Meta: Increase Point Total for Board Topics?

Submitted by uniqenam on

Anyone else with me?  We've been having ridiculous posts from trolls, idiots, and people who like to say "that would be telling" in the past few weeks, and it's really taking away from the quality posts on the MGoBoard.

pasadenablue

September 30th, 2010 at 1:53 PM ^

okay, so i just read through this entire thread...

...and i haven't been quite so entertained in a while (the last thing that made me LOL to this extent was denard's 2nd td run last saturday)

 

but regarding the actual topic at hand...

i agree completely with the CRex proposal, which states:

1) 500 point threshold to post any new content

2) 500 point threshold to be able to neg a post

3) negging posts should be free

 

in addition this solid proposal, i will add the pasadenablue corollary:

1) 500 point threshold for posing (to keep trolls from creating their own super-posed accounts)

2) grandfather in all mgousers who've had accounts for over a year (perhaps by giving them a 500-pt mgoloyalty bonus)

Dreisbach1817

September 30th, 2010 at 1:55 PM ^

Not sure if this has been mentioned, but I think there should be a distinct MoGoBoard link (i.e. "New" "Recent" "Hot" "Tom") for Recruiting.  There are many here who love getting into recruiting discussions and analyze the players.  Would be an easy way to keep out random OT discussions. 

I think Recruiting in itself is worth a topic header.

alwaystrueblue

September 30th, 2010 at 2:39 PM ^

not a real frequent poster, i too get tired of the duplicate threads. Most of them i dont even read.

Never really saw the "point" in the whole point system. If you are going to have a point system there will always be ways to get around it and trolls are just a part of the internet.

There are some very high point posters here that contribute very little in the way of good solid posts. How about not awarding points for things like pictures, youtube videos and icons? How about not awarding points for comments that are 2 or 3 words? That would stop point awards for saying   "wait, what?".   Dont get me wrong....i actually think some comments like that are amusing...but do they deserve a point for it?

 

Just my thoughts...

octal9

September 30th, 2010 at 3:26 PM ^

There are some very high point posters here that contribute very little in the way of good solid posts. ... things like pictures, youtube videos and icons? ... awards for saying   "wait, what?"

Guilty as charged. However, there's a lot to be said for recognizing what type of poster you are as well. For example: I make no attempt at hiding my lack of quality content contribution outside of OT, meta, or humor (which honestly, are any of these quality content?) topics. At the same time, I also make it a point to not start new threads. I don't have any brand of football insight to add, but I do enjoy responding to threads that pique my curiosities. I could have INT_MIN (LONG_MIN? I don't know what the column looks like in the DB) points right now and it'd have zero impact on my ability to post - though I'd probably be explaining why I have less than 4 billion points more often than I'd be saying anything else.

On a related note there's a lot of discussion going on right now about the ability to vote on posts that's completely tangential (continued math pun intended, which I'm sure is very telling) to the actual discussion at hand: cutting down on the amount of bullshit that gets through the "minimum points required to start a thread" filter. At some point this is a problem that the guy that runs this site (I hear his name is "Brian", but there's no like contact information or anything available) will likely address, as the signal to noise ratio of feedback to this topic (inversely proportional to the signal:noise of forum topics) is steadily rising.

csam1490

September 30th, 2010 at 2:52 PM ^

I can't believe no one has yet suggested the threshold be well over 9000. If it isn't already. Over 9000, that is.

I am not sure what really bothers people about misbehavior on the internet (with the exception of racism or sexism or being a boor, which are inappropriate everywhere, not just on the internet). Truthfully, I enjoy the pathos involved in watching both a person whacking at a hornets nest and the subsequent swarming retribution.

decadoug

September 30th, 2010 at 4:16 PM ^

in case you didn't know, the point total to post was raised to 100 a few hours ago. I was at 85 points when it happened. I got an e-mail saying I could no longer start topics. Then when I went over 100 points, I got another e-mail saying I could start threads again. So, it was raised to 100, maybe not high enough in some members eyes, but at least it's better than it was.

jmblue

September 30th, 2010 at 4:13 PM ^

I'd make it 100.  I think that's enough.  The other thing is that there should be some kind of probationary period for new members.  Prevent them from posting anything for 12 hours, say, and then from voting or posting a thread (if they have the points) for a week.  This would prevent sock-puppet users from creating a ton of accounts and up-voting them all.

Zone Left

September 30th, 2010 at 4:31 PM ^

Any idea how hard it would be to create a waiting period?  I'm not a computer guy.  Also, creating a waiting period might not encourage new users--which Brian might have a problem with.

100 points sounds about right for thread creation and voting priviledges.  It ensures you've posted some decent material and is a barrier to multiple accounts.  Do people actually spend the time to do that?

jmblue

September 30th, 2010 at 4:54 PM ^

I have no idea about the technical stuff behind this.  I know that some message boards have done this, though.  Yeah, there is a potential issue about discouraging new posters.  Maybe they shouldn't be banned from posting off the bat, but can only post a limited number of times for that first week.

The sock-puppet thing was apparently a big problem before Brian changed the mgopoints rules over the summer.  The Em0 guy has used them. 

Tha Stunna

September 30th, 2010 at 5:13 PM ^

I don't like it.  Just have more aggressive moderation to clean out obnoxious or duplicate topics.  Maybe add moderators for 25k+ point posters.  The privliege could then be revoked by Brian at any time for any reason whatsoever, to keep people from going on a power trip.

The whole point of keeping the point threshold low is so that someone who isn't necessarily a regular poster but has something interesting to say can contribute.  By limiting the creation of new posts, we risk becoming an inbred community that eventually runs short on new people to contribute.  If you prefer inbred communities, you're rooting for the wrong team...

For someone who isn't a regular poster, it's undoubtedly annoying to put a lot of effort into a topic, which then would have to be snuck in as a reply to some other possibly related board topic.  It's not that hard to wade through the crappy posts; we all know how to read.  It's worth the routine idiot (who gets neg banged anyway) to get the occasional diamond in the rough.

alwaystrueblue

September 30th, 2010 at 5:36 PM ^

you Stunna.  What you say makes a lot of sense.

Brian makes money from people visiting the site. He might not like discouraging posting to satisfy a few people that get their panties in a wad over bad threads. 

I am a member on a number of different forums and blogs.....sports, autos, home improvment, politics, and many others.  Trust me.....idiot postings are rampant on all of them and there is really no way to stop it. 

This is a really great blog and is run pretty damn well.  I have seen a few that got ruined by long time members/posters who let their ego's run away with them and chased off all the "short-timers" as they called them.  This place is pretty good at spotting and chasing away trolls....

The Punisher

September 30th, 2010 at 6:15 PM ^

...I can see how it does make sense to have a minimum. As a noob, I had a valid question that on any other board I would have started a topic on. So what to do? I did a little searching within the board and found my answer. What do you get? One less topic cluttering things up.

Joining a board with with great info and a lack of useless comments would be refreshing.

I'm cool with waiting.

ST3

October 1st, 2010 at 12:15 AM ^

So we're all familiar with the line, "the first rule of MGoPoints is that you don't talk about MGoPoints," or something like that. An obvious reference to Fight Club's first rule. Fight Club's 8th rule is, "If this is your first night at Fight Club, you have to fight." The analogy here would be, if you register or get an account, you have to post something. Then, the community could neg bang you into oblivion or pos bang you (am I getting that right?, sorta new here) up to a point level where you could continue posting. The point is, man up, say something, and let the chips fall where they may.

Personally, if it's true that MGoBlog's ad revenue is tied to page views, then I'd say leave the point totals alone. This blog is awesome and if a little more revenue flows in, that can only help build the positive content, maybe it pays for more Lloyd Brady photoshop images. If the cost is reading some BS posts or obvious troll crap, so what. Don't read it.

myantoniobass …

October 1st, 2010 at 12:33 PM ^

I am new.  It seems like getting to 20 points is a decent bit of work thus far.  Trolls don't like work, just unfounded critique.  The system works!  Don't legislate against the team, the team, the team, out of fear.

ST3

October 2nd, 2010 at 9:14 PM ^

about 10 minutes ago according to the email I got. Probably a case of MGoBlog getting MGoSick of newbies complaining about all things GERG.