Minimum post lengths

[False Perception 482]

-snip-

 

I'm afraid I have to disagree with you there. While some point of me thinks that there shouldn't even BE a limiter, the Everfree forest contains important discussions, and we want users to go in depth and evaluate the topic at hand. Whenever WBC is concerned, it always gets a tad out of hand. Nopony likes them, so you can expect bashing there. I feel that was a bad representation. It's not all that uncommon for someone to say, "agree, this needs to happen," and just leave the topic entirely. In that case, as stated before, a brohoof should suffice. As Scootaloo pointed out, there were too many posts, and not enough characters (refer graph) and it was dragging down our average. We NEED detail to grow. Hell, without detail, look at my summary of Christine by Stephen King: A boy buys a possessed car that trys to murder people. Wow, one sentence. Amazing. I got the point across, and I summarized it, but did I REALLY add anything useful to analyze? No, because no detail means no engaging discussion. No engaging discussion means no more new users which means we will die out. Take Aurora, Colorado for example. Why don't we try and assess the man's mental state when he went on the rampage instead of just saying, "aw man, that really sucks. Feel sorry for them..."

 

TL;DR (not like you should have read past the first two sentences) It's there because more detail=more interest=more users=more forum lifespan.

 

Excluding this sentence, character count is 1419.

Edited July 26, 2012 by DoubleFrenzyWithCheese

[~Muffin of Chaos~ 184]

Hard. I run out find myself out of ideas, just saying random things to get past the minimum. (see! had to do it!)

[Neikos 968]

-snap-

 

Let's not get into detail what one can discuss in details as that would fall out of scope in a topic about minimum post lengths.

 

Now, I'm not sure you understood what I said. I never said "Go spam the everfree" or "Just tell your opionion and kthxbai" actually I did not read trough the Westboro Baptist Church because I find those discussions pointless and just talking behind people's back. ( But that is another issue all together. )

 

Let me put it this way: I joined MLP Forums to meet other Bronies, talk with them, have fun with them. ( And it did work. )

I also joined to talk about the show should I feel like it. About things like "If X exists in Equestria" or similar.

 

But then there is also that what holds together a community, interaction. ( It's not long posts btw, they are just a byproduct of healthy debates ) Right now this system denies me to hold the most basic form of interaction that is necessary in a forum. Like let's say someone asks a "Yes or No" question, right now I can't even say "Yeah, that's how you do it." or "Nah, you better do Y first and then X, you will be fine that way." because of a 100 character limit.

 

Taking that form of interaction away is annoying.

 

Let me take another forum as an example:

 

 

I have no statistics available as Garry doesn't give them out, but let's check out a few of the recent posts:

 

( 86 chars )

( a whopping 25 chars )

( 68 chars )

 

And here is another post from the forum:

 

( a measly 912 characters)

 

 

 

Something tells me that people don't necessarily stay because of long and thoughtful replies that take 20~ minutes to write.

 

 

Maybe it's just though that Facepunch is Fucking Incredible

 

Edited July 26, 2012 by Jubilee van Neikos

[False Perception 482]

Well, your argument is invalid because Facepunch isn't applicable here due to the fact that Facepunch, is indeed fucking incredible.

 

In other news, it sounds like you just want a random chat thread. Personally, I can't see how that could go wrong. It sounds as though you just want to talk with other bronies, regardless of the topic.

 

That's a chat.

 

I will support you with that.

[Neikos 968]

Well, your argument is invalid because Facepunch isn't applicable here due to the fact that Facepunch, is indeed fucking incredible.

 

In other news, it sounds like you just want a random chat thread. Personally, I can't see how that could go wrong. It sounds as though you just want to talk with other bronies, regardless of the topic.

 

That's a chat.

 

I will support you with that.

 

Hence why I said in my first post why the Everfree should not be 'regulated'.

[False Perception 482]

You can't really have Facepunch's rules here. They're on a whole 'nother level than us. They have 38K users, 18K at one time. We haven't even broke 500 at one time. If they have no more new users for a year, they will still survive easily. Very easily. If we take a hit to the growth like that, we might as well crumple up in a ball and sob. Usually, characters=quality, so we need to keep the ratio high to maintain constant growth. Facepunch's mods could go diddle in a corner and they'd be okay. You can't compare us to them. We're only alike in the sense we're a forum.

[Teh Boi 113]

Meh, it was hard first, but I got used to it already.

Good thing I don't role play, or I would be shitting hurricanes lol. Seriously.

[Pulcinella 1,016]

also i lol'd at the tag

 

What? I don't get it. Mind explaining to tag to me? In other words, What does TL;DR or whatever mean?

[Random User 249]

Guy's, we're going about things all wrong. We need to make the post lengths 1,000 characters.

[Skullbuster 1,906]

What? I don't get it. Mind explaining to tag to me? In other words, What does TL;DR or whatever mean?

 

TL;DR means Too Long; Didnt Read

 

its used when something is too long and you didnt bother to read it

[sᴜᴍᴍoɴᴇᴅ 55]

No offense, but what does that add to a discussion? If all you're really doing is expressing agreement or approval of another post, you can always do so by way of the Brohoof button.

 

We'd rather have fewer quality posts than a ton of pointless posts that don't really contribute anything.

 

Sometimes, people don't want to ADD more to a discussion anymore than what they want or what has already been said. If anything, now if we just agree to something, We'll just brohoof the post or nod in agreement at the post and lurk elsewhere.

 

Also, we've made a post mentioning that the Introduction page shouldn't have a character limit but if it does need one, it should be 50 characters at most. We really can't find anything more to someone than the usual "welcome to the forums" or how we would say it: "We welcome you to the forums."

 

But whatever works for you guys.

[Abstract 832]

I'm going to try and be nice about this, but I fear I'll probably fail. In any case:

 

Guys, what I've concluded from posts that just add useless words to the end to make the limit - your original words were not really enough to make a decent post in the first place. In other words, this, "I can make my point in less than one hundred characters" mindset that seems to be the number one reason for complaints; I'm sorry, but from evidence, you cannot. Trying to not be a jerk about this, but it feels like you're simply complaining about not being able to make vague, content-less posts. A post should bring something of worth, someone should be able to quote your post and have a discussion about what you said.

 

Yes, it is possible to make short, simple statements that are under 100 characters and get the point across. But why would you want to stop there anyway? Why not go beyond the summery of your thoughts on the subject, and elaborate on them; get a discussion going? I'm not saying add filler to every post you make. Rather, make an effort to make every post the most thought out and contributory post you possibly can. (Which should most definitely be more than 100 characters.)

 

Just my two cents.

[Zoop 8,384]

Also, we've made a post mentioning that the Introduction page shouldn't have a character limit but if it does need one, it should be 50 characters at most. We really can't find anything more to someone than the usual "welcome to the forums" or how we would say it: "We welcome you to the forums."

Summoned by the great and all powerful Changeling Queen Chrysalis and we will rule over Equestria; taking the identities of those that already live peacefully and replace them-permanently.

 

Nah, we're just kidding. We wouldn't do that. We're nice and whatnot. Just misunderstood. We mean, c'mon, we were living in the depths and the shadows from you peaceful folk. Give us a chance.

 

Anyways, it's nice being around here and I hope we all can get along. We would surely appreciate this.

 

Welcome to the forum, Summoned! I like to think we've got a pretty friendly and decent crowd around these parts - hopefully you'll agree and stick around for a while.

 

If you have any questions about anything, please don't hesitate to ask!

[Evilshy 5,090]

Welcome to the forum, Summoned! I like to think we've got a pretty friendly and decent crowd around these parts - hopefully you'll agree and stick around for a while.

 

If you have any questions about anything, please don't hesitate to ask!

 

 

This is Evilshy, reporting live from Canterlot Castle. I'm here with Zoop, an administrator who is taking a temporary leave of absence.

 

So, Zoop, has your opinion on this matter changed at all due to your lack of administrative privileges and responsibilities?

*hands Zoop microphone*

[Zoop 8,384]

The post counter doesn't actually discriminate between admins, mods, and regular members - so I've been having to deal with the minimum just as much as anyone else has been since the moment it was implemented. So far it has caught me by surprise two times - in both instances it took me less than thirty seconds to come up with enough additional material to pass (typically by quite a bit, at that) the character limit.

 

Honestly, both times it resulted in a better post. It made me stop and say "oh, I guess this could do with a bit more"

 

Basically... opinion hasn't changed yet. I'll keep you posted.

[Shiki 5,855]

I joined on the 21st of July, which was one day after this was implemented. Quite honestly, I didn't even notice it until I was only a few posts away from becoming a cupcake.

[Abstract 832]

True. I forgot not everybody on this site is a no life teenager who does nothing but sits on the computer, and signs into every forum on the internet every day.

Believe it or not, I actually kind of miss those days when that was me. Having a life is great and all, but there's something to be said about just doing your own thing, whenever you want. Grass is always greener, eh?

[Doctor XFizzle 8,669]

Of the 3-4 days it's been in action, I've only found myself needing to meet the minimum like twice out of about 60 posts. It's not that hard. Granted those two times I had to stretch to get to the minimum, but I feel we're all decently intelligent and capable people that we can express our opinion both thoroughly and succinctly.

 

If the staff is willing to compromise, maybe there could be a reduction of the minimum for only certain forums/subforums. For sure forums that would require sizable dialogue such as show discussion needs 100 (could be higher IMO), but I think some areas could still be of decent quality with a lower floor (The art forums specifically in mind, and GenDisc)

Edited July 26, 2012 by Doctor XFizzle

[Klopp 2,050]

If the staff is willing to compromise, maybe there could be a reduction of the minimum for only certain forums/subforums. For sure forums that would require sizable dialogue such as show discussion needs 100 (could be higher IMO), but I think some areas could still be of decent quality with a lower floor (The art forums specifically in mind, and GenDisc)

 

This has been brought up before, and we had decided to use 100 as a base, with RPs and Cloudsdale Colloseum being the only exception from the 100 character limit. If we see that in one section the 100 character limit just isn't working out, it can easily be changed to a better suited limit for that section. Only problem is we don't know the best choice for each forum, so it's pretty much just see how things go along, and hope for the best. (Honestly though, 100 characters should be a piece of cake for every section, including most threads in CDC. Just sayin'. >.>)

 

Look at that, 702 characters and I'm cutting this one short. Come on, guys, you only need one decent sized sentence to make it!

[irobern2857 95]

I can only imagine there will be an increase in "invisible" white text to bypass it lol

Trixie sucks and I do not like her very much. Boo on Trixie.

 

Good show sir that was very funny and I wouldn't have even caught it if it hadn't been for Nightfall pointing it out.

 

I do think that 200 characters can be a little excessive for an RP because there are times that you need to do simple and short things. Things like " SO&SO sits down" or to say "yes I agree.",but I see were this is comeing from, and i guess you can always throw in some random filler and white text.

Edited July 27, 2012 by irobern2857

[Twilight Sparkle ✨ 8,526]

[...] and i guess you can always throw in some random filler and white text.

 

Adding "random filler" or white text to your post qualifies as attempting to bypass the limit. Don't do it.

 

Just write 100+ characters of legitimate content. It really isn't so hard. If you're wondering what to add to a post, consider answering one or more of these questions:

• Who?
• What?
• Where?
• Why?
• When?
• How?

No one is exempt from the character minimum, not even staff. It's not up to you to decide whether a < 100-character post should "slide through" or not.

[Batbrony 16,054]

Thanks very much for the change mods, it's nice to see that some ponies still place value on the importance of proper grammar and full length sentences within Internet discussions. It gets rather frustrating whenever I'm browsing the Internet to see one-word discussions taking place, and don't even get me started on how bad people's grammar can get. Ughhhhhhhhh, it's mind-numbingly annoying!!! Anyway, love the new policy change, and hopefully this change might even help improve many a forum-members "Internet" grammar!

[irobern2857 95]

No one is exempt from the character minimum, not even staff. It's not up to you to decide whether a < 100-character post should "slide through" or not.

 

did you even take the time to read the whole post I very much agree with the 100 minimum for most all forums, i am talking about the 200 on RP where there are times when a short three words can be all that is needed

 

and random filler is not bypassing anything just adding details not really needed, mostly in role playing. (looking back "random" was the wrong word choice for my previous post but hindsight is 20/20 )

Edited July 27, 2012 by irobern2857

[Klopp 2,050]

i am talking about the 200 on RP where there are times when a short three words can be all that is needed

 

Honestly, if all you think 3 words is all that is needed for posts on a forum-based RP, you really aren't doing it right.

 

If anything, three paragraphs, 300 characters minimum each, should be a minimum requirement for forum-based RPs.

[Sunny Fox 5,950]

I have several concerns about this. I'm not sure how many of the things I'll mention have been brought up before, but here goes anyway.

 

1. I think it is incorrect to judge a long post as having more merit than a short post, and a character limit is ultimately based on this axiom. Is it not said that "brevity is the soul of wit"? And how many speeches end with the audience saying "Wow, I wish that guy had spoken for longer!" They are in the minority, I am sure.

 

2. A forum is a place for interaction as well as discussion. Not every post should have to be part of a dialogue. For example, a post I made recently, which contained a bit of a joke, was removed. However, before that, it had been brohoofed. Now I won't pretend that my response was "meaningful" in terms of generating discussion, or even that it was particularly on-topic. But the fact that it did get a brohoof implies to me that someone saw it, someone appreciated it, and that that someone probably had their mood lifted a little bit by way of my witticism. To me, that's as worthy and as meaningful a contribution as anyone else's.

 

3. The notion that it is somehow wrong to add a sentence with no purpose other than to exceed the limit, and clearly states this, is not one I agree with. Basically, it's a punishment for honesty. Yes, I could go and think up something that seems meaningful to add, but if I've said all that I wanted to say, anything after that becomes filler anyway, recognizable or not.

 

Having said all that, I understand that 100 characters is not a particular hard limit to reach. It may even improve the "quality" of the posts on the forum. And finally, I realize that I have the right to simply not participate in these forums if I disagree with the policy. Since I like it here, I won't exercise that right, but I felt that I had to make my point, for what it's worth.

Edited July 27, 2012 by Full Spectrum