topic in a thread, but it doesn't mean its over now, you would have to lock almost every thread out there. Instead another forum member can get it back on track...


Anyway, why am I still posting here? :blink: LOL, oh yeah... cause I enjoy off-topic-on-topic discussion