Should Brian Increase the MGoPoints Threshold?

Submitted by Enjoy Life on

After the recent debacle (see Sticky: IMPORTANT: Check Yourself -- above), I think Brian should increase the threshold for creating new Forum Topics/Diaries to 200 MGoPoints.

Here's Why.

1) A major reason for the threshold is to prevent a Troll from creating an ID and immediately post a new thread only meant to create a flame war. But, it is easy to post 5-10 comments in an hour. Therefore, it only takes 2-4 hours to reach the threshold and post their garbage. A 200 point threshold would increase this to 20-40 hours.

2) As a deterrent to posting totally unacceptable comments (see same reference above), the current threshold is simply a slap on the wrist. Once banned, it is possible for the banned person to get back on. Again, within 2-4 hours, they are back in business. If it would take 20-40 hours, the deterrent is much stronger.

3) The current threshold can be reached so quickly that it is virtually impossible to recognize that a new user is probably a Troll until it is too late. If it took longer, it may be possible to alert Brian of potential problems with new users.

BTW, this does not limit anyone's ability to join MGoBlog and start posting comments immediately.

And, I am not suggesting this be used for stupid/inane comments. The Up/Down Vote is used to indicate these.

The King of Belch

September 4th, 2009 at 9:50 AM ^

This "points" thing is getting ridiculous. People are discussing them too much, and if anything, there is probably a lot of good stuff that doesn't get posted because guys don't want to get negged by a ton of zealots.

SRSLY--there seems to be a lot of neg banging just because people disagree with a post. I don't believe that was the intent, but in the, er, real (message board) world, that is what's happening.

C'mon, this really isn't some sort of Country Club where you get a velvet smoking jacket welcoming you into the group that holds The Secret or something.

Lighten up.

In reply to by The King of Belch

Aequitas

September 4th, 2009 at 10:01 AM ^

That pretty much sums up how I feel.

Coming on the eve of Michigan Football Saturday, this whole thread seems strange and out of place to me....

Turn on TKA, read some MGoGoodness and quit worrying about points and trolls! It's football season baby!!

In reply to by The King of Belch

Bando Calrissian

September 4th, 2009 at 7:48 PM ^

I too am tired of having to worry about points. Not that I worry, per se, but when you have to think about what you're going to post because you know it may be controversial or against the grain and will immediately get -8000 points from the minions who toe the party line, that's not cool. The MGoBoard should promote discussion and differing viewpoints, not the same rah-rah fanboy drivel over and over and over again.

James Burrill Angell

September 4th, 2009 at 9:52 AM ^

While your point has merit, its a posting board. If people don't like the post, can't they ignore it?? If they want to engage themselves in a prolonged war of words (and do remember the adage about sticks and stones,do we not) then thats five minutes of their lives they'll never get back. The 100 point limit apparently does the trick to keep most trolls off the board.

ShockFX

September 4th, 2009 at 10:00 AM ^

I think the point limit is fine where it is. Once an idiot makes a bad post, it gets downvoted below 20, and the guy can't create a new topic, but can still post, which only drops his total even faster.

Additionally, I think it bears a wait and see approach to how the point system plays out once football has actually started. And, on a similar note, I realized I've actually been a bit nicer in how I phrase things since points started. I've been making pretty much the same points, but I think about making it funny or semi-less harsh rather than just dropping bombs. Idk, I think a few people probably feel the same way about how they themselves are posting.

umhannon

September 4th, 2009 at 10:00 AM ^

This is a very tricky subject. A point based caste system does eliminate the likelihood of trolls; however, it can prevent those with something valid to say a forum to do so. I do not have many points but I have been on the blog awhile; just not posting. I believe the true tragedy of the points is the "group think" mentality that leads to one comment = -17 points. This is a tough one.

eckzow

September 4th, 2009 at 1:21 PM ^

I read the board a lot but post rarely. Check my "joined" date vs. my point total. To date the points system has shut me out of creating a new topic.

That said... I don't often have the urge to create one, so it's not like the system is depriving the site of anything particularly insightful. It's more of a "user experience" turnoff. Trolls are too, so they kind of cancel each other out.

That said 20 points is low and achievable, 200 points would basically lifetime ban me from creating a new forum topic. I'm not an active poster, but a man who's read the blog for for years likes to be able to post if he wants to, you know?

StephenRKass

September 4th, 2009 at 10:29 AM ^

There are noobies that have good things to say, often with content not avail elsewhere. These could be parents of players, busy hs coaches who stumble on the site, etc. The regulars can only generate so much original content. (and regarding lack of important new content, I've started to reevaluate the amount of time I waste personally on this blog reading about a few college athletes. Sadly, I don't "have what it takes" to be a complete Michigan fan.)

Regarding bad posts, there are many categories of what is bad. There are intentional flames, bad grammar, just dumb content, different pov, stuff about politics, religion, or Martha Stewart, and many others. I have been guilty myself of some such posts and content. Personally, I think you either comment on the categories above, ignore them, downvote them, whatever. For me, when too much of what I'm reading has become insulting, sarcastic, snarky, rude, all 4 letter words, I just take a holiday from mgoblog for a while.

The one category I would say needs to be dealt with more severely is that advocating or leading to violence against a person or persons. Racist comments, violent sexist comments, posting of personal information about someone, all of this is just wrong.

For example, if someone posted, "Michael Rosenberg lives at 123 Cherry Blossom Lane in Birmingham. He drives a 2004 Black Lexus. His personal cell phone number is 123-456-7890. His Discover Credit Card is 098-7654-321. HIs parents live at 4321 Sparty Drive in East Lansing. You'll know what to do." Mgoblog would need to deal with it severely. There were several way out of line misogynist comments in ref to Susan Brown and President Coleman. Also need to be dealt with. Just contact mgoblog if you see this. They'll know what to do.

CPS

September 4th, 2009 at 11:05 AM ^

1. Rosenberg discussion.

2. MSU/Dantonio discussion.

3. Religious discussion.

4. Political discussion.

5. A diary about the virtues of being a geauxfur.

6. MICHIGANFOOTBALLDISCUSSIONFORTHELOVEOFALLTHATISGOODPLEASESTOPTALKINGABOUTPOINTS!!!

Tha Stunna

September 4th, 2009 at 12:34 PM ^

200 points is too much. There should be a 20-50 point requirement for posting a diary and a 10-20 point requirement for posting on the board. If someone has some killer content, Brian or a regular could post it and give them credit. They could still get points if they reply to the thread. I really hate the sucky diaries that have been popping up from time to time, but any point requirement would help.

Not everyone wants to reply "Yeah, totally" to every remark, and not everyone can get 20 points for typing LOL (you know who I'm talking about).

If it's trolls you're worried about, give more users with a high point total moderation powers, and archive the posts they moderate so you can see if people abuse the moderation powers.

Brother Mouzone

September 4th, 2009 at 1:00 PM ^

I agree there will probably be a need for Brian find some "mgopopo" with mod powers to stop some of the topics/people that cross WAY over the line.

Another good items would be some significant penalty for repeatedly putting non-diary material in the diaries, or grant access to posting in the diary by previous excellence is posting here or elsewhere.

Point totals are fine. There are some folks whose ratio of read to post is probably 1000: 1 Just because they may post infrequently, doesn't mean it isn't valuable...

SF_Wolverine

September 4th, 2009 at 1:57 PM ^

I don't post a lot, but occasionally, I have come across some news before I have seen it posted here. Getting to 20 points has taken me forever and I'd like to contribute more if possible.

The nice thing about the point system is that if anyone does get trollish, you can just neg-bang them below 20, no matter how many times they re-register.

It's the internet and trolls breed quickly no matter how much you try to sterilize them, but that shouldn't keep the less vociferous, yet still die-hard fans, away from contributing.

Tacopants

September 4th, 2009 at 5:05 PM ^

I just reached your proposed threshold. Doing a quick check of users by Mgopoints, at the moment only the top 300 or so users would be allowed to post any content. Not letting any of the other 4000 users post new topics may have an adverse effect on the board.

No matter what you do, trolls will always find a way to get onto a board. In this instance, all a troll would have to do is create 1 "main" ID, post 20 times or so, then create other ids that all upvote himself. It would be tedious, but I imagine this could all be accomplished in about 30 minutes. In fact, I'm pretty sure that a recent troll did exactly that to keep his point total above water.

I think the current system is working out well. There tends to be random neg-banging whenever somebody expresses a contrary opinion, which is kind of problematic. I would suggest one improvement: take away the ability for users to +1 themselves. Doing so would mean actual consequences for negging somebody else, as you lose that point forever (instead of being able to give it back to yourself)

TrueBlueLaw

September 4th, 2009 at 7:52 PM ^

Been a long time reader and member of this place. Frankly, the fact that I don't reply to every single thread is far better (for everyone here) than posting meaningless drivel just to up my point value. I get what they're supposed to do. And I'm all for a troll free site. But now I feel like I'm forced to post stuff like this just so that I can start a thread when I have something meaningful to discuss or share.