Too many OT posts in General

[Piratecat]

Well, I differentiate between different OT threads.

"I just had my birthday, had a baby, got sick, had a family death, or got married" is wonderful news that goes hand-in-hand with caring for our fellow EN Worlders. It's not terribly useful to everyone, but it helps foster a sense of community. I like most of the people here, and (within reason) I want to know about the important parts of their lives. I tend to draw the line at pet threads, though, but that's me.

"Look at this non-gaming thing that other members will find really cool!" Sometimes these are really useful or thought-provoking, especially when they can be twisted to a gaming plot. When they're political or controversial, I'm less pleased with them.

"Here is something peripheral to gaming that is very useful in the game." Clay's Monday history threads fit this category, and I love them.

"Let's taunt Piratecat." Boy, these should be completely eradicated from the boards. Completely. Utterly. Eradicated.

Seriously, the occasional OT thread that makes people laugh - especially if it involves a lot of people - is a fine thing. Reposting email joke spam is not as good.

And, just so I can complain about it! "My post didn't get enough views in the correct forum so I'm posting it here." These are a pet peeve of mine, and we tend to lock them as often as we move them. Please try not to do this, folks!

Overall, though, I think we're doing pretty well.

 

[Darrin Drader]

I tend to draw the line at pet threads, though, but that's me.

Yes, we often forget that you're someone's pet. Thanks for reminding us. We'll try to be more sensitive about pet threads in the future.

 

[LightPhoenix]

I'm going to have to agree with Reaper, at least in part.

I'm really glad for people having babies, for people doing well health-wise, and such. These types of posts do foster a sense of community. But let's face it - they are posted not just to share a sense of joy, but to garner it as well. Is it the sole reason, or even the predominant one? In some cases yes, in some no. It's a tough call.

In response about Clay's threads - they're not strictly off topic, they're meant to be a springboard for ideas and campaigns, and so are in a sense more suited for General. You could argue for these going in Plots & Places as well though.

Really, the problem (no offense PCat and others) is that right now the mods are selective for what goes in General. That makes it very ambiguous about what is appropriate for that forum and what isn't. It's the same problem that would be introduced if political threads were to be introduced. The optimal solution would be to ban all OT threads from General.

But since that isn't going to happen, what really needs to be done is for the mods to get together and decide on exactly what is going to be truly OT and what is going to be OT but acceptable in General, as well as how much of it will be acceptable, and then let everyone know. This way no one can complain about something being closed or moved if it's OT. Right now it's more at the mod's discretion, which isn't really all too fair (again, no offense intended).

 

[Piratecat]

None taken, of course. The general rule of thumb is: the only place any OT threads are permitted is in General, and those may be closed or moved at moderator whim. They generally won't be, of course - closing is usually saved for problem threads - but no guarantees.

One interesting side effect of the "short" pages is that threads that aren't interesting to many people quickly head for page 2. That strikes me as a good thing.

So here's a question for you. We've been lax about moving "give me ideas" threads to Plots & Places. In fact, I've considered eliminating P&P entirely; it needs high volume to really be successful, and it doesn't have that. What are your thoughts?

 

[alsih2o]

it has high potential to be a great htread, it just doesn't get the traffic. i think it is all general anyway. i am for moving it.

 

[jdavis]

I like Plots and Places but it just doesn't get that much traffic (which actually doesn't bother me that much as they are usually long post to read, so I only go there when I got lots of free time. I haven't actually posted anything there in a while though).

I've found myself checking Meta more and more and hardly ever going to General, it moves so much faster and there is so much silly stuff to wade through. I still think that if people posted in the right forums that would do away with a lot of the OT. It's a shame that everybody sticks in general, we need a "Hey Check out the rest of the Forums" sign or a "Come to Meta and make fun of Baraendur" sign.

 

[alsih2o]

the ot threads that make me itch are the "what kind of processed meat product are you?" threads.

the ones where everybody piles in saying they are corned beef or souse or spam or pickle loaf or something based on an in-depth 8 question quiz about shoe size and ear wax preferences.

i just assume that the people who do those hate p-kitty picture threads and history and all art threads and split the space with them as needed.

 

[Brother Shatterstone]

Don't hate me...

Please no one get offended by my honest answer...

To me if the OT threads are clearly labeled then I have no issue to going on to page 2 (oh the horror) or page 3 (gasp). I have a 56K modem, and let me say that I would be happy if it worked at 56K. I sometimes have to wait a few minutes (literally) to get a page to load but it doesn't bug me. Not saying that I think Enworld should be rampaging nightmare of OT lunacy, but if theirs a baseball topic, if theirs a football topic, or other reasonable OT thread so be it. I think theirs more of an issue with post being in the wrong forum but people really do not want to hear that their thread is misplaced. I found that out last night when I posted about it in their thread. About the kids and pets, I would rather see the pets, but don’t we have galleries for both of them? How about we use them?

The thing that irks me is always seeing a thread in meta about "theirs to many out of topic thread in general." Theirs 25 thread, post something and it will go away.

The poor moderators seem to have enough to do other than always answer these silly threads.

Feel angry? Please read the first line again and have a nice day…

Okay, now on to business. I like P&P, I rarely post there as I’m not a DM/GM in anything at the moment. If it got moved to general I would be all for that also. As I said I don’t mind looking around for threads of intrest.

 

[Umbran]

Really, the problem (no offense PCat and others) is that right now the mods are selective for what goes in General.

And for good reason. Ironclad rules are fine for mathematics, but lousy for people. Not to mention the fact that strict rules mean strict loopholes.

And Brother Shatterstone has a valid point. If you post to an on-topic thread, it will bump the off-topic ones down. So, what's more effective in ridding yourself of the menace - coming here to meta to lodge a complaint, or going to general and spending that same time being active in there?

 

[LightPhoenix]

And for good reason. Ironclad rules are fine for mathematics, but lousy for people. Not to mention the fact that strict rules mean strict loopholes.

Like the ban on politics and religion? Or strictly moving media and computers posts to the correct forums?

Sorry, but I just don't agree. The only reason that this board is as... tame, as it were, is because from almost day one posts on politics and religion have been enforced, strictly. For example, the whole flag icon/avatar deal way back when. That was causing all sorts of problems and that was just a minor thing.

In fact, there's already some precedent for strict rules - one Hivemind thread on the main page, for instance. There's no reason a "General Announcements" thread couldn't be started, and all of that is in one place. What has happened time and again is the moderators will come down on OT posting, and then gradually more and more people will start posting OT stuff. Eventually it reaches a point where the moderators have to step in again, and we're back to square one.

Self-regulating only works if we really are self-regulating. We are to a certain extent, but not enough for the mods to just let stuff go on with no interference.

And Brother Shatterstone has a valid point. If you post to an on-topic thread, it will bump the off-topic ones down. So, what's more effective in ridding yourself of the menace - coming here to meta to lodge a complaint, or going to general and spending that same time being active in there?

That logic I can't argue with.

So here's a question for you. We've been lax about moving "give me ideas" threads to Plots & Places. In fact, I've considered eliminating P&P entirely; it needs high volume to really be successful, and it doesn't have that. What are your thoughts?

On the one hand, I agree. P&P doesn't really get all that much traffic, and really those types of posts are best with more people replying to them. And it is definitely a fuzzy line as to the difference between General and P&P.

On the other hand, if you were more diligent in moving threads to P&P, then perhaps traffic would pick up a bit there. Hey, there might even be room for more OT threads.

(Personal Rant)
This really ties into the self-regulating thing above. One of the biggest tells that we're barely self-regulating, IMO, is the amount of stuff in General that should have been posted in the first place. People don't bother to go to the other forums specifically because they know they get less traffic - even the Media and Computer forums, which have a lot of regulars! They often times don't use the tags, which were made so people could sort stuff easier.

I mean, all it would really take to fix General is consistent use of the OT tag, and the ability to ignore any messages with that tag. Whether that's a part of the message board software, I don't know. But that way, you only see the threads you want to see, and have no need to complain.