Page 1 of 3

Useless replies and bad community members.

Posted: 24 Aug 2010, 22:31
by Petah
I think the forums need some kind of hiding system for off topic replies (or trolling as you may call it).

For example most of the first few replies in this post are off topic and pointless http://springrts.com/phpbb/viewtopic.ph ... 3&start=20

The replies should just be collapsed so you can just see the users name,
reply date and subject. And a button to expand (or expand all) the post if you want to read it.

Could be something like the thumbs up/down buttons on youtube. I get sick of read pointless replies.

I'm sure there will be a phpBB mod for this.

Re: Useless replies and bad community members.

Posted: 24 Aug 2010, 22:42
by Peet
Add them as foes.

Re: Useless replies and bad community members.

Posted: 24 Aug 2010, 22:43
by Petah
Peet wrote:Add them as foes.
What would that do?

Re: Useless replies and bad community members.

Posted: 24 Aug 2010, 22:44
by Peet
Exactly what you described.

Re: Useless replies and bad community members.

Posted: 24 Aug 2010, 23:02
by KaiserJ
like you petah i just get sick of non-helpful and fully negative replies

this forum should be about creative collaboration and helping people, rather than ripping on peoples work and ideas

and yes i'm definitely guilty of freaking out and being negative and telling people "if you want it, do it yourself"; but at the same time, if someone does something wrong or you see how something could be improved, its a matter of offering positive suggestions without being overly aggressive...

post information rating isn't a bad idea though; i'd be able to just click "thumbs down" instead of either a rage post or ignoring completely

i think in the example post its a combination of misinterpreted post intent combined with people sleeping on tizbac... its hardly the stupidest thing i've seen though

Re: Useless replies and bad community members.

Posted: 25 Aug 2010, 01:19
by Petah
Peet wrote:Exactly what you described.
Wrong, I don't want to hide every reply from a person. Only the ones that are pointless.

But the effect of hiding is almost perfect though, just needs a show button.

Re: Useless replies and bad community members.

Posted: 25 Aug 2010, 02:30
by Jazcash
There's not many annoying posters here who don't make any relevant or helpful posts at all. Mostly, people just make a one-off post every now and then. Hell, even Wombat has made some contributions to the modelling departymont.

Re: Useless replies and bad community members.

Posted: 25 Aug 2010, 02:31
by Andrej
Basically this except for phpBB or whatever spring forums use

Re: Useless replies and bad community members.

Posted: 27 Aug 2010, 18:58
by maackey
I would really like this as well. up/down votes on posts would hopefully encourage people to make more helpful/insightful comments and let the community help sort out the bad eggs.

Unfortunately I can't lurk the forums all day looking for trolls/spammers to quell, and usually when something does happen it often escalates or resolves before I even get home. Or it happens in some thread I haven't read and no one has reported anything.

I also really don't like deleting comments however retarded they are, if someone else takes the time to post a reasonable response. A comment with enough downvotes would be hidden by default but still allow continuity to a discussion if someone was curious about what was said.

Re: Useless replies and bad community members.

Posted: 27 Aug 2010, 19:27
by Hobo Joe
Get over it. Forums need helpful posts and entertaining posts both, a lot of people who give 'useless' replies are giving entertainment, and a lot of the time those very same people will go to another thread or threads and make lots of helpful posts.

Stop whining.

Re: Useless replies and bad community members.

Posted: 27 Aug 2010, 19:49
by very_bad_soldier
So giving "entertainment" just necessarily includes insulting people?

Re: Useless replies and bad community members.

Posted: 27 Aug 2010, 20:13
by Beherith
No joe it does not.

Re: Useless replies and bad community members.

Posted: 27 Aug 2010, 20:25
by MidKnight
Yeah, up/downvotes, behaving in a fashion similar to youtube/AOL blog (engadget, downloadsquad, TUAW, Joystiq, etc) comments, would be a really welcome addition.

Re: Useless replies and bad community members.

Posted: 27 Aug 2010, 20:47
by Hobo Joe
very_bad_soldier wrote:So giving "entertainment" just necessarily includes insulting people?
I never said that

Re: Useless replies and bad community members.

Posted: 28 Aug 2010, 00:25
by KaiserJ
there's no point in an "entertaining" post; this forum is mainly about developing things for spring, and a useless reply to a technical question can be quite irritating, as well as can the tone of some posts, regardless of the intent

nothing wrong with a bit of entertainment but excessive stupidity and trolling are best kept on the lobby, right?

its just... certain posts, i dont agree with them at all, and instead of trying to argue a point it might be nice to just be able to "downvote" a comment that i didn't agree with or wasn't keen on

and again, its mostly about tone and content with the stuff that annoys me, rather than the actual intent of a post. negative feedback has the possibility of being the most helpful type of feedback to someone who is learning

Re: Useless replies and bad community members.

Posted: 28 Aug 2010, 06:08
by Hobo Joe
unless it's excessively rude or counter-productive, I don't see the problem.

Remember what happened last time people got up in arms about rules and moderation? Yeah, a bunch of people got banned, some of them being big community members who had contributed a lot.

Re: Useless replies and bad community members.

Posted: 28 Aug 2010, 07:19
by MidKnight
Hobo Joe wrote:unless it's excessively rude or counter-productive, I don't see the problem.

Remember what happened last time people got up in arms about rules and moderation? Yeah, a bunch of people got banned, some of them being big community members who had contributed a lot.
You see, If we had an upvote/downvote system, instead of spending valuable time and thought pointing out that your comment is deviating from the current topic of discussion (requesting an upvote/downvote system) and that the bans, for the most part, improved the tone and productivity of the forums, I would just downvote this post and get back to my 3d modeling.

:wink:

Re: Useless replies and bad community members.

Posted: 28 Aug 2010, 07:57
by Hobo Joe
MidKnight wrote:
Hobo Joe wrote:unless it's excessively rude or counter-productive, I don't see the problem.

Remember what happened last time people got up in arms about rules and moderation? Yeah, a bunch of people got banned, some of them being big community members who had contributed a lot.
You see, If we had an upvote/downvote system, instead of spending valuable time and thought pointing out that your comment is deviating from the current topic of discussion (requesting an upvote/downvote system) and that the bans, for the most part, improved the tone and productivity of the forums, I would just downvote this post and get back to my 3d modeling.

:wink:
Or you could just not read this post and get back to your 3d modeling.


:wink:

Re: Useless replies and bad community members.

Posted: 28 Aug 2010, 12:01
by Beherith
Downvoting would have the undesirable effect of legitimizing trolling and disruptive behavior.

Re: Useless replies and bad community members.

Posted: 28 Aug 2010, 13:28
by Gota
Beherith wrote:Downvoting would have the undesirable effect of legitimizing trolling and disruptive behavior.
So say the overlords...