Should we limit threads to two pages ?

elcato

Moderator
Messages
4,015
Or limit answers from each poster on a thread ? I'm getting bored with these long threads where we have to put up with two or three posters hogging a thread to settle bickering arguments among themselves (and drag in one or two others who are good contributors here) on a point of what one word means to them as oppose to someone else s meaning. I realise this needs more moderation but a cut-off point might help and disputes. Just sayin'.
 
You should go onto some of the football forums elcato! The fighting that goes on there is unreal.

This site is well moderated and posts disappear if they go off topic or threads get locked if they become irrelevant. I think limiting threads to two pages is to the detriment of some good discussion.

One suggestion would be locking threads that haven't been posted on in a certain amount of time. The odd time you get someone reply to a query that's 4/5 years old!


Steven
www.bluewaterfp.ie
 
An interesting idea.

First of all, I think it would be impossible to limit people to a certain number of responses on a thread. I can think of a few threads, where I had to say the same thing over and over again, because people were just ignoring the basic and obvious point. (For example, that every person who is not happy with their tracker compensation should appeal it internally first.)

Some posts are complicated and people are not good at summarising their situation. In a Money Makeover type question, they have to be asked for additional information. Limiting them to 5 posts would not be a good idea.

Brendan
 
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long threads where we have to put up with two or three posters hogging a thread to settle bickering arguments among themselves

Can we deal with this through revisions of the Posting Guidelines and tougher implementation?

Here is an example of a long thread.

Banks trying to systematically change terms and conditions

The original poster, Padraic, made a a very serious accusation.

Sarenco asked for clarification and evidence.

Most posters completely ignored Sarenco's point. They just rehashed some of the awful banks which everyone agrees that the banks did. But they did not provide any evidence of the banks systematically changing the terms and conditions in a criminal fashion.

What do we do as moderators? Close the thread? Delete it? I think we have to let it run.

I started this thread based on a comment from a Credit Union.

Is PCP a good way to finance a car?

I don't have time to look into the issue, but just raised the question.

The thread is probably of no use to anyone because it has gone on to 5 pages. I don't really know how people can fight so much about this sort of thing. I do understand how an "all banks are criminals" argument can run and run.

It would be great if someone summarised the PCP arguments in one good post. Then we could close the old thread. Anyone who comes to askaboutmoney to research car finance would read one good post instead of trawling through 5 pages of bad-tempered point scoring. ( I haven't read the thread, so apologies if it's not that.)

When I do a Key Post, I get very annoyed when people take it off topic, and delete the posts. But it's a lot of work.

Occasionally, people report a 10 page thread and ask that the it be split into two topics. The reality is that is a huge amount of work for a moderator as some posts comment on both topics. And it's not clear from other posters what they are actually talking about.

Maybe we should highlight the following Posting Guidelines and then enforce them. Perhaps these should be combined into one separate Posting Guideline - " How to keep threads short and relevant."

8 Use the "quote" button sparingly

When replying to a post, use the "Post Reply" button or "Reply" button in preference to the “quote” button.

Quoting a very long post in its entirety makes the thread very cluttered

Only use the quote button to quote the bits directly relevant to your comments.

Do not quote the post immediately above your one.
10 Do not abuse other posters
Controversy and argument are welcome. But please keep your comments civil. Attack an opinion by all means, but please don't attack the person expressing the opinion.Posts or threads which use language designed to be deliberately offensive or just to stir up trouble will be deleted.
19 Please stay on topic
Some threads stray off topic to such an extent that the discussion bears no relation to the original question. If you want to introduce a new question, start a new topic. Off-topic banter which distracts from the original question will be deleted.
20 Please keep recurring debates on a particular topic to a single thread
When someone asks a question , they want an answer and not a debate. For example, if someone asks about buying a house, they don't want a debate about the pros and cons of mortgage brokers. Keep such debate to The Great Financial Debates forum. It is ok to occasionally post a particularly relevant reply with a link to that debate. In particular do not hijack a thread to let off steam on a vaguely related issue. A lot of threads have been dragged off thread to engage in public sector bashing or to say that we need a general election now. Don't waste time composing a long serious post with an off-topic aside on it. The full post will be deleted. The moderators do not have time to edit out the off-topic bits. If another poster takes a thread off-topic, ignore them or report the post. Don't respond.
 
I might reconsider the PCP summary after that.

One thing I'd like to point out, that you guys are missing. Part of the appeal of threads is the entertainment, it's the reason to read whole threads sometimes, it encourages debate, gets people going, you find out about things you never knew, and then eventually you come to conclusions. I think PCP was an example of that today. I honestly didn't even think I'd be interested in the topic at all until something caught my eye. And look at the traffic it generated. Surely that's good for this website?

Another thing, plenty of people, their eyes glaze over on financials, how many people find a PCP contract sexy never mind read it. Here they get to understand it, but in a fun way.

That's my twopence worth.
 
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Some posters are better than others. Some entertain, some bore, some adhere strictly to the full truth, others you couldn't believe a word from etc I might not agree with what they have to say, but they have the right to express however long or short. Provided posts are written in a non offensive way, I don't care how long or short the posts are.
 
At the top of this thread, I have the option to "Watch thread" which I rarely do.

So unwatching it doesn't do anything for me?



Brendan
 
Hi Albacore

All threads are by definition "unwatched"
You can choose to watch them.
But you can't choose to ignore them.
I would probably like a function where I could just blank a particular thread.

Brendan
 
Hi Brendan,

if we step back and consider with objectivity, not clicking on a thread with a high post count is ignoring it.

But you asked me how I unsubscribe a thread. I just told you how I do it. If you don't subscribe to threads, then asking how you can unsubscribe from them is entirely redundant. I'm baffled to the purpose of the question. Perhaps you think there is some hidden "hide thread" option you haven't spotted. If that was the question then no. Thus there is no functionality to hide threads over a certain length. Well as far as I'm aware.

BTW since you bought it up, this forum works in a non standard way. Most forums automatically subscribe you to a thread you post in, (its configurable but its the usual default). The assumption being if you make a comment, you probably want to hear the reply. If you want to post and not hear replies, then in my opinion that's quite an antisocial attitude. It usually done to disrupt a thread in my experience. if thats not the intent, then interacting in online discussion without subscribing is certainly possible, but its the most laborious and least efficient method of interacting.

Some forums have an ignore functionality where its hides posts from users you choose to ignore. if you find some users comments to be at best superfluous, you can simply choose not to see them. Usually its the same handful of posters who squabble. So ignoring them can clean up a long winded thread quite nicely. I suspect because these forums are not that busy, and tend to have more mature, or just nicer users than other forums. perhaps none of the above has really even been needed. Well other than subjects that were banned from the forum in the past.

Albacore
 
if we step back and consider with objectivity, not clicking on a thread with a high post count is ignoring it.

If I watch something, I get an email or PM telling me that there is a new answer. I suppose because I check Askaboutmoney a few times a day, this has no benefit for me.

If I don't watch something, I still can't ignore it. It still pops up on the New Posts listing.

I thought you had found some way of making threads disappear.

Brendan
 
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