Archive Windows 98 forums permanently

[jaclaz]

As in, the posts must be of a certain minimum length and/or word count? Although, I'm unsure if the forum software MSFN runs on supports such a feature. >.>

Hmmm, and how long would you think it would take before we have posts like :

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorem_ipsum

http://www.lipsum.com/

jaclaz

[gamehead200]

Well, the idea was to reduce work for Mods, not to make them able to go on holidays.

Don't we already have Rule #2.a and Rule #10?

Just make them stricter, if needed.

jaclaz

Yes, well, there are tons of new members that already break those two rules. Members already get warned for breaking those - a more strict consequence would most likely be a ban, which would result in more banned members than active ones (something we don't exactly want).

Perhaps, if possile despite sounding silly..

... could it be possible to add in a rule whereas new members must contribute something of a certain degree? As in, the posts must be of a certain minimum length and/or word count? Although, I'm unsure if the forum software MSFN runs on supports such a feature. >.>

That's not exactly plausible or easy to do. Like jaclaz said, we'll eventually have people posting garbage text along with their one- or two-worded responses. We already have a bunch of spammers that do that, believe it or not. They post "Thanks" along with garbage text that matches the background color in order to hide it from us, which in turn gets search engines to index our pages and relate them back to keywords we don't want linked to MSFN.

I'm neither against, nor am I am for closing the Windows 9X forum - it will really be the site owner's (xper) decision in the end, so we, as a community, must come to a justifiable, easily implementable, and unanimous solution/decision that xper will agree to.

P.S.: I've pinned this topic.

[Tripredacus]

Maybe a "stupid" idea :

hey, it's not my fault, the devil imai made me think of it

Why not putting a minimum post AND elapsed time since registration to the board limit to allow access to the Win9x Forums in "write mode"?

Something "reasonable" like 3 posts and 7 days since subscription ?

Old time members won't have problems, new members will have to wait one week, during which they will have time to post something in here:

http://www.msfn.org/board/introduce_yourself-f76.html

This should :

a. mitigate the intensity of work of the Mods

b. allow people REALLY interested in joining the discussions to do so, even if they are "new"

c. let "aficionados" continue as if nothing changed

d. disincentivate "kids" from gatecrashing the party (usually the time span before an idea simply pops out of the brain of children is a few minutes)

jaclaz

I think that is a GRAND idea.

Maybe 10 posts though.

It may sound like a good idea, but there are some problems.

What if you don't know anything about the other sections of the forum? For example, there are some forums I go to that are for programming languages. I go there and know PHP but not the other sections. If the PHP forum was disabled until I had made 10 posts elsewhere, but had no where else to post, do you think I would even bother?

[Guest]

10 posts is a bad idea IMO. What are they going to post?

Put their first or first few posts in moderation. Does Invision have inline moderation like vBulletin does? It makes moderating a breeze.

[herbalist]

Will the forum software accommodate any kind of spam filtering, preferably one where you could enter the words or phrases to be filtered? If the words show up in the title, the post is directed to the trash. I'd also be inclined to think that if the 9X forum was closed, another one would get spammed in its place.

A lot of the "flame war" posts start with people who feel the need to post things like "Why do you use that old, obsolete stuff? Get with the times." If I went to the Vista or Windows 7 area and posted something like

Why do you waste time with that bloated, overpriced spyware? Get rid of that junk and get a real OS, Ubuntu Linux.

I doubt that it would be tolerated. But when a post like that comes to the 9X forum, it's left there. We're regularly put in the position of having to defend our choices. Maybe adding something to the 9X announcement area regarding those types of posts might lessen the problem.

Hopefully this can all be worked out so that the 9X area stays open. I've been wanting to look into the KernelEX project and the GDI heap extender, if I can ever find the time. Those projects can keep 98 viable for a long time.

[ripken204]

i have no idea what type of flames there are in there but i found it funny for ppl to go to the 9X forum only to flame like that, these people much have some serious issues to waste their time like that.

Ubuntu is awesome btw

it just doesnt run alot of the programs that i run daily unless i spend a lot of time trying to make it work.

it would be nice to hear from mods regarding how much time/effort this is causing them. we have already heard from some.

[PC_LOAD_LETTER]

But when a post like that comes to the 9X forum, it's left there.

we moderate posts of that type regardless of the forum.

Hopefully this can all be worked out so that the 9X area stays open.

were throwing around ideas and well find a way to make this work for everyone if we can.

We're regularly put in the position of having to defend our choices.

yeah if only there was a way for me to know what that was like (page 3 post 45)

[submix8c]

It seems like those that have been around a while should easily be able to recognize spam or flaming. I've at one point in time caught several in a single day and used (OMG!) the "Report" button.

So... it should be the responsibility of all long-standing members to be on the lookout for spam and immediately report it. Mods don't have the time to hunt around all day but many regulars notice it.

As for the flame-fests, well, any reasonable person should be on the look-out for anything unwarranted and also report it. Respect each other, or just leave or be told to leave. I try (not always successfully) to avoid thos topics, but if they get out of hand the offenders should be warned ("Report") and perhaps the topic closed.

After all, it's all in the Rules. Granted, normal members are not Mods or Supervisors, but if I seen someone doing something rather shady in my neighborhood (this is our neighborhood), yer dern-tootin' it's 9-1-1 time. We are, after all, "brothers and sisters" here (one might hope).

I originally came here for help with Win9x and hope that it doesn't come to the original suggestion.

'Nuff said...

[Colonel O'Neill]

I wonder if a voteban method would work?

A voteban can be initiated by anyone with minimum post count and if a certain number of votes are accumulated the person is banned.

It seems to work on CounterStrike:Source; every player has some moderation powers.

Edited August 23, 2009 by Colonel O'Neill

[jcarle]

I wonder if a voteban method would work?

The problem with vote banning is that it can quickly turn into a popularity contest.

[cyberformer]

It would be a terrible injustice, to close the WIN 9x forums, due to the actions of, what is actually, a "few" individuals----compared to those many, worthy of participating, and enjoying the 9x forums provided by this Great website!

When I came here for the first time, I found a beautiful community of members, dedicated to promoting their interest, and dedication to the 9x systems.

Only since the last year or two, has the "problem" arisen;

before those---" spiteful few"----there were no real problems.

Everyone who really was a "real" member of the 9x forum, respect each other, and are quite proud to participate with project offerings, and ideas.

Even those who had no real PC skills to offer this community, still enjoyed the useful developments of those creating them; eagerly awaiting the progress of their pet project.

The 9x forum has been, and is---invaluable for helping all those who "Will" to choose, and continue to use----the 9x system.

Whilst it is sad, and pathetic, and rightly annoying---so far as these "Few" individuals are concerned, I suggest that cool heads prevail----and that a "Just" solution to the problem be acted upon.

Remember, that it is not the fault of any of the dedicated 9x community here, that has caused this problem! Those that started this, cannot be said to be fans or dedicated to 9x, in any way shape or form, regardless of how many service packs they have tried to promote.

They have abused something quite grand and beautiful, provided as something wonderful as presented under the auspices of MSFN.

Please do not punish the "true" and active members of the 9x forum, who have always enjoyed the friendly camaraderie this unique website has provided for their use.

[cluberti]

Please do not punish the "true" and active members of the 9x forum, who have always enjoyed the friendly camaraderie this unique website has provided for their use.

We are trying hard to come up with a workable solution for everyone, but honestly, most of the moderating team have a life that doesn't involve babysitting the 9x forums. I hate to be frank, but due to the fact that the 9x forums are a harbinger of "report this post" emails, name-calling and mud-slinging, and the types of users who end up attacking MSFN (verbally and otherwise) when something doesn't go their way is why we've taken some of the drastic measures against our Polish "friends" lately (and we do apologize for the inconvenience to the legit members from Poland, who we will do what we can to accomodate if they let us know they cannot get in). Other than the obvious spam that hits every forum, we spend the most time, per moderator, going through and keeping the 9x forums clean. It's gotten to be a large investment of time compared to ANY other section on this forum, hence the scrutiny.

To wit, one of the options on the table is having a few more moderators for the 9x sections specifically as part of any solution that doesn't involve archiving that section, but again the discussion about this is in it's infancy. No one need be up in arms yet, and we'll make as level-headed and forward-thinking a decision as we can about this. It's just that, honestly, archiving that forum is indeed one of the many options on the table at this point.