ANNOUNCEMENT: A must read!

There has been a sudden increase in spam and it is rather depressing to witness. Hence, from this point on those caught writing posts with no true purpose beyond getting their post count up will be given a warning, after five warnings the person in question will be banned. Warnings will be directed by PM. We want the forum to be a great place for people to discuss and educate themselves, this is not possible if every second poster makes no effort in progressing the discussion. These new strict regulations are being implemented to benefit the intellectual integrity of the community.

Examples of spam posts: “Yeah me too, lol”, “That’s what I wanted to say…”, “What the guy above said…”, etc.

If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to PM me, I'd be glad to help.

Furthermore, the Q&A forum features slightly tighter rules:

• Thread title must be on topic. "help plz" or "Im a nooob!" will be locked on sight
• No excessive puncutation or attempts at attracting attention. ?!?!?!?!? or !!!!! and related are not allowed.
• Don't double post to bump your thread. Bumped threads will be locked or deleted.
• Our english rules still apply very much so here.
• If your topic is not Q&A, it will be locked

That’s what I wanted to say…

Are you able to disable post counts from appearing under your avatar? That might be a way to discourage post pumping.

Oh god I hope I haven't violated anything...

That is an excellent idea, Deadroot. I hope the moderating team takes it into consideration. This count means nothing and might even create prejudice. What's important is now how many posts the person has but the quality of the posts themselves (I of all should not speak about that ). If I am not mistaken, I did once see those counters disabled on one forum and it did marvels. Of course that might be one of the more radical means; if this warning fails.

lol one of my guildmates said the exact same thing befor, but I like the idea of taking away the posts and if worst comes to worst take away the things under your names lol

Sounds fine to me, but I'd rather see the chopping block come down on idiocy over spam; however, they are often twins.

A difference will only be felt and made when useless posts are deleted. I think it would be too much of a hassle to remove one post count from "every second poster". The loss of one post count isn't as noticable.

I must admit, as much as like to see my little number go up, I try to at least make my comments worth while. I'm all for this policy.

I don't think you have a choice to be for or against it, and while you may have your opinion towards it on the inside, no matter which side you take, this is going into play. Welcome to the New Guru Order, a place that decides if you are worth your while or worthless. I enjoy that about this place.

There's no point in spamming anyways. What does anyone get from it?

People get postcounts from posting lots and lots of retarded stuff. Somehow this makes people feel important or something, because there seem to be a lot of people who care about their postcount for some reason or another.

I would like to second Cicciro's motion to crack down on rampant idiocy on this site. There are plenty of other forums for that - we don't need to be yet another. Those of you who are part of the problem certainly aren't aware of it, but everyone else does - hopefully our moderation staff will be messaging you to let you know that your utterly vapid comments are not appreciated.

Peace,
-CxE

ON my clan forum for games on Battle.Net, we call that "post whoring" Like where there really isnt a point. You just want posts. But its not always on purpose. WHich is where the warning s come in right? Thanks for being like that. An understanding person. While also eliminating the post RED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GOs.

And Kiwi, if you viloated it you would have been PMed a warning.

It's a noble goal, but something about it doesn't seem right. I'm sure that the Guru mod team will do a great job of determining who is spamming and who isn't, but I think it's inevitable that someone is going to get punished when they don't deserve to be. As for cracking down on forum idiocy, no offense intended, we all can't be Cicciros or Ensigns. Sometimes smart people just need to deal with others who aren't as smart.

Cracking down on spam and idiocy is great ... just be careful not to alienate new members or new players who don't know any better; I'd rather educate them and bring them up to speed than have them leave instead. Theres also a fine line between different ideas and idiocy. Remember fallout on guild-hall? Do his posts deserve to be removed or are they valid discussion?

Fallout wasn't an idiot - he was a troll. People who are just clueless can learn and become a useful part of the community. Trolls just want to cause trouble.

I don't want us to start banning people for being stupid here, but a (not so) friendly suggestion to some people that they lurk more than post might not be entirely uncalled for.

Peace,
-CxE

We do have our Q&A forum for those needing some guidance.

In terms of post count etc - I have always found that a join date has always been a better metric of poster intelligence then the number of times they have been able to post a message.

Stupid people with idiots thoughts are part of this world (take this message as a proof of this if you want ) and what about tolerance?

Is it a nerd-only dedicated forum?

Personnaly I don't think the post counter is a valuable information for members. So I'd say you admin should think to keep it 'for your eyes only'.

(fear this is too much sincerity and I will get a warning )

If a stupid post can get an insightful reply, then it's not entirely useless (if only for the original poster). But if being wrong or naive in this forum is not welcome (this is a guru site after all), many of us will just go back to our natural tendency: to stay in lurker mode. I won't hold any grudge against such a policy, just be clear on this matter.

We are not trying to alienate forum members, we are merely attempting to keep the discussions clean and educative. A "dumb" question is educative, a dumb response is not.

"There are no stupid questions, only inquisitive idiots."

There's nothing wrong with asking 'stupid' questions. That's how you learn, by identifying what you don't understand and trying to understand that. No problems with that - you'll even find me answering 'stupid' questions in that forum sometimes.

No, the problem, as THX mentions, is stupid answers. Then the conversation is not about simple questions that people might not understand - then it's about fighting through piles of misinformation to actually learn something. If you don't know the answer to a question, *don't post*.

This is a strategy site, not a high-level strategy site. That means there's a place for both basic and advanced strategy discussion - I don't want to discourage the former just because I'm not as interested in it. I just think that if someone is derailing threads by consistently posting way over their heads, the moderating staff should send them a polite suggestion that they spend some more time in the shallow end of the pool.

Peace,
-CxE

what every person is forgetting it seems it that a spammer will get no less than FIVE WARNINGS that they are acting out of line

after 5 warnings it would look to me that it was being done on purpose not an accident

if the board will handle it you might have off topic posts not count toward your post count to cut spam (it has worked elsewhere)

How would the board know if the post was offtopic? If you imply it could be done manually, then I think the moderators have more important things to do than check every single post on the forum.

[color=black]I could see that it might not count as much, but eliminating it all together might just be giving a spammer a loaded gun. Off Topic is self explanatory, but I don't want 12 pages of stuff just because it doesn't apply to your count. I could understand that a little more leeway though.[/color]

[color=black]Additional: Hadn't though of that, I don’t know if there is a separate count or if it is even possible[/color]

i was refering to the *off topic* forum which by definition is non GW related not somethng off topic in the info threads

sorry for not being clear

edit

it is possible at least with IPB to cut off any separate forum from being counted and it cut off topic forun to a fraction of what it was

but the 5 warnings then gone should also do the trick

does this board have a warn level (only the admin/mod/user can see it) that could be activated?

That would be the reason for the 5 warning.

i just had an idea, you know how theirs the post counter, well maybe you should have a spot on the homepage where everyweak you put up the person who has had the most intelligant and good posts. so that way everyone would push to writing good posts instead of writing pointless posts thought that might work well

There is a great deal of strategy in this game, and a great lack of documentation shipping with the pre-order package. The vast majority of people that read the site are looking for information on the game, but not necessarily for the depth of information that is at this site. Implementing a new player area (the 'shallow end' mentioned way up) to handle the basics would be a good addition. I don't think I missed one on the site, did I? It would keep some of the noise off the advanced threads. Take the questions that are about basic game play and create a forum for it. All we need is a shepherd for the lost.
As far as the intentional trolls and spammers go, lose them sooner than later. We have a great resource in our Alpha testing 'Gurus'. If the loss of a few of the less secure members is what it takes to keep the site focused I'm all for it.

Oh, look! My post count went up by ONE!

Admin could add a 'report off-topic' icon on the left part of every message, next to the 'report bad post' one, available only to members, and showing a little visible counter itself. When a member click that icon, the counter is raised by one, and when a predetermined maximum is reached (5? 10? 20? different members) an alert is automatically sent to an admin who has to decide wheter that post is off-topic or not.

Simple, convenient, and not a big PHP effort.

I suggest admin use private messages to warn the culprit. Nor delete, nor edit nor add new post with critics. Ask the person gently to delete or to edit her/his warned message.

____________________________________________
This is a guru follower opinion, not absolute truth

Well, I'm almost a little afraid of posting - but I think I have something valid to say;

1. The reason I started using this website was because of the focus in the posts. This forum seemed to have fewer post with more content.

2. When we have people like Saus, CxE, Spooky and other "quality" posters, posting and responding it increases the value i get from reading the forums.

3. VN Boards , and now even Gwonline are falling to SPAM and more SPAM. VNBoards is particulary awful at this point. Gwonline have some active moderators, that barely is hanging in there.The Guild Hall is also falling more and more into the useless post category. I think Sausalt%^$# Rex...sorry I have to just say Saus..to complicated for me now...was drowned in the Guild Hall testing builds, by endless and mindless posters. DON'T LET THAT HAPPEN HERE!

4. The writeup outside the forum in this website are sophisticated and very helpful. I think the Moderators should strive for deleting posts that have been covered in those write ups.

5. Delete posts like "What is Judges Insight", What is a rune ? "Build me a nice monk build",etc...kill it early, warn and ban those guys quickly...you guys have to keep it focused.

6. I do agree, that sometimes it can feel intimedating not having so many posts, but maybe promote to Senior Dwellers or whatever based more on evaluation and gut feeling about the posters.

7. I love the layout of the site and the quality in the forums. Please keep it as it is...get rid of mindless stuff...NO I am not to anal retentive (well a little)

8. I usually post in other forums, but because of the quality here I haven't had to. So if you are a poster that has a hunch about the answer, but is not sure - just leave it and don't post untill you see some of the Moderators answer...if they are slow about it --- POST!

Anyway, I enjoy the site - keep it together!!

edit: 1 got a POST!

Ratatass

That is an awesome idea. That would motivate people to make meaningfull intelligent post. Unlike the opposite, pointless and rediculously supid.

Meaningful and intelligent people need no motivation, Nova. You should not post because you want to get on the main page. You should post because you have something to say. If you try to speak when you have nothing to say, it would only make matters worse.

Dude, I am agreeing with Whosa that it would motivate people that make poinltess post to make ones that have a purpose. I know people who make good posts don't need motivation. Hell, I don't I haven't gotten any warnings. Most of my post are pretty darn long. And if they aren't they aren't extremly short eitehr and they have a reason and are on topic. Don't attack me for no reason thank you. Not at all would be nice to.....

Two points here.

1. Five warnings. If we get it wrong five times, we do not even deserve to run a website
2. No one said you have to be a genius to post. What THX explicitly said that if your post is nothing but spam [ie no content and does nothing but consume bandwidth for everyone], you will be warned. Do it five times, and you will be banned. Pretty simple

I feel compelled to weigh in here myself. I wish to re-emphasize that we're not starting a witch hunt here. We're not trying to drive anyone with an IQ under 112 off our boards. We're not trying to discourage people from posting. We're not divying up our posters by their worth and casting the rejects aside. Far from it.

What we're trying to do is to discourage people from posting off-topic. Either a post adds to a discussion or it doesn't. Either it's on the topic or it's off the topic. We like the former. We hate the latter. Because off-topic posts do nothing but waste people's time. They add nothing, they make a thread more difficult to read, and that, more than anything will discourage people from posting. If views and opinions aren't being given the due respect and consideration then why should people bother to post them? Why will someone wade through the off-topic fluff to find the posts that are actually on topic and relevant to what they were looking for in the first place? The answer, to us, is that they won't. They'll tire of it. They'll give up and look elsewhere and they either won't share their knowledge or they won't find the knowledge they were looking for. Either option is unacceptable to us in trying to fashion a place where knowledge and information is shared freely and openly.

As has been said, we're not putting each and every post to some sort of test to see if it's "worthy" or "intelligent". That's just not our job and it's far too subjective for our tastes. We are holding posts to the test that they remain on-topic and that's something that's been in our guidelines all along. What we're doing now is to realize that people have been ignoring our guidelines and to remind them that there will be consequences for that.

We like our boards, we like our posters, we think the vast majority of you are doing a great job and making our site much better than it would be without you. We don't want to drive anyone away. What we want to do is to make sure that your views, your opinions, your questions, your insights are heard and respected. And we're doing so by cutting down on the fluff and clutter that only clouds things. That's it, nothing more.

Keep doing what you're doing. If you're doing wrong, you'll hear from us. Otherwise, you're probably doing just fine. Just know that we're watching and trying to make sure that everything stays fine.

i see you guys took away the post counter well i still think my idea is brilliant but this auta keep all the spamming down, god everyday look at my PMs going ohh god i know today im getting "the letter" lol, but im impressed how quick you guys did that, i love this site more and more everyday

I for one am very happy to see this, I am of the camp less of the more informative is much better than pages and pages of useless crap. One of the problems with becomming much more popular and read, is that you attract some trolls who like to post to see their name "in lights" ... Hope we can keep that under control here and be more helpful and informative rather than irrelevant and useless.

GWGuru = Active Discussions and informative information

So lets keep it that way.

Great job with it Rex. This site is great. I love the Questions and Answers forum. It lives up to its name well. That and this one, the Riverside Inn are the only two I go to. And I wondered that too that the post counter was gone. I dind't out that as the most important thing but it was cool for me to see, 'Wow, I have already posted that much?! AWESOME! I lvoe this site!' You know? No matter thought. Still love it. Good idea to keep the title that went along with the counter. Like "Quiet Traveler" and such.

KEEP UP THE GREAT WROK GWGURU ADMINS!

I have to agree with this. I have been and seen this happen many times. But I have to say We are humans. Humans make mistakes. If you get booted, you get booted. It sucks when it happens ... <<< knows personally ... but there has to be a line. For instance who really gives a damn about my whole post i just wrote. It could be flagged as spam for not really saying anything. I'm glad the counter has been removed ... ty to the webmaster. It was definately an encouragement to spam. Anyways if ya boot me then ya boot me ... <<<< please don't boot me!

Well, I don't believe people should suddenly be afraid to post. As we are using a 5 strike system, chances are those who continue to break the rules after 4 warnings are doing so because they want to and not by mistake.