Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:On the subject of off-topic posts, I think it is important to understand that posts that trigger reports often don't occur in a vacuum. Many times, the same sort of post has disrupted similar threads in the past. The person doing the reporting has seen it happen before, maybe multiple times. For whatever reason, some posters have fixations on certain topics and will post about that topic on any thread, regardless of what the thread is actually about. Those posters can provide any number of justifications for why their personal obsession is so important that discussion of it should be allowed in any thread or why it is actually on-topic. No amount of polite reasoning with these folks will convince them otherwise. Occasionally, this can result in some collateral damage when an innocent newcomer stumbles into posting about something that is only vaguely off-topic, but has been known to hijack threads in the past. Posters just assume it is the obsessed poster and report the post accordingly.

That may be true, but it's because that innocent newcomer is wearing leggings as pants.

If you’re not wearing leggings as pants during SIP, you’re doing it wrong.

jsteele wrote:On the subject of off-topic posts, I think it is important to understand that posts that trigger reports often don't occur in a vacuum. Many times, the same sort of post has disrupted similar threads in the past. The person doing the reporting has seen it happen before, maybe multiple times. For whatever reason, some posters have fixations on certain topics and will post about that topic on any thread, regardless of what the thread is actually about. Those posters can provide any number of justifications for why their personal obsession is so important that discussion of it should be allowed in any thread or why it is actually on-topic. No amount of polite reasoning with these folks will convince them otherwise. Occasionally, this can result in some collateral damage when an innocent newcomer stumbles into posting about something that is only vaguely off-topic, but has been known to hijack threads in the past. Posters just assume it is the obsessed poster and report the post accordingly.

That may be true, but it's because that innocent newcomer is wearing leggings as pants.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I report stuff, but I don't announce it. And my reporting is usually "this was already posted in another forum yesterday" or "could you move this to X forum since it's about X".

Why do that?

Not the PP, but I do this, too. Why? Because I like order and organization, and for future searching purposes, and to have one discussion on a topic (this comes up a lot in the Entertainment forum where people start new topics on the latest movie/show without looking to see that there is a current, ongoing discussion on said movie/show on the first page)

I also report revived zombie threads that involve embedded links/spam.

DCUM is one of the few websites that isn’t blocked at my office, so I spend a lot of time on it. I like to think that reporting duplicate or misposted threads is doing my part to help Jeff (especially since I frequent forums that he usually doesn’t). I phrase them in the form of a question (Better in ...?) because ultimately it is his site and his decision. I merely flag for his review.

As Jeff admits...his decisions are based on what kind of mood he is in.

I report posts and sometimes entire threads. All. The. Time.

I report things a lot. And I don't regret it one bit. I report:

1) Things that are really unnecessarily mean or racist or bigoted

2) Spam/reviving of zombie threads (it is surprising how often a post from 3 years ago comes back with someone burying a link to buy their supplements)

3) When it seems that one person is making a particularly mean or aggressive/over the top point in a thread that seems designed to start a fight. This happens a lot in the parenting boards. Like someone asks what formula to buy and someone else chimes in "do you not love your baby enough to breastfeed?" There is a thread like this in Family Relationships right now about the woman asking where to put the kids in her blended family in her new house. And a poster on the first three pages just went on and on about how she shouldn't marry the guy or have kids with him and that he's a deadbeat. Very aggressive and I imagine upsetting for OP. I didn't report them because they let it go after a couple of pages, but something like that I do report

4) Private information. I have reported posts in the Kane show threads numerous times that give our real people's names and/or private social media accounts.

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's such hall monitoring and annoying behavior. Stop running to Daddy every time you don't get your way.

DCUM has become popular because a certain level of standards are maintained. Without the help of posters who report posts that don’t meet those standards, we couldn’t maintain them. That would cause us to become less popular overall, though perhaps more popular with you. Unless you can show that you are responsible for an inordinate amount of the site’s popularity, I prefer to stick to the formula that works. Thanks to all those who report posts. I really appreciate your efforts.

Absolutely. Keep doing what you’re doing Jeff. I’ve seen other sites with no moderation and it’s disastrous, bringing out lowest forms of human society. You absolutely are doing the right thing by moderating and having rules.

Agree 100%

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It was beyond ridiculous. Really against the spirit of community and conversation.

I have no idea what thread you're talking about or what the conversation was. But sometimes, while an off-topic tangent may be interesting to some people, it can be frustrating to others who would like to discuss the original topic but are getting drowned out by those going off-topic. If the tangent is off topic but worth discussing, just start a new thread.

It was a lengthy conversation. Not worth the effort to rethink and repost all of the various points.

Just because hall monitor CAN report a thread doesn’t mean she SHOULD. It ruined the spirit of the community discussion.

It may have ruined it for you, but clearly someone else felt that you were ruining the spirit of the community discussion by taking the discussion off-topic.

Might I suggest, first, as a general fora courtesy, that if a thread becomes side-tracked, someone can point it out within the thread and the side-trackers can go start a s/o thread, posting the link for others to follow if wanted. Happens all the time without fight on other sites.

And second, that there’s no need to destroy the original side-track, as long as there is general civility, because it may be of interest to others who can then go through the conversation and find the new thread.

And third, if you’re called out on side tracking, to stop posting, “who are you, the forum police?”

As an aside, though, a lot of what some people honk is a sidetrack is still on topic, it’s just that people’s brains are either black/white or shades of grey. So I can see why a side convo. about dog grooming may be on topic in a thread about the best shampoo. Other editors might identify that as strictly off topic.

Jeff, this thread is off on a tangent. Can you please delete it? PP, if you want to discuss how to handle side tracking, please start a new thread.

A discussion of why people report side tracking is off topic in a thread started to discuss the merits of people reporting posts?

Yes? We were discussing how we hate the hall monitors of DCUM. Not how to fix the problem. If you want to fix the problem, create another thread. Stop hijacking this one.

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Anonymous wrote:I appreciate the reports for lying, trolling, racism, etc.

I detest the nitpicky reports that can derail a good conversation. One of the hall monitors lives on the VA Schools forum and reports the stupidest little things so I don’t waste my time there anymore.

You posts get deleted for a reason. I don’t know what that reason is, but there is a reason. Maybe you post racist stuff. Maybe you try to derail every conversation into a rant about your unrelated pet peeves with the school system. Whatever it is, do better and your posts won’t get deleted.

The reason was the conversation veered away somewhat from the original topic. It was a thoughtful and constructive conversation about the school system (albeit a tangent from the OP). No cursing. No racism. Just veered somewhat off topic - just like 1 million other threads on here do. Something that happens ALL of the time. Hall monitor didn’t have anything better to do and reported a bunch of posts which were deleted.

It was beyond ridiculous. Really against the spirit of community and conversation.

I have no idea what thread you're talking about or what the conversation was. But sometimes, while an off-topic tangent may be interesting to some people, it can be frustrating to others who would like to discuss the original topic but are getting drowned out by those going off-topic. If the tangent is off topic but worth discussing, just start a new thread.

It was a lengthy conversation. Not worth the effort to rethink and repost all of the various points.

Just because hall monitor CAN report a thread doesn’t mean she SHOULD. It ruined the spirit of the community discussion.

It may have ruined it for you, but clearly someone else felt that you were ruining the spirit of the community discussion by taking the discussion off-topic.

Yes, one person ruined it for the rest of us.

Did you poll everyone who read the thread to determine the balance on that? All you know is that you were frustrated, the rest is your self-centered assumptions.

There were a lot of people frustrated by the deletions. I think there was also a follow-up thread in website feedback about the deletions.

I guess the frustrating part is there is no recourse. If 9/10 people are good with the direction of the thread and 1/10 is not, it really sucks when the 1/10 makes the decision for all. And there wasn’t anything inherently negative in the thread. Just a little off-topic.

Anyway, it’s done. I try not to put too much effort into those threads now because it’s too frustrating when it all gets deleted.

It's very simple really. If you have a tangent to the original thread that goes more than a few posts, then you should start a new S/O thread. Easy enough. Basically, if the tangent goes more than one page, it's too much. For up to about 10 posts, not really a problem, but more than a page and you've derailed the original thread. If you start your own thread, you won't get deleted. But it isn't fair when your side tangent overwhelms the original topic to the point that the OP or a few others cannot find the original topic posts because of the tangent.

And for the record I have no earthly idea what your thread or tangent were about. I live in MD and never venture into the VA schools forum.

Wow - I had no idea that was an option. Thanks for chiming in.

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There was a really funny tangent in the food forum about bread that is sweet (it's cake). I was sad when posts were deleted there. What was the harm?

That one I remember. The harm was that the OP couldn't get an answer to her question because the thread became dominated by people making jokes. Moreover, some of the posters got down right nasty in their responses. Nobody wants to start a thread only to ridiculed for the entire thread.

I did think that one got un funny. And mean. But sometimes I don’t get DCUM humor.

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So report it for being off topic. See how that is supposed to work?

I did? Do you need me to highlight the post included in this thread?

Did you hit the report button on the bottom? Because that's how you are supposed to do it. Not replying within a thread. This isn't really that complicated.

I am reasonably sure Jeff read it. He has been active in the thread. Do I need to tell him twice? I assume he isn't so pedantic as to require an "official report."

DP. You can't be sure. Jeff sometimes skims threads and sometimes he only goes to a particular post because someone flagged him (I've occasionally "reported" a post that is directed at him so that he knows to look and reply, and he may not look at any other post in the thread). The only way to be sure that he sees such a request is to use the "report" button. Is there a particular reason why you can't just follow the rules? You're like the people who protest the stay at home orders by going to the state capitol with guns and no masks to protest. Are you one of those who thinks that rules are for other people and not you?

I am not sure that poster really wants to report a post. I assume the poster is just trying to make a point of some sort.

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So report it for being off topic. See how that is supposed to work?

I did? Do you need me to highlight the post included in this thread?

Did you hit the report button on the bottom? Because that's how you are supposed to do it. Not replying within a thread. This isn't really that complicated.

I am reasonably sure Jeff read it. He has been active in the thread. Do I need to tell him twice? I assume he isn't so pedantic as to require an "official report."

DP. You can't be sure. Jeff sometimes skims threads and sometimes he only goes to a particular post because someone flagged him (I've occasionally "reported" a post that is directed at him so that he knows to look and reply, and he may not look at any other post in the thread). The only way to be sure that he sees such a request is to use the "report" button. Is there a particular reason why you can't just follow the rules? You're like the people who protest the stay at home orders by going to the state capitol with guns and no masks to protest. Are you one of those who thinks that rules are for other people and not you?

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It was beyond ridiculous. Really against the spirit of community and conversation.

I have no idea what thread you're talking about or what the conversation was. But sometimes, while an off-topic tangent may be interesting to some people, it can be frustrating to others who would like to discuss the original topic but are getting drowned out by those going off-topic. If the tangent is off topic but worth discussing, just start a new thread.

It was a lengthy conversation. Not worth the effort to rethink and repost all of the various points.

Just because hall monitor CAN report a thread doesn’t mean she SHOULD. It ruined the spirit of the community discussion.

It may have ruined it for you, but clearly someone else felt that you were ruining the spirit of the community discussion by taking the discussion off-topic.

Might I suggest, first, as a general fora courtesy, that if a thread becomes side-tracked, someone can point it out within the thread and the side-trackers can go start a s/o thread, posting the link for others to follow if wanted. Happens all the time without fight on other sites.

And second, that there’s no need to destroy the original side-track, as long as there is general civility, because it may be of interest to others who can then go through the conversation and find the new thread.

And third, if you’re called out on side tracking, to stop posting, “who are you, the forum police?”

As an aside, though, a lot of what some people honk is a sidetrack is still on topic, it’s just that people’s brains are either black/white or shades of grey. So I can see why a side convo. about dog grooming may be on topic in a thread about the best shampoo. Other editors might identify that as strictly off topic.

Jeff, this thread is off on a tangent. Can you please delete it? PP, if you want to discuss how to handle side tracking, please start a new thread.

A discussion of why people report side tracking is off topic in a thread started to discuss the merits of people reporting posts?

Yes? We were discussing how we hate the hall monitors of DCUM. Not how to fix the problem. If you want to fix the problem, create another thread. Stop hijacking this one.

So report it for being off topic. See how that is supposed to work?

I did? Do you need me to highlight the post included in this thread?

Did you hit the report button on the bottom? Because that's how you are supposed to do it. Not replying within a thread. This isn't really that complicated.

I am reasonably sure Jeff read it. He has been active in the thread. Do I need to tell him twice? I assume he isn't so pedantic as to require an "official report."

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It was beyond ridiculous. Really against the spirit of community and conversation.

I have no idea what thread you're talking about or what the conversation was. But sometimes, while an off-topic tangent may be interesting to some people, it can be frustrating to others who would like to discuss the original topic but are getting drowned out by those going off-topic. If the tangent is off topic but worth discussing, just start a new thread.

It was a lengthy conversation. Not worth the effort to rethink and repost all of the various points.

Just because hall monitor CAN report a thread doesn’t mean she SHOULD. It ruined the spirit of the community discussion.

It may have ruined it for you, but clearly someone else felt that you were ruining the spirit of the community discussion by taking the discussion off-topic.

Might I suggest, first, as a general fora courtesy, that if a thread becomes side-tracked, someone can point it out within the thread and the side-trackers can go start a s/o thread, posting the link for others to follow if wanted. Happens all the time without fight on other sites.

And second, that there’s no need to destroy the original side-track, as long as there is general civility, because it may be of interest to others who can then go through the conversation and find the new thread.

And third, if you’re called out on side tracking, to stop posting, “who are you, the forum police?”

As an aside, though, a lot of what some people honk is a sidetrack is still on topic, it’s just that people’s brains are either black/white or shades of grey. So I can see why a side convo. about dog grooming may be on topic in a thread about the best shampoo. Other editors might identify that as strictly off topic.

Jeff, this thread is off on a tangent. Can you please delete it? PP, if you want to discuss how to handle side tracking, please start a new thread.

A discussion of why people report side tracking is off topic in a thread started to discuss the merits of people reporting posts?

Yes? We were discussing how we hate the hall monitors of DCUM. Not how to fix the problem. If you want to fix the problem, create another thread. Stop hijacking this one.

So report it for being off topic. See how that is supposed to work?

I did? Do you need me to highlight the post included in this thread?

Did you hit the report button on the bottom? Because that's how you are supposed to do it. Not replying within a thread. This isn't really that complicated.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

It was beyond ridiculous. Really against the spirit of community and conversation.

I have no idea what thread you're talking about or what the conversation was. But sometimes, while an off-topic tangent may be interesting to some people, it can be frustrating to others who would like to discuss the original topic but are getting drowned out by those going off-topic. If the tangent is off topic but worth discussing, just start a new thread.

It was a lengthy conversation. Not worth the effort to rethink and repost all of the various points.

Just because hall monitor CAN report a thread doesn’t mean she SHOULD. It ruined the spirit of the community discussion.

It may have ruined it for you, but clearly someone else felt that you were ruining the spirit of the community discussion by taking the discussion off-topic.

Might I suggest, first, as a general fora courtesy, that if a thread becomes side-tracked, someone can point it out within the thread and the side-trackers can go start a s/o thread, posting the link for others to follow if wanted. Happens all the time without fight on other sites.

And second, that there’s no need to destroy the original side-track, as long as there is general civility, because it may be of interest to others who can then go through the conversation and find the new thread.

And third, if you’re called out on side tracking, to stop posting, “who are you, the forum police?”

As an aside, though, a lot of what some people honk is a sidetrack is still on topic, it’s just that people’s brains are either black/white or shades of grey. So I can see why a side convo. about dog grooming may be on topic in a thread about the best shampoo. Other editors might identify that as strictly off topic.

Jeff, this thread is off on a tangent. Can you please delete it? PP, if you want to discuss how to handle side tracking, please start a new thread.

A discussion of why people report side tracking is off topic in a thread started to discuss the merits of people reporting posts?

Yes? We were discussing how we hate the hall monitors of DCUM. Not how to fix the problem. If you want to fix the problem, create another thread. Stop hijacking this one.

So report it for being off topic. See how that is supposed to work?

I did? Do you need me to highlight the post included in this thread?