Forum polution and misuse

Rama and me agreed on making a thread for this.
We both think that some of the users on this forum should show a bit nicer behaviour in their activities on this forum. We are a forum with lots of people, and if the average thoughtfullness of those people is getting worse then this forum is doomed to be spammed full.
Examples of the bad activities mainly are about useless threads. First example: (http://www.speedsolving.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5701).
The what is your fastest time post.
The user that posted this thread only has 3 posts on this forum yet. Besides that he doesn't read the rules properly there is not much we can blame him. We were all new once.
The best way to reacting to a post like this would in our opinion be a comment by a moderator or other user like: 'this thread does not add something to this forum, we already have a whole database for this. I see that you are new and I advice you to read the rules on this forum.' and then close the thread.
The thing annoys us the most about this useless thread is the large number of users that still post in this!

Shelley made clear the thread was useless, I did that too after that. I thought: 'ok we made it clear, people will stop posting here and the user that started this thread learned something'. But users just keep adding posts!

Another example of a thread that's already posted several times: http://www.speedsolving.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5153
I think we all know that most people use white as their cross colour now...

Other things that annoy us are threads started in sections they shouldn't be. Things like 'what to learn after beginners method' should be in beginners section not in speedcubing. A post about Virginia open 2008 should be in the competitions section, not in the speedcubing section.
A thread like: http://www.speedsolving.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5496 differences between types of cubes, go to the hardware section!

A thread with the title: ' !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ' or ' hmm' does not show what the thread is about at all, please pick a title so we at least get a hint about what is discussed there!

20 threads about the best/worst/differences of chinese DIY cubes is a bit useless too. Just like 20 threads about which silicon spray to use.

Rama: http://www.speedsolving.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5585 and ' there is also a sticky one for this'
There are some sticky threads on this forum, and they don't exist for nothing, please don't make threads similair to those.

In short. Please people! think a bit more before you post. Mostly it's common sence!
Lets not make a 2nd Twistypuzzles of this nice forum..

Erik said:

Rama and me agreed on making a thread for this.
Examples of the bad activities mainly are about useless threads. First example: (http://www.speedsolving.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5701).

The thing annoys us the most about this useless thread is the large number of users that still post in this!

Shelley made clear the thread was useless, I did that too after that. I thought: 'ok we made it clear, people will stop posting here and the user that started this thread learned something'. But users just keep adding posts!

Other things that annoy us are threads started in sections they shouldn't be.

A thread with the title: ' !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ' or ' hmm' does not show what the thread is about at all, please pick a title so we at least get a hint about what is discussed there!

20 threads about the best/worst/differences of chinese DIY cubes is a bit useless too. Just like 20 threads about which silicon spray to use.

Rama: http://www.speedsolving.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5585 and ' there is also a sticky one for this'
There are some sticky threads on this forum, and they don't exist for nothing, please don't make threads similair to those.

In short. Please people! think a bit more before you post. Mostly it's common sence!
Lets not make a 2nd Twistypuzzles of this nice forum..

Click to expand...

I'm not a BIG from this forum, but I'm totally agreed with Erik
If you're lazy to search threads which have been answered your questions, don't come here, there are a lot of threads which answers your questions etc.. If you're lazy, don't post a new thread...

I agree with Erik.

I think ''some'' people should start exploring the ''sections'' first before asking questions, or just use the ''search'' function, chances are big you will find your Q&A there.

Mr Henxu, do we really need to quote Erik's full post?

I strongly agree with Erik (and Rama) on this. Especially the "fastest time" topic was/is ridicoulous. I found it pretty quick and tried to stop it without using my moderator-powers as you can see by http://www.speedsolving.com/forum/showpost.php?p=74626&postcount=8. But even after Shelley and Erik pointed out in increasing amount of "annoyedness" that people shouldn't use that topic to post their fastest time people kept doing just that. It makes me think that they don't read others posts

And the TypeX and "what is the best cube" topics are coming like never before.

I really enjoy the freedom that everyone has on this forum, but all those topics really degrade the quality of this forum and make good information harder and harder to find (using the search for "best cube type" is pretty much useless now)

Should I become more Hyde and less Jekyll and show my teeth (maybe even bite?) more often to misbehaving users?

Yes! I would love to see a more active role on the part of the moderators for these kinds of things.

I just started http://www.solvingspeedily.com, if people want to join the forum there too.

That link doesn't work joey.

ShadenSmith said:

That link doesn't work joey.

Click to expand...

it does not work for me either

You probably need to start closing the threads you think don't conform to rules and standards.

Erik said:

Another example of a thread that's already posted several times: http://www.speedsolving.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5153
I think we all know that most people use white as their cross colour now...

Click to expand...

If that had been a simple "Discussion Thread," I would agree with you, however it was a POLL. Yes, we all know that white is the the most popular color... but this was meant to find out how much more popular it is than other colors and also to find out how many people use other colors. And YES, I did use the search function... and guess what, there had NEVER been another poll for cross color. There are polls for cross color neutrality and other similiar topics... but that is the ONLY POLL on the ENTIRE forum about cross color.

So let's go back and look at the chain of events:
I wanted to find out what percentage of the community used which color for cross...
I searched to see if a poll on that topic had already been created...
I found discussions but no polls...
I made a poll...
Quite a few people joined in and we ended up with a nice statistic...

So where is the problem?

Is it just me, or is pollution misspelled (sorry about the off-topicness)?

It's not just you. But Erik isn't a native english speaker, so I let it slide

not_kevin said:

Is it just me, or is pollution misspelled (sorry about the off-topicness)?

Click to expand...

And this for an environmental management student?!

Tssk, Tssk!

Yeah sorry I made this thread without really checking for any langual mistakes. Our English semester is still to come, I would pay more attention to my spelling next time, especially with words like pollution.

@ Carson: you know that a very big percentage uses white, why make a new thread with a poll for it? Why not ask who uses which method and then make another thread with a poll for that too? Or ask who does the U perm with RU moves and then make a new thread with a poll in it?
Sorry but to me that thread was just a dead pixel on my computer screen. (sorry if I sound harsh, but it's just the way I saw that thread)

not_kevin said:

Is it just me, or is pollution misspelled (sorry about the off-topicness)?

Click to expand...

Congrats, this thread is now off topic and polluted

Back on topic, with regard to the useless thread about posting times, I made a suggestion: http://www.speedsolving.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5722

http://www.speedsolving.com/forum/showthread.php?t=28&highlight=stachuk1992

i posted it there, too

Which has already been commented and shown you that such a list is currently already here on this forum.

sorry...i'm going through threads like a kitty

Erik said:

Which has already been commented and shown you that such a list is currently already here on this forum.

Click to expand...

And that list requires a lot of effort by the mods to keep everything updated. He is suggesting something that, if implemented, would be more user and mod friendly.

This thread was posted in the wrong section.
Merge is your friend. Use it.
You can't (can, and do actually) expect new cubers to comply to standards they don't know exist. Sometimes you just have to grit and let it play out.