Astro currently has two threads on the first page of MPSIMS that have been closed due to him sharing, “nothing but a link.” Well, in one of them he did comment “It really is quite spectacular.”
Had he commented a little more, would that thread not had been locked? How much more commenting is necessary?
I like finding interesting links that posters here share on MPSIMS. Others in both of the threads linked to above seem to have found them interesting too.
Below are some recent threads started by others in MPSIMS where the purpose is to share an interesting link or links and there is also little or no comment about the linked to webpages in the OPs. Should they also be closed?
If it is interesting enough to to post, it ought to be interesting enough to say something about, preferably including a description of the content and why it was worth posting.
Both of Astro’s OPs contain thread titles describing what the links are about, the OPs contain quotes from the webpages describing the content and he did post a little about why he thought they were worth posting:
“These are brilliant!”
“Quite an artwork! Amazing…”
“It really is quite spectacular.”
About the same or more than the five threads I posted by others.
I’m not the mod that took action, but here’re my thoughts:
People posting one, two, or even three of these topics–from time to time–is okay.
However, we try to discourage posters from making a longtime and regular habit out of posting nothing but a link and a comment.
Once, twice, thrice…all okay…
…but when you’re like astro and have 22 topics* from the last 3 months (alone) that are nothing but a link, quote, and comment about something…OR…just a link and comment something, we try to steer the person into cutting back that style of topic-making** or maybe getting a blog. Astro has been the subject of mod discussion about this before and told about this at least twice before this that I recall.
…so seven topics a month? A couple of topics a week?
Just looking at your cite: they are mostly greyed out which indicated that I had opened most of them up. He posts interesting links that in turn often create interesting discussions. I know that his posts have been an issue before: but I think you guys need to be more specific if you want him to change his behaviour. You told him to stop just posting links and so he stopped just posting links and started adding quotes from the links. Then you told him to add commentary so he started to add commentary. Now you are saying he isn’t writing *enough *commentary. How much commentary do you want him to write?
Probably just a lonely guy (or girl) trying to have some harmless fun. Lighten up and leave his/her threads be. If they’re really without merit they’ll fall off and die on their own. They don’t hurt anyone by existing.
I clicked on the first three links on Idle Thoughts’ list, and they all seem to have sufficient enough commentary in the OP and there was plenty enough interest and discussion from other posters.
If someone finds an interesting webpage they want to share “a link and a comment” should be all that’s required in the OP.
I’m going to throw in a vote here for leaving threads open, particularly threads that have, y’know, actually generated some discussion.
Mods often close threads (and sometimes even banned the OP) when there is actually an on-going discussion (sometimes even lively) in the thread. This, I can’t fathom. (I mean, aside from cases where there some serious policy violation going on, like discussing how to break laws or something.) If there’s a discussion going on, then I can’t imagine any excuse for closing a thread because some mod thinks the OP isn’t interesting enough – as seems to be the case with at least some of astro’s posts.
Well, if we’re taking votes, then I vote with the mods on this one. I come here to hear what you have to say, not to see just a link and a quote from the linked site. Another annoyance are the posters (usually new ones) who post a link to a lengthy essay or worse yet, a lengthy video, asking what we think of it.
Not taking any sides on this, but while looking for something completely unrelated, I found someone complaining about astro posting links back in 2004. :eek:
I personally can go either way on whether such OPs should be allowed. That said, astro has been cautioned about this numerous times and it should come as no surprise to him.
I’m going to vote for automatically closing any OP consisting of a link and nothing more, and mod warnings for frequent posting of one line comments with a link. It is obnoxious and often commented on by both mods and others; Post some damned content or don’t bother posting. This isn’t FARK where you submit a link with a witty (or lame) headline and walk away.
Then why post in Mundane Pointless Things I Must Share? Sharing something often means just letting other people find out about it. If you want people’s opinions on things, that’s what In My Humble Opinion is for.
Without that, there’s no distinction between the forums.
Plus, I’m really getting tired of this logic of “I find something annoying or obnoxious so it shouldn’t exist.” If you want to say something is wrong, you need to give actual reasons why it is wrong, and not why it bothers you.
Forgot to say: the rules are that, to share something, you have to describe it and voice an opinion. Astro does that, every time.
IF Astro is doing something since 2004 that breaks the rules, then you should be about Warning him and kicking him out. Or, you can admit that you don’t really think it’s all that important. When someone repeatedly does something you don’t like, you don’t keep on letting them hang around and do it again and again.
Speaking of which… Does anyone here even find that appealing? I mean, don’t get me wrong… I like bacon…
But a whole bowl made out of bacon?! :rolleyes:
That’s a little too much, IMHO.
Well, at least that’s not as bad as thread$hitting!