A humble suggestion

[Lord Zentei]

Recently, we have been seeing a surge in the number of threads pertaining to a certain fallen paladin on the OOTS comic forum. While discussions of the characters of the story are only appropriate, many of these particular threads do seem to be raising bad blood as well as annoyance from posters. This is not merely due to the controversial nature of the character in question but more importantly due to the repetitive nature of the topics.

More significantly and interestingly, many if not most of these threads seem to be created by people who have only just registered here in order to start such threads.

Simply put, these threads are an example of new members registering specifically to raise the dead horse, only for it to be beaten to death again, followed by another person registering specifically to cast ressurection on it, only for it to be flamed to a cinder, followed by yet another person registering specifically to cast ressurection true on it, and so on and so forth.

Now there are even people objecting to her, claiming that the character in question is "bad for the forums", even though they also state that she is good for the comic. See here: linka (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=46773&page=5).

This strikes me as being a damn shame, since it is rather perverse to despair of these repeated threads reducing the fun of the board, even though some of the same people also acnowledge that they like what the character does for the story (and yes, I know that there are people who disagree with that, YMMV, yadda yadda).

It would not be appropos, IMHO to ban discussion of characters in a webcomic on the very forum intended to discuss said webcomic: such a situation would be most bizzare. However, taking note that many, if not most, of these threads are started by newcomers who may not be entirely aware of all the ins and outs of the things that have already been discussed, I have the following proposal:

If it is possible, make it so that only people who have acheived "halfling" rank on the boards may start new threads in the OOTS comic forum (as opposed to the other forums on the board, since we don't want to limit anything there). That way, people can gain insight into what has been covered already: if a new topic pertaining to said character should be started by one of the "old timers", that would be less of an issue since they have a better idea of the situation.

[Dr._Weird]

This is extremely pretentious- I've been here since July '05 and I don't start threads in the OOTS forum for the very reason that somebody- (Who is most likely newer here than me) has already thought of it or can provide an effective counter-argument that renders my point null.

So, what you're saying is that people who have not yet reached Halfling cannot have a unique and thoughtful view on the comic's events, and should not be allowed to post them.

It's the flaming of "n00bs" that you see throughout the rest of the internet, but with proper spelling and grammer inserted. For that at least, I thank you.

[Raistlin1040]

But I love my n00bs. You can't take away their hilariously redundant threads!

[Lord Zentei]

This is extremely pretentious- I've been here since July '05 and I don't start threads in the OOTS forum for the very reason that somebody- (Who is most likely newer here than me) has already thought of it or can provide an effective counter-argument that renders my point null.

So, what you're saying is that people who have not yet reached Halfling cannot have a unique and thoughtful view on the comic's events, and should not be allowed to post them.

It's the flaming of "n00bs" that you see throughout the rest of the internet, but with proper spelling and grammer inserted. For that at least, I thank you.

How is this "flaming"? :smallsigh:

And no, I'm not suggesting that they have nothing unique or thoughtful to say -- merely that it is more likely that topics of a very specific type that have already been done to death will be re-started by them, and that many sign up only to start such a topic.

Quite the strawman, there.

[Zherog]

If it is possible, make it so that only people who have acheived "halfling" rank on the boards may start new threads in the OOTS comic forum (as opposed to the other forums on the board, since we don't want to limit anything there). That way, people can gain insight into what has been covered already: if a new topic pertaining to said character should be started by one of the "old timers", that would be less of an issue since they have a better idea of the situation.

I'd prefer to just see the mods close all the extraneous threads, and issue warnings if somebody is creating duplicate threads a significant amount of the time (and I mean the "yellow" warnings, not the red "you've earned points towards bannage" warnings).

[Zafuel]

As controversial as this is likely to be, I agree, this is a good idea. Its getting to be a real pain in the neck when you go to the OOTS section and the top five threads all have "Miko" in the title.

[Amotis]

You're forgetting that post counts don't mean anything.

[Lord Zentei]

You're forgetting that post counts don't mean anything.

They certainly don't as far as respecting people's (original) opinions are concerned.

They do, in practice, as far as a person's experience with the board is concerned.

[Amotis]

Lurking's not acceptable?

Personally I would like to see more of it sometimes.

Maybe you're confusing title name with join date. And even then that's shoving a lot under the brand of "assumption."

[Dr._Weird]

How is this "flaming"? :smallsigh:

It's not flaming- I'll agree I was exaggerating. But it has the same feeling behind it, if only less intense and more logical.

I agree that there is a problem with redundant "I hate Miko" threads, I just don't think this is the way to deal with it.

[Zafuel]

Lurking's not acceptable?

Personally I would like to see more of it sometimes.

Maybe you're confusing title name with join date. And even then that's shoving a lot under the brand of "assumption."

That's a thought, doing it via join date... also prevents meaningless spam to boost titles to post about more Miko...

[Lord Zentei]

Lurking's not acceptable?

Personally I would like to see more of it sometimes.

Maybe you're confusing title name with join date. And even then that's shoving a lot under the brand of "assumption."

Hmm, well as far as I can tell these threads tend to be started by posters with low counts more than usual. She's a controversial character people feel strongly about, so it makes sense that it's less likely people will stick around before commenting on her and more likely to sign in specifically to praise/lambast her.

If join date or some other kind of method entirely would work as well, that's fine too, of course.


It's not flaming- I'll agree I was exaggerating. But it has the same feeling behind it, if only less intense and more logical.

I agree that there is a problem with redundant "I hate Miko" threads, I just don't think this is the way to deal with it.

If it's well reasoned, and if it's not an attack on a person or group specifically to attack said person or group, but to call into question an unfortunate tendency, then it's not really the same. :smallwink:

Nonetheless, if this could be handled by some other, less draconian means, that's perfectly spiffy.

[PhoeKun]

Here's an alternative solution, one that's more proactive so far as board members are concerned (and much more likely to receive mod backing):

Don't post in the threads your complaining about. Don't even open them - it's very clearly another Miko thread; what else needs to be said? Or, go one step forward and do what I do: don't even look in the Comics section. See, I wasn't even aware there was a problem! :smallwink:

The philosophy of these boards is "Post Counts are meaningless. The amount of time you've spent on this forum is meaningless. Stop talking about it. Eat a sandwich." Implementing a rule like that is not only counterproductive to that philosophy, it's obnoxious and will only encourage people to bump up their post counts so they can post the thread anyway.

Doing it by join date is even worse - who's going to sign up for a board where you're automatically considered inferior to those who came before you?

[Vonriel]

How is this "flaming"? :smallsigh:

As defined under the forum rules:


Flaming
Any poster that openly attacks, insults, belittles, or abuses another poster will have their offending post modified and an Infraction issued to them. You can be critical of another poster's viewpoint in a debate, even going as far as to explain why you believe them to be mistaken and backing your points up with rules quotes as appropriate, but the moment your criticism extends to the person who posted that viewpoint, it has crossed the line.

Specific things you cannot do on this message board that might be allowed elsewhere:

...
Belittling or putting down anyone or their opinions based on post count, member rank, or how long they have been a member.
...

Seems to me like the original suggestion would fit under this point. Then again, this is just me.

Also, I'm a fan of PhoeKun's suggestion, in case anyone was wondering. Self-restriction is a wonderful thing, isn't it?

[Kitya]

I rarely go to the comics area for this very reason. Every time I start reading some of the threads my palms start to itch... *wrygrin* so, rather than get myself in trouble, I just don't read em, or go there. The only thread I read is the one that Quikngruvn started called Where the Heck IS Everybody, simply because it helps me keep track of everyone and has been very helpful to me.

Unfortunately, it seems to me that this is one of those "Freedom to Post" things... yes it's annoying to have 80 million seperate threads devoted to the same topic, but I guess they have that right. I agree with what has been said, just don't read em, or post to em because WE have the right to not look at them.

[Demented]

I'd simpy prefer that the board policy against repeat topics be addressed more... aggressively against Miko threads.

It might drain valuable moderator resources, but in my opinion it would be an invaluable expenditure all the same. Much like the policy against Erfworld vs. OOTS threads.

[Lord Zentei]

I'd simpy prefer that the board policy against repeat topics be addressed more... aggressively against Miko threads.

It might drain valuable moderator resources, but in my opinion it would be an invaluable expenditure all the same. Much like the policy against Erfworld vs. OOTS threads.

Point. It's just that I got the impression that the mods already have a rather tight schedule, and this would be a continious issue for them to have to deal with.

As for not reading the comic forum, that's all well and good, other than that some (including myself) enjoy discussing the developments in the comic, and these repeat threads tend to dominate the place. But so it goes.