Double posting

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#1

There isn’t really another place to post this, so I am going to place my question here.

I’ve been a member of many forums, and for all their differences there was one golden rule that spanned all of them:

Double-posting was a huge bozo no-no.

Having post after post after post in the same thread was generally frowned upon. Most of you probably don’t know I spend a good deal of time merging instances of double-posts and have reached out to many letting them know that the practice is frowned upon.

However, I have begun to wonder if I am alone on this…so I look to you for your guidance and insight. Have you never thot of it before? Do you think this makes sense? Am I bringing old school rules to a place that doesn’t need them?

Thank you.

#2

No, you’re right. Sometimes when we’re engaged in lively banter with multiple posters, I few double-posts might occur as we try to fire back and forth. But to be sitting on a thread entering separate post after post is annoying. (And yes, I did this once several weeks ago and noticed that “someone;)” graciously consolidated them into a single entry.) My bad. Good advice, Moderator. :smiley:

#3

Thanks bro. It should be noted that the Frak parties are excluded from this discussion for obvious reasons. I am addressing situations when a poster has the time to use multi-quote and/or edit a previous post to include additional info.

#4

I’ve heard this a bunch, but I don’t get it. There’s usually three reasons for multi-posting.

[ol]
[li]Someone doesn’t get multi-post. Fine, point it out to them
[/li][li]Someone hadn’t realized that the discussion was multiple pages long. They’re savy enough to get the ‘last unread’ thing. They’ll figure it out.
[/li][li]Someone posts additional information after posting (sometimes much) earlier. That may not even be a double post for the regulars.
[/li][/ol]
In short, I don’t think it’s normally a problem, and anything that causes people to think about whether they should or shouldn’t post is problematic. We want to encourage posts, even if it’s slightly annoying on occasion.

#5

I totally agree with you on this Pike, and I would never go as far as to say, “This is a rule.” I am interested in whether other people agree that double-posting is a good or bad thing. If people don’t think it is a problem or annoying I won’t continue to merge double-posts and reach out to those people and raise their awareness.

#6

Yeah, I think in the first two instances (where people are obviously responding to multiple posts rapidly) merging is warranted (I actually don’t find it too annoying, but it makes sense to do.)

In cases where one person is the sole poster over time (I was doing that with the Guild posts, and some others) it’s not needed. The regulars are reading them in real time, and the newbies know that they’re catching up.

#7

Thanks to our wonderful Moderators lead by Solaimus Prime. I feel as though it is not as prevalent as ii is. A tribute to their dedication and hard work!

On ALL the other forums I view this is one of the top rules. More importantly it is they all want to avoid worthless posts. Whether it is double posts or (ever present in other forums) the overwhelming abundance of “Thanks” posts :smiley:

We are fortunate at GWC to be able to attract like minded people that enjoy the ability to be part of a community rather than a “fan club” which probably describes other forums better. This is why we are the “Friendliest People in Sci-Fi”, we don’t need rules to be able to communicate efficiently and respectfully.

I think it is just going to be inevitable that double posts become more common as the forum expands and gets larger. All the more reason to make sure we all take part in keeping our community clean and well organized. Pike is right on that all should feel free to not only post comments but also create threads. I think everyone is handling it well so far but multiple threads and duplicate posts in different threads should be top of the list for merging and doubles in a single thread that are posted within a close time frame.

This may bring up another subject. Do we need more moderators? I am sure I speak for the majority when I say you guys ever get to the point where you feel you have taken on too much or the forum feels like a responsibility just let us know.

#8

Yeah, duplicate threads is the bigger problem, as far as I’m concerned.

As for more mods, we seem to be good at present (knocks wood.) Although we have an eastern US bias right now, so if we need to expand, it’ll probably be in favor of folks in seriously different time-zones.

#9

I agree. Duplicate threads is something I know we are all very vigiliant about. I know I actively merge threads together when the same thing has been said in two different forums or in the same forum in a slightly different way.

In only special circumstances do I perform, “Thread surgery” by extracting off-topic posts and creating a new thread for them…or gently moving them over to the gutter. :smiley:

#10

Very gently. I’ve never noticed.

#11

It used to be much worse than it is now. Let’s just say the amount I have had to do it is inversely proportional to the amount the GalaxyRanger is active. :smiley:

There is only the occasional need to extract some discussions from threads…usually due to the fact they are so good they warrant their own thread so others can participate. This isn’t too common, but it does happen.

#12

Did Solai just stumble upon a Grand Unified Forum Theory? :smiley:

TS=GR/A

#13

I’m trying to think of joke about double posting and viagra, but I’m having trouble coming up with it.
(Sorry, I needed to say that in honor of Galaxy Ranger - :smiley: )

#14

IYKWIM

baltar

IYKWIM

:pbaltar

so not funny making me merge posts in this thread. - S

#15

Genius in its simplicity! :smiley:

GalaxyRanger’s activity is also inversely proportional to the amount of Viagra he is on at any given moment. After all, he is quite the ladies man. :wink:

You guys are killing me. - S

#16

Somehow I think that young man’s viagra years are far,far away yet.

(Yup, I’ve officially drifted this thread into the gutter…for old times sake).

#17

I’m not sure I understand the issue here. Obviously duplicate(ish) threads are a problem, like three separate threads on the same topic, as are “yeah, me too” kind of threads. Are you saying that each person should only post once in each in each thread? :confused:

#18

“If your not part of the solution, your part of the problem.” :stuck_out_tongue:

#19

I took Solai to mean something like this, if I could use myself as an example. I was on a top ten thread or something like that. Nobody else seemed to be on at the time. Within 10, 15 minutes, as I thot of wildly humorous (well, that’s debatable:D) things to post, I posted them. I ended up with about 12 separate posts, one after the other, which I easily could have edited into one post as I went along, therefore taking up less space, etc.

Is that what you’re getting at, S ?

#20

Ooops, sorry to have been an occasional double poster. I’ve seen some posts of mine merged on occasion. Usually that occurs in coming into a podcast discussion a couple of days (hours even) late and quickly responding to something on page 3 and then going back to reading and subsequently responding to something different from page 5. If the proper etiquette is to edit a previous post then I now stand corrected.

Thanks for hard work you guys do to keep this place clean (if not out of the gutter)!!!

BTW, what is the reason behind the double posting etiquette? Is it to avoid unnatural increases in post counts? Just curious…