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bytebug Champion Author Orange County Posts:26,405 Points:4,126,555 Joined:Oct 2001	Message Posted: Sep 25, 2011 11:19:50 AM Ignore bytebug Report Abuse I'd like to see 20 points deducted for people who simply post a single word to forums other than Just For Fun or Games & Trivia.

bytebug

Champion Author
Orange County

Posts:26,405
Points:4,126,555
Joined:Oct 2001

Message Posted: Sep 25, 2011 11:19:50 AM

Ignore bytebug Report Abuse

I'd like to see 20 points deducted for people who simply post a single word to forums other than Just For Fun or Games & Trivia.

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scoutmaster Champion Author Pittsburgh Posts:81,383 Points:3,256,545 Joined:Mar 2003	Message Posted: Oct 23, 2011 5:36:53 AM Ignore scoutmaster Report Abuse Maybe we should test it again since you seem to be the only one who remembers it kwzh.
bytebug Champion Author Orange County Posts:26,405 Points:4,126,555 Joined:Oct 2001	Message Posted: Oct 23, 2011 3:53:20 AM Ignore bytebug Report Abuse >> Sure there are morons out there who would skirt the requirement by posting the same >> word 5 times! You will never get rid of those people! It would be trivial to get rid of those people... Simply ban them from posting anything to the forums!
kwzh Champion Author San Jose Posts:20,671 Points:3,686,550 Joined:Jul 2001	Message Posted: Oct 23, 2011 2:39:40 AM Ignore kwzh Report Abuse Several years ago. Sorry, I can't pin it down any better without a search feature. Though I'm not sure I could come up with a good set of search keywords anyway.
scoutmaster Champion Author Pittsburgh Posts:81,383 Points:3,256,545 Joined:Mar 2003	Message Posted: Oct 22, 2011 7:06:35 AM Ignore scoutmaster Report Abuse When did we "have" this experiment, kwzh?
kwzh Champion Author San Jose Posts:20,671 Points:3,686,550 Joined:Jul 2001	Message Posted: Oct 22, 2011 1:16:20 AM Ignore kwzh Report Abuse It's my opinion that the morons who would switch from one-word junk to five-word junk far outnumber the semi-morons who would switch from one-word junk to not posting junk at all. As I've mentioned before, we had an experiment very much along these lines; I think its outcome supports my opinion.
scoutmaster Champion Author Pittsburgh Posts:81,383 Points:3,256,545 Joined:Mar 2003	Message Posted: Oct 20, 2011 5:46:21 AM Ignore scoutmaster Report Abuse If you had to post a minimum of 5 words, it would help eliminate a lot of the problems. Sure there are morons out there who would skirt the requirement by posting the same word 5 times! You will never get rid of those people!
jpgilmor Champion Author Houston Posts:2,180 Points:607,725 Joined:Feb 2011	Message Posted: Oct 20, 2011 4:48:46 AM Ignore jpgilmor Report Abuse This also happens when the forum question requests a one word answer.
kwzh Champion Author San Jose Posts:20,671 Points:3,686,550 Joined:Jul 2001	Message Posted: Oct 9, 2011 2:15:46 AM Ignore kwzh Report Abuse jpgredwine writes, > but if the administrator(s) would never consider such limitations, it's all just a futile effort. The admins have said that they would like to do something about the forum abuse. But there are so many abusers (specifically in the news commentaries), I assume that implementing a crackdown without changing the system would be worse than futile -- most of the target people would never hear about it, and the people who did get hit would whine that it's "unfair" that they got dinged for what "everyone" is doing. It might be that the minimal change to the system would be to continue awarding points for the other forum postings, but not award any at all for those in the news commentaries. I'd be fine with that (assuming it's properly publicized), but I've gotten the feeling that the point-earning code is so tightly coupled to the features that earn it that it might be a significant task to make some forum posts behave differently from others. If we assume that the reason for all the newsville spam is simply that a lot of people are taking the path of least resistance -- clicking on all five news items, then clicking each to make a minimal comment, for a total of 225 points -- then an alternate solution seems feasible: place a larger barrier between newsville and the forum. If replying to a news item required a few extra clicks, and/or a "please wait" throttle, then that may well be sufficient encouragement for the speedy folks to run off to the "Just For Fun" forum instead.
jpgredwine Champion Author Hartford Posts:10,287 Points:1,047,405 Joined:Dec 2009	Message Posted: Oct 8, 2011 6:58:26 AM Ignore jpgredwine Report Abuse If there were a well advertised area for posts consisting of a minimum amount of character or a minimum amount of words before you were even able to click upon the "Post Message" button AND this was a well publicized policy and a warning type of message would appear that would be similar to the warning we now get when we post a semi-incorrect gas price that is out-of-range by xx amount of cents, then I guess that I'd be able to accept such type of restriction myself. 20 points is just too harsh a penalty. Just Deduct 1 point to make the point ... that's enough to sting most folks on here. But then again, this is a free country and lots of folks have died protecting Free Speech and a few other liberties. So, restricting free speech is such a trivial point to be arguing about, really. But then again, as long as they are given a rightful place to express it, like in Fun and Games and what not, a point deduction, being a well-publicized IF PLACED in an INCORRECT FORUM ... I guess I could agree to something like this. I really wonder though what the thoughts of the owners of this site are and how they might feel about limiting anybody's posts to any of the forums are. It all depends upon them. Anybody can gripe and make suggestions but if the administrator(s) would never consider such limitations, it's all just a futile effort. So without a little bit of input for them, or input from them on so many other of the suggestions that are made to these forums, especially in this one and the "Talk Back to Us" Forum, it appears to be an incredible waste of time of many members and appears to simply be serving as a venting outlet for anybody's frustrations with this web site.
bytebug Champion Author Orange County Posts:26,405 Points:4,126,555 Joined:Oct 2001	Message Posted: Oct 7, 2011 6:55:16 PM Ignore bytebug Report Abuse >> After three years on here, I'm just about done wading through the garbage. After almost 10 years here, it's saddening just how deep the garbage has gotten.
Powerstroke73L Champion Author Sacramento Posts:2,816 Points:731,150 Joined:Jul 2008	Message Posted: Oct 7, 2011 4:17:35 PM Ignore Powerstroke73L Report Abuse I finally remembered to come in the mention the one word posts and see that it's already being discussed. Obviously it's all about page clicks and there's actually no attempts made to actually encourage discussion of a topic. After three years on here, I'm just about done wading through the garbage.
kwzh Champion Author San Jose Posts:20,671 Points:3,686,550 Joined:Jul 2001	Message Posted: Oct 5, 2011 11:41:56 PM Ignore kwzh Report Abuse DiianeRG writes, > How big of a problem can this be? How much of your time does it take to skip a one word post? That's the wrong question. How much total time is wasted when thousands of people have to each skip hundreds of one-word posts? While I don't agree with the currently proposed method, I do believe that it's a problem that should be addressed.
Scrapheap Champion Author Virginia Posts:14,567 Points:2,362,000 Joined:Sep 2006	Message Posted: Oct 5, 2011 12:08:33 PM Ignore Scrapheap Report Abuse DiianeRG - There is a place for people who are making one word posts just to get points. It is the Just For Fun category. The problem is that one word posts usually add nothing to a conversation. They inhibit the ability of others to have a conversation. Look at any of the discussions for any of the new items as an example. When it happens in post after post after post in thread after thread, it really becomes cumbersome and those who actually want to have a discussion simply give up. You asked "How much of your time does it take to skip a one word post?" My question to you is, how much time does it take for people to go the the JFF forum and post there one word posts there? Why should I be inhibited by their laziness? I've said it before, give points only to posts in JFF and this problem will go away.
DiianeRG Champion Author Milwaukee Posts:1,959 Points:543,720 Joined:Mar 2011	Message Posted: Oct 5, 2011 11:57:08 AM Ignore DiianeRG Report Abuse How big of a problem can this be? How much of your time does it take to skip a one word post? Does gasbuddy really need to spend time and effort to come up with a solution for something that should be a nonissue? I can see your point for people who are spamming to sell things, stock tips, work at home etc, that take up a lot of space. [Edited by: DiianeRG at 10/5/2011 1:00:45 PM EST]
scoutmaster Champion Author Pittsburgh Posts:81,383 Points:3,256,545 Joined:Mar 2003	Message Posted: Oct 5, 2011 5:43:09 AM Ignore scoutmaster Report Abuse Yeah and????
CampKohler Champion Author Sacramento Posts:9,470 Points:1,564,205 Joined:May 2007	Message Posted: Oct 2, 2011 1:08:51 PM Ignore CampKohler Report Abuse SM: Go back and read Sept 26th post.
scoutmaster Champion Author Pittsburgh Posts:81,383 Points:3,256,545 Joined:Mar 2003	Message Posted: Oct 1, 2011 5:43:45 PM Ignore scoutmaster Report Abuse What does that post have to do with this topic CK?
CampKohler Champion Author Sacramento Posts:9,470 Points:1,564,205 Joined:May 2007	Message Posted: Oct 1, 2011 5:25:12 PM Ignore CampKohler Report Abuse bytebug: You lose.
joelas Champion Author Cleveland Posts:1,035 Points:588,520 Joined:Jan 2011	Message Posted: Oct 1, 2011 7:31:56 AM Ignore joelas Report Abuse While GasBuddy earns money thru clicks, why the limitation in daily and 30 day point accumulations? I enjoy the exchanges and info on the postings and go several postings beyond earning points. However, at this point as a GasBuddy member I can only achieve 29,650 points per 30 days max. Something would be better than nothing.
bugc Champion Author Boston Posts:15,072 Points:3,008,040 Joined:Mar 2004	Message Posted: Sep 30, 2011 5:55:18 PM Ignore bugc Report Abuse Sluggo suggested no points for posting. That would kill off a lot of forum activity. This site is based upon advertising revenue from page displays. Each post gives 20 points but requires 3 page displays. The same revenue could be generated by giving 20 points for every three forum page displays, whether it involves a posting or not. Therefore the points and revenue would be preserved without requiring posting. Hopefully this might lead to a lot of folks just reading the forums... Note, the 20 points also accrue from responding to news items and these generate only two extra pages of ads.
scoutmaster Champion Author Pittsburgh Posts:81,383 Points:3,256,545 Joined:Mar 2003	Message Posted: Sep 29, 2011 7:32:52 AM Ignore scoutmaster Report Abuse It does appear that the clicks are more important than anything. It drives revenue! But that creates these type of problems!
Scrapheap Champion Author Virginia Posts:14,567 Points:2,362,000 Joined:Sep 2006	Message Posted: Sep 29, 2011 7:28:17 AM Ignore Scrapheap Report Abuse Limit points to posting in JFF. People who are just collecting points will find and confine the dribble posts to JFF. People who have something to say will continue to say something but also post 5 posts of dribble to JFF. The quality of discussion will definitely increase and the total number of posts may actually increase. This is a win win for those who are sick of the garbage posts and for GasBuddy, which seems to be solely interested in clicks. [Edited by: Scrapheap at 9/29/2011 8:30:50 AM EST]
bytebug Champion Author Orange County Posts:26,405 Points:4,126,555 Joined:Oct 2001	Message Posted: Sep 29, 2011 6:51:16 AM Ignore bytebug Report Abuse >> Unfortunately this does not currently fall under "Report Abuse" because there >> is no option available to note one word entries in the "Problem with Message". Sure there is! "Posting Messges in the Wrong Forum" applies, as there are appropriate categories for post-for-points fluff! >> requires someone monitoring the posts, and this would be a rather large task. Volunteer moderators could be appointed. Automated moderation based on Report Abuse could be implemented. [Edited by: bytebug at 9/29/2011 7:53:12 AM EST]
scoutmaster Champion Author Pittsburgh Posts:81,383 Points:3,256,545 Joined:Mar 2003	Message Posted: Sep 29, 2011 5:53:37 AM Ignore scoutmaster Report Abuse The mods could greatly curtail a lot of stuff but don't.
jrsva Champion Author Virginia Posts:9,873 Points:1,616,250 Joined:Jan 2006	Message Posted: Sep 28, 2011 11:51:15 PM Ignore jrsva Report Abuse The best solution, as Sluggopyle noted in the first comment in this thread, is no points for forum posts. If that policy was instituted only those with something to say would bother saying it; however, that is not going to happen because GB’s ad revenue is based on page clicks and that would decrease without points for posts. I believe that the Mods could greatly curtail the fluff posts if they did a concerted crackdown, deleting the junk, removing the points so acquired, and warning the members. It would be a big job at first but the word would travel fast and the drivel would be reduced to a manageable trickle in a few days.
Viking2MD Sophomore Author Maryland Posts:122 Points:522,045 Joined:May 2011	Message Posted: Sep 28, 2011 1:59:55 PM Ignore Viking2MD Report Abuse A forum should be for discussion and a one word comment does not qualify as discussion. Unfortunately for any sanction such as loss of points, or even no points for a one word comment, requires someone monitoring the posts, and this would be a rather large task. Unfortunately this does not currently fall under "Report Abuse" because there is no option available to note one word entries in the "Problem with Message". If it were practical to make such posts invisible and give no points, that would be better than banning or losing points for what is essentially a minor infraction. Regardless of what action is taken, there are always going to be people that will take advantage of or find ways to manipulate the system.
bytebug Champion Author Orange County Posts:26,405 Points:4,126,555 Joined:Oct 2001	Message Posted: Sep 28, 2011 3:17:19 AM Ignore bytebug Report Abuse >> in theory could be banned; we don't need a new rule for that. But the point would be to discourage the useless post-for-points noise by denying them the points, so it wouldn't require moderator attention to ban them, since such attention is in short supply.
kwzh Champion Author San Jose Posts:20,671 Points:3,686,550 Joined:Jul 2001	Message Posted: Sep 27, 2011 11:39:57 PM Ignore kwzh Report Abuse bytebug writes, > At which point we simply ban them, make their posts invisible, and not worry about them ever again. If they're posting fluff in non-fluff categories, then they're already breaking the rules, and in theory could be banned; we don't need a new rule for that.
bytebug Champion Author Orange County Posts:26,405 Points:4,126,555 Joined:Oct 2001	Message Posted: Sep 27, 2011 5:53:09 PM Ignore bytebug Report Abuse >> But making them worth zero points (the next closest approximation), or >> forbidding them entirely (as in scoutmaster's suggestion), would result in >> the same people continuing to make the same junk postings -- but with >> extra cruft appended to "satisfy the stupid minimum word count". At which point we simply ban them, make their posts invisible, and not worry about them ever again.
starxpilot All-Star Author Dallas Posts:841 Points:56,155 Joined:Aug 2011	Message Posted: Sep 27, 2011 2:28:38 PM Ignore starxpilot Report Abuse Then where would be the fun of posting? I post way past my limit reached for the day, I'm still posting right now.
sluggopyle Champion Author North Carolina Posts:23,608 Points:1,075,890 Joined:Dec 2005	Message Posted: Sep 27, 2011 9:32:19 AM Ignore sluggopyle Report Abuse Again --- just eliminate all points for ANY posts. That automatically takes care of those with nothing to say just whoring for points, no matter how many characters they use. Keep it simple.
starxpilot All-Star Author Dallas Posts:841 Points:56,155 Joined:Aug 2011	Message Posted: Sep 27, 2011 2:17:00 AM Ignore starxpilot Report Abuse I'd like for there to be a limit of minimum characters, annoying how someone posts "Yes" in a thread where it wasn't even asking a question but rather inviting you to discuss it, an eye sore that is, especially if the poser in question is in really high rank. There should be no need for Yes and No posts as that's what Polls are for, ones you pick a choice and press Submit, with the option to discuss it.
kwzh Champion Author San Jose Posts:20,671 Points:3,686,550 Joined:Jul 2001	Message Posted: Sep 27, 2011 12:49:24 AM Ignore kwzh Report Abuse I disagree with both bytebug and scoutmaster. Bytebug's suggestion would never be implemented anyway, since the mods have been emphatically against having any source of negative points. But making them worth zero points (the next closest approximation), or forbidding them entirely (as in scoutmaster's suggestion), would result in the same people continuing to make the same junk postings -- but with extra cruft appended to "satisfy the stupid minimum word count". This is not just a guess. It happened on Usenet when they tried to encourage people to do quote trimming, and it happened right here on GasBuddy during a short-lived experiment. And that wasn't even for points; people were padding their messages just to make sure they'd get credit for the post count!
CampKohler Champion Author Sacramento Posts:9,470 Points:1,564,205 Joined:May 2007	Message Posted: Sep 26, 2011 1:40:43 PM Ignore CampKohler Report Abuse What would Calvin Coolidge have thought of this suggestion? From http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/calvincoolidge: Both his dry Yankee wit and his frugality with words became legendary. His wife, Grace Goodhue Coolidge, recounted that a young woman sitting next to Coolidge at a dinner party confided to him she had bet she could get at least three words of conversation from him. Without looking at her he quietly retorted, "You lose."
scoutmaster Champion Author Pittsburgh Posts:81,383 Points:3,256,545 Joined:Mar 2003	Message Posted: Sep 26, 2011 1:23:58 PM Ignore scoutmaster Report Abuse I usually agree with bytebug but in this case I don't. Now if they forced you to enter a minimum of five words like some forums do, that would help eliminate this!
scoutmaster Champion Author Pittsburgh Posts:81,383 Points:3,256,545 Joined:Mar 2003	Message Posted: Sep 26, 2011 1:22:55 PM Ignore scoutmaster Report Abuse Because~
Zimcity Champion Author Twin Cities Posts:65,430 Points:3,694,710 Joined:Aug 2001	Message Posted: Sep 26, 2011 1:05:18 PM Ignore Zimcity Report Abuse why?
bytebug Champion Author Orange County Posts:26,405 Points:4,126,555 Joined:Oct 2001	Message Posted: Sep 26, 2011 5:29:32 AM Ignore bytebug Report Abuse >> Nobody needs a complete sentence to answer a yes/no poll Which is fine, since yes/no polls belong in one of the fluff categories.
rumbleseat Champion Author Winnipeg Posts:22,942 Points:3,532,320 Joined:Oct 2002	Message Posted: Sep 26, 2011 4:58:53 AM Ignore rumbleseat Report Abuse Nobody needs a complete sentence to answer a yes/no poll, which may or may not be on a serious topic. So there is room for an exeption. However, in most cases, the one-word posts, especially problematic in Newsville, are usually posting for points, and I would have no problem seeing the points removed for such unacceptable behaviour.
bytebug Champion Author Orange County Posts:26,405 Points:4,126,555 Joined:Oct 2001	Message Posted: Sep 26, 2011 3:33:36 AM Ignore bytebug Report Abuse >> there can be a case where a one-word answer is valid communication True - in the fluff categories. Otherwise, a complete sentence is also valid communication for those who possess an adequate IQ.
sluggopyle Champion Author North Carolina Posts:23,608 Points:1,075,890 Joined:Dec 2005	Message Posted: Sep 25, 2011 6:20:03 PM Ignore sluggopyle Report Abuse Much as I too hate that, there can be a case where a one-word answer is valid communication. The answer to this is simple. I've been calling for it for years: ELIMINATE ALL POINTS FOR POSTS, everywhere, period. You would see this place clean up real quick. When points are eliminated, only posters with points will post.