Brief question about policy.

[The Man]

When threads go off-topic and get spammy, why not split the off-topic crap off to a separate closed thread instead of closing the entire thread? Just a thought.

(yes, I understand that Feedback threads can eventually have served their purpose, after which point closing them seems like a valid idea; this isn't just about Feedback threads though ;))

[eestlinc]

I like to delete the spam posts. It should be easier in vB 3.5 when we have inline moderation.

[Jojee]

What's inline moderation? Sounds scary.

*inline skates*

[Endless]

<a href="http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=113986">*inline modwhorates JoJo*</a>.

[Yamaneko]

Can't be arsed. :D

[Jojee]

<a href="http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=113986">*inline modwhorates JoJo*</a>.
Can't be arsed. :D

[Leeza]

Splitting apart a thread is a hassle. I'd rather delete all spam so that there are only clean threads. And if anyone notices any of their posts missing lately, it is because they have been deleted and that should be an indication to you that you spam too much.

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

I'd rather delete everything and return it to the zero world you so desire.

[Shlup]

I think it's better to delete the spam posts than split the threads. Unless someone gives the staff a pay raise.

[eestlinc]

I'd rather delete everything and return it to the zero world you so desire.
You are the father of immaculate births.

[The Man]

Delete stuff instead of splitting it, then, it's just I've noticed an abnormally large amount of threads being closed for getting off-topic lately and I think it can be avoided. ;)

also, I agree with eestlinc about kishi, but that goes without saying.

[Leeza]

it's just I've noticed an abnormally large amount of threads being closed for getting off-topic lately and I think it can be avoided. ;)
Yes, it can be avoided. If members wouldn't spam so much, we wouldn't have to close so many threads. :)

[Strider]

See, now, if we can just beat that into people's heads with bamboo sticks, the forum would be a much better place.

[Azure Chrysanthemum]

See, now, if we can just beat that into people's heads with bamboo sticks, the forum would be a much better place.

And now you know. And knowing is half the battle :D

[Yamaneko]

:gaynbcnote:

[The Man]

goddamn it, now I'm going to have to make that smilie.

[-N-]

See, now, if we can just beat that into people's heads with bamboo sticks, the forum would be a much better place.I call BS on that.

[Doomie]

Bamboo sucks. How about we beat people with a bag of oranges instead?



BTW, like it or not, spam is a part of every forum.

[The Man]

Thanks for deleting my entire signature instead of just commenting it out like you're supposed to do! I didn't have any of that stuff saved, so now I'm going to have to remake it entirely.

[crono_logical]

It says nowhere that we comment out signatures when we remove them, therefore I take the easiest option which is highlight all text and replace with the deletion notice :monster: Wasn't me that removed yours though :p

[eestlinc]

I comment out signatures rather than deleting, but I don't fix sigs very often anyway.

[XxSephirothxX]

As much as people complain about "spam" and whatnot, I've come to see the way it's used in an entirely different light. Most of the topics I read, especially in general chat, are often quite boring or repeats of topics from a few months or weeks before. What makes those topics interesting? Comments from people like Psy, Old Manus, and Meat Puppet that, while not always pertaining directly to the topic, are generally humorous. If you really think about it, how boring would those topics be if everyone was simply stating their simple opinion and being done with it? I've come to see a lot of it not as junk, but as what I genuinely want to read. Maybe the board isn't as "spammy" as we think.

[The Man]

I agree with Azar. Most general chat topics suck and the only thing that makes them interesting is the off-topic repartee.

And seriously, how much work does it take to comment out a signature? Put &lt;!-- --&gt; around it and you're done. That's like four more keystrokes than it takes to delete it.

[RSL]

How much work does it take to follow simple guidlines in the first place? Seriously.

[Doomie]

How much work does it take to follow simple guidlines in the first place? Seriously.

RSL for the burn!

OMG I spammed! There, big deal! I spammed. If this thread gets closed, then so be it. It makes no difference to me or other spammers. Many other threads can be spammed.

[eestlinc]

you want your IP ban back, DoomTwo?

[Psychotic]

you want more sex propositions, eest...four?

[Doomie]

you want your IP ban back, DoomTwo?

I was being serious about that. You think by deleting a thread, spam will stop? No. It will continue. Yes, you can moderate and control it, but it will always be there.

[Cuchulainn]

Del Mordor, no offence, but you appear to be a rebel with a lame cause...and what's worse it's on t'internet as Peter Kay would say.

Is it worth your time?

[Yamaneko]

What are the point of laws? We are just brutal savages that murder each other. You can't stop it, so we might as well start killing anyone on whim.

[eestlinc]

you want more sex propositions, eest...four?
theundeadhero has been hitting me up. But I told him I have the AIDS.

I was being serious about that. You think by deleting a thread, spam will stop? No. It will continue. Yes, you can moderate and control it, but it will always be there.
Actually, we just like deleting posts. You should see the comments we put in them when we delete them.

[Leeza]

Yep. It's also quite theraputic after a tough day at work to come into GC and delete a few spammy posts.

And seriously, how much work does it take to comment out a signature? Put <!-- --> around it and you're done. That's like four more keystrokes than it takes to delete it.
What's not nice is that sometimes people don't remove the first set of tags when they correct their sig and then that creates some problems. At least for me it does because I end up not being able to see anything in a thread past that person's post and then I have to go back in and edit it again.

[Del Murder]

I'll delete spam posts when I see them, but if it continues after that I will close the thread. It is one thing to forget about the rule and the topic in the 'heat of the moment', but doing it after that shows disregard and lack of respect for the rules, and so be their fate. The type of spam I don't tolerate is when two or three members talk back and forth about nothing in particular, as if it were a private conversation. Spam is good, but when people are doing it all the time it loses its charm quickly. The best spammers are the ones who don't draw attention to themselves, but that is just personal opinion. :D

[Yamaneko]

Hey Del, how's it going?

[Psychotic]

If the staff want to delete spammy posts made by me, I'm not especially bothered anymore to be honest. The fun comes from making the posts, not keeping them there for all eternity.

Although as a preventative measure I don't think it's very effective as it would probably just want to make people spam more, perhaps motivated by a sense of competition with the staff. So yeah, I think that unless it's being done for aesthetic reasons rather than preventative reasons, it's not a good idea.

Now if you'll excuse me I have to go make a 500 post spam topic in the FF:CC forum.

[eestlinc]

way to suck, Yams. See why you are the worst knight? You probably don't you stupid moron. Take it to PM.

[Yamaneko]

PMs are for suckas. :monster: eest, did you see that post I made in staff telling Del to shut it? :D

[eestlinc]

I did just now. nice work.

[theundeadhero]

I like it when the CKs leave the post but put little messeges in them. The more creative the better.

[Loony BoB]

Sometimes we still do leave little messages in the deletion notices, but only we can see those so you guys miss the jokes. :( Sometimes it's better that way though.

Psy: We have banned people for spam before. You can see it as competition but it's, well, not. It's more aesthetic than preventative for the most part, but it's still preventative overall. If people want to break rules and think it's competition, they'll end up like HOORJ or mlp.

[The Man]

Yep. It's also quite theraputic after a tough day at work to come into GC and delete a few spammy posts.

And seriously, how much work does it take to comment out a signature? Put &lt;!-- --&gt around it and you're done. That's like four more keystrokes than it takes to delete it.
What's not nice is that sometimes people don't remove the first set of tags when they correct their sig and then that creates some problems. At least for me it does because I end up not being able to see anything in a thread past that person's post and then I have to go back in and edit it again.
then leave a message to them to make sure they don't remove the end tag. Or get the admins to work in a pair of comment tags immediately after people's signatures, which should automatically end that problem once and for all.

[crono_logical]

I'll stick to deleting sigs clean, my preferred method to prevent that problem :monster:

[The Man]

man, if you're lazier than I am that makes you really goddamn lazy, seeing as my laziness is a running joke at Fool's Gold. But whatever.

[Psychotic]

Psy: We have banned people for spam before. You can see it as competition but it's, well, not. It's more aesthetic than preventative for the most part, but it's still preventative overall. If people want to break rules and think it's competition, they'll end up like HOORJ or mlp.I don't see it as competition! I may have used to (I still haven't forgiven Proto for the MAPS incident :p) but I said I figured a lot of people may see it that way. But maybe they won't, it's just how I see it.

[Loony BoB]

man, if you're lazier than I am that makes you really goddamn lazy, seeing as my laziness is a running joke at Fool's Gold. But whatever.
We have a warning above the edit sig box. Everyone is given a warning before they even make the sig. That's not laziness, that's efficiency.

[edczxcvbnm]

man, if you're lazier than I am that makes you really goddamn lazy, seeing as my laziness is a running joke at Fool's Gold. But whatever.

Joke? I didn't know we were joking ;_;

[The Man]

man, if you're lazier than I am that makes you really goddamn lazy, seeing as my laziness is a running joke at Fool's Gold. But whatever.
We have a warning above the edit sig box. Everyone is given a warning before they even make the sig. That's not laziness, that's efficiency.
except that I'd had that exact sig since January. Efficient what?

[eestlinc]

the problem is when people put lots of text into their signatures and the text combined with the images take up more than 250 vertical pixels of space. It's not as simple as clicking the properties on the image to find out if it exceeds the size.

[The Man]

yeah, but I was more commenting on the fact that the same signature took five months to remove ;)

That said though, I was pretty sure I'd measured my sig to make sure it fit within the limits. If they use a specific resolution to measure people's sigs they should probably include that in the warning.

[Shlup]

I have my resolution set high and I know your sig was above the limit. If it's your turn to be the Bitch King at least find something more useful to bitch about or we'll have to fire you and call Raist back.

[Yamaneko]

There's a difference?

[Del Murder]

I think it would be very courteous to always comment out sigs. People may deserve it for breaking the rules, but you don't always have to give people what they deserve. Sometimes it pays to be the first one to extend your hand.

[RSL]

What I did to test your sig was that I found an image that was exactly 250 pixels high and put it by your sig but in a different window. If that was not a good way to do it, let me know. But your sig was MUCH taller than the image, not just a little.

And I'm sorry I deleted it but I wasn't aware anyone ever commented them out. I asked in staff and only Leeza answered my question, but she said that she usually comments them out. So yeah, sorry. But at the same time, you still had an election banner in there so it didn't look like something you even cared about updating.

In the end, the sig was too tall and I deleted it. I'm sorry that it bothered you but such is life.

EDIT: and about having that sig for over 5 months, yeah that may be true, but you don't exactly post a ton here so I never even noticed it until the other day. Also, I used to be pretty lazy about sig enforcement but I'm starting to pay attention to that a little more.

[Shlup]

I think it would be very courteous to always comment out sigs. People may deserve it for breaking the rules, but you don't always have to give people what they deserve. Sometimes it pays to be the first one to extend your hand.
Oh, shove it, Gandhi.

[Del Murder]

I was hoping you'd have a good response to that.

[Shlup]

You and your constant exploiting of my sexiness. Tsk.

[Yamaneko]

The problem here is that we allow sigs period. Sigs are dumb. Most of the them suck. Let us get rid of them.

[Shlup]

I second that.

[RSL]

No way, my sig rules.

[Leeza]

then leave a message to them to make sure they don't remove the end tag. Or get the admins to work in a pair of comment tags immediately after people's signatures, which should automatically end that problem once and for all.
No need to make extra work for Staff. Having sigs is a privilege and the limits are clearly stated so whatever happens after people don't follow the limits is dependant on which Mod edits it and how.

I normally comment out a sig, but if it's over 50 kb I just delete it. It's not stated anywhere though that this is how it should be done and Staff commenting out the sig is not mandatory. It's just a courtesy that we offer at times. If I've already removed someone's sig once or more, I don't bother commenting out anymore.

The way that I measure if a sig with image and text is over 250 pixels:

- Print Screen of sig in EoFF Classic with the avatars at the side
- Paste into Paint Shop Pro
- Crop the sig from the white line down to the bottom of the sig
- Go to Image Information to see the pixel size

[The Man]

if it's really that torturous to spend a few extra seconds editing a .sig, I can whip up a script that'll automatically comment out a person's .sig and leave a prewritten message saying to fix it in about two minutes. Just say the word~

And as mentioned before, having an admin add &lt;!-- --&gt; immediately after a person's .sig in postbit and postbit_legacy will remove the problem of people not closing comment tags once and for all.

[Del Murder]

Ah, this takes me back.

[Yamaneko]

.hack

[The Man]

its haxoring tiem 8-)

[Shlup]

"Is it so hard to do something for someone who's breaking the rules anyway?"
"Is it so hard to follow the rules?"
"Is it so hard to do something for someone who's breaking the rules anyway?"
"Is it so hard to follow the rules?"
"Is it so hard to do something for someone who's breaking the rules anyway?"
"Is it so hard to follow the rules?"

lolz

[eestlinc]

apparently both are hard

[The Man]

I don't even care about my own case anymore, it's just for other people who aren't observant, because I can completely identify with them now. believe me, it's easy to think the sig warning rules are just some random crap that vB always says. It'd probably help make them more noticeable if you put them in <span style="color: red;">solid red</span> or something.

[Loony BoB]

Get it right next time, Manny. Why be courteous to rule breakers? You waste a couple of minutes of our time, we can waste even more of your time as you go and recode everything. Hopefully this will encourage people to get it right the next time around so as to avoid having to recode their sig from scratch all over again.

I think we should all just laugh at Manny here because he's all uppity because we did the right thing and removed his rule-breaking sig. This seems like the logical thing to do. :D

[Shlup]

I think we should all just laugh at MannyYou don't gotta tell me twice. :D

[DMKA]

Just remember kids: it's only spam/flamming/inappropriate if certain people do it.

[Loony BoB]

No, I'm 100% fine with anybody in these forums laughing at Manny. It's what we do on [insert appropriate letters]days.

[The Man]

I don't even care about my own case anymore, it's just for other people who aren't observant, because I can completely identify with them now.because apparently, some people missed this.

[Leeza]

But, you apparently missed this :) :

Why be courteous to rule breakers? You waste a couple of minutes of our time, we can waste even more of your time as you go and recode everything. Hopefully this will encourage people to get it right the next time around so as to avoid having to recode their sig from scratch all over again.

[The Man]

Because the rules are *still* easy to miss for absent-minded people like me:
it's easy to think the sig warning rules are just some random crap that vB always says. It'd probably help make them more noticeable if you put them in <span style="color: red;">solid red</span> or something.

[Leeza]

I'd go more for YELLOW rather than red because red makes my eyes blur, but I do agree with you on this point. :cat:

[The Man]

I'm glad we can more or less agree on this issue then. :smash:

edit: I think an acceptable compromise would be to make the text orange.

[crono_logical]

Too lazy to change it's colour :monster:

[The Man]

Congratulations, you are now officially lazier than me. <img src="http://www.fools-gold.org/forum/images/smilies/avatar827_8.gif" align="absbottom" />

[eestlinc]

clout is pretty damn lazy. which is why we should make Yams an admin!

[The Man]

oh, I agree. Although admin me and you'll see some real changes around this place. Like the reinstatement of ed's technicolor nightmare as a tool of political punishment.

[theundeadhero]

Political punishment as in punishing the politicians, aka: Staff, or as in "You've been a bad undeaddy! Technical nightmare time for YOU!

NOOOOOOOO!

[Shoeberto]

Nice to see we've made some progress in three pages.

Oh wait. *itchy finger on close button*

[Loony BoB]

Admin The Man and half of staff will step down and leave forever.

We aren't going to use any kind of highlight for the text because the styles have different colours. Red, yellow and particularly orange would all be horrible colours when used in EoFF 2005.

EDIT: I just checked the Edit Sig page. If people are going to miss those rules which are pretty obvious to me, that's their fault. They probably wouldn't read them anyway.

[The Man]

oh, I never said the changes would be all *good.* Just that they'd be changes. ;)

as for the colour complaint, I honestly don't see how orange or red or yellow looks horrid on EoFF 2005 at all. It's obvious, and that's the important part.

[Psychotic]

Admin The Man and half of staff will step down and leave forever.It's a win-win situation! Let's do it!

[crono_logical]

It's already happenned at Fool's Gold :D

[The Man]

Admin The Man and half of staff will step down and leave forever.It's a win-win situation! Let's do it!you know, given how much you seem to want me as admin, you could always just start posting at FG yerself :monster:

[Psychotic]

Yeah but Proto's an admin there. Instead of ignoring and possibly even laughing at his modwhoring posts, I would actually have to do what he said. :(

[The Man]

the funny thing is none of the admins there ever tell the members to do anything. I think the last time an admin told a member to do something was when I told WesLY to shut up, and he hasn't been at FG since January.

[Del Murder]

I think that was the right call.

[The Man]

it's always (http://www.fools-gold.org/aaron/wesley.wav) the right call. ;)

[Raistlin]

Did someone mention my name?

I have to side with the Staff on this one(which, contrary to popular belief, is pretty typical). :p

And I support Yams for admin! Do I sense a new campaign on the rise?

EDIT: wtf is my new avatar? O_o

[The Man]

I think Rissle got tired of mistaking you for himself. Frankly, I can't blame him. ;)

[Psychotic]

Stop double posting. Or triple posting, whatever.

[RSL]

Oh man I changed that days ago.

[Loony BoB]

Did someone mention my name?

I have to side with the Staff on this one(which, contrary to popular belief, is pretty typical). :p

And I support Yams for admin! Do I sense a new campaign on the rise?

EDIT: wtf is my new avatar? O_o
It's quite likely Yams will be the next admin, but having said that, we already have too many admins, so you'd have to campaign for the demotion of admins before you can campaign for new ones.

And yes, I know, leaving myself open and all that.

[RSL]

Raistlin, you might as well turn around and start campaigning for my demotion. You would only have to change a few words and stuff.

[Raistlin]

Loony BoB for Former Staff! :D

Nah, I can't do that.


Raistlin, you might as well turn around and start campaigning for my demotion. You would only have to change a few words and stuff.
Never! >=o