I know- but it’s clearly not obvious to include a link since almost every newbie who comments on Cecil’s columns doesn’t include a link. Regardless of what people should be able to know, they are telling us through their actions that they do not know.
Frankly, it would never occur to me that clicking a link at the bottom of a specific column would require copying and pasting the URL to that column for the comment to be attached to it. That’s fine if you don’t want it set up like a blog, but I think there is some value in not assuming everyone knows exactly what to do, especially when it’s different from most places people visit (newspaper sites, news magazine sites) that look awfully similar.
Anyway, the point was that a prohibition on URL linking for newbies would thwart the current preferred system of including column’s URLs.
ETA: the column’s aren’t on the message board of course and there is no indication that the comments will redirect to a message board, so how are people to know it isn’t a blog/typical news site?
Thanks for answering. I assumed it was riff of Mickey Mouse somehow. In a trivia quiz I took once, it gave the answer for MM’s middle name as “Alouicious”. I could never confirm it and thought maybe the E was for another variant.
There’s mentions of the message board all over the front page and links too.
It says right at the top of the SDMB page too, what this is … not everyone reads for comprehension, maybe, I don’t know.
I wouldn’t expect a message board to be like a blog, nor would I think a blog would be the same thing as a social media site. And a message board is none of those things.
When new people come by this route, usually someone has copied or forwarded them to a particular column. You’re right, we probably should expect that they would not know coming in about our little quirks, that’s why it’s just mentioned and they’re not yelled at. How can you learn about something if you’re not told about it?
There are all sorts of little stylistic quirks to this place that you only learn about by reading the FAQs and sticky notes in each forum area, by reading the content itself, and by observing the actions of others. Might take at least five minutes. Mostly people are good about it on all sides and those posters that hang and become members of the community figure it out pretty quickly. For others, it takes a little longer … or not at all.
On every other website with columns on the internet, clicking something that says Comment on This Column means that your comments will be appended to the end of the column on that page, not that you will be directed to a completely different part of the website to post to a general interest message board. Be different than everyone else, I don’t care, but don’t act all surprised when people treat your website like every other site on the net.
I’m talking about the Straight Dope home page. Not the SDMB. When you click on a new article at the bottom it simply says “comment on this column”. It makes no mention that your comment would appear on a message board with no link, so please copy and paste. Maybe 10 years ago this made sense, but today, most people do not expect a comments section to redirect. That’s all. I’m not sure I can explain what I mean any more clearly.
I never said anyone got yelled at. I know everyone is polite about it. I never suggested no one teach newcomers our strange little ways. All that commentary is somewhat irrelevant to my point, which is, why not fix the situation in the first place, so that the link comes along automatically or you put a little note saying “please copy the link above”.
And finally, this whole thing was only about how the suggestion of not allowing newcomers to post URLs would get in the way of that, so if you wanted to implement a block, you’d need to change the system (which wouldn’t be a bad thing to do anyway).
I’ve been harping on this for years, but my suggestions seem to have fallen on deaf ears.
If the “Comment on this column” were replaced with a short paragraph or link describing the best way to do this and why, it would help everyone. Even if no one wants to manually edit old columns to add that paragraph, all new ones could include it as part of Cecil’s submission process. Come on – how difficult is it to post short boiler plate text at the end of each column?
One problem is the text says “comment on this column,” but you are taken to a place that is not about this column. Unless you want to spend some time to research the how/where and why, you are either lost or likely to post incorrectly. If you want proof of this, just look at the last few years of posts in that forum.
I registered long ago to “comment” on a column, but became frustrated because the process was foreign to me and didn’t seem to make sense. As a result, SDMB was without my input for months (their loss!) until I came back and tried again. I can only wonder if this happens to others who never return.
Well, done right, sure. But we also want to encourage the proper Doper etiquette of posting a link to one of Cecil’s masterpieces if you’re opening a thread about it.
So maybe temp-banning external links?
Still, seems a shame to restrict well-intentioned newbs. Puts them at a disadvantage if, for instance, they want to post external support for their position in a Great Debate or such.
Damn spammers. They are one of the reasons we can’t have anything nice.
Mostly people are good about it on all sides and those posters that hang and become members of the community figure it out pretty quickly. For others, it takes a little longer … or not at all.