Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[The Merchant Of Menace]

Which ones are those then?

[FuzzyZergling]

I don't go to a lot of the threads in the upper forums because I know a lot of them won't be worthwhile to me.  Heck, whole subforums sometimes.  Same with the middle forums.  Why should the lower ones be considered any different at all?

Because some of the threads down here are only appealing to a small clique of members and they're causing problems, then they're doing more harm than good.

I disagree, I think that a thread is worthwhile if it appeals to any number of people, no matter if that number is high or low.

[Retro]

I really want someone to explain what the advantage of having player mods would be.

You should read the OP. See the first three points. Toady's now said that he doesn't get nearly enough reports for him to find it valid, but the fact is that mods could easily just redirect things before they even required a report - generally avoiding more locks, mutes, bans, and deletions, which is often all Toady can do by the time a report's been sent out.

As far as I can tell, the only things that adding player mods would do is:
1. Make the mod less popular, and cause people to complain about them to Toady One ALL THE TIME.
2. Mean that the mod can bend the rules to his own opinions.  So... I guess that's an argument from your perspective for you being a player mod, but...

These are kind of specific for hypothetical consequences. Why does the idea of a mod automatically mean the mod will be horrible, induce tons of complaints, and edit threads to represent their own opinions and make themselves look good? Why would Toady ever appoint someone remotely like that?

All in all it doesn't really matter one way or another as Toady's made it clear he won't be changing anything regardless of how anyone argues their point, but I felt a bit obligated to respond to this.

[Phmcw]

Player mod would be all kind of useless : any player can be a mod by a) telling politely the offender his  mistake (eg : please don't make double pot in this/my thread : the etiquette here seems to be to edit your post, even if you wan to make a new point.)
B) repport any offense to Toady, who deal with them swiftly.

Those are pretty much the power those "player mod" should have anyway.
If you're afraid the other foromite might be angry, just be extra polite. Toady would reprimand you otherwise anyway.

You could be afraid that it would be too much work for him, but he said the contrary numerous time.
The "elected mod" system is pretty much already in place : most poeple listen to Aquizar, Bauglir and I-don't-remember-is-pseudo-right-now-but-the-guys-with-the-awesome-forum-fu-you-know-who-I'm-speaking-about.

If you think the forum lack interesting topics just make some, because it's what is lacking currently.

[Cheese]

What defines a post as bad, may I ask? And what makes it good?

[Nivim]

The above is a loaded question; beware.

 I apologize for being far too tired to give a full answer; and that is one element that makes a post relatively worse than a post that does give a full answer.

[Urist is dead tome]

What defines a post as bad, may I ask? And what makes it good?

It being a troll post, stupid post, post that contains things prohibited on this site and the likes

[Retro]

I'm going to say that a content-less post, or one that people cannot see the point of without outside explanation, qualifies. This includes posting absolutely nothing but an image (especially without any sort of context), and two or three word ALL CAPS LOL RANDUM posts that have nothing to do with anything but effectively the first words to come into your mind. There are forumites who do almost nothing but this and it encourages others to join in.

[Urist is dead tome]

I'm going to say that a content-less post, or one that people cannot see the point of without outside explanation, qualifies. This includes posting absolutely nothing but an image (especially without any sort of context), and two or three word ALL CAPS LOL RANDUM posts that have nothing to do with anything but effectively the first words to come into your mind. There are forumites who do almost nothing but this and it encourages others to join in.

Hit the nail on the head there.

I don't like it when people encourage stuff like that. 'Cause if that catches on then we got five thousand people going "LOLMEWSPEW" I don't know what it means but it sounds bad.

That's why we got Twitter. For people who can't spell.

[Sowelu]

For what it's worth, the people who can't spell hang out in the upper forums.

But...Yeah, I'm almost willing to agree that in general, one good way to determine if posts are useful is if they make any sense without needing hidden context.  I like it.  Keeps things from being too chatroom-y and clique-y and random.  Of course, this is best as a "guideline that people should keep in mind" than as a "harshly-enforced moderation rule set in stone".

[Cheese]

So long as this forum doesn't become like Facepunch or the likes, I'm personally fine with it.

[Leafsnail]

You should read the OP. See the first three points. Toady's now said that he doesn't get nearly enough reports for him to find it valid, but the fact is that mods could easily just redirect things before they even required a report - generally avoiding more locks, mutes, bans, and deletions, which is often all Toady can do by the time a report's been sent out.

What does this "redirecting" entail?  If a thread needs "redirecting", shouldn't it just be reported?

These are kind of specific for hypothetical consequences. Why does the idea of a mod automatically mean the mod will be horrible, induce tons of complaints, and edit threads to represent their own opinions and make themselves look good? Why would Toady ever appoint someone remotely like that?

Number one applies whether or not a mod is doing a good job.  Even if he acts EXACTLY like Toady and makes exactly the same decisions he would've, it's still a problem.

People are often annoyed by Toady's decisions, but generally avoid arguing since he's at the top, and most of us respect him.  If a user made the same decisions as him, the people who are angered by them would probably repeatedly appeal to Toady to have it reversed (think of what happens when Threetoe locks a big thread, only worse).

The second part is not definite, but it's one of the two potential differences I see arising.  Reason one is still a big problem.

[Sir Pseudonymous]

I don't go to a lot of the threads in the upper forums because I know a lot of them won't be worthwhile to me.  Heck, whole subforums sometimes.  Same with the middle forums.  Why should the lower ones be considered any different at all?

Because some of the threads down here are only appealing to a small clique of members and they're causing problems, then they're doing more harm than good.

You do realize how extremely, extremely, extremely easy it is to ignore threads you don't like or find interesting? I somehow manage to get by while ignoring about 99% of the threads started on the forums as a whole. I only bother checking other games and general discussion, and don't bother reading anything that's title doesn't interest me at all. That includes the threads people are complaining about (as far as I can tell), because their titles generally amount to uninteresting gibberish. I don't much understand why the imagined ideal solution is "PURGE THE UNCLEAN!" instead of just not bothering with things you don't find worthwhile.

[Urist Imiknorris]

You should read the OP. See the first three points. Toady's now said that he doesn't get nearly enough reports for him to find it valid, but the fact is that mods could easily just redirect things before they even required a report - generally avoiding more locks, mutes, bans, and deletions, which is often all Toady can do by the time a report's been sent out.

What does this "redirecting" entail?  If a thread needs "redirecting", shouldn't it just be reported?

Redirecting is done by means of several consecutive on-topic posts, and in no way involves the secret police.

[FuzzyZergling]

I don't go to a lot of the threads in the upper forums because I know a lot of them won't be worthwhile to me.  Heck, whole subforums sometimes.  Same with the middle forums.  Why should the lower ones be considered any different at all?

Because some of the threads down here are only appealing to a small clique of members and they're causing problems, then they're doing more harm than good.

You do realize how extremely, extremely, extremely easy it is to ignore threads you don't like or find interesting? I somehow manage to get by while ignoring about 99% of the threads started on the forums as a whole. I only bother checking other games and general discussion, and don't bother reading anything that's title doesn't interest me at all. That includes the threads people are complaining about (as far as I can tell), because their titles generally amount to uninteresting gibberish. I don't much understand why the imagined ideal solution is "PURGE THE UNCLEAN!" instead of just not bothering with things you don't find worthwhile.

I agree, couldn't have put it better myself.