# Modding for content **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [January 11, 2011, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modding-for-content/567187 "2011-01-11T03:22:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modding-for-content/567187/81 "2011-01-11T18:44:51Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > So a thread consisting of nothing but rows of the letter “Q” should be left open? The trouble with this statement is that the answer is ‘of course not’, but are you equating Curtis’s thread with a row of Qs? I would say they are substantially different. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modding-for-content/567187/82 "2011-01-11T18:48:26Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > How many threads like that did you close today? How many on a typical day? That post was in response to this: > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > If we’re voting (as we seem to be) put me down for “should have left it open”. It may not have been a great OP but it should have been allowed to live or die on its own merits not be condemned by moderator fiat. Moderators should close threads for rules violations not as judgments of their quality. A theoretical thread such as I described wouldn’t “harm” anybody-do _you_ think it should be left open? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modding-for-content/567187/83 "2011-01-11T18:49:31Z")
> [@NineToTheSky](#): > > The trouble with this statement is that the answer is ‘of course not’, but are you equating Curtis’s thread with a row of Qs? I would say they are substantially different. See post #82. I was responding to a particular post. ---
**Author:** ![Polerius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d78d45/32.png) [@Polerius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polerius)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modding-for-content/567187/84 "2011-01-11T18:50:58Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > And based on your response above some might assume that you are more into “reading into” than “reading”, but I won’t make that assumption based on such a small sample. It wasn’t clear what you meant, so I said “if so, …”. I did not categorically state that you feel that way. [QUOTE=Czarcasm] In my opinion, moderation is one _several_ factors that make this board what it is today. [/QUOTE] And that was addressed in my third point: [QUOTE=Polerius] Third, even if the type of modding done on the SDMB was a large percentage of the reason why the level of discourse is what it is, it still doesn’t mean that the particular type of modding you did for the thread mentioned in the OP is what is keeping the SDMB humming along nicely. There are tons of threads in IMHO that lack substance and are allowed to remain open and the SDMB had not turned into YouTube yet. [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modding-for-content/567187/85 "2011-01-11T18:51:47Z")
No, I don’t. However, I also don’t believe that they turn up here apart from, perhaps, the occasional troll. In that case, the proper response is not only to close the thread but also to ban the troll. Since the general membership here is not wont to post such threads (please correct me on that if I am wrong), they have no place in this discussion as examples or hypotheticals. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modding-for-content/567187/86 "2011-01-11T18:53:41Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > As to the subject of “substance” please reread post #11. So one thread on topic X with 75 poll options is out of bounds. But 7 threads on topic X with 10 poll options each is fine. That’s asinine. Curtis was heavily moderated in September 2009 for starting [too many threads/polls](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=11585609&postcount=2) [at the same time](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=11585587&postcount=3), to the point of [being told his posting privileges were under review](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=11585587&postcount=3). This seems like a step back. If you’re sick of a poster ignoring moderator instructions, who spams the boards with multiple threads he has no interest in participating in, and is the constant source of moderator intervention, then why are you enabling him? The thread in question didn’t have anything inherently wrong with it - equating it to a thread full of Qs is stupid. Moderate Curtis, not his threads. ---
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modding-for-content/567187/87 "2011-01-11T18:57:30Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > See post #82. I was responding to a particular post. > [@Czarcasm](#): > > That post was in response to this:A theoretical thread such as I described wouldn’t “harm” anybody-do _you_ think it should be left open? Yes. As has been said, there are many threads that could be considered pointless that are left open. Yours is just an opinion, which, as a mod, you are, of course, entitled to act upon. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modding-for-content/567187/88 "2011-01-11T19:00:34Z")
> [@NineToTheSky](#): > > Yes. As has been said, there are many threads that could be considered pointless that are left open. Yours is just an opinion, which, as a mod, you are, of course, entitled to act upon. Then it’s not so cut and dried as people think, since **Scumpup** disagrees with you in post #85. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modding-for-content/567187/89 "2011-01-11T19:02:53Z")
Yes, and it is established board practice that everybody I disagree with is automatically wrong. ---
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modding-for-content/567187/90 "2011-01-11T19:05:05Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Then it’s not so cut and dried as people think, since **Scumpup** disagrees with you in post #85. I’m losing track of this. **Scumpup** was talking about trolls, wasn’t he? ---
**Author:** ![Polerius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d78d45/32.png) [@Polerius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polerius)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modding-for-content/567187/91 "2011-01-11T19:09:39Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > So a thread consisting of nothing but rows of the letter “Q” should be left open? This is a bad example. If we rate the perfect OP (the most cogent and with the most likelihood of turning into a great thread) as being 100 and the worst possible OP as being a 0, then an OP with nothing but the letter Q is close to 0. But the OP were are talking about is nowhere near zero. It would be, say, around 20-30, and that puts it in the company of tons of other OP’s that are allowed to remain open. Saying “but we close OP’s that are close 0” does not explain why _one_ of the many OP’s in the 20-30 range was closed why the others remain open. ---
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modding-for-content/567187/92 "2011-01-11T19:12:15Z")
> [@Polerius](#): > > This is a bad example. > > If we rate the perfect OP (the most cogent and with the most likelihood of turning into a great thread) as being 100 and the worst possible OP as being a 0, then an OP with nothing but the letter Q is close to 0. > > But the OP were are talking about is nowhere near zero. It would be, say, around 20-30, and that puts it in the company of tons of other OP’s that are allowed to remain open. > > Saying “but we close OP’s that are close 0” does not explain why _one_ of the many OP’s in the 20-30 range was closed why the others remain open. Because it is a matter of opinion, and for good or ill, it’s the mods opinions that really count here. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modding-for-content/567187/93 "2011-01-11T19:13:53Z")
> [@Polerius](#): > > This is a bad example. No, it is the _perfect_ example for those that think that a thread should be left open no matter what, as long as it does no harm. It is an example that points out that such an idea does not work-that we have to look beyond “harm” as a standard. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modding-for-content/567187/94 "2011-01-11T19:16:26Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > No, it is the _perfect_ example for those that think that a thread should be left open no matter what, as long as it does no harm. It is an example that points out that such an idea does not work-that we have to look beyond “harm” as a standard. A thread of Qs has no merit. It “harms” the board by dragging down discourse, pushing attention away from useful threads, encouraging similar behavior by people who post Q threads and gives moderators busy work. The thread in question doesn’t do that. Why? Because you yourself have said the topic has merit. If it didn’t, you wouldn’t have suggested that Curtis multiply his poll creation seven-fold after spending a month telling him to stop posting so many threads. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modding-for-content/567187/95 "2011-01-11T19:17:57Z")
I think you are focusing on the “do no harm” a bit narrowly. I think the complete thought is “if the thread has the chance of being worthwhile and the at worst it does no harm, let it be”. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modding-for-content/567187/96 "2011-01-11T19:18:46Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > If it didn’t, you wouldn’t have suggested that Curtis multiply his poll creation seven-fold after spending a month telling him to stop posting so many threads. Cite, please. ---
**Author:** ![Polerius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d78d45/32.png) [@Polerius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polerius)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modding-for-content/567187/97 "2011-01-11T19:22:34Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > No, it is the _perfect_ example for those that think that a thread should be left open no matter what, as long as it does no harm. It is an example that points out that such an idea does not work-that we have to look beyond “harm” as a standard. If left open, threads consisting only of the letter Q have a small probability of long-term adverse effects on the level of discourse and the types of threads we see on the SDMB If left open, threads in IMHO consisting of 75 overly-broad questions have a negligible probability of long-term adverse effects on the level of discourse and the types of threads we see on the SDMB. So, even in terms of “harm” to the board, your “row of Qs” does not make a good comparison to the OP in question. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modding-for-content/567187/98 "2011-01-11T19:34:03Z")
> [@Polerius](#): > > If left open, threads consisting only of the letter Q have a small probability of long-term adverse effects on the level of discourse and the types of threads we see on the SDMB > > If left open, threads in IMHO consisting of 75 overly-broad questions have a negligible probability of long-term adverse effects on the level of discourse and the types of threads we see on the SDMB. > > So, even in terms of “harm” to the board, your “row of Qs” does not make a good comparison to the OP in question. Are you saying that “like” _doesn’t_ attract “like”? ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modding-for-content/567187/99 "2011-01-11T19:36:02Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Cite, please. Post #11, along with allowing the myriad other ridiculous threads that Curtis has started in the past that consist of a series of polls on one subject. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modding-for-content/567187/100 "2011-01-11T19:42:01Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > Post #11, along with allowing the myriad other ridiculous threads that Curtis has started in the past that consist of a series of polls on one subject. You got all that from reading post #11? _Really?_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modding-for-content/567187.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modding-for-content/567187.md?page=6)