7 character limit

There is not one new, valid point that you have made. You are simply bitching to bitch, and it is quite annoying. If you seriously can't post something that doesn't have 7 characters, including spaces and punctuation, then it just isn't really worth it. Sure, "I vote B." could be considered fine in some instances, but "I vote B, because blah blah blah" is much much better. Simple enough I'd think.

I'm not the only one "bitching" about it. I have plenty of support on this one, including Mantra, Sov, HOH, and KR at the very least. I didn't make this thread to bring up new points, I made this thread because the other one was closed. There are quite seriously times when you don't need seven letters for your post. And I wholeheartedly agree with you, that "I vote B because . . ." is much better than simply "I vote B" but there are times when you don't feel like elaborating any more, and you shouldn't be requied to because it's a completely legitimate response to a completely legitimate question asked by a certain member, for instance Kidagkash's thread that was made yesterday. I voted for the picture on the right. Why? Who the fuck knows. I just liked it better.

The fact of the matter is, I'm not the only one this rule is annoying. In fact, if we had a vote, I'm pretty sure that the majority would side with the people wanting to get rid of this rule.

This certainly tempts me to make a poll. I shall wait awhile to do so though...

The senior staff (minus I)want better content. The only way they can get it is to force it from people.

The members are here to have fun. Weither it be to spam, or to be serious, it doesn't really matter to them.

We have two conflicting ideas. Fun and Quality. Why not, for once, have a forum wide vote as to what should happen regarding this 7 char thing. Zelaron is here for the members, not for the staff members. Without them, we are useless. It makes no sence to make a majority of members pissed just to try to improve content.

But however many times this is said, the admin isn't going to change their mind. This is all just pointless.

The senior staff (minus I)want better content. The only way they can get it is to force it from people. The members are here to have fun. Weither it be to spam, or to be serious, it doesn't really matter to them. We have two conflicting ideas. Fun and Quality. Why not, for once, have a forum wide vote as to what should happen regarding this 7 char thing. Zelaron is here for the members, not for the staff members. Without them, we are useless. It makes no sence to make a majority of members pissed just to try to improve content. But however many times this is said, the admin isn't going to change their mind. This is all just pointless.

Very well said, Sovereign.

Also, forcing people to write more than seven characters isn't going to force better content. The content of a post should not be measured through quantity, but rather through quality. If you have three pages of bullshit, it's still bullshit. "I vote B" on the other hand, isn't bullshit, and completely answers a member's question, but it doesn't meet your 7-character requirement. Or lets say a member wants to express their appreciation of a comedic remark in the chat forum with a simple "lol." For the chat forum, that should be fine, but according to the rule it doesn't work anymore. Almost all of us have made a post consisting of less than 7 letters at some point or the other, and while I'm not going to look for it, I'm sure it's their.

Plus, do you really think that this seven letter rule is going to really prevent any spam? It's still all over the place. The administration is never going to be able to get rid of any spam, even if they make us write three pages before we post. It's on all forums. You go to some of the forums where most of the members are adults and you will still fine good amounts of spam there. There are times when it must be deleted, which is left to the moderator's discretion, but for the most part it just livens up conversations. But I'm going off on a tangent. The seven-letter rule is not going to prevent spam in any way, it'll just make it slightly longer. That said, it's only an annoyance to the members that make up this community, so why not get rid of it?

What if I offer to re-think my stance on minimum post length in exchange for the complete removal of postcount? At least in my mind, the largest motivation to post useless posts is to increase one's postcount. If everyone was effectively in the no-postcount group, this could not be an issue.

For clarification, the new limit is 7 alpha-numeric characters, excluding the phrase "10 chars" and its derivates (will soon be updated), or extra-long words. "I vote B." is 6 chars.

That's not it. People like grav do this as well, and he has made it blatantly obvious that he doesnt give a shit about post count.

I have another proposition to consider. Post count can be the reason for a person to spam, but it can also be the reason for a person to post constructive comments. Spam to a certain extent is fine, but when it get's excessive, it's bad.

People don't like being forced to do something. Why not get rid of this character rule. This will stop all the bickering and fighting about this. Post count should stay, HOWEVER, the punishment for excessive pure spam should be increased. I'm willing to start soft deleting posts that are just pure "aofadlfkj". I'm on the boards a LOT, and go through a good deal of the posts. In the chat forum, exceptions shall be made because thats where spam belongs, but everywhere else I will enforce it.

People are a lot more likely to be compliant when given a choice to abide by rules instead of being forced to follow them.

It's a win win win scenario. People who want post count can still get it, people who want freedom get it via no char rule, and teh admin gets what thye want as pure shit posts will be deleted, thereby somewhat improving content.

That's not it. People like grav do this as well, and he has made it blatantly obvious that he doesnt give a shit about post count. I have another proposition to consider. Post count can be the reason for a person to spam, but it can also be the reason for a person to post constructive comments. Spam to a certain extent is fine, but when it get's excessive, it's bad. People don't like being forced to do something. Why not get rid of this character rule. This will stop all the bickering and fighting about this. Post count should stay, HOWEVER, the punishment for excessive pure spam should be increased. I'm willing to start soft deleting posts that are just pure "aofadlfkj". I'm on the boards a LOT, and go through a good deal of the posts. In the chat forum, exceptions shall be made because thats where spam belongs, but everywhere else I will enforce it. People are a lot more likely to be compliant when given a choice to abide by rules instead of being forced to follow them. It's a win win win scenario. People who want post count can still get it, people who want freedom get it via no char rule, and teh admin gets what thye want as pure shit posts will be deleted, thereby somewhat improving content.

I like Sov's idea.

By the way, could someone please change my vote?

Edited by Sovereign

I changed Mj's vote from No to Yes, even though it will say otherwise when you check who voted for what

I voted [i]No[/]...
To me, it doesn't matter much... the last time I got a "under 10 character limit" message was in the binary thread. And before that... I don't even remember seeing one.

I didn't even know the limit has been changed to 7 until I read the thread.

The only time I personally find it irritating is when I merely post a "~Moved~" in D2.

It forces me to elaborate slightly...

Would the idea of having this enforced everywhere but the Chat forum work, or making it to where a <10 character response does not raise post-count?

My posting rights are at stake due to your damn regulations!!! I demand reform or I shall mutiny!

We truly fear the uprising of Zagggon...

It'll probably be smelly.. =\

What if I offer to re-think my stance on minimum post length in exchange for the complete removal of postcount? At least in my mind, the largest motivation to post useless posts is to increase one's postcount. If everyone was effectively in the no-postcount group, this could not be an issue. For clarification, the new limit is 7 alpha-numeric characters, excluding the phrase "10 chars" and its derivates (will soon be updated), or extra-long words. "I vote B." is 6 chars.

WW, why the sudden change, though? Were you unhappy with the way the forum had been going? Just my opinion, but before this no post-count thing, and before this no 7 (or 10) character limit thing the forum was in fine condition.

As for the no post-count thing, I don't really have a good argument in favor for it. That said, I would be strongly opposed to completely doing away with that. I can give you my personaly gurantee that my posting habits wouldn't change if you took away the post-count, whether that's a good or a bad thing. To be honest with you, I've had my fair amount of spam (going off on a tangent) on this forum, but it's had nothing to do with my post-count.

Is the state of spam really so bad that we just can't handle it anymore? I don't think so. Was it that bad before the 7 character, or no post-count thing? Again, I don't think so. I really don't see the need for a change, unless there are some technical difficulties that you guys are having because of something that we're doing.