Are You Guys Ignoring Me......

About This Message Board
1

… because I’m demented and am not to be considered a “normal” Doper (in quotes because I don’t think such a person exists)?

I ask, because a couple of times now, I’ve asked for a thread to be closed and it wasn’t done.

The last time it was because I mistakenly posted something which turned out to be a hoax and was “making the rounds” again.

There were 2 requests here, #'s 8 (a “soft” request) and 16 (more strongly worded).

Now, it’s important I point out that the only person I was and am pissed off at is me, for not having investigated this a bit more fully, but even though I requested it be closed, it wasn’t and there was no explanation why it wasn’t, and neither was there the time before (don’t recall the subject).

Admittedly, I didn’t ask for the Bert & Ernie thread to be closed in a mod “report”, but the one prior to that one, I did and also received no answer.

Okay, that’s those 2 instances. Here’s one a bit more recent and one that does cause me some miffance with the mods: in this one, I asked why only punchlines to jokes were being posted, and informed the participants that I can’t recognize the joke from just the punchline (post #74), but no one took the hint and it kept on. The title of the thread didn’t ask for just the punchline, so a couple of nights ago, I wrote a mod under the “report” sign and asked for help in clarifying the title of the thread. No response - either in the thread to me.

Let me reiterate that I don’t mind the “dementia humor”, in fact I encourage it, because it does make me smile/laugh. But if not telling the entire joke and just the punchline is a part of that humor, then y’all ought to at least let me know, and not just keep it up even after I’ve mentioned I can’t recognize the joke from just the last sentence.

I’m still not pissed off, just asking “What’s going on?”, because it sure seems like some of you are taking the view, “Oh, it’s just bat-shit Quasi, never mind him!”, and that does hurt.

So what’s up, guys?

Thanks,

Q

2

It’s nothing against you, but speaking only for myself–I wouldn’t normally close a topic just because the OP asks for it.

If it’s a case where it’s a double posted OP or maybe one that was bumped by a spammer, it’s a bit more understandable, but asking for a topic to be shut down just because one wants it isn’t always (or often) humored. You cited your Bert and Ernie thread, for example, but that thread got a lot of interesting, funny, and even insightful replies long after you requested it closed.

So no, it’s not just you. If a topic received more than, say, 10 replies, and there was no real reason to close it, there’s no harm in leaving it open (even against the OP requesting it being closed).

It’s certainly nothing against you.

3

We’re not ignoring you because you have dementia.

We’re ignoring you because we’re lazy and incompetent. :wink:

But seriously, I saw your request to close the thread, but since it’s not my forum, I didn’t close it. For most anything above basic housekeeping (killing spammers, fixing typos), I try not to mess around in other mod’s forums. Helps keep down confusion, if the other mod is working something out in email with the posters involved, or stuff like that.

And I think most of the mods feel the same way Idle Thoughts does about closing threads. Just because the OP may have lost interest in a thread, it doesn’t mean that other people aren’t still enjoying the conversation, and there’s no need to ruin their fun.

As to not replying to thread reports, we all try to respond to questions we get through thread reports, but we do get an awful lot of them every day. If we responded to every one of them, it would pretty quickly shift “being a moderator” from “something I do for fun in my spare time,” to “the job that doesn’t pay me anything.” If someone makes a thread report that could adequately be answered in one word (“No.”) then I don’t usually make the response, and let my inaction speak for itself: if you report something you think might be a violation, and no one does anything, it’s probably because what you saw wasn’t really a rules violation.

That, or we’re drunk again.

4

Understood, and maybe I shouldn’t have used those “report” thingies regarding the joke thread and pm’d a mod instead, but since I had already alluded to the fact that just the punchlines weren’t what I wanted, I hoped I might get a quicker response that way.

Combine those things and what’s going on with me and hopefully you can see what prompted the post.

Heh. Lazy and incompetent, huh? Yup, that’s me. Every chance I get! :slight_smile:

Thanks you two

Quasi

5

The “report” thingie (little exclamation point in red triangle in upper right corner of post) is the best way to get the attention of the moderators of that forum.

We try to reply to reports when feasible, but (reinforcing what Miller said), if I got 17 of 'em on my plate, I probably won’t send a reply. However, they are all looked at and considered.

6

Yet another mod response, to prove we’re not ignoring you:

If you ask for mod action in the thread, the odds are excellent that no mod will see the request, since we don’t read every thread. If you want mod action, report the post.

Even if you do report the post, we may not act – as mentioned above, if you want the thread closed but others are still participating and enjoying, and if you are not harmed by the thread being left open, we will probably not close it.

For the “no punchlines” request – in some ways, “The Aristocrats!” *is *the joke – see the movie of the same name. I perhaps should have explained my thinking to you, but frankly I was in the middle of something else (i.e., work for which I will be paid actual money) when the report came in, then forgot to go back to it later.

7

Yet still another mod response. I didn’t see the requests for closure, and I haven"t even read the thread yet.

But I am responding.

8

As a poster, not a mod, I can tell you that the way you feel is the way I feel sometimes, Quasi. It’s tempting to blame the dementia, since that’s such a huge part of your life now, but it’s really just the way the moderation works around here, I think.

I didn’t expect much to change in the joke thread, honestly, because that felt like it was under the “The OP doesn’t get to dictate all aspects of “his” thread” convention. Yes, it was nice that you spoke up to clarify what you were hoping for, and yes, it was nice that some of the posters came back and posted the whole joke, but it wasn’t required or really a work of moderating. People can post what they like, within some very broad guidelines, and just because you meant them to play one way doesn’t mean they can’t play their way. I don’t think, based on many years here, that *any *poster who started such a thread would get much back up from the mods in enforcing that request, because it wasn’t a violation of board rules, and it hadn’t taken over the thread - there were (and are) still people posting like you’d intended it to go. Any OPer’s best bet in such a situation is to clarify what they were looking for and then let it go.

9

Take it from another moderator; many if not most of us don’t remember stuff like this. I was unaware Quasi had any sort of medical issues. In two weeks I assure you I will have forgotten it again.

10

It’s okay, I’m over it. I’ve just unsubscribed from the joke thread and I’m a happy boy! :slight_smile:

Thanks

Q

11

I was under the impression that no matter what, if an OP requests their thread be closed, for whatever reason, it was done. Did this change?

12

No, because as far as I know, it was never the case in the first place.

Again, it really depends on the mod and the reason.
Closing a thread is usually one of the last things considered, though, unless there’s a really good reason.

13

No, this has never been the policy of the SDMB, for as long as I’ve been a member here.

14

Okay, just checking. I have seen a lot of posts that were merrily going on, and then suddenly get a “thread is closed on request of the OP” throughout the years. No biggie. :slight_smile:

15

We will, it’s just not automatic. You don’t see all the requests we don’t act on.

16

Quasimodem– you are our pal.

Period.

17

QFT.

18

Did somebody ask a question? :wink:

Hey, Quasi, I contributed to that thread. Most people do seem to be supplying the entire joke. There are a few that just dropped punchlines, and I don’t recognize them all, either, but a few have returned to elaborate.