Remove Character Requirement

[!King_Amazon!]

There's no reason to have it. People will still post "lol" or whatever they want to post and tack extra stuff on to meet the requirement. It suppresses posting(spamming, yes, but spamming is still posting and thus activity.)

I don't think many people really think it serves a purpose other that WW and maybe a few others. I'm sure that the majority will agree that it needs to go.

[Demosthenes]

There's no reason to have it. People will still post "lol" or whatever they want to post and tack extra stuff on to meet the requirement. It suppresses posting(spamming, yes, but spamming is still posting and thus activity.)

I don't think many people really think it serves a purpose other that WW and maybe a few others. I'm sure that the majority will agree that it needs to go.

Yes.

Fuck you, WW!

[D3V]

I voted yes as well, another pointless addition that is unecessary.

[kaos]

It's the little things that count guys. Like the little "New Posts" button that shakes when there's new posts.

I, for one, vote yes.

[!King_Amazon!]

You didn't vote yes, noob.

[kaos]

Yeah, but I would've.

[Grav]

It's the little things that count guys. Like the little "New Posts" button that shakes when there's new posts.

What? I've never seen that.

[kaos]

Hold on lemme check where it's at.

[kaos]

OK, I found the button Grav but I forgot what thread I was posting in. But its acctually the FAQ's button in the default template.

[!King_Amazon!]

I think he means the FAQ link that shakes if you're a guest/new member or something like that.

[Grav]

I know about that.

[!King_Amazon!]

The question is, does he?

[kaos]

*Slap*

[WetWired]

It's not an addition; it's built-in, and on by default.

[!King_Amazon!]

So turn it off. It's obviously not something that just happens to "be there." You've tweaked it and such, so the fact that it's on by default is irrelevant.

[kaos]

Yeah, 'cause I remember when there used to be no character requirement, and we were still using vB3.

[!King_Amazon!]

It also used to be a larger requirement, 10 characters I think.

[WetWired]

No, it's relevant because D3V was accusing me of adding it to annoy people, whereas the only thing I've ever done to it is reduce it.

[kaos]

Make it like 50 chars for D3V then. And like .5 chars for everyone else.

[Lenny]

To put it bluntly: "Fuck no!".

Personally, I think that what some people get away with is far too little. If it were up to me, I'd whack it up to 5 words, let alone characters.

Though I admit, it would be nice to turn it off in the WRT.

[!King_Amazon!]

Who's the nazi now?

[Lenny]

I have a weak spot for coherent posts with a satisfying amount of content, that's all. :rolleyes:

I'm going to say it now, before someone calls me out for it if this is implemented - should someone who isn't an established member start psoting "lol" or "wtf", "yeah" or "i agree" to posts, then I'm going to be trashing them. Should they do it enough times, then I'll be making liberal use of my ban button. I need to flush the spiders out from underneath it.

In fact, should anyone, established or not,repeatedly post things like "lol" or "wtf", "yeah" or "i agree", then I'll ban them.

Warnign at, say, half of their posts in a certain time span that are lacking in content.
A ban for a day if they do the same again in the same length of time.
And I'll increase the time of the bans if they don't get the hint.

It's not in the FAQ, but it's annoying. And it does nothing to further the thread, or do anything for activity.

[!King_Amazon!]

Sounds to me like you don't like activity. Demod Lenny, IMO.

[kaos]

Are you threatening me?

[Lenny]

I thought I'd take the Bad Cop stance for once. :rolleyes:

I have relish for activity - the more there is, the more one can reply to, the more one can raise their postcount by. I sometimes have trouble getting my four posts simply because there's little to reply to.

And a simple "lol" or "I agree" tacked on to the end of a thread makes no difference.

What am I supposed to reply to that with?

"Oi! Post something with content, you great pillock!"

I might have edited before you replied, but as I said, it does nothing to further the thread and the discussions within. It's just pointless.

I feel that if we actually raise the minimum number of words/characters for a post, we might get some higher quality posts... though there's the disadvantage that the lazy arses will just leave because their usual standard of posting fais to reach the requirements.

I finish with:

If kyeruu can post a thread that goes way beyond the character requirement, and actually contains content that makes a bit of sense (admit it, he's been getting a lot better at it, recently, even though he's not got a touch on the rest of us), then why can't everyone else?

[D3V]

No, it's relevant because D3V was accusing me of adding it to annoy people, whereas the only thing I've ever done to it is reduce it.

Oh i'm sorry, I'm just refferring to when there wasn't a requirement, and now there is.

[WetWired]

You are mistaken. 10 characters is the default. I did however, reduce it to 5 characters 18 months ago or so.

[WetWired]

After a more thourogh investigation using an SQL search, it would appear that the 10 character limit was added as a default with vB3.0 . Again, this was nothing that I started.

[D3V]

You are mistaken. 10 characters is the default. I did however, reduce it to 5 characters 18 months ago or so.

Jesus tap dancing christ on a cross I don't know how VB works, just make it go back to how it was. :rolleyes:

[!King_Amazon!]

No, WW will get overly technical with you and completely avoid the issue and it will never get changed.

[D3V]

No, WW will get overly technical with you and completely avoid the issue and it will never get changed.

He acts like I care what VB defaults as, I knew it as I could say LOL or STFU and have it be fine with a period or two.

[Grav]

Can we tie a character limit into the reputation system?

For example, the higher your reputation rating, the more slack you are given when posting since you are trusted? And conversely, if someone has a low rating, they will have to post more.

[!King_Amazon!]

Eh, I dunno about that. The reputation system doesn't actually reflect any sort of true reputation. People can rep people for any reason they want.

Perhaps make it where mods/admins can set a level for certain people as they see fit, but even that would be dumb. Just let people post without restrictions.

[Demosthenes]

I think there are plenty of times when a simple "lol" should suffice, especially in the chat forum. Lol is pretty much universally known, and it conveys the same message as "that cracked me up," simply in a more succinct manner. For instance, a funny picture or video posted in the chat forum may merit an "lol", but not really much more. The expression shows appreciation for the thread and provides feedback to the OP, whereas a skipped post does not. On the other hand, there are often cases when people ask a simple question that does not require more than a yes or no answer. Sure, elaboration is great, but should be done by choice and not force. Of course, 5 letters isn't much to elaborate, however the point is that a yes or no answer is sufficient in many cases.

I'm fairly long-winded when it comes to many of my posts. I don't think anyone would argue that. However the 5-character rule aggravates even me. So lets take that kyeruu example you gave and flip it around. I'm going to go ahead and decree by fiat that, at least for the time being, my posts are the most long-winded here. If Mjordan2nd can make a post that falls short of the character limit it should not come as a surprise that many other do as well.

[D3V]

Can you specifiy the limit for specific sections? Like the Debate forum you need to have a higher limit, as where in the chat forum take it completely away? ..

[!King_Amazon!]

I had considered that, but that might be overly technical or difficult to implement. However, that would significantly reduce the spam in the forums where we don't want spam, and probably increase it where we do want it, so I see no harm that could come of doing that.

[D3V]

I'd assume he'd just have to go set the rights for each individual form... OR, just add a limit to the ones where we don't want spam (Convo/Debate/News/Forum discussions) and the rest really don't matter too much.

[!King_Amazon!]

If he can do it I'm all for it, but it might not be nearly as simple as you think.

[Vault Dweller]

I'm backing Lenny on this one.

Actually, I voted "the betterment of Zelaron forums and the human race as a whole," so I guess I'm voting for more poorly implemented polls.

Huzzah!