**twickster **closedthis thread. I know that ostensibly it was a time limited type of thread, but Zeldar, myself and others enjoy making and participating in the let’s-see-what-happens type of threads.
I have crossed swords before with **twickster **(and Marley23) about pointless threads, and I know that you’re the bosses, and what you say goes, but I feel I have to register my discomfort whenever something like this happens. It seems to be done in a rather killjoy way. We’re enjoying ourselves. Why can’t we play?
What needed to be said, and what hadn’t already been said in the three days the thread was open? Zeldar’s question was “will this stay open until October 11,” and it did. If the thread has a topic, at some point the conversation is going to end. If the thread topic is “keep bumping this thread,” that doesn’t happen. There’s no endpoint to the thread and there’s no real conversation going on. The thread achieved its goal, such as it was. Let it go.
As they say in courtroom scenes in legal shows (I have no idea if they say it in real courtrooms), “Asked and answered.” The thread was pretty content-free, but I left it open till the target date. After the target date was reached, all additional posting became post-count padding, as I said when I closed it. One or two people posting in a thread where the point is posting, not what is being said – I’m gonna close it. And I did.
If you think a thread should be closed, report it. A list seems kind of ridiculous.
This is suggested every so often, but it’s not going to happen: the MPSIMS name has been around since the AOL days, so it has the weight of tradition behind it, and people understand it’s not taken literally. There have been limits to the pointlessness even in that forum for a long time.
It serves to remind people that post-count padding is not okay, and that there are certain (very) minimal expectations that there be actual content to a thread.
It takes quite a lot to get me roused, but I’m beginning to feel a little stirred. Your job, twickster, is to keep order in this place. It is not your job to decide what the rest of us find interesting. (Having said that, effectively, you’re the boss, so you have the power to do anything you want. I just think you’re misusing your powers.)
You have said that those posts were post padding. Now, you and I must have different views as to what post padding is, because an active interchange between interested participants is not my view of post padding.
I really do think that what RaftPeople said sums it up:
But, because I’ve been through this before, I know it’s a lost cause. What I think a mod’s job is or should be is immaterial, because i know you will do what you want to do. I just think that when people are enjoying themselves and having fun, that should be treasured and encouraged. But you two clearly are made of sterner stuff and can’t be doing with all this frippery. Sad.
If the goal is “let’s keep bumping this thread for a year,” that doesn’t seem any different from post count padding to me. Nothing was being discussed in the thread except the idea of bumping the thread. Yes, if you keep posting to the thread, the thread will stay alive. Surprise.
I just don’t think this is that big of a deal. I’m sure you can find better stuff to treasure.
We’re volunteer moderators on a message board. If we couldn’t deal with frippery, we’d go insane.
If that was all it was, I’d agree with you. But can’t you see that the participants are enjoying themselves, sharing something, and if it became pointless, then of course the thread would die.
In this situation, you two really do come across as humourless schoolteachers: ‘We don’t trust you to not to…’ and this is the bit I can’t fill in because I can’t see what heinous crime we’re commiting. It’s slight, not significant, but - where’s the harm. Have we offended your sensibilities, brought the board in to disrepute? Where’s the harm? And if i remember correctly (and I may not have), you’ve never addressed that.
And, to add, do you two really think we were post padding? I’m not sure what it is, but I’m assuming that it is, for those whose post count is visible, that they are just trying to increase their post count. Or perhaps, people want their name to be seen. If that is right, I can assure you that I, and I am sure others weren’t doing that.
Who said anything was heinous or that anybody was being harmed, offended, or brought into disrepute? It’s not that big a deal. The thread was shut down because it was pointless. Even in MPSIMS, there are limits to how pointless something can be, and a thread that exists just to see how many people will post to it falls beneath that threshold. That’s not something twickster came up with and it’s not something I came up with when I was moderating MPSIMS. That’s how the forum has been moderated for years.
Thanks. You’ve made your point, and I’m making a genuine effort to understand it. I’ll think about what you’ve said in the future when I run into this situation. In this particular case, though, I’m going to leave the thread closed.
Did either of you mods actually read the OP to the closed thread?
Did you spot that there had been a similar thread five years earlier?
Did you see that there was a question about the makeup of the Weekday Crowd as distinct from the Weekend Crowd?
In the 2005 thread I participated heavily, way more than I should have.
This time I said up front that I wouldn’t post any more until the issue of the Monday thing had been settled. I didn’t.
The idea that there might be some further investigation of the Weekday and Weekend Dopers was of interest to me. The thread might have died on the vine in a few days. It might have had comments made that were on other topics. It might still be going with all sorts of issues and comments a year from now. There are other threads that have long histories that are still open.
The point is: we’ll never know!
I would challenge any bystander to look up threads that Twickster has started to find how many of them could be cited by some other person with the power to do so as being pointless and silly.
As long as you’re going to sit in judgment of what’s silly or not, don’t be starting your own silly threads.
