I thought the new forum rules covered that threads should no longer be started with a single line only and a link. At least posters should quote a portion of the link/outline of the topic to make thread & subject relevant. this I thought were the rules, yet all day long we have these threads with often not even a full sentence to get started.
Are Mods going to enforce this policy at any stage, at least a third of the daily threads would quickly disappear and especially mobile device users would surely appreciate a bit of compliance in this respect? What do Mods/other users think? we seem to have a rule with neither compliance nor enforcement? Perhaps mods should close these threads again for a few weeks, with a friendly reminder email to the OP´s?

cougar15 wrote:

I thought the new forum rules covered that threads should no longer be started with a single line only and a link. At least posters should quote a portion of the link/outline of the topic to make thread & subject relevant. this I thought were the rules, yet all day long we have these threads with often not even a full sentence to get started.
Are Mods going to enforce this policy at any stage, at least a third of the daily threads would quickly disappear and especially mobile device users would surely appreciate a bit of compliance in this respect? What do Mods/other users think? we seem to have a rule with neither compliance nor enforcement? Perhaps mods should close these threads again for a few weeks, with a friendly reminder email to the OP´s?

This is definitely in the rules, and we try to catch them when they happen. Please report threads which don't meet the posting criteria. Unfortunately we aren't able to review many threads quickly, so the only way we can fix it is if users bring our attention to it.

If threads have already taken off, I will sometimes use my discretion and contact the user rather than delete the entire thread. If it's still a relatively new discussion, we typically will delete, and contact the user. In either case, having users report these threads is the only guaranteed way that we'll see it.

Well, no disrespect to the long standing member intended, but look at this one!
Great topic, worthy of discussion, but one line and a non workable link (we all know how much trouble copy/paste is on mobile devices).


Could you (mods) not filter this sort of thing somehow? I think the topic is great and would love to join the discussion, but...…

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1394551

Edit 1.. spelling, edit 2 ….the link is now sort of workable....

cougar15 wrote:

Well, no disrespect to the long standing member intended, but look at this one!
Great topic, worthy of discussion, but one line and a non workable link (we all know how much trouble copy/paste is on mobile devices).


Could you (mods) not filter this sort of thing somehow? I think the topic is great and would love to join the discussion, but...…

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1394551

Edit 1.. spelling, edit 2 ….the link is now sort of workable....

If by filter out you mean some sort of automated means, unfortunately no. There's probably a setting that let's us screen every topic before it's posted, but that would absolutely piss everyone off. We'll delete threads that don't meet posting standards if we get to them quickly, but if a lengthy discussion develops before we see it, then we (or at least I) often feel guilty about wiping out the whole discussion.

We do issue warnings and occasionally even bans for users who are repeat offenders, but the problem has unfortunately become pervasive over the past few years. Many users just aren't interested in creating high quality posts like this site used to demand. One example is that many users will often post emojis (and nothing else) in response to another user — this has always been banned, and we delete them wherever we see it, but I guess it's just the times we live in. I, like many longtime users, will either write something of substance or write nothing at all. Sadly it seems the site culture has largely shifted away from that mentality. We're trying our best to raise those standards, but there's only so much we're capable of doing.

Our main concern is wanting to make sure that some sort of user comments exist. We take a much dimmer view if the user has just copy/pasted text from the link into their post. If they've included something of their own words, even if it's not much, I'm generally more willing to give the benefit of the doubt.

If you're asking if we can edit the OP to add information to the thread starting post, the answer is no. Our policy is that we do not touch the text contained in the post in any way. People already wrongly accuse us of bias and censorship, so we are careful not to do anything to lend credence to those accusations. Our only options are to leave it or delete it. It would be nice if it were an option to us in these cases, but I can all but guarantee we'd get some nasty emails because of it.

Thank you and I do appreciate your points, but … well, even Mods seem to embrace them and let them run - and I mean no disrespect to the mod/member in question, who´s contributions I very much value! I have had my 10 Bloomberg viewings for this year , so I would love to participate in the discussion, but can not unless I pay!

Guess we will have to live with them (single line & link) , so should forum rules perhaps be discretely amended on this point?

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1395327