Repetitive, mindless, new threads that have already been addressed

[Modee]

If the title doesn't give it away, I am at the point where I will start giving infractions to people who start new threads to ask a question that has already been answered in past threads.

And if you get booted off due to infractions...you can come back (or not) as a paying member once the forum goes to pay-per-view.


So...PLEASE. Spend a few minutes, an hour, a week...whatever it takes, to review this site before you clutter it up with a question that has already been answered.

ALSO - please DO post your questions (after searching, and in the right thread) ON THE FORUM. Not via PM. That way, everyone may benefit from the answers.

[x2ruff4u]

Uh oh! I knew sooner or later you would get tired of answering the same questions.

[coopster72]

It doesn't matter, with the new "pay for" site the info will be better organized. Less questions for you to answer.

[Jack]

What coopster said is true. 90% of the forums I know have the same question asked over and over because the information's not organized. It's just the way it goes. No one wants to sift through a bunch of garbage to get an answer when they're in a hurry, plus many times you don't know what exact words to search for. This is a problem I have with Google too, but that's another story. A popular method seems to be allowing users to delete their own posts when they receive the answers. That is...if it's the same question. Then the forum won't be all cluttered.

[spike1]

one problem i see, when i first joined up here, i was looking for info about using AOL. i tried to search for "AOL" of course the search feature will not let you search for a 3 digit word. it has to be four digits or more to turn up in a search.
modee you'll probably say i should have searched for "aol browser" or soemthing. at the time i did not know.

there will always be repetitive posts on a forum.

[Modee]

lol yes I would say that...the four or more digits can be a hinderance, true.


And by the way, if you post a question that is completely OFF TOPIC in the wrong thread you will get an infraction too. Just look into my eyes...those hypnotic eyes...and you will see that I am serious about all this.

[Jack]

Well that might help some with all the supposedly "talked about" subjects that were buried 3 pages into another thread. Ugh. But don't be surprised if it brings about more threads where the subject is "almost" but not quite the same for fear it would be viewed as "off topic". Given the two evils, I'd say that's the lesser.

[Modee]

Mebbe we should come up with a NEW infraction
verbose

?

Yes this is 1984 and the oppressed have become the oppressors. :-)

[Jack]

If you strike me down I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine

From one oppressed world to another

[Chris Hanson]

Sure you will

[spike1]

Originally Posted by Modee

lol yes I would say that...the four or more digits can be a hinderance, true.


And by the way, if you post a question that is completely OFF TOPIC in the wrong thread you will get an infraction too. Just look into my eyes...those hypnotic eyes...and you will see that I am serious about all this.

aw man i will be totally screwed in that case. i can see your point when it's a common newbie mistake like the one that was deleted earlier today.

sometimes a thread takes off on a different direction, a life of it's own. what i think you're talking about would be too close to censorship ("verbose" too? i have seen some newbies post a couple pages of none paragraphed text but if nobody reads it the thread will die out). people will not reply honestly for fear of being off topic. sometimes the first thing to come to mind is correct, even though it is off-topic. please don't start doing that in those cases (but how can one person be the judge of all that?). you have to let the threads grow and move on naturally, otherwise you get a ton of new threads. please tell me you won't start doing that... remove the post and let them know why, but don't remove them from membership because of "infractions" and make them pay again. you can't be serious.

by the way, one of my first posts was mistakenly posted to the wrong thread because i hit the next thread button at the bottom of the page thinking it was the next page button (it was much more prominent and i drink alot and often see 2 or 3 monitors in front of me at the same time) that is where i posted my response. i am sure that kind of thing happens all the time (not just because of alcohol). once people start paying and aspkin cleans up and organizes the forum it will happen less.

i am pretty sure that half of my posts are slightly off topic but they do generate relevant responses. i'm the kind of guy that "wears my heart on my sleeve". i would not feel comfortable here if i could not say what i wanted. might as well join an ebay powerseller's forum (f**king mayonnaise and crackers b.s. midwestern housewives. welcome to the jungle!).

we all have our bad days and should not take them out on people here (can't we all get along?)

[aspkin]

Do you guys want a Q&A forum? I'm basically gathering all the Questions ever asked on this forum... and the best answers for that question now. Should I make a separate forum for this? Maybe just the top questions? And group the questions in categories... or just make it into an eBook, which is what I'm doing now. Or both? Both sounds good. What do you think?

[Jack]

Can't go wrong with both!

[Dark Shadows]

Both does sound good. It would be nice if there was some type of easier way to find a thread that already exists. I noticed there are some key words you can type in, and lots of threads pop up, but there are other things where nothing comes up, but I am sure they must be there.

[Modee]

P.S. No one - please take the infractions you might receive personally. They are almost always set to expire in 24 - 72 hours. Also note - it's the same people getting the infractions.

Why is this? I think it's obvious - these are the people who just keep posting the same questions over and over without regard to where they belong, or have been answered before and cluttering up our boards.

At the same time that Aspkin and I are spending mucho time consolidationg and merging posts, these certain same people are creating more work for us and making the site harder to utilize.

But - again - if you get tagged the infraction expires in a day or so, and you are left free to clutter up again so please do not freak out - that is, until I tag you once more!

[spike1]

and how does the infraction point system work?

10 points and you're out of here or what?

[Modee]

Well you get like 4 pts that's level 1, 6 pts level 3 (frozen entirely). But everything returns to normal as the points expire.

Basically I try to get you to Level 1 after a couple of infractions, Level 3 only if you keep doing the same thing over and over.

But no one is getting kicked out of here - it all just amounts to cattle prodding to get you to behave. Mooo!

[spike1]

once people start paying to use this forum you better MAKE SURE they understand that.

i would be mad as hell if i paid to use a forum and then get kicked off f it for talking too much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

you evil bloodsucker you