rogue27 wrote:
The purpose of this thread was to find some way to improve the situation (without changing the forum), and I believe Dr. Sparkles did it. Good job. Now it's in the hands of the admins.
Lenny steps up to be the fuddy-duddy again.
Personally, I don't want to have to constantly warn people to do the correct things. You should know if you're posting something totally off topic or not - its not like the Admins have a special ability to realize something is off topic.
This is like saying Police should warn people who speed before they start handing out tickets. No, there is a sign that posts the speed limit - you either obey it or suffer the consequences.
I agree we should warn more rather than just locking everything - but often the problem isnt a single poster or even two - its many different Users getting caught up in an argument or discussion that moves a thread off topic. Admins shouldnt need to contact each and every User to warn them - that could easily be three or four PMs per off-topic thread.
What I think should happen is that Users should police themselves. I dont post in off-topic threads or thread jack. None of the other admins do either. Is it really such a difficult thing to avoid?
-Lenny
===
"The sound of laughter is like
the vaulted dome of
a temple of happiness. "
~-Milan Kundera-~
Glencaer wrote:Personally, I don't want to have to constantly warn people to do the correct things. You should know if you're posting something totally off topic or not - its not like the Admins have a special ability to realize something is off topic.
This is like saying Police should warn people who speed before they start handing out tickets. No, there is a sign that posts the speed limit - you either obey it or suffer the consequences.
I agree we should warn more rather than just locking everything - but often the problem isnt a single poster or even two - its many different Users getting caught up in an argument or discussion that moves a thread off topic. Admins shouldnt need to contact each and every User to warn them - that could easily be three or four PMs per off-topic thread.
What I think should happen is that Users should police themselves. I dont post in off-topic threads or thread jack. None of the other admins do either. Is it really such a difficult thing to avoid?
I understand that the admins and mods wouldn't want to personally contact each and every offender, and I wouldn't expect them to. My suggestion was to post a warning in the thread and those who don't pay attention to it or flat out ignore should be reprimaded via PM. I understand your analogy about speeding tickets though. That's a way of looking at it that I didn't consider before.
And no, it's not overly difficult to stay on topic, though it seems that it is allowed to stray to a certain degree, and where the line is drawn is somewhat difficult to discern.
"Always do what you want, and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind." ~ Doctor Suess
doctorsparkles wrote: My suggestion was to post a warning in the thread and those who don't pay attention to it or flat out ignore should be reprimaded via PM. I understand your analogy about speeding tickets though. That's a way of looking at it that I didn't consider before.
And no, it's not overly difficult to stay on topic, though it seems that it is allowed to stray to a certain degree, and where the line is drawn is somewhat difficult to discern.
I like the idea of warnings on the thread, as we currently have a policy that any lock, thread move, etc should be accompanied by a note from the Admin doing it explaining why the lock/move. I think this will be something to add to our list of "Proper Responces"(1) to problems on the forum. I like this because it encourages people to move the discussion back on-topic, or if the discussion is particularly fruitful, to create a thread.
Difficulty to discern is because we have seven admins and two mods - and each of them has a seperate opinion of what's off topic and whats an acceptable amount of 'straying'. We won't even be able to develop a rubric of exactly when something has crossed the line and needs to be locked because of the nature of subjective reasoning. But I expect that over time, a general rule will arise and it will become obvious to anyone who has enough experience.
Discussions like this are good because it helps keep the Admins aware of what people think about topics like this, and helps us further the precision in our own personal understanding of whats permissible and what isn't.
-Lenny
===
"The sound of laughter is like
the vaulted dome of
a temple of happiness. "
~-Milan Kundera-~
Sounds good to me. I just wanted to jump in with a quick thought, at the risk of going off-topic . It was refreshing for me to read this thread and not have it fall into a bunch of yelling and screaming. I have seen it happen a lot on Lugnet (of course never in .castle ) It is very nice to read a thread where differences of opinion are discussed rationally and like adults. Way to go, guys!
. It was refreshing for me to read this thread and not have it fall into a bunch of yelling and screaming. I have seen it happen a lot on Lugnet (of course never in .castle 
) It is very nice to read a thread where differences of opinion are discussed rationally and like adults. Way to go, guys!
)