How to get non-contributing users from cluttering a thread

[420]

I just had an epiphany. I think a lot of those people just want to show that they 'were there' and part of the conversation or rather observation of the discussion. Being present at the discussion is part of social society.

So a section on the threads that just lets you add yourself as "I was here" to be a part of the discussion may clean up the real thread for people who truly have something meaningful to say.

[Muhammed Zakir]

There is no plausible way to do this. We can only do this if we can know what's their real intention. Spammy posts can be reported but all such posts aren't spammy. Ignore their posts.

[Grand_Voyageur]

There is no plausible way to do this. We can only do this if we can know what's their real intention. Spammy posts can be reported but all such posts aren't spammy. Ignore their posts.

+1. However, If a "I was here" post was made while wearing a sig ad, I suppose would certainly get mods attention! 

[tspacepilot]

If I understand the OPs suggestion, it wouldn't be an actual post but some kind of list of names at the top of the thread who are registering as listeners or witnesses etc.  The idea is that they could register their presence without actually posting and cluttering things up.  Seems like a reasonable idea to me.

I know that from time-to-time I've posted in a thread merely because I wanted to follow the discussion (ie, I wanted to see the bump in the "new replies" list).

[Blazr]

I know that from time-to-time I've posted in a thread merely because I wanted to follow the discussion (ie, I wanted to see the bump in the "new replies" list).

The watchlist is what is designed for that, you can click "watch" and a thread will show up in your watchlist, additionally you can set it to auto-watch every thread you post in. The advantage is if you want to remove the thread from your watchlist, you can do so without having to delete any posts.

[Grand_Voyageur]

If I understand the OPs suggestion, it wouldn't be an actual post but some kind of list of names at the top of the thread who are registering as listeners or witnesses etc.  The idea is that they could register their presence without actually posting and cluttering things up.  Seems like a reasonable idea to me.

I know that from time-to-time I've posted in a thread merely because I wanted to follow the discussion (ie, I wanted to see the bump in the "new replies" list).

Wasn't the  Watch/Unwatch link at the top/bottom of the thread already here for such a scope?  

Edit: Sorry Blazr..we ended posting at the same time.

[tspacepilot]

I know that from time-to-time I've posted in a thread merely because I wanted to follow the discussion (ie, I wanted to see the bump in the "new replies" list).

The watchlist is what is designed for that, you can click "watch" and a thread will show up in your watchlist, additionally you can set it to auto-watch every thread you post in. The advantage is if you want to remove the thread from your watchlist, you can do so without having to delete any posts.

There are many tricks in this software that I am shamefully ignorant of. Thanks Blazr.

[EternalWingsofGod]

A section on the threads that just lets you add yourself as "I was here" to be a part of the discussion may clean up the real thread for people who truly have something meaningful to say.

In essence the (this thread has been monitored by X users listing panel)
With a list of people observing the thread and their names in a list
(Sort of like the Who's Online feature that some boards use)

To answer your question in my opinion it adds a signficant bloat to the page, as there are a lot of users here a +1 function could do the job but then it needs to save the list of users if you want to find your own.

So while it does seem interesting it would be impractical to use for the utility you get from it.

[lucasjkr]

There are some threads I've posted to simply to be notified of future updates.... The watch, unwatch feature doesn't seem to work, though, in that when i unwatch a thread, I still get notified of updates, so I only assumed that watching a thread wouldn't work in the way I'd want it to, either!

But I can read through nonsense posts... Really, what aggravates me are all of the *reserved* posts. And being able to edit posts after the fact..

[shorena]

There are some threads I've posted to simply to be notified of future updates.... The watch, unwatch feature doesn't seem to work, though, in that when i unwatch a thread, I still get notified of updates, so I only assumed that watching a thread wouldn't work in the way I'd want it to, either!

Thats because the watch list and the list of threads you get notifications about are different lists.

[MadZ]

But were you really there if you didn't post a pointless reply?