Pointless Topics and Useless Replies

I haven't been here too long, as you can see, but long enough to come to the opinion that FST could really benefit from more stringent moderation. I would mostly browse the BitTorrent forums, and while these forums are an incredibly useful resource and have been very helpful to me, to be quite honest there is an awful lot of rubbish posted in them.

The first problem is the endless amounts of Best/Worst/Top 10/Favourite threads, which I can clearly see have all been done to death many times. They all inevitably end up in a nauseating avalanche of one-word, repetitive posts which offer nothing of value, and only serve to clog up the thread and make it impossible to have any genuine discussion.

Case in point: http://filesharingtalk.com/vb3/bitto...-series-103132
As you can see, this thread quickly descends into a mess of one line posts repeating the same thing and adding absolutely nothing. Hard to read isn't it?

Here's another which happened to be on the first page of threads when I looked: http://filesharingtalk.com/vb3/bitto...rackers-171491
This kind of thread is doomed from the start, and is a perfect example of why they should be banned completely. There was never a chance of any meaningful discussion, just countless posters chiming in with their own top 3. Really what is the point?

These rubbish posts can also be seen in other threads, like people saying "Good luck", or "Good offer", and contributing nothing useful. This is even more frustrating because it can ruin a good thread.

What I'd like to see happen is the mods cracking down on this type of behavior, as I think it is a big problem at the moment, and to get rid of it would be of huge benefit to the community.

Good luck. :P

I agree to an extent.

There is soooo much traffic in the BT section that it's difficult to view or moderate every thread and every post.

I do however delete every post I see that consists of nothing more than "Good luck", "Good offer", or "thxxxxx". Often times I'll see that the same member has made this statement more than one time in the same thread. :wacko:

I was made aware (by another concerned member) of how the WIAW thread going to the crapper, so I made this post, though now it buried in a sea of even more fluff.

With so many new members as well, it's hard to keep everyone knowledgeable of the rules.

I've thought many times that the BT section could support it's own subforum. I think it should certainly be considered. While that would not improve the quality of postings, there could be sections for topics such as WIAW that would be similar to the Drawing Room, where off-topic and fluff aren't allowed.

I agree. The bittorrent section moderators are really quite slack, and need to smarten up a bit :whistling

The best thing to do would be to close down the Bittorrent section tbh, trading accounts and invites is wrong. The idiots it attracts to the board are even wronger. Bittorrent mods are completely wrongerer.

been complained before but what to do these Bt invite hunters must gain their post counts from somewhere.
my own opinion is they should make a separate forum were they can post these nonsense instead of garbaging useful threads.

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Originally Posted by Cheese

The best thing to do would be to close down the Bittorrent section tbh, trading accounts and invites is wrong. The idiots it attracts to the board are even wronger. Bittorrent mods are completely wrongerer.

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Never said this before.

I agree with the cheese.

Why not set the post count to 50 or 100 to gain access to the invite section. That and make the length of time before gaining access 3 months. The main point of this site is to encourage discussion on file sharing, not encourage invite beggers to get ten posts up over a month.

That would put off anybody just joining to throw a few quick mesages up and wait the month out to be for oink invites.

Having said that I am looking forward to getting into the invites section but I can wait if this rule is changed before starting my begging barrage :naughty:

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Originally Posted by knight76

Why not set the post count to 50 or 100 to gain access to the invite section. That and make the length of time before gaining access 3 months. The main point of this site is to encourage discussion on file sharing, not encourage invite beggers to get ten posts up over a month.

That would put off anybody just joining to throw a few quick mesages up and wait the month out to be for oink invites.

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Because sadly, it does not encourage discussion on file sharing, etc. It only encourages more spam.

The post count is set at 10 right now, because when it was at 20, the noob spam around the forum was well, twice what it is now.

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Originally Posted by Art Vandelay

I haven't been here too long, as you can see, but long enough to come to the opinion that FST could really benefit from more stringent moderation. I would mostly browse the BitTorrent forums, and while these forums are an incredibly useful resource and have been very helpful to me, to be quite honest there is an awful lot of rubbish posted in them.

The first problem is the endless amounts of Best/Worst/Top 10/Favourite threads, which I can clearly see have all been done to death many times. They all inevitably end up in a nauseating avalanche of one-word, repetitive posts which offer nothing of value, and only serve to clog up the thread and make it impossible to have any genuine discussion.

Case in point: http://filesharingtalk.com/vb3/bitto...-series-103132
As you can see, this thread quickly descends into a mess of one line posts repeating the same thing and adding absolutely nothing. Hard to read isn't it?

Here's another which happened to be on the first page of threads when I looked: http://filesharingtalk.com/vb3/bitto...rackers-171491
This kind of thread is doomed from the start, and is a perfect example of why they should be banned completely. There was never a chance of any meaningful discussion, just countless posters chiming in with their own top 3. Really what is the point?

These rubbish posts can also be seen in other threads, like people saying "Good luck", or "Good offer", and contributing nothing useful. This is even more frustrating because it can ruin a good thread.

What I'd like to see happen is the mods cracking down on this type of behavior, as I think it is a big problem at the moment, and to get rid of it would be of huge benefit to the community.

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Good speech

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Because sadly, it does not encourage discussion on file sharing, etc. It only encourages more spam.

The post count is set at 10 right now, because when it was at 20, the noob spam around the forum was well, twice what it is now.

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But by that ratio if you make the post count required 0, then you eliminate newb spam. I think the trick is to make the invite section hard enough to attain that the newbs give up and move on to an easier target. Also, if newbs come on and all they do is spam, then mods should kick em fast.

Hell, make the post count 200 before you get into the invites section. No newb is going to join with the premise of spamming 200 posts just to get into that section. Well, few newbs anyhow.

But by that ratio if you make the post count required 0, then you eliminate newb spam. I think the trick is to make the invite section hard enough to attain that the newbs give up and move on to an easier target. Also, if newbs come on and all they do is spam, then mods should kick em fast.

Define spam. I've always gone with Senseless, Pointless, Annoying, Messages, but not everyone would agree, semantics and all.

Some members post obvious spam, such as by "thxxx" ten different times in order to obtain the minimum. Typically, those posts are easy to spot and are consequently, deleted. But other members do just enough to be considered on-topic. Take this popular technique for example. Do you consider this to be spam that is deserving of the all-mighty delete button? It certainly isn't off-topic, but it isn't what I would consider a productive posting trend either. And therein lies the dilemma - To be, or not to be.....deleted.

Hell, make the post count 200 before you get into the invites section. No newb is going to join with the premise of spamming 200 posts just to get into that section. Well, few newbs anyhow.

No offense, but that would be a horrible decision. Spam would go through the roof, no question, and we mods have much better things to do with our time than delete it all. There are also members who will post those amounts - Example: http://filesharingtalk.com/vb3/members/thequasi-158929

Dropping the required posts to zero is OK with me, though I think they should still wait the required 30 days. It's sort of a passive hazing. :P

I think your definition of spam is pretty accurate. No doubt there are people out there that would post 200 spam messages but they would be easy enough to ID. I really have no idea on the logistics and dynamics of running a forum, just putting up some thoughts.

All a greed.

I agree too, with Cheese, dus this reply, belong to the useless replies category?

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Originally Posted by knight76

I think your definition of spam is pretty accurate. No doubt there are people out there that would post 200 spam messages but they would be easy enough to ID. I really have no idea on the logistics and dynamics of running a forum, just putting up some thoughts.

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I like you.

You may only be here to get into the invite section, of which I disapprove, but you have a mild form of OCD, which always makes for a decent spud.

Can I suggest you try other things on the forum too, I think you'll like them. I'm sure you would enjoy the Lounge.

Or we could just remove all traces of invites section from the n00bs, ie no more 'post x and wait xx to get into invites section' threads and other advertisements.
Let it be a nice surprise to those who are proper members here, and raise the requirements. :)

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Originally Posted by rossco

Or we could just remove all traces of invites section from the n00bs, ie no more 'post x and wait xx to get into invites section' threads and other advertisements.
Let it be a nice surprise to those who are proper members here, and raise the requirements. :)

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That's a good idea. Wouldn't be as effective as removing the section altogether, but obviously that would be a controversial move.

Aside from that there's no magic solution to stop stupid people posting crap, it's a fact of internet life. It's unfortunate to have to do it, but I think strict, effective moderation is the best strategy. At the moment, it's hard to see any moderation present in BitTorrent. Is 3 moderators really enough for a forum with so much traffic? I'm sure there are plenty of well trusted FST posters that would be more than happy to chip in and help clean the place up.

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I like you.

You may only be here to get into the invite section, of which I disapprove, but you have a mild form of OCD, which always makes for a decent spud.

Can I suggest you try other things on the forum too, I think you'll like them. I'm sure you would enjoy the Lounge.

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Haha, You should see me playing scrabble. It's more than mild.

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Originally Posted by Art Vandelay

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Originally Posted by rossco

Or we could just remove all traces of invites section from the n00bs, ie no more 'post x and wait xx to get into invites section' threads and other advertisements.
Let it be a nice surprise to those who are proper members here, and raise the requirements. :)

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That's a good idea. Wouldn't be as effective as removing the section altogether, but obviously that would be a controversial move.

Aside from that there's no magic solution to stop stupid people posting crap, it's a fact of internet life. It's unfortunate to have to do it, but I think strict, effective moderation is the best strategy. At the moment, it's hard to see any moderation present in BitTorrent. Is 3 moderators really enough for a forum with so much traffic? I'm sure there are plenty of well trusted FST posters that would be more than happy to chip in and help clean the place up.

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It's what you don't see.....

There is a good deal of moderation. I logged on an hour ago, and am just now getting around to browsing, as the first hour was spent working on problems. (ie - moderating)

Not to come off the wrong way, but you're making a lot of judgments for someone who has just joined the forum. May I assume you're an old member under a new name, or just another JP ID?

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Originally Posted by knight76

Why not set the post count to 50 or 100 to gain access to the invite section. That and make the length of time before gaining access 3 months. The main point of this site is to encourage discussion on file sharing, not encourage invite beggers to get ten posts up over a month.

That would put off anybody just joining to throw a few quick mesages up and wait the month out to be for oink invites.

Having said that I am looking forward to getting into the invites section but I can wait if this rule is changed before starting my begging barrage :naughty:

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If you decide to venture into the Lounge, such posts as this one, will endear you to the Lounge Lizards.. and your safe return to the BitTorrent Forum guaranteed,... :)

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Originally Posted by Skizo

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Originally Posted by Art Vandelay

That's a good idea. Wouldn't be as effective as removing the section altogether, but obviously that would be a controversial move.

Aside from that there's no magic solution to stop stupid people posting crap, it's a fact of internet life. It's unfortunate to have to do it, but I think strict, effective moderation is the best strategy. At the moment, it's hard to see any moderation present in BitTorrent. Is 3 moderators really enough for a forum with so much traffic? I'm sure there are plenty of well trusted FST posters that would be more than happy to chip in and help clean the place up.

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It's what you don't see.....

There is a good deal of moderation. I logged on an hour ago, and am just now getting around to browsing, as the first hour was spent working on problems. (ie - moderating)

Not to come off the wrong way, but you're making a lot of judgments for someone who has just joined the forum. May I assume you're an old member under a new name, or just another JP ID?

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Not me mate, all my current names are well known.

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Originally Posted by knight76

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I like you.

You may only be here to get into the invite section, of which I disapprove, but you have a mild form of OCD, which always makes for a decent spud.

Can I suggest you try other things on the forum too, I think you'll like them. I'm sure you would enjoy the Lounge.

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Haha, You should see me playing scrabble. It's more than mild.

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I'm betting that in two player scrabble (the only type) you would expect a joint score of over 600, with nearer 700 being decent. You would also expect that there would be at least one seven letter word but happier if there were two of three.

Further a dictionary may be referred to, but only when a challenge is made. "No you can't use it to check the spelling, put what you think it is and if it's wrong I'll challenge it and we can check and no you won't get another "shot", if it's wrong it's wrong"

Anyone who challenges a word like adz (adze) or qua is not even worth playing. "Fuck if you don't know words like that then why even bother with scrabble".

You would like j2 btw, you'll find him in the Drawing Room most of the time.

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Originally Posted by rossco

Or we could just remove all traces of invites section from the n00bs, ie no more 'post x and wait xx to get into invites section' threads and other advertisements.
Let it be a nice surprise to those who are proper members here, and raise the requirements. :)

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Sounds fantastic. Let's get that ball rolling. :yup:

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Originally Posted by JPaul

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Originally Posted by Skizo

It's what you don't see.....

There is a good deal of moderation. I logged on an hour ago, and am just now getting around to browsing, as the first hour was spent working on problems. (ie - moderating)

Not to come off the wrong way, but you're making a lot of judgments for someone who has just joined the forum. May I assume you're an old member under a new name, or just another JP ID?

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Not me mate, all my current names are well known.

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Originally Posted by knight76

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I like you.

You may only be here to get into the invite section, of which I disapprove, but you have a mild form of OCD, which always makes for a decent spud.

Can I suggest you try other things on the forum too, I think you'll like them. I'm sure you would enjoy the Lounge.

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Haha, You should see me playing scrabble. It's more than mild.

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I'm betting that in two player scrabble (the only type) you would expect a joint score of over 600, with nearer 700 being decent. You would also expect that there would be at least one seven letter word but happier if there were two of three.

Further a dictionary may be referred to, but only when a challenge is made. "No you can't use it to check the spelling, put what you think it is and if it's wrong I'll challenge it and we can check and no you won't get another "shot", if it's wrong it's wrong"

Anyone who challenges a word like adz (adze) or qua is not even worth playing. "Fuck if you don't know words like that then why even bother with scrabble".

You would like j2 btw, you'll find him in the Drawing Room most of the time.

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a gem. :)

I have spent perhaps an hour altogether in the torrent section, and when I do take a peek, I usually withdraw in bafflement.

I would be very much in favor of doing something (anything) to lessen the workload on the team members whose time is consumed so completely by the piddling concerns over invites, stolen/misused accounts, and various scams...we cater to almost everyone here, and I wouldn't want to infringe on the activities of those who participate constructively in the torrent section, but it seems to me that an offer of enduring quality over rampant quantity by way of membership would indicate the desired route.

There are some genuine misunderstandings between members in that section which warrant the attention of the mods who attend, but the torrent section also attracts an element that can only be described as riff-raff.

Again, not being well-versed in torrent activity, I can only say there would be a definite benefit to raising the bar of entry so as to discourage those who will not conduct themselves seriously.

This would have the added feature of assuaging my considerable guilt over not being of more use to my fellow mods. :)

That's a yes, Ross.

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Originally Posted by JPaul

That's a yes, Ross.

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My "edit" function is permanently enabled and living in Scotland. :)

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Originally Posted by Skizo

It's what you don't see.....

There is a good deal of moderation. I logged on an hour ago, and am just now getting around to browsing, as the first hour was spent working on problems. (ie - moderating)

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Sorry I didn't mean to imply there was no moderation, I should've phrased it better. Good moderation should be invisible anyway, but whatever is being done now, the point is it's not enough. That's not a criticism of you or the other mods, you've clearly got your hands full and are probably doing more than a moderator should have to. The combination of sheer volume and poor quality posts is the problem, and you've got to meet that with more mods.

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Not to come off the wrong way, but you're making a lot of judgments for someone who has just joined the forum. May I assume you're an old member under a new name, or just another JP ID?

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No I'm completely green here, signed up the first day I found FST. But having run a forum in the past I've had to deal with these problems before. The only judgment I've made is that there is a big problem in BitTorrent, and that is clear as day even after half an hour of browsing, never mind a month. I don't claim to know how to solve the ultimate problem of attracting the right people to FST, that's up to the staff here who I'm sure have a lot of experience with the dynamics of this particular board.