Citizens!

[Tomsik]

I've seen forums where buttons are in the Sidebar to report bad posts.

Perhaps making post in thread with quote that you think is offensive and call for a mod would work?

Example:

You're a dumbass!

Mod?

[JW]

I suggest banning for short posts that reveal posters complete ignorance with respect to the discussed subject or prove he did not read through the thread. Same for posts that consist of statements irrelevant to the thread, especially if the suspect cannot convey his point. I suggest being exceptionally strict if a poster does it on regular basis, spamming almost every thread.

Interesting idea.

This is actually the biggest problem I have with members on this forum.

The one problem is if someone reads something too quickly and misinterprets it - which I have done in the past as have others.

Some people should probably get warnings for this though or punishment if it's a recurring problem.

-edit-
like that one guy who kept posting questions as to why changes were made in unit stats and why he thinks they're unfair. (Noy knows who I mean)

[Darth Fool]

I've seen forums where buttons are in the Sidebar to report bad posts.

Perhaps making post in thread with quote that you think is offensive and call for a mod would work?

Example:

You're a dumbass!

Mod?

While this is certainly appropriate at certain times, there will also be times when people want a different solution. For one thing, a mod is not guaranteed to read a thread anytime soon without prompting. For another, I can imagine the individual wanting mod action also wishing to keep his particular request for mod assistance out of the view of the public. Still, it would work if a little slowly, and is certainly preferable to everyone feeling like they need to flame back themselves.

[Tomsik]

Perhaps one or two more mods, choosen from people that visit forum often would be a good idea, it won't slove the problem, but at least would make reaction faster.
You could also make them guys to PM-for-mod-reaction.

[Sauron]

In many forums there is "report to admin" button and every member has "warn" credit - if the credit gets used up (user has broken rules and admins warned him many times), the account is suspended/blocked. I do not mind this approach, it works elsewhere - it might work here too.

[Baufo]

In many forums there is "report to admin" button and every member has "warn" credit - if the credit gets used up (user has broken rules and admins warned him many times), the account is suspended/blocked. I do not mind this approach, it works elsewhere - it might work here too.

But this would again be against the principle of the second chance. And, because nobody is perfect everybody is going to be banned sooner or later, some after a few days others after a few years. Such system could only work if the credit would increases back slowly.

[Tux2B]

Reading through very long technical stuff isn't easy for everyone : don't be too harsh with someone who only 4 very long pages of a thread out of 16 and couldn't tell you exactly what was posted 2 months ago about the same topic...

[Baufo]

Reading through very long technical stuff isn't easy for everyone : don't be too harsh with someone who only 4 very long pages of a thread out of 16 and couldn't tell you exactly what was posted 2 months ago about the same topic...

That is what I wanted to say: everybody makes mistakes from time to time.

Perhaps one or two more mods, choosen from people that visit forum often would be a good idea, it won't slove the problem, but at least would make reaction faster.
You could also make them guys to PM-for-mod-reaction.

Aren't there already quite a lot of mods? I mean 2/3 or so of the posts are still made by FRs/Contributors/Devs.

[Starev91]

I think this is a problem caused by influx of new people, good and bad, as will be seen in any open forums.

Ignorance is excusable a few times, and I think the community should be more open about giving light constructive criticism and not attacking ideas as much, but I also think that after a certain point, it's not as excusable. Also, I for one think that a "New forum users tips" would be quite beneficial, with tips ranging from "1.02 isn't one that should be posted about without a note saying it's about 1.02" and "Search for your idea before you post to avoid yelling that you should've used the search button. If you did, post it in you idea to make it clear.", and compiling all said ideas into one post and posting it would help the community greatly.

Of course, if something like that has already been posted, I didn't use the search button to find it. So I should follow my own advice.

[Gus]

The thing with this kind of posts, stickies, whatever, is that most of the time, the people it's aimed at won't read them, by definition.

I mean, unless you're a genuine newcommer to the Internet, it's simply not possible you don't know about the search function on a forum, or about being polite when you ask something instead of yelling "WTF IZ TEH ANSEWR OMG !!11!1". Or about posting "strategy tips" when you are not that good a strategist.

[Dave]

Y'know, people have been talking about how the forums have been going to hell in a handbasket for a good two years now. If all the complaining about the deterioration in the quality of the community or whatever were true, we'd all b3 t41k1ng l1k3 th15 by n0w.

People come, people go, some people ask the same questions over and over, and other people get frustrated by it. Some people are rude and intolerant. But I think these are the same problems we've had for a long time. We just have more people now, which I think is A Good Thing, since it shows that there is a healthy base of people interested in Wesnoth.

Our forums will of course run very differently to forums of infant projects such as GalaxyMage and Allacrost -- we are a mature project, they are young ones. Their games are not interesting enough yet to be played by many people who aren't interested in game development. (GalaxyMage might attract a few enthusiasts, but not nearly as many as us). But this is all very natural.

I'm all for mods keeping discussions under control and so forth, and admittedly I'm not nearly as involved in the forums as I once was, but I think our forum is fundamentally healthy and serving its purpose considering our project's age.

David

[troodon]

What does

we'd all b3 t41k1ng l1k3 th15 by n0w.

mean?

[JW]

What does

we'd all b3 t41k1ng l1k3 th15 by n0w.

mean?

n0 w41!!, j00 d0n' n0 wu7 1337zorz i$???
(no way!! you don't know what "leet" is?)

-it means "we'd all be takling like this by now."

[Kestenvarn]

"Taiking".

I'm glad that particular fad is dying off, to the point that people don't even recognize it anymore.

[Starev91]

I mean, unless you're a genuine newcommer to the Internet, it's simply not possible you don't know about the search function on a forum, or about being polite when you ask something instead of yelling "WTF IZ TEH ANSEWR OMG !!11!1". Or about posting "strategy tips" when you are not that good a strategist.

It took me a good six months to on a different set of forums before I found the search button (it's not like I was reposting things, but I just hadn't found it). And some people never learn those things because they spend their time on forums that don't advocate the use of them. And some people have a overestimation of their skill in strategy (except those they do often refer to them as skillz). Being polite never really gets into some people's heads, unfortunately, since if you arn't in some places, you get insulted-and then they flame the person back, and get banned- and that comes between forums, with the person assuming that all forums are like the ones that they came from and that the slightest insult/criticism is someone being exclusive and insulting them and their intelligence again.

(You've got a point about stickies, but that isn't the actual use I was thinking of--it'd give people something to refer people who don't follow it to, and then they might actually read it and internalize the ideas inside it. Or they might not, seeing the dreaded word "Sticky" by it )