I noticed alot of members have been doing this lately for whatever reason. But What I'm talking about is how members tell mods to lock up threads. Example: "Ok Lock this up mods!"
To me its basically Spam for a "free post." Because thats why we have mods for them to do it by them selfs. Alot of members do this for no reasons I'm sure mods know when to lock it up. Now I'm just saying maybe its a good suggestion to mark those type of posts as spam and delete them. (Make it a rule) What do you think?
I agree, but rather than deleting the post..... Delete the post, and remove the post count, and the AG points that were added by those posts that were posted. I hate spammers! >.<
FYI: When your post is deleted, you lose the AP that you gained from said post, and your post count is corrected.
Making this practice a rule just might encourage zealotry which would negatively affect content on AG. I can stand some people scoring "free points" because of saying "lock plz" because when a mod locks the thread, they can delete the irrelevant posts.
Also I'm not concerned about who is scoring free points, so much as who does so fraudulently.
I agree that it's unnecessary. You can flag posts for the moderator to look at. A post just saying "lock plz" is obviously spam. Then again, a post like "This has been done before at <link> and is against the rules as per <link>" can be really helpful. I think you have to look at it on a case by case basis.
@ Victrix I usually prune my wall, so I erase these kind of comments when I've looekd at the topic and made my choice (lock or not). So basically the users don't get any points for these comments.
But what is getting to annoy me is the forum posts users leave when they think a topic is spammy. You can find around 20 mesages in a row (from different users) saying "This is spam". Well, these messages ARE SPAM!! Even if the intentions are good, you don't need to repeat what has already been said before!
Yes, I was probably going to make a topic about this soon if not sooner.
Backseat modding contributes to a huge spam load. If people continue saying "LOCK THIS" it's just causing the thread starter to become angry. As the rules go, if you don't have anything to contribute then don't post for the sake of posting.
We also tend to moderate users who are NOT backseat modding, because we like the idea that we can moderate a user who can follow all the rules and set a good example.
In general, I will create a new post if I can supply the link to the other post where this should be continued, or if I can suggest where the post should be placed (if in the wrong heading) and explain why. It irritates me to no end when a useless thread keeps getting bumped because people continuously say "lock plz". Just leave a message on an admin's site.
I will see members 4-5 times in a row write: "SPAM!" with out any further direction to the topic starter. This frustrates me.
However, (like DM just stated) I actually enjoy when a member will explain it out to the topic starter and give them a link to where the topic already is, or where they might need to view help. This saves me from having to write anything and I will just lock it.
The problem (as I see it), is explaining this to everyone.
Yea... it was kind of funny at first with people joking about SPAM and what not, but now it has been over done to the point where writing about it being SPAM is SPAM. So if a topic is SPAM, please just let us know, or wait for us to get to it instead of writing "LOCK THIS" "THIS IS SPAM" on it. If I see those kind of comments in the future, they will be erased because they as well are SPAM.
Well, say there is a spam topic, or a copy of another thread. Is it okay to say WHY it is spam or copied, and give them a link to the original (if coppied,) Instead of just saying, "SPAM mods PLEASE LOCK!!!" If I did the first one, is it still considered spam even if I explained why?
Not if you did the first one, except if somebody before you already pointed out that the topic was spam. In fact, it's good when users post links to similar threads, because it allows us to lock the thread without having to say so.