Tangents/Derailments

Mavric

Mavric

Yoda
There is lots of complaining about people posting the same thing over and over. As I've said before, this is really tough to avoid when there are plenty of things to complain about.

However, that's not to say we shouldn't do anything. I wonder if we could do a little better job of keeping our eyes out for thread-derailing posts and move then to the Tangent thread. This is easier said than done as there is a lot of stuff to wade through and it's easy to get lost in the shuffle and takes some time to get through everything. I'm not saying we'll catch every one, but I think we we make an effort to watch for it, we can get an idea for which members need some "encouragement" to not flame every thread.

Here's a look at who has the most posts in the Tangent thread:

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It's probably not a surprise that 74Hunter, Bowfin, MattyIce and GBRedneck are at the top of the list. It's not a perfect system but it might help flag some guys to watch out for.

Flaming every thread with the same complaints would definitely be Conduct Detrimental to HuskerBoard in my opinion. If we can "encourage" a few members to not cause so much headache, everyone would probably be a little better off.

 
I'm a derailer!
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Oh, no! We have seen the enemy, and it is me.
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Sometimes there's reasonable discussion in that thread, it just didn't belong quite where it was originally. And sometimes people latch on and continue those discussions in the thread (which isn't locked).

At the time of moving posts in, if it's a case where the instigator(s) need to be told to knock it off, I think we can stick a warning on them and note down the offending posts for future reference.

 
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I agree that we'd want to change how we handle that thread to really use it to monitor people. It would need to be locked. And maybe have a new one each month or whatever to see how it changes over time.

 
I think it's OK to have tangential conversations continue -- if they aren't breaking the rules with content and it doesn't need to go in the shed, it's just another place for these conversations to happen not in other threads.

Even if it's locked, not every post that is moved there is an offender. Often a thread gets off track, a lot of people respond to it, and all the posts get moved to keep the thread back on track. There are likely a few instigators, but not all the responders are at fault, even if their posts get cleaned up, too.

I think if we want to keep track of offenses, we should just add warnings whenever appropriate. Doesn't always need to come with punishment. If it's not to the level of a warning, it's probably OK to let go for the most part. Warning history is easy to access for everyone.

 
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I assume we're talking about people who enter existing threads just to post the same crap time and again. Correct? If so, I agree. But are we seeing a lot of duplicate threads? Do we need to start merging? I know we've wanted to keep fresh content on the front page, but given this season, I think that won't be an issue. After the season, we can re-evaluate.

Just thought I'd ask since I can't get on as often as I'd like and I'm not sure if it's the former, the latter, or a combination

 
The reason I think it would be helpful to track who's doing it over some period of time is because it's pretty hard to keep track of who's doing it a lot. I guess we could give a warning for each instance but that could end up being a lot of warnings flying around. I would think it would be better to move the posts and only start giving warnings once a poster had been shown to be a serial offender.

If we think a topic is worthy of discussion but not in that thread, it could be split to its own thread or - more likely - moved to a thread where that discussion is already happening. Most of the posts I've moved to the tangent thread are just one-liners that someone wants to complain or bring up the same thing over and over.

 
I'm not as worried about the legitimate discussion - I think that can be moved without much worry.

It's the borderline-troll posts that we could probably have a better handle on.

 
I like that idea. Anything that gives us a better way to track folks so we know who is legitimately trying to discuss and make a point verses those who just want to rant and rave or troll or flame.

 
Mavric said:
If we think a topic is worthy of discussion but not in that thread, it could be split to its own thread or - more likely - moved to a thread where that discussion is already happening. Most of the posts I've moved to the tangent thread are just one-liners that someone wants to complain or bring up the same thing over and over.
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I like this, too. How's this, working off that template:

1. If the discussion is OK but just not in that thread, either split to new thread or find existing on-topic thread.

2. If the discussion is *not* OK move to an internal locked thread here in the mods forum where we can keep track of whose posts keep popping up there.

I've been using the tangent thread as a catch-all thread (rather than individual new threads) for #1. I guess there might no longer be a need for that, or it can continue to be a place for "overtime" discussion that isn't really thread worthy, can be continued by those who wish to, but also isn't "there are offenses here we want to keep track of" worthy.

Best case is if almost everything can fit neatly into #1 or #2, I guess? What're your thoughts?

 
Yeah, I like that zoogs. Pretty much what I had in mind. But having the separate thread in here somewhere might make it work pretty slick. The only thing on that would be we'd probably want to have some sort of announcement about what's going on so people don't think their posts are just disappearing.

The only question I have is how to handle replies to the post that is deemed as a derailment. I think getting it out of the original thread will help get it back on track but we don't need those cluttering up the "tracking" thread. Maybe keep the general Tangent thread and move the replies there?

 
Maybe keep the general Tangent thread and move the replies there?
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Hey, I like that. You lose a little bit of continuity but once something ends up in something like the tangent thread, the conversation's life isn't something I'm too worried about.

 
I went ahead and put a locked thread in the Woodshed to place the concerning posts in. I thought perhaps the Woodshed would be better than in here as it would let people see the kind of posts we're talking about and the posters would be able to see when and where their posts are going.

 
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