Overdone

[Admiral_Kelly]

There have been several topics in the OotS Sub-Forum that have been done over and over again so many times that it has become ridiculous. This would not be a problem - if they did not continue to pop up. To list the most obvious:

V's Sex (friggin answered in the FAQ!)
Belkar's Alignment
The Monster in the Darkness's Identity
Is Sabine a Demon or Devil
Miko Blackguard/Deathknight Theory
[If you can think of any more reply to this thread!]

I am of the opinion that these topics should be answered in a sticky and a rule be passed prohibiting such topics. Violators should get a warning of some sort for posting these again and any who violate the rule a second time receives a temporary ban. Break the rule a third time and your banned permanently.

[Zeb The Troll]

While I can understand the frustration, I don't think banning is in line with the severity of the offense. Especially since, as outlined in the Forum Rules, only the most serious offenses (the 100 point offenses) short of instant ban worthy type stuff, will get you booted on the third time.

Also note that, as a general rule, this forum doesn't play the temporary ban game. You are either banned or you are not. True, on rare occasions the ban has been reversed, but it's never (to my knowledge) been a factor of some preset time limit passing.

I would like to see topics like those you listed stickied for ongoing discussion instead of seeing three threads on the same topic on the first page.

[Tormsskull]

What would be ideal, IMO, would be to have it where when someone clicks on the "Start a New Thread" button, at the top of the screen it would have a message custom-tailored to each forum section.

For example, if starting a thread in OotS section, it might say at the top after clicking Start a New Thread

If you're starting a new thread on any of the following subjects, please see the appropriate links. If after reading those links you feel your thought/idea still deserves a thread of its own, feel free to make a new thread:


Vaarsuvius' Gender (link)
The Monster in the Dark's Identity (link)
etc. (link)



I'm not sure how hard that would be to code for Vbulletin, but I think it might help cut down quite a bit on the redundancy of posts.

[Shhalahr Windrider]

The accuracy of certain speculation on some of those topics is bound to change as more information and foreshadowing is revealed in the comic. For the most part, I think Rich will do his best to keep everyone guessing, and no one wil be anywhere close up until the appropriate big reveal.

But then, for many people, the fun is in the guessing, no matter how futile. They love the comic and they love having something to BS about. And these ongoing mysteries provide constantly ready fodder.

Certainly isn't any harm in any of that.

[Zeb The Troll]

Certainly no harm in the discussion. What's bothering some folks is the fact that there are multiple threads discussing the same thing, all open at the same time. Sometimes people will even post things saying "I posted this in the other thread, but blah blah blah."

[Charity]

You wanna try the D20 gaming forum some time, there is so much cross pollenation between the 4e threads it's impossible to know where to post stuff...
Don't get me wrong chaos, I love it, shame is i spend so much time reading the latest crazies I never have time to formulate a post, I don't know how you find the time Shhalahr.

[Shhalahr Windrider]

Don't get me wrong chaos, I love it, shame is i spend so much time reading the latest crazies I never have time to formulate a post, I don't know how you find the time Shhalahr.
Well, for one, I generally skip over the crazies. :smalltongue:

Seriously, though, I only read those few topics that seem like the type of thing that I'd have some genuine input on or seem extremely interesting regardless of what I can input.

After that, let's just say I'm sufficiently anal-retentive with regards to precision in communication that anything I say on a serious topic just naturally bloats with my customary verbosity. Since it's something that comes more or less naturally to me, I usually don't have to spend much time formulating the post. It's actually typing the damn thing out that's the killer! :smallwink:

[North]

See I disagree with that. Lots of new members join every day. They shouldnt have a chance to discuss it because others are tired of it? If youve read it before thats fine, just dont go into the thread. But let the newbloods have the chance.

[Zherog]

Generally I agree with you, North. But sometimes, new threads are started when the existing thread is sitting right there on the first page.

[Charity]

To be fair the mods are generally on those fairly quickly with a lock, or on the rarest occation, the fabled merge.

[Zherog]

I'll preface by saying the mods do a wonderful job, and this isn't a slight.

I count three threads, right now, on the first page of the OotS forum all dedicated to discussing V's gender. One of those is 11 pages and is titled "V's Gender Debate IV [Official]". Yet with this thread out there, there's still two other threads on the topic - one with 64 posts and one with 38 posts.

And even when those other two threads are locked, it's only a matter of time until somebody comes along and starts a new thread about V's gender; inevitably, it'll link to a comic where an NPC uses a specific gender to refer to V, and that'll be cited as definitive proof by the OP.

It's as certain as death and taxes.

[North]

Generally I agree with you, North. But sometimes, new threads are started when the existing thread is sitting right there on the first page.

If theres already one on the first page existing then yeah we dont need a new one. But if theres nothing on the first two pages it should be valid for the newbies to bring up and have their turn to discuss it. A lot of new poster get discouraged to post when they try and start a thread and the first three posts are
"This has already been done to death"
"Use the search button first"
"Why do people keep posting this."
Now sometimes, such as three threads to Vs gender on the first page, it might be more deserving but Ive made a thread that hadnt been discussed over a couple months, and gotten that kind of response.

[Zeb The Troll]

Right. It's these that are constantly being discussed that the OP is addressing. If a new thread only started when the old one fell into thread necromancy territory, it wouldn't be as much of a concern. As it is, however, there are a handful of topics that seem to always have multiple first page threads open.

And on a lighter note, does a new person really think that by comic 500+ that a casual NPC reference to V's gender in strip twenty-something hadn't been noticed by the 25 thousand plus board members? :smalltongue:

[Cuddly]

There have been several topics in the OotS Sub-Forum that have been done over and over again so many times that it has become ridiculous. This would not be a problem - if they did not continue to pop up. To list the most obvious:

V's Sex (friggin answered in the FAQ!)
Belkar's Alignment
The Monster in the Darkness's Identity
Is Sabine a Demon or Devil
Miko Blackguard/Deathknight Theory
[If you can think of any more reply to this thread!]

I am of the opinion that these topics should be answered in a sticky and a rule be passed prohibiting such topics. Violators should get a warning of some sort for posting these again and any who violate the rule a second time receives a temporary ban. Break the rule a third time and your banned permanently.

Well maybe if Mr. Burlew didn't make them major gags/plot pieces/tired tricks for his stick figure comic, they wouldn't come up. Eh, eh?

[Lord Lorac Silvanos]

A lot of new poster get discouraged to post when they try and start a thread and the first three posts are
"This has already been done to death"
"Use the search button first"
"Why do people keep posting this."


You should try starting a thread about wielding a two-handed weapon in one hand with Monkey Grip in the Gaming forum. :smallamused:

[Charity]

Go ahead Silvanos
http://www.ussiowa.org/store/store/346.jpg
Make their day

[Khanderas]

If we are gonna check for topics I got two things to add for consideration.


Any threadtitle including the word: [official]

If something needs to be official the mods are the one to do it. And then they would likely sticky it. Calling it "official" is just hubris (especially calling a V's gender thread [official])

A title that does not even hint to what it is about

Example "Do youknow.." and then continue IN the thread "... what Rich ment in todays strip with <insert whatever> ?"
You come back to the forums the day after, click it again. notice that you STILL dont care about that topic.

[Zherog]

But if theres nothing on the first two pages...

No, sorry. The OotS forum - rightfully - has a lot of traffic. Rich has worked crazy-hard to make Order of the Stick what it is; the volume of traffic on that forum is just an indicator of all that hard work.

But, because of that... In order for something to fall into "Thread Necromancy" territory there, you have to go back to page 6. Any topic covered in the first 6 pages of that forum doesn't need a new thread.

What can be done about? probably nothing. The best we can really do is continue to report the threads as being duplicates, and let the mods decide if they want to lock the new one, or merge it into the existing discussion. Also, hopefully they bop people on the head when a topic on the first page is duplicated... :smallwink:



A title that does not even hint to what it is about

Example "Do youknow.." and then continue IN the thread "... what Rich ment in todays strip with <insert whatever> ?"
You come back to the forums the day after, click it again. notice that you STILL dont care about that topic.

That is a pet peeve of mine, too. It's not unique to this message board, of course.