So I'm thinking about reviewing post counts in threads that end up locked, and at a set interval--maybe every couple months?--firing the poster with the "winning" count. Since I'm not seeing any results from my subtle hints that I'm not hosting this board so a couple of people can argue publicly with each other for page upon page.
What say you?
Margie
Don't get me wrong: love having people voice their opinions--but at some point you've passed that point in a discussion. Usually when you're still blasting it out there after a half-dozen long-winded posts.
Would there be a leaderboard?
I am sorta serious. If there were a way to see you were standing on thin ice it may be a useful tool and let people self correct before 'winning'.
Yeah, but everyone would be listed on it as "Bob Costas."
Because otherwise, to a true shiny happy person, it's just incentivizing assholiness.
Margie
Go for it.
I sometimes poke the wasp nest to get people typing (see the thread about the Janis Joplin 356) but to date it has only resulted in some spirited conversations and actually elevating my respect for many of the posters / member here.
Hope I am not on "The List". 
And for some reason I think I could see you as a moderator over on Corner-Carvers. Another corner of the internet I frequent.
T.J. wrote: Would there be a leaderboard?
dean1484 wrote: And for some reason I think I could see you as a moderator over on Corner-Carvers. Another corner of the internet I frequent.
Did you mean that as a compliment? Because from what I've seen, that site has slowly died in recent years due to over-militant enforcement...both from members and Mods. They do NOT welcome new members well.
The signal-to-noise ratio of GRM is one of the reasons I come here. Same with why I used to go to Corner Carvers. The general atmosphere there has finally driven me away however.
No, my aim here is to keep a very few voices from crowding others out of discussions. Because everyone should be able to get a word in edgewise.
Margie
What about the paint-ball-gun-as-traffic-enforcement option? Users can up-vote posts now - make a down-vote button that does the same in reverse (or reconfigure the ! button).
If you get enough down-votes from your peers, you earn a little vacation. And you can only vote once from a given IP now, so that should largely reduce flooding the system with down-votes as a vendetta.
I like that, because this may surprise you, but I'm tired of being the bad guy.
Marjorie Suddard wrote: I like that, because this may surprise you, but I'm tired of being the bad guy.
I was in that barrel myself for many years, on 2 different large and active forums. I hear ya.
One of the forums I moderate on has a feature called "Coventry". It's evil genius - when someone is sent to Coventry, only they can see their own posts. Nobody else see them. You don't even need to tell the victim. They can troll all they want, but nobody ever takes the bait 
Why don't you just E36 M3can the offender?
Keith Tanner wrote: One of the forums I moderate on has a feature called "Coventry". It's evil genius - when someone is sent to Coventry, only they can see their own posts. Nobody else see them. You don't even need to tell the victim. They can troll all they want, but nobody ever takes the bait
Yeah, Coventry is awesome.
I thought things had improved a lot here lately.
Maybe just use a warning system, show the kind of post/content to the offender in question, and have a three strikes rule. "This post here is against this rule there and you should consider this your first strike".
I assume there's a mod board here for the mod squad to discuss this stuff that is invisible to normal users. If there isn't then this is probably going to be harder to do.
In reply to pres589:
The unfortunate part of a rating system is the risk of offending one shiny happy person with nothing better to do than scour your "discussion posts" and negative rep everything.
FWIW, I have noticed the "!" button does -1 people. 
In reply to Marjorie Suddard:
You're not the bad guy. You are the adult protecting your livelyhood.
If someone gets sent to coventry is it permanent?
I would think that a subtle hint in the form of an image should be enough to alert posters that the thread is starting to stink and that self moderation is required. Maybe a huge Chuck Norris picture?
Lots of good ideas, thanks you guys.
Margie
pres589 wrote: I thought things had improved a lot here lately. Maybe just use a warning system, show the kind of post/content to the offender in question, and have a three strikes rule. "This post here is against this rule there and you should consider this your first strike". I assume there's a mod board here for the mod squad to discuss this stuff that is invisible to normal users. If there isn't then this is probably going to be harder to do.
This would make sense. Every other forum has a "faq/board rules" section that states what is and isn't allowed.
The thread was locked because:
Marjorie Suddard wrote: No, my aim here is to keep a very few voices from crowding others out of discussions. Because everyone should be able to get a word in edgewise. Margie
What does that even mean? Note to self, if you make more than 5 posts in a thread, you may be banned because you are "crowding" people out of a thread? What a bunch of nonsense, because a conversation is totally possible with 5 posts on a subject and that is it.
I like coming on GRM. I like the discussions, both on and offtopic. I don't care for random interpretation of rules, so if you must, ban me, I won't be back if it happens and GRM can be a utopia again 
As the smilie notes, I can't take this seriously because it is plain silly. No different then the video of a ladies dress getting blown-up, a huge over-reaction to nothing about nothing. If your advertisers really have problems with this forum, then I have no idea how other forums survive because the only other forum I know of as "nice" as this one is full of a bunch of wankers who basically pat themselves on the back for group-think the whole time and everyone with a dissenting viewpoint about anything (even cars) is run off (and no, I haven't been banned from there, I just don't post anymore).
Unfortunately, some people don't do subtle.
Whereas some of us wonder if it was what we said that caused the thread lock. 
Keep in mind, we are men.
A species not known for being able to take hints well.
KyAllroad wrote: Unfortunately, some people don't do subtle. Whereas some of us wonder if it was what we said that caused the thread lock.
I just went and looked at it too - boring, relentlessly tired arguments abound... but nothing offensive or even directly impolite.
I wonder if this sort of locking behavior only happens every 30 days or so 
...runs away...
This topic is locked. No further posts are being accepted.
