Forum moderating

[Svea]

I know I'm a newbie, and according to all netiquette shouldn't come up with ideas for a while, but I have read this forum more or less from the beginning and am fairly familiar with it so I'll make a humble suggestion anyway.

Of all the forums I've been using, one was outstanding and that was because of it's strict yet friendly moderators. The moderators made sure no threads went off-topic (one or two smart-ass comments might have been tolerated, but no more) and they did not allow multiple threads on the same subject; if someone started a duplicate thread it was immediately closed, with a reference to the existing thread, and the user was kindly advised to next time look through old threads before creating a new one. Also, they frowned on netlingo and careless punctuation.

This high standard of the posters made the forum very easy-navigated and enjoyable. Lostpedia Forums have a really good tone and a manageble amount of posters, but to keep this up as the forums grow, I suggest a clear moderator policy somewhat like the one I described.

My two cents, take or leave =)

[plkrtn]

You have a fair point. Currently though there are 11 of us working across Lostpedia and our forums. You may have noticed we're battling a bunch of children going through puberty who are obsessed with vandalism of our site. I'm guessing we will be handing out semi-sysop level access rights soon to some more trusted users to help us in the near future.

I for one however, think threads going off topic is part of the nature of a conversation. I dislike the forced way some forums don't let conversations flow naturally and develop like conversations naturally do.

[Svea]

I agree that too stiff forums are not fun, and I understand how much you all work on this site, kudos for that! You guys do an amazing job, not complaining a bit! =)

Things I was thinking about are little things like not having more than one thread about The Glass Ballerina, trying to encourage people to put adequate titles on threads and not stuff like "I got an idea" and so on. Yeah, I realize and admit the title on this thread isn't that clarifying, but still ;)

[Jake Chambers]

I for one however, think threads going off topic is part of the nature of a conversation. I dislike the forced way some forums don't let conversations flow naturally and develop like conversations naturally do.

Oh man, I can't tell you how much I, member and moderator on many forums myself, agree with you on this... we are people, no matter what communication medium we use, and just talking about the things our mind gets associated to is... natural.

[myk]

Going off topic doesn't bother me nearly so much as the 15 threads about one topic syndrome. We are now getting to the point where people are actually starting new threads about a topic because there are too many threads about the same topic.

The logic of this completely eludes me.

Another thing I would like to see encouraged is actually saying what it is you are talking about in the subject line of a thread. There is a fine line between actually putting a spoiler in a subject line and being completely vague about what the thread will be discussing. But it is a line which needs to be sought.

I am a complete n00b when it comes to Wikis. They frighten and confuse me. You guys are doing a tremendous job with the Wiki (I love the theory submission guidelines). But pretty soon this forum is going to become nigh unreadable. I think some trustworthy moderators need to be appointed.

Not me. I'm far too combative.

[slyce23]

You guys have been doing a great job moderating, and I like being relatively flexible with OT conversations. But I think you may need to be slightly more strict. Sometimes I will post a theory and it goes off topic immediately and noone can really comment on my thoughts. Lostpedia and its forums are by far my favorite Lost websites, please keep it that way.

[Svea]

I'd like to adjust my position about OT a bit, because I totally agree with myk. Discussions tend to wander off a tad, which is normal and OK, but the thread as a whole should stay on topic so that new posters can still contribute to the original topic.

The rule "always something on topic in each post, some OT comment optional" sometimes work fine.

If there is need for bonding (something all good and friendly forums (such as this) crave, the users want to get to know each other) it's better to have special forums for discussions about non-Lost-related topics, chatting, etc.

[plkrtn]

Could you post on http://www.lostpedia.com/wiki/User_talk:Admin and direct him to these forums. A few of you back up the statements. If you want Admin to take some of these ideas on board, which are excellent suggestions, and maybe suggest some forum structures?

I agree with a lot of you on these topics. But you need a few to get Admin's attention, he's a busy man!

[Svea]

Could you post on http://www.lostpedia.com/wiki/User_talk:Admin and direct him to these forums. A few of you back up the statements. If you want Admin to take some of these ideas on board, which are excellent suggestions, and maybe suggest some forum structures?

I agree with a lot of you on these topics. But you need a few to get Admin's attention, he's a busy man!

Anyone want to do it? I'm not good with the words, I'm afraid =(