Do not post off-topic replies

[theymos]

Off-topic replies have become a big problem. From now on, I will be deleting such replies without notice, forum-wide. If your replies disappear, this is probably why.

All replies must respond to the topic's original post in some way, even if they are replying to an on-topic reply. If your reply has nothing to do with the topic post, either add some content that is relevant or create a new topic.

Please report off-topic posts as soon as you see them.

[error]

+1.

I'll be more than happy to join you. Cry "havoc" and let slip the dogs of war!

[yeponlyone]

I fully admit that the last few posts may be relevant in a way that i can't grasp, but i highly doubt it:

http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=16032.60

[error]

I fully admit that the last few posts may be relevant in a way that i can't grasp, but i highly doubt it:

http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=16032.60

If you see something that needs a moderator's attention, click "Report to moderator" at the lower right.

[kokjo]

-1

[BitcoinPorn]

Love the clean up that has gone on in the Bitcoin Discussion

This is only a semi-off topic reply

[riX]

+1 posts does not add any valuable information to the forum imho. The question is whether we want this to be a place to chat or a place to get information easily.

And to comment on the topic: great decision, if people want unquestioned freedom of speech we can create a subforum for that.

[theymos]

What about these posts which consist of nothing but "+1", or "-1"?

I consider these posts to be off-topic because they have no point, but they don't cause much damage, so I usually don't delete them unless the poster posts useless replies a lot or the useless replies are reported.

Other moderators might be more or less strict about this.

And are we allowed to post "bump" with no furthur comment?

Bumping is necessary, so I ignore these. Do not bump more than once a day or many times in a row, though.

[Houdini]

I consider these posts to be off-topic because they have no point, but they don't cause much damage, so I usually don't delete them unless the poster posts useless replies a lot or the useless replies are reported.

I'm for allowing +1 posts. Not of great use use or very creative but they do show the general opinion of the audience on a certain topic. But people shouldn't limit themselves to just +1 or -1 posts.

Bumping is necessary, so I ignore these. Do not bump more than once a day or many times in a row, though.

Totally agree. I usually only bump my topics once if ever, on any forum.

Off-topic replies have become a big problem. From now on, I will be deleting such replies without notice, forum-wide. If your replies disappear, this is probably why.

Hear, hear !
This forum really does have a rampant off-topic-ing problem. But I'd still notify the authors so they can ammend their ways. Maybe an automated system would be ideal for the job.

[theymos]

It's too tedious to manually send deletion notifications, though I would really like an automated system to PM people when they get a post deleted. I find the SMF code very confusing, though, so I will probably not be making any modifications within the near future.

[Houdini]

Well no offense Theymos but you really need to get some help with running the forum (not applying for the job here) because it's seriously under-administered. It should have a much bigger crew relative to the number of members. And I'm not just talking about mods, a good developer would be handy.

[error]

It's too tedious to manually send deletion notifications, though I would really like an automated system to PM people when they get a post deleted. I find the SMF code very confusing, though, so I will probably not be making any modifications within the near future.

I was under the impression that SMF already did this.

[Christian Pezza]

There is any way to star and/or grade a topic maybe could helps to "clean up"

[defxor]

The concept of off/on topic in threads is really really difficult. The solution I've been most successful with (and I'm pre-Internet chatforum moderator old) is to have the original poster decide when the discussion that follows is on or off topic.

Else you end up in situations where the thread starter is fully ok with the discussion and a moderator starts deleting posts.

(In this case it should be somewhat easy for moderators to see if it's the thread starter that Reports to Moderator with "off topic" as reason)

[theymos]

The concept of off/on topic in threads is really really difficult. The solution I've been most successful with (and I'm pre-Internet chatforum moderator old) is to have the original poster decide when the discussion that follows is on or off topic.

Else you end up in situations where the thread starter is fully ok with the discussion and a moderator starts deleting posts.

(In this case it should be somewhat easy for moderators to see if it's the thread starter that Reports to Moderator with "off topic" as reason)

This is not fair to the people responding to a topic, IMO. People who reply to topics should know that if they are on-topic and they follow the rules, they will not be censored. Also, it is very annoying for reply-writers when they write long, detailed responses and then the topics become off-topic and useless.

Maintaining perfect on-topicness is difficult. In the future, discussions may be made threaded instead of flat, which will basically be like having a system that automatically creates new topics when people are posting off-topic things (in many cases).

[defxor]

This is not fair to the people responding to a topic, IMO. People who reply to topics should know that if they are on-topic and they follow the rules, they will not be censored. Also, it is very annoying for reply-writers when they write long, detailed responses and then the topics become off-topic and useless.

Well, it's your forum, but I've never seen OPs suddenly deciding replies to the first post to be off topic and complaining to moderators (who wouldn't then .. check?).

It's far more common to see posters in a thread getting irritated when moderators who are not part of the actual discussion go around and deleting posts.

(Not here, yet, but that's a worry with the change you outlined)

[joulesbeef]

how about banning the frequent offenders, hackers and trolls? I'd rather see off topic replies than the mess we have on here today.

[Transisto]

Some people have many different clone and post short one line comment to bump a thread and boost their post count. Some other member may see post# as a rating/authoritative.

All I ask for this forum is being able to HIDE threads we don't want to see ever again,   Especially those that start with a stupid OP but yet people bump these endlessly to prove how wise they are.

[farfiman]

Whats next? Deleting stupid   threads that don't meet certain criteria ?
Some people start 10 threads  a day : " 5$ within the hour?  5.2$ in the next 10 min? 5.5$ today ?"    etc...etc...
so what...

[stochastic]

Reading through posts it seems there is an off topic reply in every thread.