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Discussion in 'Forum Owners' started by Sam, May 21, 2016.

  1. Sam

    Sam Member

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    I'm wondering what the best way is to encourage tfw members to make on-topic posts.... I would rather not ban / block members who are not following the rules OR worse remove the forum entirely. With Postl**p I found I was getting far more web hosting related posts.
     
  2. Kaynil

    Kaynil Well-Known Member

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    I am not staff, but as a writer, it concerns me that you are having so much trouble with this. This place rarely gets influx of websites for us to work with so I thought I might as well leave my two cents on the matter. I hope you don't mind.

    I want to think that if it happens very often, chances are that is some misunderstanding on what we think we can do and what you're actually expecting us to do. Is the problem the quality of the posts or that we post in zones you rather us not to touch? Is it the topic versus post ration?
    Anything you can elaborate in how we're falling short I am sure will be appre appreciated by many of us.

    I am not sure how the rating members work for you guys, assuming it cost you nothing to rate people I think that would be your best way to keep the control of quality in your website.

    For the writers of TFW that you deem necessary, you could explain where they are falling short and warn them you will drop their rating if they don't pick up the slack and fix their past low quality posts in X time.

    The lower our rating the less amount of forums we will meet the requirement to join, so it is a big weapon. In the same vein, you could increase the minimal rating before we get allowed to subscribe. At this time there is one community I do not meet the minimal level requirement. TFW actually depends a lot in owners being fair with the ratings so they reflect the real quality we'll get.

    I think because there are so few members, many of us still only have the gateway rating, so we really need more owners to take the time to rate our work. The more often we get rated the faster bad users will get weed out.

    Anyway, hopefully you will soon get a proper Staff response. @KenBrace has been busier than usual so he might take a bit longer than usual but I am sure he'll reach this thread.
     
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  3. Sam

    Sam Member

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    Thank you for your reply!

    Simply, because it's a web hosting forum, I'd like to see more of the posts going to the main sections:

    [​IMG]

    Rather than the general boards:

    [​IMG]
     
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  4. KenBrace

    KenBrace Well-Known Member Administrator

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    To start, it might be a good idea to increase the minimum rating requirement for your site. You'll have less posters but they'll be better.

    You could also consider excluding the off topic areas from adding to user's post counts. That way they aren't paid for off topic posts. This is the best way to motivate people who don't listen to instructions.

    You can also confront people directly. If it's just a few people that keep posting in off topic areas you could try sending a PM and asking that they stay more on topic.

    Another suggestion is to place more clear rules in your rules list. Clarify that you only allow one off topic post for every 9 on topic posts or whatever you want. Or maybe you could explicitly state (in bold perhaps) that you want NO off topic posts.

    I could also create you a specialized script that automatically groups writers from TFW into a specific user group. That way you can display banner instructions and notes to your writers directly. This is one of the best ways to "direct traffic" and let your writers know exactly what you want.

    Anyway, I hope that helps! I'm sorry for the late response. I've been really busy lately with so many projects that it's hard to find enough time for everything. I'm going to have to see about hiring someone.
     
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  5. Sam

    Sam Member

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    Thank you Ken- Really appreciate your response. I've updated the minimum requirement for the forum to 4.5. Definitely a good idea for a more technical forum.

    I would rather not mess with the post counts for the off topic sections too much. But- what I have done is added a forum games section which doesn't increase post count. I might edit that slightly so more trivial topics go in there.

    Changed the rules to state that only 1 in 4 posts may be made in the off topic sections.

    Wow - that would definitely be a USP for theforumwheel for sure. :) Although I am hoping the changes I've made do make a difference.
     
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  6. KenBrace

    KenBrace Well-Known Member Administrator

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    Definitely give that a shot but honestly there are lots of good writers that will be cut out. 4.0 is sort of the major turning point in quality. That's why it's the recommended limit. But yeah definitely try several limits and find out what works best.

    I'm thinking about developing an additional addon for each of the different software packages that will add this feature automatically. That way I don't have to worry about creating it specifically for those who need it. For now I'll see about making you one. I'm currently out of town and not in a position to do any programming work but I'll be back in a few days. I'll try to get the script created some time this week. Maybe shoot me a reminder later on this week just to make sure I don't forget. :oops:
     
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  7. Kaynil

    Kaynil Well-Known Member

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    Coool. I am sure those steps should mark a difference.

    Since I don't think it hurts to mention it,
    just saying "off topic sections", can be up to interpretation.

    I recommend you that you clearly state in your rules the 1/0 zone category or even name the sections themselves as the discouraged ones. That way there is no room for misinterpretation so you can act swiftly on people not honouring the requirements.

    Although is obvious for you which areas are off-topic, there is still room for assuming that the off-topic areas are just the last sections like "general chat" and "forum games" rather than everything outside the web hosting central category.

    Anyway, I hope all this makes you receive the quality posts you are looking for. I'll keep in mind what I've learned here.
     

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