I am once again seeing a pattern that I think needs to be addressed.
As I am sure everyone will recall, a year and a half ago @Zachary eloquently explained why we prefer that members not indulge in what used to be called "useless nonsense."
I want to take his request one step further. If you see a post that adds nothing to the discussion, especially in a thread of real, substantive value (like park projects discussions), please do not respond. By reacting to a troll, we only increase the impact of the initial post on both our collective credibility and everyone's ability to find valuable data.
One pointless post is annoying; several responses drive the entire thread off-topic and waste everyone's time. It is bad enough for people who come here looking for real information to instead end up reading someone's puerile attempt at humor. It is even worse when those people have to wade through a page or more responses to that pathetic cry for attention.
For reference, here are excerpts of Zachary's original post:
As I am sure everyone will recall, a year and a half ago @Zachary eloquently explained why we prefer that members not indulge in what used to be called "useless nonsense."
I want to take his request one step further. If you see a post that adds nothing to the discussion, especially in a thread of real, substantive value (like park projects discussions), please do not respond. By reacting to a troll, we only increase the impact of the initial post on both our collective credibility and everyone's ability to find valuable data.
One pointless post is annoying; several responses drive the entire thread off-topic and waste everyone's time. It is bad enough for people who come here looking for real information to instead end up reading someone's puerile attempt at humor. It is even worse when those people have to wade through a page or more responses to that pathetic cry for attention.
For reference, here are excerpts of Zachary's original post:
A few tweaks have been made to the etiquette guidelines above in light of a handful of recent complaints. The real reason for this post though is to address one in particular: Useless nonsense.
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This forum has been specifically, visually designed to put a large spotlight on the words of our users (compare this to this or this). We cast this spotlight on our user's content by separating each user's posts by a lot of screen real estate dedicated to that user. While each post is part of a larger thread, each post is also designed to stand alone as a small blog entry of sorts.
Furthermore, through the "Unread Posts" feature, we actually notify all forum users when anyone makes a post. When you post, you're not just commenting on a piece of content like you would be on Facebook or YouTube—you're writing your own small piece of the site. Each and every member will then be notified of that contribution and encouraged to check it out. This is not the standard operating procedure on most fora out there.
Because the forum is designed to place so much weight on each post, when a post doesn't contribute anything substantive to the discussion, it hurts.
All I'm asking here is that before you hit "Post Reply," ask this: If someone came to ParkFans.net, clicked on the "Unread Posts" link, entered the top thread in the listing, and found your post as the only new post since their last visit, would they feel that their time was well spent? If the answer is no, you should try to add some additional substance to your post.
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tl;dr: Ask yourself if your post is worth people going out of their way to read. If not, add content, use the Thanks button, PM the user, etc.