[QUOTE=Lynn Bodoni]
I’m not sure why a mod closed it, but I highly suspect it’s because the thread is just too stupid to live. If I’d seen it, I’d certainly have considered closing it for just that reason.
[/QUOTE]
Why should it be left to you moderators to determine what’s “too stupid to live.” If it truly is, it will die a natural death, by virtue of no one responding. However, if it does show signs of life, that suggests your original (subjective) premise was incorrect.
[QUOTE=Red Barchetta]
If it truly is, it will die a natural death, by virtue of no one responding.
[/QUOTE]
For every thread that is too stupid to live, there are 100 dopers stupid enough to keep it alive. Or undead. Whatever.
Too stupid to live, unfortunately, does not literally mean instant death. If it did, there would be a lot loss traffic in the morning.
[QUOTE=Waverly]
For every thread that is too stupid to live, there are 100 dopers stupid enough to keep it alive. Or undead. Whatever.
Too stupid to live, unfortunately, does not literally mean instant death. If it did, there would be a lot loss traffic in the morning.
[/QUOTE]
Are you saying that the Dopers are not up to the SDMB standards? A community is what its members make of it. Especially a paid membership one. If there are 100 stupid dopers for every bad thread, then that’s what the SDMB is.
Completely disagree. There are more than enough race-to-the-bottom free-for-alls on the internet without letting this turn into another one. The willingness of this place to maintain some sort of standards is arguably its main selling point (more in the debate forums than MPSIMS, but still). To argue that once people have paid their money, anything goes, is to completely miss the point of why they paid in the first place.
Some of them, clearly*. This board did not get good by some magical self-selection process whereby we’re all stunningly attractive hyper-intelligent beings (no matter what some people may nauseatingly insist from time to time). The community standards are what set the tone. I don’t see any point in arguing that these should be entirely self-policing, because we have the entire internet to show us what that leads to. Arguably GQ’s continuing descent into an “aw shucks” guessathon is far more concerning than some loony deciding to share his morning glory with the world, but still.
[QUOTE=CarnalK]
One thing I definitely remember is that in the old days a thread like this about the genuine running of the SDMB would have been a hot thread, rather than the weak showing we’re getting from it now. And very few people would dare to try to make it a joke thread like featherlou kinda just did.
[/QUOTE]
I kind of thought there would be more pro/con discussion, myself. Makes me feel weird, like I’m looking like some kind of crank. I’m not, really…just trying to give another POV on the subject.
[QUOTE=CarnalK]
<snip>One thing I definitely remember is that in the old days a thread like this about the genuine running of the SDMB would have been a hot thread, rather than the weak showing we’re getting from it now. And very few people would dare to try to make it a joke thread like featherlou kinda just did.
[/QUOTE]
Oooh - I’m so bad. The thread has gone on for four days now; you’ll notice I treated it seriously for the first part.
Part of the reason this isn’t a hot topic is probably because we’ve seen it and done it so many times already. You could probably lump threads like this one in with the complaints about the board performance, and I think most of us are fairly burned out on these complaints.
[QUOTE=featherlou]
Oooh - I’m so bad. The thread has gone on for four days now; you’ll notice I treated it seriously for the first part.
[/QUOTE]
I was thinking more goofy than bad, but my comment sort of makes me look like I got a stick up my butt so I take it back.
I don’t know if there’s burnout on this issue. Probably has a lot to due with most people being happy with the status quo and not many wanting to come out in favour of censorship. Maybe I’ll start a more general IMHO thread to get a few non-Pitizen views.
[QUOTE=twickster]
Like picking up someone else’s used Kleenex (R) when you know what it’s been used for.
[/QUOTE]
-nitpick- Shouldn’t the “r” next to Kleenex be lower case?
I’m just saying.
I’m a fan of the exclamation point that allows me to report a thread or post. I don’t think I’ve used it to report a painfully stupid thread but that is our right, as Dopers. Just as a Mod or Admin can read our Notify and decide if our comment has merit.
I rarely have seen a thread locked down for any reason other than, at the end of the day, it violated The Prime Directive: “Don’t Be A Jerk”.
[QUOTE=Sapo]
Are you saying that the Dopers are not up to the SDMB standards? A community is what its members make of it. Especially a paid membership one. If there are 100 stupid dopers for every bad thread, then that’s what the SDMB is.
[/QUOTE]
I’m saying it is a one tailed distribution. With a very long tail, trialing off even past Sapo, and nearly into single digit IQ’s. That isn’t a knock against the average doper, or the dopers I enjoy.
[QUOTE=Dead Badger]
The community standards are what set the tone.
[/QUOTE]
Unless there’s a handful of busybodies hitting the report button. If you really want the community to set the standard, let the threads live or die on their own merits. Seems the best way for the standard of the community to be set.
[QUOTE=Yookeroo]
Unless there’s a handful of busybodies hitting the report button. If you really want the community to set the standard, let the threads live or die on their own merits. Seems the best way for the standard of the community to be set.
[/QUOTE]
Again, I disagree. There’s so much evidence out there of what happens if you simply let people rip on what they want. You end up with insipid, troll-ridden bullshit. I think there are genuine, articulable standards at play here, and these are why most of the members here are, in fact, members.
I was not suggesting that we turn the boards over to the trigger-finger offenderati, you’ll note; a simple number of complaints should not be sufficient to close a thread (I myself have only reported one thread, ever, and that was because I recognised a well-known troll who had polluted numerous other messageboards across the web). I merely think that the standards of debate we purport to have are worth preserving, and that they are articulable above and beyond what happens to be popular on a given day. I also think that, while of lesser importance, the very accommodating decorum standards we appear to have are worthwhile too. I see absolutely no value whatsoever in allowing some moron to discuss his morning hard-on, and I don’t see the value in waiting to see if such a discussion proves popular. It is, on the face of it, worthless. Get rid of it. If said moron wants to talk about his dick, he can fuck off to any of the myriad places that want to hear about it.
I really don’t see any value in a laissez-faire system. We know exactly what that leads to; there couldn’t be more evidence if we wanted it. This place is what we made it; not what it became by accident. As long as we can question the acts of the mods (and I’ve seen very few places more accommodating in this regard), then it’s all gravy. But I refuse to see us devolve into a morass of pervy crap simply because we’re overrun with the sort of idiot who thinks that’s fun. Stuff that.
Again a disclaimer - I have nothing against you personally; indeed, my limited memory informs me that you’re one of the contributors whose posts I enjoy, for what it’s worth.
[QUOTE=CarnalK]
I was thinking more goofy than bad, but my comment sort of makes me look like I got a stick up my butt so I take it back.
I don’t know if there’s burnout on this issue. Probably has a lot to due with most people being happy with the status quo and not many wanting to come out in favour of censorship. Maybe I’ll start a more general IMHO thread to get a few non-Pitizen views.
[/QUOTE]
Prolly a good idea. Many Dopers would probably stay out of a discussion if it involved being addressed as “Fucknugget” without prior cause, or having their wives compared to Eva Braun.
Well, now, can’t you play the delicate flower? I didn’t compare your wife to Eva Braun, you idiot. If anything, I compared you to Hitler, and I didn’t do that either. From the specific quote I was replying to, it ought to be pretty obvious that I meant “Even Hitler had a girlfriend so it’s not exactly a mark of good character”.
I’m not in the mood to put together a IMHO OP tonight. If anyone wants to beat me to it go right ahead.
[QUOTE=Yookeroo]
Unless there’s a handful of busybodies hitting the report button. If you really want the community to set the standard, let the threads live or die on their own merits. Seems the best way for the standard of the community to be set.
[/QUOTE]
Actually, we have a pretty good idea of who is a busybody and who isn’t. Some people will report anything that goes against their particular agenda, whether it’s against the SDMB rules or not. And some people will report posts that support their pet causes, because the posts in question violate our rules. Mods quickly learn which posters tend to fall into which categories.
Or at least that’s the way it was before I semi-retired. I no longer receive reported posts, I simply browse the forums and if I see something that I think needs to be acted upon, I act on it.
[QUOTE=Red Barchetta]
Why should it be left to you moderators to determine what’s “too stupid to live.”
[/QUOTE]
Because that’s part of what moderators DO. By your reasoning, we should leave spam posts in, too, because they’ll sink to the bottom. There are plenty of places on teh intarwebs where stupidity is allowed to roam free. The SDMB isn’t one of them.
[QUOTE=Lynn Bodoni]
Because that’s part of what moderators DO. By your reasoning, we should leave spam posts in, too, because they’ll sink to the bottom.
[/QUOTE]
Now that you mention it, it would be fun - for the sport of this thread- to move an example spam thread or two out into view for us (I assume you have one or two saved in the mod forums somewhere). Some people might be surprised how many views/responses some of the more bizarre/sexy ones get before they are disappeared.*
*In fact, some people might then realize that view counts don’t really mean they are so great at writing a sexy OP so much as any explicitly sexy thread will get looked at a bunch. Of course, then some people’s egos might be deflated; which would be a shame.
[QUOTE=CarnalK]
Now that you mention it, it would be fun - for the sport of this thread- to move an example spam thread or two out into view for us (I assume you have one or two saved in the mod forums somewhere). Some people might be surprised how many views/responses some of the more bizarre/sexy ones get before they are disappeared.*
*In fact, some people might then realize that view counts don’t really mean they are so great at writing a sexy OP so much as any explicitly sexy thread will get looked at a bunch. Of course, then some people’s egos might be deflated; which would be a shame.
[/QUOTE]
Well, this one got 43 views:
[QUOTE=SPAMMER]
Are you looking for a stable career? Dental employment opportunities are everywhere. A shortage of dental professionals continues to grow therefore dental employment opportunities are plentiful. The demand for dental hygienist, dental assistants, dentist, and also dental office managers makes these professions hot new career or business to start. The salaries continues to climb for these dental professionals.
What is dental employment agency opportunities? A dental employment agency is an employment agency the procures employment for dental workers such as dental hygienist, dental assistants, registered dental hygienist, dentist, dental receptionist. The dental employment agency provides placements for these dental professionals on a temporary, permanent placement, temp to hire, and leasing dental employees. With great demand for dental employment opportunities, the dental employment agency business will be a lucrative business for ambitious entrepreneurs.
A dental temporary agency is a business that provides dental staffing services on temporary basis. The dental temporary agency provides employment or on a contractual basis for dental hygienist, dental assistants, dentist, dental receptionist, dental office managers, and other dental professionals. The dental temporary agency either sends these dental professionals on a temporary assignments from hourly to long term assignments, usually 12 weeks assignments. It all depends on the contract. Also, some dental temporary agency provides temporary to permanent placement or just direct placement. More info.
[/QUOTE]
I’ve snipped the contact info, and changed the username, but really most of the spam is incredibly boring. This spam had one reply, and probably didn’t last more than a few minutes in whichever forum it was originally posted in. Of course, there’s always the Make Money Fast spam, we get those now and then.