Save the forums

Originally posted by David Tebb
I think that everyone should be limited to somewhere between 30 and 50 posts a month.
People who abuse the forums should have their posting rights suspended, and in extreme cases taken away.
Of course, something first needs to be done to stop people having multiple nicknames. Otherwise they will just keep posting using different ones.

-Dave

As i mentioned in the thread"Playing Pawn Stars only":"I will not cry a river should this site become a pay site."The solution to a lot of the problems I reckon.

Originally posted by latex bishop
CFC,

Being rude is not going to help here - try talking to people, not shouting back at them.

Andrew

Originally posted by trekkie
Unfortunately, no matter what CFC's intentions are i expect nothing more than rude inconsiderate spamming from it/her/him.

-trekkie

Originally posted by CFC
And why's that?

Originally posted by trekkie
Your posts whilst you probably do not intend them to be rude or offensive, the langauge you use makes them offensive. I am generalising here, they tend to be abrupt and forceful ramming your point into the persons face.

Try to be more tactful, write a post then consider it and try to say it in a different manner.

-trekkie

I agree a great deal with what you're saying Rob. I've been quite vocal about the forums in the past. The difference then was that in the main it was personal arguments and negative comments about other users that were detracting from much of what is good about the forums.

Here, in my (and clearly many others'😉 opinion, it's not so much that there exists a culture of needless argument and negativity (although - as ever - there are posters with little or no respect for anyone except themselves and prolly their Mummy who helps to put the toy back into the pram after they've thrown it out in a strop), but more the fact, according to some, that there are so many posts which are purely banal andsimply frightfully uninteresting.

As it stands all posters have equal rights. This coupled with the fact that there are no guidelines or rules regarding posting makes it very hard to stop what is happening. Ultimately, if the people who want to make many posts a day (of what is widely regarded as mindless rubbish) are of a sufficient number, then short of drafting in posting rights and/or guidelines/rules then that's just the way the RHP forums are going to be. There are plenty of other forums which may be more what you (impersonal) are looking for.

While agreeing wholeheartedly with the points that Rob and others have raised, as it stands we've got no right to force people to stop posting in a manner that we might disagree with. They themselves might disagree with all posts longer than 10 words and with less than 10 smilies in.

There are several options as I see it:-

1. Posting rights with time: A system could be introduced which gives some users more rights than other users. Possibly after three months of having joined a new forum would become accessible only for users who had been here longer than three months. Or maybe make it only after 12 months does the forum become accessible. This creates certain problems and naturally arguments against it exist, but the amount of spam in it would be a lot less than the General free for all forum.

2. Posting rights based on quality: A system could be introduced whereby users can vote for each and every post, based on the quality of that post. The more votes the user receives, the higher their post allocation per month. This would need a lot of fine-tuning to prevent abuse and is likely to fail.

3. Forum guidelines/rules: If we are trying to create a situation where the forums aren't simply a free for all then forum rules that are enforced by moderators could be introduced. Or if not moderators then some kind of power group. Every three months say all users on the site could be asked to vote for x individuals. The ones with the most votes would make up a moderator team, which coupled with rules on posting would allow for the forums to be shaped in a particular fashion.

4. The only idea that I would fully endorse is the following. If anyone doesn't like it either leave or try and do something about it. Ignore what you (impersonal) perceive to be the rubbish posters, stay out of their threads, start your own. In the past I've put a lot of effort in at certain times to make interesting threads and posts. I'm not awfully good at it. If enough people respond and are willing to make an effort too then with enough people the balance in the forums will shift back a little. If people don't respond then that's just the way it is, and it might be best to move elsewhere. I'm well aware that "good" threads get spoiled by spammers, and it can be very frustrating.

Right, I've written that in a rather hasty manner and there are holes aplenty, but gotta go to work now.

Have a good day folks,

T1000

Originally posted by chewie
Unfortunately that won't work. For instance, I always use RHP from my laptop rather than a static desktop machine. Sometimes I connext through my ISP, sometimes by dialing into our corporate network, sometimes connected to the corporate LAN and sometimes to the corporate wireless LAN. Each time I connect I may get a different IP address from a different DHCP ...[text shortened]... he site - it would be difficult for the spammers to get multiple addresses.

Regards,

Paul.

Originally posted by rwingett
Comments by anyone other than CFC and LivingLegend are welcome.

I would be happy to have a selective filter on my forum viewing. This would be an exact opposite of the buddy list. Basically it would stop any posts being displayed that have been made by people on my list. It would also stop the 'last poster' being changed to any of these names. I don't think this would be practical - but I can always dream😉

I and others were making many of these points many moons ago... only the spammers have changed.

It's almost as though these individuals can never resist replying to every thread they open... regardless of whether they really understand what is being talked about; they just react to the last post and make superfluous comments. This must also be making those people who have genuinely interesting or funny 'one liners' to think twice before posting for fear of being classed a 'spammer'.

It's just a matter of balance - hopefully we won't swing too far!

Rhymester

Originally posted by LivingLegend
What have I done wrong, please tell me that, what I'm only trying to do is to help people, should I stop posting or something, I don't want to create a war or something!!! I'm really sorry for everything I've done wrong but...I do not really know what I've done wrong...:'(

Well, I'll take a look at replies and stop posting, maybe that would help.....:'(

Olav

I think there is some misunderstanding about my proposed posting limit. I am not proposing a flat two per day limit, which no one would ever be able to exceed. I am proposing a two per day average. Every day two more posts would be added to your allowable total. If you don't post anything for ten days, you will have added 20 posts to your total. On the eleventh day you could then go on a posting spree worthy of LivingLegend. The posts that you don't use on any given day would be added to your total, to be used at your discretion. Presumably, no one, except the worst forum abusers, would ever find themselves without sufficient posts to carry on a reasonable conversation.

Take myself for example. I have been a member here for nearly 20 months. If my proposal had been implemented the day I joined, then I would have built up an allowable total of approximately 1,200 posts by now. Despite being an active presence in the forums, I have only used 520 posts (including this one). That would leave me a total of approximatley 680 posts to use at my discretion. This may be small potatoes to someone as loquacious as CFC, but it is more than enough for any responsible forum user.

In this regard, my proposal is not much different than Mr. Tebb's. His idea gives you a fixed number of posts each month, whereas mine gives two per day, for a total of 56 to 62 per month, depending on the month. In both proposals, unused posts would be added to your allowable total, which could then be used in future months.

Whether your posts are doled out by the day or by the month, doesn't really make that much difference. I think this is a fair and workable proposal. Only a very few people would have their posting habits compromised. It is not a perfect solution. There are loopholes, of course. But I think that it would be fairly non-intrusive, and would be better than doing nothing.

Originally posted by LivingLegend
I don't want to create a war or something!!!

Originally posted by CFC
Neither do I but if others carry on attacking us 4 no reason then action will be taken.

Originally posted by Varg
For no reason?
Can you truly not see the reasons?