Just say "no" to pointless threads

[Tsunami Jones]

I already do that in my own special way, as do other members. Really just use heavy sarcasm and rollies.
Guide them in your own way.
~~~
Good god this is hell.

I have a suggestion. Perhaps, just perhaps, instead of replying to new members sarcastically and getting angry at them instead of being helpful, how about you just ignore them? Especially if think that this is "hell" as you put it.

[Kajino Rei]

I already do that in my own special way, as do other members. Really just use heavy sarcasm and rollies.
Guide them in your own way.
~~~
Good god this is hell.

I have a suggestion. Perhaps, just perhaps, instead of replying to new members sarcastically and getting angry at them instead of being helpful, how about you just ignore them? Especially if think that this is "hell" as you put it.

You don't know what is hell to me nor do you know to what hell I was referring to.
And I'm trying to ignore, being helpful everyday is almost impossible...
Do I have to put tags into every post I make now? You know: /End Joke.
Yeah...

[Otohiko]

I sense unneccesary tension.

Though perhaps you don't realize how easy it is to misread sarcasm, unless you're familiar with someone's posting patterns. I was incredibly pissed at Earthcurrent's (you probably don't know him, alas) constant ing most of everything I said, and it took me a good... few months to learn not to be irritated by that.

[paizuri: EC didn't constantly instigate flame wars and derail threads though.]

[Tsunami Jones]

And I'm trying to ignore, being helpful everyday is almost impossible...

If dozens of other members can ignore them, so can you. Besides, if you look at the org rules (as I'm sure you have), you'll see that rule number one deals with courtesy.

[Otohiko]

Admittably, yea - and I'm guilty of this occasionally too - leading pointless-thread-posters, misguided-newbies and trolls on in a sarcastic fashion (which usually means having some 'innocent' fun at their expense) is just as much of a problem as the pointless-posters themselves sometimes. Perhaps the only thing uglier than pointless threads themselves are derailed pointless threads... unless the derailment actually adds point to them.

[J-0080]

And I'm trying to ignore, being helpful everyday is almost impossible...

That must be a joke, considering I've never seen you help anyone....ever.

[paizuri: EC didn't constantly instigate flame wars and derail threads though.]

leading pointless-thread-posters, misguided-newbies and trolls on in a sarcastic fashion

I often find your sarcasim pretty obvious and easy to read...of course that may just be due to me reading it for so long.

[RootHubController]

I've worked with phpBB in a couple of incarnations; one of which (as popularized by the IPB) Have a report button above every post; where people have the option of reporting a post (or a thread) to a moderator for disciplinary action. Can that be implemented? It might streamline activity down to where threads and posts can be effectively weeded out quickly and mercifully.

Additionally, I think that the FAQ might need a bit of brush-up; let me give examples:

Hey All,

Here is the collection of site forum rules. This list will be modified as rules are added and/or changed.

The AnimeMusicVideos.org Code of Ethics:

<ol><li> <b>Thou shalt be courteous at all times</b> including visiting conventions, forum posts, opinions given, and opinions received. Respect other's judgment though you may disagree with it. <b>If you have nothing good to say, don't say anything at all.</b></li><li>Thou shalt not use downloaded video footage to make AMVs.</li><li> Thou shalt not use downloaded music to make AMVs.</li><li> Thou shalt not use pirated software: No warez, No serialz, No crackz.</li><li> Thou shalt only have one user account.</li><li>Thou shalt not put false information into the video catalog. </li><li>There shalt be only one catalog entry per video. </li><li>Thou shalt enter only the videos you created.</li><li>Thou shalt not steal other video creator's ideas.</li><li>Thou shalt not try to impersonate other video creators.</li></ol>The forum-specific rules:<ol><li>Do not abuse your site and forum privileges. Abuse will have them taken away.</li><li> Forum signature images shall not be larger than 40 pixels tall or 600 pixels wide; any sig image exceeding these limits will be removed from the sig file without warning. </li><li><b><i>NEW RULE:</i></b> Forum signatures shall have no greater total dimensions than 600 pixels wide and 80 pixels high or four lines of normal-sized text (font size 12). You may have multiple images in your signature, but no single image may exceed 600 pixels in length or 40 pixels in height. Any signature exceeding these total dimensions or any single image that goes beyond the aforementioned limits may be removed or altered without warning.</li><li> Linked forum avatars shall not be larger than 80 pixels tall or 80 pixels wide; any avatar image exceeding these limits will be removed from the sig file without warning. </li><li> If a member (most likely a newbie) posts to the wrong forum, you as a knowing member must 1) answer the question they posted and then 2) point out which forum is the most approprate one to post to about such items. The forum moderator will (most likely) soon move the thread. </li><li>If you post images in forum threads, you should own the bandwidth that is providing those images. If you steal bandwidth by linking to images you do not have server control over, those images will be removed from the post. </li><li> There shall be no posts containing or on how to obtain warez, crackz, serialz, porn/hentai, bootlegs, or downloadable anime episodes, music or any other sort of copyrighted material. You will be banned <b>without warning</b> for such posts.</li><li> The forum will not be used for any kind of personal attacks. </li></ol>Phade.

These are somewhat dependant on people having 'common sense' and the fact is, not a lot of people are internet savvy to HAVE common sense. A more direct approach would be beneficial. "How can you tell the difference between a flame and constructive criticism?"

The FAQ isn't very visible; perhaps putting copies of the FAQ thread into each forum, with forum-specific addendums added later would also provide an inscrutible layer for the staff to act and operate from; If someone posts pointlessly, then you can casually tell them- "The FAQ is at the top of the page, read it and weep."

And while it seems as though I'm asking you to cater to their stupidity, I'm not; I'm really asking for a stronger stance from which the administration can act from; in that if everything is identified from the get-go, then you have a stronger position from which to operate from, thus resulting in a decreased amount of stupidity.

[Otohiko]

There was, as I remember, talk of getting some sort of more sophisticated 'score' system back in the OT days, which would give members 'points' based on their behavior, by the mods, then automatically dispense restrictions and other sorts of discipline...

It probably died along with OT.

Granted, the Mod Drop Box is still there, and it was working reasonably well last time I checked. I'd just suggest people drop a note there if a certain member's behaviour seems inappropriate, or PM the admins if they want to be more anonymous. In any case, there probably isn't a completely-anonymous way of dealing with members' behaviour.

[)v(ajin Koji]

Oh well, it's only the internet.

[Savia]

There was, as I remember, talk of getting some sort of more sophisticated 'score' system back in the OT days, which would give members 'points' based on their behavior, by the mods, then automatically dispense restrictions and other sorts of discipline...

It probably died along with OT.

Granted, the Mod Drop Box is still there, and it was working reasonably well last time I checked. I'd just suggest people drop a note there if a certain member's behaviour seems inappropriate, or PM the admins if they want to be more anonymous. In any case, there probably isn't a completely-anonymous way of dealing with members' behaviour.

That would be the Karma system, which is still on the To-Do list and blanked out on the Main Page to the best of my knowledge.