I just logged on and saw a list of posts that really add no value to the forum, but since one member posted a screenshot of the same thing, it was inevitable that it would happen again. Can we please restrain ourselves and NOT post drivel (not to be confused with the.drizzle) just to get our names on every thread?

By the way you missed the announcements!

I'm extremely sure this is me, isn't it.

Yeah, I'm sorry. It's just that there weren't really any posts today, and I'm having a very boring day, so I chose to look around and kinda went a little over the top.

My bad.
Sorry everyone.

About the announcements: Yeah, I know I missed them. Lol. I read them, but I don't comment on them.


Note: This isn't yet another attempt to fill every thread with my name, it's a genuine apology.

this place isn't too bad for pointless posts.

a couple other forums I belong to are really bad.

lots of posts where an entire post is quoted and +1 added to the end.


or quote an entire post and add "this" to the end.

those are pointless posts.

And block out people like me, who may not be able to GIVE all too much, but loves to learn and give some input where I can. As well as simply not being able to afford it.

That is an interesting idea....no comment on post quality or ability.

What I like about it is that Sandy wouldn't have to bear the full weight of hosting the site. I think this was mentioned once before, but I may be wrong again.

i dont think its too big a deal

if its pointless and no one responds it just dies out
its not an inconvenience to me

It is certainly something I would welcome. I receive around 10 requests a day for accounts here. Of the 10, maybe 1 or 2 are approved.

Some try to sign up on a whim based on some youtube video they saw or by seeing a petaminx article.

A small charge would certainly separate the applications that are serious from those that are not. But it would be a complex thing to put in place.

Having paid money (no matter how small) the removal of a later problem member (as extremely rare as that is) would be difficult.

Also, having paid something, the question of content ownership then comes up. Right now, people come for free, and they can leave for free. Thankfully, this is something Sandy will need to decide at some point. While we do receive a *lot* of application requests, it is still not at an unmanageable point.

I haven't had to step on low-value post-happy people in a very long time. Thankfully.

I personally think that heavy moderation would be a better option. They would need to go by different guidelines though. I mean, when presenting a new puzzle, most of the thread is just "Good Job"'s. Which are alright. Questions that have already been answered threads should be deleted, and the author is pointed to the right thread.

The only problem with this, is that there would need to me more Moderators. For Sausage and Jin* to do this by themselves would be too much of a chore.


EDIT: Just saw sausage's post. I see your point. But perhaps this duty could be spread to the moderators?

(*As far as I know, Sandy does not moderate much. If I am wrong, let me know)

More moderators does not equal heavier moderation.

The "good job" posts are fine provided that they are not the only posts are particular person makes.

Right now, we are in a good period. I have received the lowest level of reported posts for 12 months. The behaviour on this forum in recent months has been very good.

In comparison to other similar forums on the web, we are doing fine.

But if that changes, as it does come in waves, I deal with it.

a pay to post set up may not be a good idea for a forum like this that has such a small member base. it would exclude it to a few long term members who would eventually run out of things to talk about and this place would go stale. I saw the same thing start to happen last year after new membership was closed due to the "incidents". hobbies such as this should always be open to new members because it keeps things alive.
I understand that if you're new you have lots of questions, but keep in mind that people have been doing this for a long time and no matter what question you may have it probably will have been answered somewhere, if not on this forum then some other forum. fillers, molding and scratch building are techniques that have been mastered by scale modelers and sculpters for years before puzzle builders picked it up (snow speeders and x-wing fighters had to come from somewhere), so search around on those sites too. but if its something you can't find an answer to, then by all means ask.


I'm also against people who post simply for the sake of posting. after a couple years reading this forum I only signed on because there has been a rare occasion where I thought I could have something to contribute. I think judgement should be made before you post, think to yourself, is it really necessary to say "wow, thats cool" just to get a post count up?

How often do you go and look up post counts. I could understand if it had a little count ticker under my name. Or, if it had the older 1x1, 2x2, ect ect..

I really do not think that people post for numbers. They just want to feel that they are not forgotten, and that they have put in what they think.

Some posts are blatantly not thought out at all, but that usually doesnt bother me. I do not read every post on a thread that was bumped. I read the recent posts. If they are of no worth to me, I just click the little blue words next to "Board index," and move along. It takes all of 10 seconds.

My statement about post counts is a hold over from other forums and doesn't really apply here, i guess i should have saved that rant for another place.
as a rule I never look at join dates or post counts since I think neither are relevent but some use them as a rank of importance.

We used to show post counts here and sadly it was a reason for people to post useless "+1!" style posts. That has gone down since this is no longer shown.

These days the problem doesn't seem to be wanting to get a high post count or status, it seems to be people just thinking of the forum as a chat room. It is like they post the first thing that comes into their head when reading a thread and don't stop to consider if it will contribute to the forum in general instead of just one person. Far too often these could be handled better as direct PMs.

The one that really gets me is the "Check your PMs" post. I know people get impatient but come on, bothering 1000 people to get a message to just one? The clear exception to this is the "Great job!" comments for new puzzles or builds which serves to encourage builders to create great works by giving them public praise. It may be directed to one person but the message improves the community.

It just takes a bit of consideration. Just a bit of thought before hitting the "send" button, or a bit of review afterward (you *can* delete a post if no one has posted after you). I have abandoned many completely written posts for just this reason, and even on occasion deleted posts that I later decided should be PMs. I hope others can do the same

Dave

If i have to pay i better get a tshirt or something

Some ideas:

If a membership fee were instituted, it would be very small since it's only purpose would be to eliminate clutter and keep our community healthy. Since I have no intention to make money on membership fees, perhaps 100% of membership fees could be converted into credit for TwistyPuzzles.com coffee mugs or whatever. I noticed that on the Erfworld.com website the other day (a web comic that is way too good).

Also, perhaps most forums would become members-only, and there would be a few free-for-all forums.

Sandy

And perhaps a separate forum for, say... dedicated members.

Thomas

Quite possibly, but since they are already on a forum... why not call it a board? A board for dedicated members .


But in reality, I guess it's all up to the forum moderators to decide whether or not to put a price on membership. If they end up doing so, I only hope I can afford .

Personally I'd rather go for a custom-printed cube. But then again, I don't drink coffee that often.

I never was on forums with membership fee, so it's pure speculation. My gut feeling, that it would drastically change the mood of the forum and create more problems. When people pay money they feel they entitled to something.
For the problem in the first post, I think that PM from moderator or a post to particular member would be enough to stop it ...

Sorry to bump this thread...

But, actually, what happened to the age restrictions? I know in the past, a rare few, actually was the exception to this with really good posts. However, currently, all I have been seeing is COMPLAIN about this COMPLAIN about that. And I noticed that it's a lot of the younger members here...

Most of the time I've been skipping it and disregarding it... but it's getting harder and harder with all these new young members and their constant MY OPINION this MY OPINION that... COMPLAIN about this COMPLAIN about that. THIS GUY SUCKS... THAT GUY SUCKS...


This used to be a COMMUNITY... An actual COMMUNITY that helped and benefited from each other. What happened to that? What gives?

If they know the reason they're not allowed on the board is because of age, they'll lie and say they're 18 or something. I can't see that being a deterrent.

What bugs me is when someone makes a single comment about something and then this enormous tangent argument breaks out in the middle of the thread. Case in point: The collectors board- thread called "Packages Just Arrived with Rare Puzzles". Now lately, more and more people have been posting stuff that's not rare, but they're proud they just got it, like a bump cube or a void cube or a floppy cube. I bit my tongue and didn't complain about it. Then more and more of that showed up- a box with some pyraminx's, whip it, missing link and stuff. Maybe there was a hard to finder in there or something, so whatever, I bit my lip. Then someone made mention to the effect that he thought the title was blah blah [u][i]RARE[i][u]. I even PM'd him saying I'm glad someone mentioned that. But then following that post were probably 20 more people jumping in arguing every angle of the discussion. Why does EVERYTHING on this site have to turn in to a friggin argument or debate? I really like that thread, and right now, being in the hospital, I DO pay for bandwidth, having my laptop tethered to my cell phone, so I would REALLY appreciate if something was done to control the off-topic stuff after maybe 3 or 4 posts. Start a new thread or something, let them fight out their argument, but don't make me reload a post that will have 20+ images in the same page only to be disappointed because someone thought of another witty angle to throw into the discussion.

FWIW, after reading Rox's response, I changed my opinion, so I'm glad I didn't say anything about it. Having to wait 17 years to stumble across a barrel cube is a bit odd to me, but she can get things off the street I can't get through the mail.

sorry, I'm stepping down off my soapbox now.

As dumb as that sounds, it has taken that long. Not that I haven't bought them. I've just lucked out with bad sellers. For some strange reason, that is one puzzle that is not available here. And I refuse to pay US$10+ for one on eBay. I totally agree that seing pictures of "New" more common puzzles under that section is a bit irritating. But when that octagon finally gets here, I WILL post a picture! Of course, there will be a really cool Glenn Levit bottle, a blind domino and a few other "more rare" puzzles in the box

I would also like to suguest that when we quote someone, we quote the words and delete the photos. They aren't always necessary and that becomes a problem for my slow loading home computer lately. I've just been told that we need to reinstall windows. Don't ask me why because I don't know. I just know that all my software is now not working when I need it most!

AMEN to that!

Another nit-pick is why re-quote a whole post when you're the next post in line? Just simply hit reply. I get that sometimes in PMs! You know how long some of my posts get when I'd announce a new puzzle with like 15 photos, 3 paragraphs of explanations and stuff.... I've already got the whole post requoted on the PM, then at the bottom it was like, "Dude, cool puzzle. Are you gonna sell this?" Or sometimes you'll see a nest of requoted messages in a row. WHY?!?

argh! haha

You can select text from an earlier post and when you press quote it just quotes that you have selected. This is useful if the post had made several different points.