Originally posted by royalchickenWe are, and it is just as frustrating. There is no prize for having the last post in every thread. When I check out the General forum, and see that someone has posted to dozen threads within as many minutes, I know that the posts aren't worth reading, and that the thread as a whole will soon be hijacked by the familiar gaggle.
I believe we are seeing a resurgence of spam. You know who you are, calm down with yourself.
Thanks. I'll send a game.
~Mark
A fairly good solution would be for you to pose one of the interesting lines of conversation that you occasionally do. While I often find myself insufficiently well-read to add much to the colloquy, these threads (e.g. Freedom of the Will) tend to attract good commentary and slough of the canned meat quite rapidly.
How 'bout it?
Spam I can cope with, it's seeing potentially interesting and enlightening threads like bidge90's the other day about "new places" not provoking a single response, while other incomparably dreary topics are furnished with numerous replies.
Having said I can cope with spam that's quite another thing from condoning it, easily accepting it, or thinking it's not harmful. The proliferation of scores of posts by the same few people, most of the time contributing very little by way of thought, imagination, or humour surely has a discouraging effect on those who might otherwise post.
I don't know who bidge90 is but I haven't seen him/her/it post again since then. Other forums which I've lurked at in the past tend to call it "drivel" rather than spam. The removal of post counts has helped to curb the amount of drivel, and while I doubt it would have an extraordinary effect here I can't see the harm in doing away with the top posters table.
I don't think it should be understimated the importance of the forums to the success of the site. The whole notion that there is an RHP "community" is central to the success of the site, with people wanting to be a part of it, and the forums play a major role in allowing people to be a part of it (the other main thing now is the clans).
A particular hobby horse of mine is my preference for the "Only Chess" site to be at the top of the forum list, with the General forum being further down. This has half been taken on board in that on the forums tab next to new game and community the order is different from how it appears on the forum list page.
A possible option would be to split the general forum into two, one where anything goes, and the other where there would be more strictly enforced guidelines. Not something I would necessarily like to see, and perhaps far more surgery than the "wound" requires.
I'm not too keen on strictly enforced rules or guidelines or a burgeoning moderator presence/interference in any way, nor do I believe there is a monsterly large problem here. The 'culture' of a forum changes constantly, often in a cyclical manner, but I would proffer that in the last 6 months or so, and certainly since the switch to the new stylee forum set up there has been a steady increase (with the occasional break out of quality) of spam yes, but drivel perhaps more specifically to my mind.
It's a shame in my opinion (but clearly not to those who are doing it, and that's fair enough I guess), 'cos I do love this place.
Yadda, yadda, yadda, I could go on all day (but can't cos the missus wants her dinner - no prizes for guessing who wears the trouses in this relationship) 😀
T1000
Originally posted by T1000but would people not take the lax rules to mean that anything goes? i.e. it will turn into a forum where insults are thrown left, right and centre, and perhaps spur a number of accounts that RHP can do without (i.e. more tuco's) which can come again. and again. and again. if i have one critisism of RHP it is the fact that the problem posters ISP's cannot be banned as with some other forums...
A possible option would be to split the general forum into two, one where anything goes, and the other where there would be more strictly enforced guidelines. Not something I would necessarily like to see, and perhaps far more surgery than the "wound" requires.