when someone posts a comment that is merit worthy there isn't a very good chance that a moderator will find them and award them the merit point, so i say there should be some sort of system to guide mods to merit-worthy comments. the system could be as simple as sending a mod a message when a comment was posted with say 150 words or more (for example) then the mods can go to that comment and see if it's merit worthy or not. i think this would severely increase the amount of merit points given fairly.
Sounds like a goo way to find and punish those people posting chain letters, but I doubt it will help with the merits. Not to mention that merits are a reward, not a requirement. If you don't get one, be happy you still got the 2 points for the comment.
If people started posting better comments, mods would not have to use all their energy deleting spam, thus increasing the likelihood of getting a merit.
Just like getting messages about new comments would stop all motivation of actually wanting to read it, not to mention people would start complaining when they don't get a merit, because we obviously haven't read it and booooo!
well then it would be quite annoying because people would and could just be random letters. also merits have been given to people who hae less then 150 words
He means that people could just put in random letters to get the proper amount of letters/words. And thus exposing themselves to a banning shot to the face, I guess.
i know that it could be a bit of a pain for mods but that's why i say the word count, anything that isn't very merit worthy wouldn't be worth the trouble for anyone to create such long spam and thus would probably only channel the merit worthy, or just detailed comments. I'd at least like to see this be considered because now as it is I think only maybe 5-10% of all merit worthy comments are credited for
It's not up to you to decide what's merit worthy. For all we know, some moderator could decide that a post under 150 words was worthy of a merit.
wouldn't be worth the trouble for anyone to create such long spam
Copy & paste chain letters, spammers trolling the mods, people who type incomprehensibly and in large amounts and some advertisements would all get flagged by a system that counted words.
I think its an interesting idea, but the above mentioned flaws are an issue. It would be useful for moderators to have some way of finding merit worthy comments swiftly but this is not the solution. I think many people probably think that they are not getting merits when really they should, and although this decision is not up to them, it is undeniable that this is a large forum and it takes a while to sieve through it.
My suggestion is that Armorgames thinks long and hard about this problem once AG3 has finished, as I am sure there are more pressing concerns. I believe I speak for all of us however, when I say that I want this issue resolved.
Even if a long post usually isn't merit-worthy, it's not like a beautiful 20 word post will get you one, generally. I also agree that the system is flawed in one or another way.
Less ranty/angry reply: The staff will not be making changes to this current site. Please go to getsatisfaction.com/armorgames or the AGv3 forum and read on their plans about AP and merits (which will most likely be discontinued). Thanks.
Angry and ranty reply. Reading at your own risk. I don't see why this would be concerning anyone. As far as I am aware, there won't be merits in AGv3, so the staff won't change the "system" right now. Not to mention every time you say the system is flawed, you are indirectly saying that we mods don't do our jobs well enough, fighting through all the spam users leave. Not to mention two things: Have it ever occurred to you, your comment might not be worth a merit? Or that the "system" might be flawed because mods have no intention of giving merits to people who whine and complain about not getting merits, when they could be using their time flagging spam comments, writing a proper review or shutting the hell up?
If the majority of the users won't make the effort of writing something worth our while, then why should we make the effort of rewarding merits at all, just because a few people actually write more than a line. Shouldn't it be reward enough to not have your comments violently burned off the site?
I think that "fixing" the merit system should come at the appropriate time. Like when the more important stuff has been fixed. Like the help page not being helpful in any way (if it was, we wouldn't need stickies), or to make sure the newbies are aware of the rules (So no time is wasted on answering the same question for the five hundred thousandth time, because no one cares to link to the place where the answer is, and because no one cares to read the freaking stickies or the rules).
So... Dear people thinking we don't do our unpaying job well enough... Go make it worth it for us, will you? Or at least stop giving us crap about this, because the staff won't be listening to suggestions about this site. If they are listening at all.
Just putting things into perspective, I guess. Or trying to. And I don't think the whining will ever go away. They will just find new things to whine about.
It's not up to you to decide what's merit worthy. For all we know, some moderator could decide that a post under 150 words was worthy of a merit.
i was just using the number 150 as a rough example, not a suggestion.
Copy & paste chain letters, spammers trolling the mods, people who type incomprehensibly and in large amounts and some advertisements would all get flagged by a system that counted words.
