Tightening things up

[James Gryphon]

I feel that it's time to address some problems that I've seen on some forums, particularly the Redwall book discussion forums.

There is a forum on this board that does not track post count, The Cellars. This means that posts that would be considered spam elsewhere are tolerated on that forum. In other words, so long as you're not hurting anyone's feelings or otherwise violating forum policy, I really couldn't care less what you do on there. Post anything silly, spammy or otherwise nonsensical that you want. That's what it's there for.

However, when you're posting somewhere else, your posts are expected to meet some basic standards. I feel that some of the posts I've seen lately do not match up with this ideal, and from here on, I'm going to request that members posting in these forums work harder to produce quality posts. If not, some of those posts may have to be removed, to help protect insightful conversation.

I understand that many of you have probably not had this happen before. Well, that's because the staff has been very busy with real-life over the past few months, and sometimes they have had a hard time keeping track of the forum. They haven't had the opportunity to respond to everything as they might have done if they had more time. Now that I'm here to help, though, we're going to begin tightening up on some things. Some things that the staff might have let slide in the past may not be permitted now.

In particular, these are the main things that I would like for the community to avoid doing from now on:

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1) Don't bump a topic with a one-line reply.
Posting in an old topic ("old" being defined as a topic where nobody has posted for two weeks or more) is outright banned on many other webboards.

It isn't completely prohibited here on the Redwall Abbey Forum, but I think it's fair to request that if you do post in an old topic, you need to post something that adds something new to the discussion. Quoting a post from several months or years ago and saying "I agree" or "That's a great point" does not do this.

Here's a good rule of thumb: if you wouldn't dream of starting a new topic with the contents of your post, then you probably shouldn't reply to an old topic with it either.

2) Don't reply to a topic with irrelevant social comments.
It's fine if you don't have anything to say about the topic at hand, but don't make a reply saying that. Likewise, commenting just to say that another member posted is not appropriate. If you don't have anything to say about the topic at hand, don't post. Your observations on life will fit much better on one of the social forums, or, if you're talking to a specific person, the PM box.

3) Don't chatter.
By "don't chatter", I mean that your replies to a topic should always have some meaning. Every post you make should do one or more of the following: A) answer a question, B) ask a question, or C) make a point. Particularly, it should do these things in a way that is relevant to the topic. If I can look at your post, and it would have made just as much sense if it had been posted on just about any other topic on the forum, then something is wrong. In short, don't make very general replies to a topic that is discussing a specific thing.

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I hope these few pointers will be helpful in improving the quality of discussion across the forum. I intend to be cracking down on this kind of thing from now on, so if something you posted mysteriously disappears, it will probably be for one of the reasons that I mentioned above. There's also a good chance that you'll hear about it from me in your PMs.

If you have any questions, feel free to either ask them in the Questions & Answers topic, or PM me. I'm here to help, not to be the nasty man who spoils everyone's fun. However, I want to see the forum be the best it can be, and a big part of that is making sure that we encourage you to make the best posts that you can. That's all this is about.

Thanks very much for your time.

[Lutra]

Just to add, I'm very much in support of James and this message.  I don't get here as much as I used to and when my time is limited and I can only look at so many topics, opening one and seeing brief one-liners is a bit of a let-down for me.  I'm hoping this brings awareness to the fact we're all capable of writing, and if we have something to say, we should.

[Matthias720]

And one more thought on top of all this; the Front Lawns is for general socializing. Any day to day conversation should happen there, as it's the board dedicated to people here on the forum. It's great that you might want to get to know the other members better, but let's make sure that's kept in the right board.