Spam forum and locking threads:

[SuF]

Just because SMR locked the other thread before I got to post. And yes, this by itself is entering the realm of suggestions, but it is a response feedback so I'm posting it here. Feel free to lock this if what I'm saying is non-sense.

From what I have gathered from this situation is this: There is a distinction is the member's eyes between hate threads and joke threads. Although the thread may appear to be a hate thread, if it is seen as a joke, there should be no problem with it as the spam forum is made for people to make jokes. Essentially there could potentially be two ways of solving this issue, one being stick to literal truth, as with the thread this thread is about. The other solution would be to let the thread begin, and once it gets out of hand, lock it stating that the joke got old and is turning into a hate thread and thus it is being locked.

There seems to be plenty of moderator presence on the forums, so locking a thread when it appears to have crossed that hazy line does not seem like too tall of an order to take on.

 

[Govind]

Imagine being a newcomer to Sythe.org.

You read the spam forum rules, understand them, then look around in the spam forum. You see what most people know are joke threads, but what you think is a hate thread. You think that mods do not enforce the hate thread rule. You post your own hate thread...

 

[Aroxez]

I happen to see threads getting locked more frequently, and I'm wondering why. They either just barely started, or are getting out of hands. (I understand that one) though threads just barely starting are locked for no absolute reason.

 

[World Domination]

I vote for removing the spam forum altogether.

 

[Govind]

I vote for removing the spam forum altogether.

Long story, but not really going to happen.

Aside from how it's a place for members to have fun, it's real purpose is something you probably wouldn't guess on your own: back in 2007 when Sythe was having trouble paying for the site's hosting, I suggested to him that we create a spam forum to soak up webcrawlers.

It's serving it's real purpose to this day.

 

I agree with your points SuF, as I'm sure you know.

 

[FireZ]

I happen to see threads getting locked more frequently, and I'm wondering why. They either just barely started, or are getting out of hands. (I understand that one) though threads just barely starting are locked for no absolute reason.

Examples please.

 

[SuF]

Imagine being a newcomer to Sythe.org.

You read the spam forum rules, understand them, then look around in the spam forum. You see what most people know are joke threads, but what you think is a hate thread. You think that mods do not enforce the hate thread rule. You post your own hate thread...

Very valid point. However, the spam forum should be known to be a cesspool of shot anyways. New members get flamed all the time, which is a bigger issue. Basically, the way I see it is that it seems fairly obvious if a hate thread is a joke, or not. If someone posts "GOD FUCKING DAMN IT SMR. FUCKING DOUCHE CUNT BAG FUCKER NEEDS TO FUCKING DIE", then its obviously hate. If someone posts "SuF's a faggot. amIrite?", then its also kinda obvious thats just a joke. Or its not, but its not that bad. There is obviously a grey zone in between the extremes and I think these should be dealt with by leaving them open to see what happens.

New members might suffer, but thats kind of the nature of the spam forum anyways. There is not much that can be done for that, except removing it, which really would be no fun.

 

[SuF]

Examples please.

I honestly think its about the same as before. People normally have a sense of when a thread will be locked. Maybe its slightly more threads now, but not that many.

 

My honest opinion is:

If the thread being posted is not a referral link/porn, it should not be locked.

 

[FireZ]

What about complete flamefests....

 

What about complete flamefests....

Depends, since most of the time people are just joking around.