META: Threshold to start an OP

Submitted by MGoGrendel on

We saw another knucklehead start an OP this morning, only to have his post quickly negged so his points are well below 0.  This happens all too often, IMHO. 

I’ve seen a new user get to 100 points after 24 hours and then start a stupid or inflammatory OP.  This is typically a troll who quickly creates another new “creative” username, gets to 100 points by the next day, and starts another worthless OP.  When new users and their “this is my first post, be gentle” ask some feelingsball question, it’s just nails on this chalkboard.

It’s too easy for trolls and inexperienced users to start an OP.  We have a great culture here and it takes a bit to understand the banter, adjust to the rhythm, and follow the insides jokes. As such, I would like to request that the Mods raise the level to start an OP.  I suggest the following thresholds:

  • Users must be registered for 6 months 90 days (?) 
  • Users must have 500 points

Justification: After this much time and comment participation, we can weed out the trolls and integrate the newbies.  Newbies can always “Thread jack, someone please post this (topic)”.  Trolls will be trolls, but we can at least hide their comments on the web.

So, let’s use this as a petition.  In the comments below, let the Mods know how your thoughts about this request.

 

edit: updated the time as 6 months appears harsh and could be bad for business.

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JClay

January 3rd, 2017 at 9:34 AM ^

I can see the logic behind an increase in the point threshold but if I signed up for a forum and it told me I could not start a topic for 6 months, I can't imagine sticking with it.

Joined: 09/14/2010

MGoPoints: 13753

stephenrjking

January 3rd, 2017 at 12:34 PM ^

I third this. Too high a threshold and you choke off new blood that any message board needs to remain viable. Yeah, some new folks are annoying. We neg them. Some new folks become valuable parts of the community. Look at the HOF threads from the old days. You'll see some old-timers there, but a lot of the mainstay posters from those threads aren't around anymore. New people have come in, some of them vital contributors. If I had been required to wait for months or a huge number of points before posting an OP (in my case, I joined when I did in large part to write up a retrospective on the 2002 hockey regional at Yost, summarizing my extensive historical research on the Molly Game) I might never have bothered.

Joined: 03/15/2012

MGoPoints: 20144017

1464

January 3rd, 2017 at 9:40 AM ^

Or not... why would Brian shoot himself in the foot like that?  How often are you guys actually aggrieved by some OP?  Couldn't they just post dumb shit inside of another thread anyway?  The return on making rule to limit new users in such a drastic way is basically 0.  If anything, this thread should be nuked for being pointless, and the OP has WELL over the number of points needed...

Joined: 06/21/2010

MGoPoints: 37173

1 percent

January 3rd, 2017 at 9:47 AM ^

I agree with that. If a dude makes a thread about something stupid it's going to get deleted and they will probably get banned. Even if someone makes a delete-worthy thread once a day (which they don't) it's not that bad. It costs me maybe 1 minute to realize it and look at something else.

Joined: 09/09/2010

MGoPoints: 11273

MaizeAndBlueWahoo

January 3rd, 2017 at 10:35 AM ^

The big difference between a dumb-shit OP and dumb shit in a thread is that every new thread pushes other ones off the page.  The buttons to look at older posts don't always work so good and even if they did, I'd still say that any mechanism to help more valuable threads not be pushed off by dumb shit is a good one.

Joined: 07/02/2008

MGoPoints: 41586

BlueCE

January 3rd, 2017 at 9:39 AM ^

On the other hand, I've seen some great posts from people with low points. Don't forget that many people are unable or un-interested in participating in posbang posts or playing the useless reply game just to gain points. We might alienate some great posters/content since it might take a very long time to get to 500.



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Joined: 12/08/2009

MGoPoints: 2306

Brown Bear

January 3rd, 2017 at 9:37 AM ^

Point thresholds don't really matter. I've seen dumb posts from new users with 200 points and from old with 50,000 points. You can't fix stupid. Stupid happens.

Joined: 01/10/2011

MGoPoints: 38026

1464

January 3rd, 2017 at 9:37 AM ^

I dunno, man.  I'm not in the camp that is incredibly put off by the occasional junk thread.  Believe it or not, they don't actually ruin my life and/or MGoBlog experience.  I'd assume that the trade off of potentially not growing the userbase by not allowing new users to post is not worth the occasional "JABBRIL PEPPERS IS GOOD" thread...

I mean, if a garbage thread on a free website is your worst problem, then congrats man, you're doing well for yourself.

Joined: 06/21/2010

MGoPoints: 37173

xtramelanin

January 3rd, 2017 at 10:52 AM ^

worst threads/thread titles.  that's why you take the time to scan them. 

and how many OP's are there with 101 points?  the trolls are usually just posting on other OP threads and this solution won't solve that problem.

 

Joined: 12/09/2014

MGoPoints: 15439

Quail2theVict0r

January 3rd, 2017 at 9:38 AM ^

I personally like seeing the "newbies" start a thread with, "first post, be gental" or "I looked everywhere but couldn't find this posted yet" and then either

1. Post a 1000 word essay on their opinions about a specific player or what should/needs to be done about some football related issue OR

2. Post a week old link with week old information. 

And then have all their points negged away. 

Joined: 12/01/2008

MGoPoints: 16503

WGoNerd

January 3rd, 2017 at 9:39 AM ^

I vote YEA to the point threshold, NAY to the 6 months, if there were to be a change at all.

That said I feel as if the mods are very fair and throrough, and that trolls get banned and posts get deleted with swiftness and malious where appropriate.  You're always going to have trolls online, and this is a really good community for taking care of them.

Joined: 04/09/2015

MGoPoints: 5658

WolverineLake

January 3rd, 2017 at 9:40 AM ^

I'll weigh in:  Thumbs up.

 

I think any time period greater than a month will work.  I've seen a fair number of accounts roll through that comment on every comment just to get their points up quickly.  500 points seems like a fair bar to hurdle.

Joined: 07/10/2011

MGoPoints: 2878