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[degers]

Dear Forum Members,

Recently I have received several complaints by PM from forum members complaining about the amount of pointless posts in the forums and the shoutbox.  This has also been of concern to mweed and myself as we also are finding it hard to find the important posts amongst all of the fluff that is being posted.

To quote one of the complaints I received (apologies to the sender of this complaint for quoting it):

I come here a couple times a week hoping to see new info on Pleo, but lately when I look for new responses they're all from one person. As I'm sure you know, it's pretty frustrating.

Unfortunately it is becoming a real problem and soon measures will be have to be taken to reduce the spam on the board, which may include the restriction of posting rights, the banning of members from posting in the shoutbox or the removal of users from the forums alltogether.

I am not going to name names right now as that is unfair, but if you are posting a lot of posts I ask you to consider for a moment before you hit the submit button "Is this post really contributing to the forums?".

Please help us by being mature about posting on these forums, or you will not be able to post at all.

Please help to improve the situation before we have to take action.


Many Thanks,
degers

[allosaurus]

I think it would be better worded as "make sure it's at least worth your two cents" since if every post here had lots of meaning, the place would be as dry as possible. I have to admit that I've spammed quite a bit in my past history, but at least I acknowledge it; I actually did something right here. But really, if no one was there telling other members that they did a great job on this-or-that, this forum would be near empty.

[degers]

To clarify,
In essence I agree allosaurus, you are right in many ways.

But if a post only consists of several words like yep or lol, then it is really quite bad.
If you agree with something feel free to make it known, but at least give a reason why you agree so that the people reading the fourums have something interesting and entertaining to read!  We all love to come here and chat, but lets not make it hard for the infrequent visitors to find what they want to read amongst the garbage.

[allosaurus]

And besides, isn't the shoutbox for spam, just as long as it's not really bad? I mean, like the colloquial "Hello"s and such.... That's kind of what it's for! But the one letter shouts were getting pretty annoying.

edit: I confess!!! I have spammed the shoutbox a few times before. But I try not to do it anymore.

[mweed]

Yes, it is for things like saying "Hi!", idle chit-chat, or for exchanging quick bits of info.   But it's not for carrying on long conversations (that's what the chat room is for), and it's never OK for the same person to post 3,4,5 or more shouts in a row.  If you have that much to say, it should be a post, or a PM, or some other medium.

But always remember, the shoubox is a public forum, and as such, everyone, including guests, reads what your shouting.

[allosaurus]

Uh, can i have an exception? The chat room makes my computer freeze. DX

[Pleo Power]

and I've never been able to get in there.     (but I get a little closer each time, so maby some time ill be able to get in there. )

 (edit) I think I got in there just now!!!   but nobody from here was in there.  do any of you that can get in there have the same names as on the forum?  and if not can you pleas PM me what they are, so ill know who you are in there, and  I can talk to you in there some time.

[gucci_boi7782]

All I can say is THANK YOU to the moderators for finally saying something! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

[allosaurus]

This thread should be a sticky, don't you guys think?

[Crystal:.]

I never knew there was a chatroom. *blushes* Ahhh well, I won't post too much in the Shoutbox anymore. I thought that IT WAS the chatroom. Sorry! I won't make the mistake again!

EDIT: What is defined as a "pointless" shoutbox post?

[Darkwolf]

When I once asked the people to come into the chatroom they didn't want to, because they found the shoutbox far more easy and convenient for chatting.
I always had trouble catching up not to mention that people would miss my replies or responses as it all went too quick lol.
Indeed, in the end the chatbox is for chatting and not the shoutbox!

[mweed]

EDIT: What is defined as a "pointless" shoutbox post?

Well, on one hand, most everything in the shoutbox is pointless, which I guess makes it hard to really define what a pointless shout would be.   But t gets pretty obvious when we see it.

Keep in mind that posts to the shoutbox scroll by pretty quick at times, with only six lines showing.  So it really isn't that any one post to the shoutbox is pointless, it's that one person posts a lot of shouts in a row, or that the posts are only one letter long.  Imagine if you will, that I came by every so often and just posted

apple
apple
orange
banana
banana
wheee!

First off, It serves no purpose, second it scrolls other people's shouts off the screen.  If I did this once, it might be cute.  But after several days of this, people would get pretty annoyed . .  .

[mweed]

Simple guidelines to avoid spamming:

Just ask yourself these three questions before posting:

  1. Does this post add value, useful information, or new insight to what has already been said in this topic?
  2. Am I sure no one else has already say this?   Even somewhere else in the forums?
  3. A year from now, when someone is looking back at this topic, is this something they're going to want to read?

If you can answer "Yes!" to all three, then post away.  Otherwise reconsider if you should post.   That's not to say you MUST have three "yes"es in order to post, but that you should think twice befoer you do.

And when responding to topics that have been idle for more than 30 days, there's a reason you are prompted with a warning about this.   Answering a question or giving your comments a month later is probably a waste of time.   The issue has most likely been dealt with, so unless you have a really meaningful piece of information for the sake of posterity, don't!