This forum has become a deletefest



  • The real WTF is that the main feed has become a deletefest, killing all sense of community and fun. (Some of us like the whimsical nature of the discussions here, even if they are a bit off topic occasionally)  Keep up the good work!

    Oh, and by all means, delete all posts that discuss the advertising on your site.  You sure as hell don't want such discussions about these revenue generating ads, such discussions might actually lead to people clicking (GASP!) on the ads, perhaps even bringing in more money for the site.  Or maybe I'm just not WTF enough to see this aspect.

    Really, WTF.



  • @Anonymous said:

    The real WTF is that the main feed has become a deletefest, killing all sense of community and fun. (Some of us like the whimsical nature of the discussions here, even if they are a bit off topic occasionally)  Keep up the good work!

    Oh, and by all means, delete all posts that discuss the advertising on your site.  You sure as hell don't want such discussions about these revenue generating ads, such discussions might actually lead to people clicking (GASP!) on the ads, perhaps even bringing in more money for the site.  Or maybe I'm just not WTF enough to see this aspect.

    Really, WTF.



    Looking at http://thedailywtf.com/moderationhistory.aspx it does appear that recently, the enforcement has gotten quite a bit more strict. I am curious as to why this shift has come about. The forums on this site were much more light-hearted and discussions were left to wander from topic to topic. Now, deletion reigns supreme.

    sincerely,
    Richard Nixon



  • To be fair, most of those deletions regarding the girls in the ads were deleted from the main WTF threads, where they are indeed off-topic. C'mon, people, we have 'General Discussion' threads discussing these ladies!

    On another note, I was distressed to see reasons for deletion like 'low quality.' Let's take this as a challenge to keep the quality of our posts up.


  • ♿ (Parody)

    I moved this thread here from the Main Feed because I didn't want to make it seem like I was "censoring" or whatever.

    On the "main feed", the reader-to-participant ratio is miniscule: 0.1 - 0.5% and about 65% of the readers read through the comments. I've gotten a lot of feedback on the comment quality and have come to believe that most of readers do not appreciate the following:

    • low quality comments, e.g. "omgwtf, that is teh wtf-iest!"
    • ad-speak ("bring back foosball girl!") [*}
    • detailed technical debates ("If you use AX0089 on the Motralla Z22, it will cause heap corruption")
    • "The Real WTF" Redirects, where the original article is scrutinized and the submitter is critisized for doing wrong

    So, to improve the experience for the masses, I am expirmenting with trying to increase the quality of comments on the main articles. I'm very open for discussion on this, and don't like the idea of "censoring". The goal is just to make it enjoyable for "the other 99%."

    Keep in mind that the bar for the Side Bar is much lower and the bar for the General Discussion and other forums is even lower. The only thing not allowed is spam and other "generally indecent" things which I think everyone is on the same page about.

     

    [*} As a side note to that, I appreciate the support, but keep in mind that clicking on ads just to support for this site doesn't help anyone in the longrun; sponsors look for sales, not clicks. I try to keep the sponsors limited to companies I believe offer a good service [**]

    [**} As a side note to that, the DataDepositBox ad is my own and I get a cut of the sales through the referal link. So, if you're looking for an awesome backup service (I'm a $90/mo customer myself), check them out.



  • @Alex Papadimoulis said:

    I moved this thread here from the Main Feed because I didn't want to make it seem like I was "censoring" or whatever.

    On the "main feed", the reader-to-participant ratio is miniscule: 0.1 - 0.5% and about 65% of the readers read through the comments. I've gotten a lot of feedback on the comment quality and have come to believe that most of readers do not appreciate the following:

    • low quality comments, e.g. "omgwtf, that is teh wtf-iest!"
    • ad-speak ("bring back foosball girl!") [*}
    • detailed technical debates ("If you use AX0089 on the Motralla Z22, it will cause heap corruption")
    • "The Real WTF" Redirects, where the original article is scrutinized and the submitter is critisized for doing wrong

    So, to improve the experience for the masses, I am expirmenting with trying to increase the quality of comments on the main articles. I'm very open for discussion on this, and don't like the idea of "censoring". The goal is just to make it enjoyable for "the other 99%."

    Keep in mind that the bar for the Side Bar is much lower and the bar for the General Discussion and other forums is even lower. The only thing not allowed is spam and other "generally indecent" things which I think everyone is on the same page about.

     

    [*} As a side note to that, I appreciate the support, but keep in mind that clicking on ads just to support for this site doesn't help anyone in the longrun; sponsors look for sales, not clicks. I try to keep the sponsors limited to companies I believe offer a good service [**]

    [**} As a side note to that, the DataDepositBox ad is my own and I get a cut of the sales through the referal link. So, if you're looking for an awesome backup service (I'm a $90/mo customer myself), check them out.



    Detailed technical debates? The rest of the types of comments you mention are of little interest to me so I don't really care if those are deleted but technical discussions on a technical website? Who are you trying to cater to if you don't want to see that?

    Frankly, I think those are the types of comments with the most value. Without those - what kind of comments do you expect?

    sincerely,
    Richard Nixon

  • ♿ (Parody)

    @Richard Nixon said:

    Detailed technical debates? The rest of the types of comments you mention are of little interest to me so I don't really care if those are deleted but technical discussions on a technical website?

    Allow me to clarify -- when I say "detailed technical debates" I mean those that are *far beyond* the understanding and caring of the average reader *of this site*.

    I can't think of an real example off hand, but I've seen it a few times; it's generally just a discussion spanning 10-20 posts between two or three people going. Know what I mean?



  • @Alex Papadimoulis said:

    @Richard Nixon said:

    Detailed technical debates? The rest of the types of comments you mention are of little interest to me so I don't really care if those are deleted but technical discussions on a technical website?

    Allow me to clarify -- when I say "detailed technical debates" I mean those that are *far beyond* the understanding and caring of the average reader *of this site*.

    I can't think of an real example off hand, but I've seen it a few times; it's generally just a discussion spanning 10-20 posts between two or three people going. Know what I mean?



    *this is where I loose my moderatorship*

    In those cases, I usually split the thread so the discusion can continue, but only in cases where its gone off topic. I never delete them otherwise.


  • Now that I have had a couple of my 'main forum' contributions deleted,
    I'm not sure I'm going to post there again. I too have felt the sting of moderation!

    Both were jokes at the
    expense of the respective WTF. I want to write them out here, since there is apparently a lower standard outside the main forum, and you guys tell me if they were deserving of deletion.

    First in response to "Redirection with Smoke and... Smoking?"


    <font face="Courier New" size="2">Hello,

    You attempted to create a new thread on the The Daily WTF Forums with the following message:


    What happened is, the Marlboro Man's grand-nephew agreed to do their site in exchange for a pack of smokes.


    Your
    message is unrelated to the topic of the The Daily WTF Forums. As a
    consequence, your message has not been approved. Perhaps you can use
    Google or MSN Search to find a more relevant community service for your
    message.</font>

    'Unrealted to the topic'? OK, there's the Marlboro Man's picture for one thing, and grade-school web design for another.

    And from "Symbolic Installation"

    <font face="Courier New" size="2">Hello,

    You attempted to submit the following post to the The Daily WTF Forums:


    <font face="Arial">(Explanation - there was a graphic here that said "I don't get it...", but in the wingding font.)</font>


    Your post was submitted as a reply to the following thread: http://thedailywtf.com/forums/thread/86394.aspx

    All
    posts to the The Daily WTF Forums must be in English. Please revisit
    the forums and resubmit your post in English. The Babelfish translator
    may help you: http://babelfish.altavista.com</font>

    I guess they just didn't get the joke here. Last I checked, Babelfish did not offer 'Wingding to English.'

    Am I to take it that only serious
    discussion of the thread subject will be allowed now?


  • ♿ (Parody)

    R, Please don't stop posting in the main thread; I actually laughed at the first one "marlboro nephew" and thought the wingding was a cool touch.

    M, let's both scale back a little bit and not be too delete-happy.


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