Comments on SYM rules -NO SPAM!

[Mr Sleep]

Originally posted by Aegis
Hmmm... Sleepy, how dare you spam this rule thread!

Actually, I think tha was covered in the rules. Some examples were things like counting down to milestones and such. As long as the post as some relevance, or at least some substance, it should be fine.

What i mean to find out is some more specifics, such as what some of the more regular tavern posters do and don't appreciate in their thread, since i am not much of a punter myself, i don't know.

[Eerhardt]

Originally posted by Mr Sleep
What i mean to find out is some more specifics, such as what some of the more regular tavern posters do and don't appreciate in their thread, since i am not much of a punter myself, i don't know.

@Mr Sleep,
I think you'd better start a new thread on this. Basically, your question has the potential of invoking a lot of replies that will have less to do with the SYM rules .

[Vivien]

I think the mods are doing an excellent job, and I think the rules are very reasonable.

I have a question though...

Sometimes we are told that we are spamming up a thread in SYM...

But...well..this is SYM after all....the land where I thought this was acceptable and this has happened in threads with specific topics but without the 'no spam' in the title or opening post or anywhere. I get confused, because I thought going off topic in a friendly way was okay, and it is in some threads, but not in others? I guess I sometimes enjoy the way a thread takes a life of it's own and twists and turns into uncharted territory...

Viv

[Mr Sleep]

Originally posted by Eerhardt

@Mr Sleep,
I think you'd better start a new thread on this. Basically, your question has the potential of invoking a lot of replies that will have less to do with the SYM rules .

I'll tell you what, if anyone has an idea for this particular rule then PM me their suggestion and i will take it under advisement.

[Mr Sleep]

Originally posted by Vivien
Sometimes we are told that we are spamming up a thread in SYM...

But...well..this is SYM after all....the land where I thought this was acceptable and this has happened in threads with specific topics but without the 'no spam' in the title or opening post or anywhere. I get confused, because I thought going off topic in a friendly way was okay, and it is in some threads, but not in others? I guess I sometimes enjoy the way a thread takes a life of it's own and twists and turns into uncharted territory...

It depends again on specific situations, if the thread is there for a particular discussion it can be very annoying for the poster of that thread to be bogged down in non relating spam, it is for the Thread Starters discretion that the No Spam title gets placed on something.

As an example, the old anatomy thread, that was probably 23 pages long (back in the 40 posts a page days) and look at the current one, we have all the information there, one doesn't have to wade through a great deal of non-related material to find what they are looking for.

[Vivien]

Check your pms

[fable]

Originally posted by Vivien
But...well..this is SYM after all....the land where I thought this was acceptable and this has happened in threads with specific topics but without the 'no spam' in the title or opening post or anywhere. I get confused, because I thought going off topic in a friendly way was okay, and it is in some threads, but not in others? I guess I sometimes enjoy the way a thread takes a life of it's own and twists and turns into uncharted territory...

Most of us can tell at a glance when a thread is meant to be taken seriously, and when its subject is frivolous and open to "mutation." The rule is intended for those people who occasionally can't seem to understand this, even when NO SPAM is posted on the thread's title (as happened yesterday in the Updated Anatomy of GameBanshee members--two people decided to have a private conversation in the thread). If it's stated clearly in the rules, a person can't whine that they were never told.

[Vivien]

Fable,

I'm working on a pm.

Viv

[frogus]

twenty different reply's all saying "Grog Me!"

letting you know that I appreciate the EFMI ref.

Anyway, a thread about dog's should not have conversation about pirates in it. That is spamming because the subject of the thread is dogs. the subject of Tavern threads, is however, by their nature, anything, in specific alcohol and woe. I think the rules cover it.

[HighLordDave]

I think that trying to reign in discussions when they stray from the original topic can be dangerous because sometimes it is for the better. I'm not talking about highjacking threads but sometimes a discussion will take off in a direction the original poster never intended and the result is something very productive. Trying to keep a conversation within the confines of a singular area may stunt the discussion rather than add to it.

As our friend fable has said, more often than not, people are pretty good about keeping threads more or less on the right track, but I would caution against closing threads or deleting posts which are not directly related to an original topic but may fit into a larger context.

Also, since there are threads marked "No Spam, Please", maybe we could have other threads marked "Spam Away!" where anything goes with regard to content (excepting violations of the forum rules) and people can countdown to their latest posting milestone, drink virtual alchohol concoctions and grok away to their heart's content without fear of their posts being deleted or the thread being closed.

[T'lainya]

I feel that the tavern threads are fine, there's no particular topic, just conversations that appear. That actually has some purpose. I'm more concerned with spamming of serious topics and conversely serious topics popping up in lots of different threads. That makes it hard for people to remember where they saw a particular point and disallows people who like debating certain topics the chance to answer. I realize that things do start to wander from the original subject. If these deserve their own thread we ask people to do that or start a new one ourselves.
If the secondary topic is just spam, we'll ask that it be stopped or moved to an appropriate place.

[Weasel]

Originally posted by T'lainya
I feel that the tavern threads are fine, there's no particular topic, just conversations that appear. That actually has some purpose. I'm more concerned with spamming of serious topics and conversely serious topics popping up in lots of different threads. That makes it hard for people to remember where they saw a particular point and disallows people who like debating certain topics the chance to answer. I realize that things do start to wander from the original subject. If these deserve their own thread we ask people to do that or start a new one ourselves.
If the secondary topic is just spam, we'll ask that it be stopped or moved to an appropriate place.

When I formed COMM (which is now no more ) is was a golden rule for a member of COMM NOT to spam up serious topics. The light of COMM was to show the true way to converse and have a great time while doing it. The underhanded, vile and evil lies finally took it's toll on me and I gave up....maybe the Mods can do a better job.

[fable]

Originally posted by HighLordDave
As our friend fable has said, more often than not, people are pretty good about keeping threads more or less on the right track, but I would caution against closing threads or deleting posts which are not directly related to an original topic but may fit into a larger context.

Also, since there are threads marked "No Spam, Please"...

On the other hand, I've twice observed over the last four days several people spamming up the Updated Anatomy of GameBanshee Members, which is clearly marked "no spam." It seems people can't resist adding comments to that thread, though they could just as easily send PMs or start new topics, if they so wished.

[Maharlika]

First of all, I would like to join my fellow SYMians in expressing their profound appreciation with the way the mods handle this forum. I think that the mods' different personalities and styles have succeeded in maintaining SYM as a very stable yet a dynamic and colorful forum.

HLD has already expressed my sentiments and concern although I would like to add that if the author of the "No Spam" thread would still insist on his/her thread to be purely on topic, he himself could politely request the posters concerned to discuss their unrelated yet productive discussion somewhere else.

Kudos again to SYM's exalted tribunal.

[Mr Sleep]

Originally posted by HighLordDave
I think that trying to reign in discussions when they stray from the original topic can be dangerous because sometimes it is for the better. I'm not talking about highjacking threads but sometimes a discussion will take off in a direction the original poster never intended and the result is something very productive. Trying to keep a conversation within the confines of a singular area may stunt the discussion rather than add to it.

Perhaps it should be up to the original creator of the topic to reign people in from diluting the topics too much, If the topic moves through differnet stages (like the marriage thread) then it is okay, however when a topic moves from discussing Marriage to talking about Pond life (or some other abstract idea) then i think there is grounds for stepping in.

As our friend fable has said, more often than not, people are pretty good about keeping threads more or less on the right track, but I would caution against closing threads or deleting posts which are not directly related to an original topic but may fit into a larger context.

I can't remeber ever deleting someone's post in a serious discussion that wasn't relevant, i just advise them to make their posts relevant. EDIT: I have deleted spam from threads before now, but i can't remember altering deleting a serious post in a no spam thread.

Also, since there are threads marked "No Spam, Please", maybe we could have other threads marked "Spam Away!" where anything goes with regard to content (excepting violations of the forum rules) and people can countdown to their latest posting milestone, drink virtual alchohol concoctions and grok away to their heart's content without fear of their posts being deleted or the thread being closed.

I think the countdown post is ridiculous regardless of the thread used.

To some degree if your suggestions were taken up then the members would have to be relied upon to mediate themselves since me, fable and T all have lives and we don't have the time to read every single post (as much as we try). How many people want to read a post that says "Holy crap dude" or something similarly not relelvant to the conversation, there isn't anything entertaining in this theoretical post. One of the reasons we are still a decent community in SYM is because we have stopped this type of thing (to some degree) so the spam still stays entertaining, i have seen way to many Bulletin boards that become continual spam replys and it destroys everything interesting in the board. If we can trust the posters to keep the spam relevant then i have no complaints, it is up to you the members.