I've been an active reader here for a while and have noticed that more and more people are posting "trashy" posts. What I mean by this is, a forum is for getting advice and helping others, right. It's almost like this place has just grown into a chat room where people can post whatever whenever. My suggestion would be doing a better job of moderating the forums instead of allowing "anything goes" atmosphere.
So you are suggesting that every post goes to a moderation queue, and moderators decide what can and can't be talked about?
you mean censorship? This is what makes this forum alive! What's wrong with trashy posts in General Forums?
No, not at all, that would be rediculous. When a mod comes across a post or thread that is obviously not in anyway help to anyone, then just remove it and perhaps post the reason it was removed in it's place.
That's done already (at least to posts that break the posting guidelines) when someone reports it. When someone reports a post (which anyone can do), all mods are notified. But if someone just doesn't like a post for no other reason than they just don't like it, then it's left. If any post was removed because someone in the world might not like it, then certainly every post would be removed.
I personally like the way DP is moderated. If a particular user is a problem for me, I can just put them on my ignore list. I've only done it to one user and eventually he turned out to not be so bad when I un-ignored him a couple of months later. Having your posts moderated -- either moved, deleted, or edited -- can really bother a person, even in the most obvious and necessary scenarios. As this board is way more popular than it was when I first joined, I've noticed the noise to signal ratio has fluctuated, but that's just what happens when you have a great community. As more members join, you'll find more people post before they fully think things through. I personally think a hands off approach is better for inspiring good interaction. The community will handle itself by not responding to junk, or by helping out those who need to learn the ropes. The moderation and overall community feel at DP is as-good-as or better than other communities I've been a part of.
Yep, I think one of the reasons this forum got so popular is because it's not heavily moderated. Also, it's really not easy moderating in a busy forum, particularly one with a very active marketplace. I think Shawn and his crew deserve a lot of thanks for taking on that job.
It should be noted that very few posts are ever reported. As a Mod I like when people report threads, as no Mod (even one on here 8-10 hours a day) can read every single post. I don't see that Whatudo has even reported any so it can't bother you too much.
I have reported a few posts that were blatant spam or forum abuse and it has always been cleaned very quickly.
I find this forum much more helpful... and entertaining than a forum I used to visit daily which has turned into a heavily moderated pompous know it all (nothing?) club.
Though it can be added that members also have a small obligation of at least trying to put threads in the right place, or think a few seconds before hitting submit on a reply. "Is this helping myself or anyone else here?" is a good question to ask. Some people do seem to get a bit over-excited posting like a machine gun. Reading the small list of rules we have and committing them to memory would also help. IMO most 'less intelligent' posts do seem to come from just a handful, I guess the 80/20 rule applies here too, so the ignore feature can do wonders indeed. That way you can tweak your own 'mod algo' as it were.
I believe there's far too much irrelevant comment getting a run on the "New Posts" section. And I think its killing the usefullnes of Digital Point to serious users. Why can't the general chat be moderated and kept to the appropriate sections. So, please let the main channel be free of the junk and concentrate on keeping that important space for useful comment and helpful information.
It is...and if a thread goes off topic and becomes General Chat, report it and it can be split (which we do sometimes on our own but we can't read every single thread)
The New Posts link is only way one of browsing, a feature of it is that you get all the forums you subscribed to. Use tree browsing instead, from the homepage or the dropdown to avoid those areas that aren't of your interest.