I think it's time to put some limits on blog entries.

[Vicke 3,189]

When this blogging feature was first introduced to us here on the forum some of us knew that some people was going to flood it with memes,junk and trends. Is that what a blog is for?
Absolutely not. Its ruining the fun for those who takes it seriously and want to have an actual blog where people can comment and discuss.

I came with a suggestion that a character limit should be implanted, so that these who likes to make ridiculous spam entries can't do it because the limit would block them.

The staff replied with that they wanted to see what would happen, and if it got a little messy, something like that would be implanted. And i think the time has come to do something in those lines.

A few suggestions on how we can improve it:

1: Just like the status updates, make sure that you can only have 1 blog entry visible on first page. if you have one visible, and you make another entry, just replace the old entry with the new one to make sure that the same person doesn't fill all 5 spots.

2: Character limit.
And don't come with "You have the right to blog about what ever you want!"
Because if thats the case, why can't you post what ever you want? A blog is just like a thread/post!
It should bring up a discussion! But maybe the staff wants to see more blog entries where the only word is "yeah"?

3: Add more staff members.
Just like you have staff members for the roleplaying section, why not add one or two for the blog section? The activity is just as big.


Thats its for this "rant".

Feel free to leave your opinion on it all ^^

[3005 332]

I've never personally used the blog system, although I see that they have accumulated a pretty large base of their arm, and have a solid flow of activity. While I don't think adding additional staff personnel for the section is necessary, limiting the number of blogs that can be displayed on the right side is the  most appropriate solution, in my opinion. The number of blogs that are displayed overall could also be increased, to something like six or seven blogs. 

 

Great ideas.

[Marcato 2,143]

From what I know there actually are some modifications to the blog system on the way. I agree fairly largely with what you've suggested, but I don't think they need entire moderators just to watch the blogs.

 

Either way from what I know there are some adjustments on the way, that should make the blog system a little less chaotic. Patience my friends, and brace yourself, changes are coming.

 

I think.

Edited December 3, 2012 by Silver Arrow

[PonyEcho 1,610]

good idea about the character limit as long as it only apply to the blog entry and not replies to the blog, however don't rely see the need for staff members for blogs. because it could just be covered by all the mod anyway.

 

btw I don't suppose we have something to stop duplicated blogs, Ok there not exactly duplicate more vial mutations  but the still annoying make the original blog less not to mention it clog the most recent blogs part 

[Batbrony 16,055]

Don't frequent the blogs too much myself, so I'm not very aware of all of the problems you mentioned, but I'm always in favor of anything that'll make the forums more organized and efficient, and if you really think that these are some serious problems that need to be addressed, then I'm behind any call for reform of the blogging system 100% of the way. 

[Vicke 3,189]

good idea about the character limit as long as it only apply to the blog entry and not replies to the blog, however don't rely see the need for staff members for blogs. because it could just be covered by all the mod anyway.

 

btw I don't suppose we have something to stop duplicated blogs, Ok there not exactly duplicate more vial mutations  but the still annoying make the original blog less not to mention it clog the most recent blogs part 

No, that would be kind of stupid.

The character limit should not affect the comment system.

[Killian Jones 2,655]

Crazy idea to throw in there, self moderation of blogs, you make a blog, you become moderator of it.

 

I am not a fan of character limits on blogs, you are merely going to achieve more whingeing and moaning about. And honestly, blogs were rolled out to mitigate the useless topics that tend to happen with little content that people seemed to like.

 

But yes, suggestion #1 is being thought of, being worked on.

[Darty 57]

I've go to a forum that does that, and its not actaully works pretty well.

Crazy idea to throw in there, self moderation of blogs, you make a blog, you become moderator of it.

[Vicke 3,189]

Crazy idea to throw in there, self moderation of blogs, you make a blog, you become moderator of it.

 

I am not a fan of character limits on blogs, you are merely going to achieve more whingeing and moaning about. And honestly, blogs were rolled out to mitigate the useless topics that tend to happen with little content that people seemed to like.

 

But yes, suggestion #1 is being thought of, being worked on.

I doubt people will whine and moan about it.

The reason people complain about the character limit is because it pretty much covers the whole forum. People can make their point in less then 100 characters and thats what makes them angry.

 

And i know the reason. But if you ask me it was a stupid one, a "i don't care" action from the staff.

 

Me and a lot of other members would like to see an improvement, and not some sloppy work.

Let there be whine, let there be moan. I don't care as long as everything is treated the same.

 

I've go to a forum that does that, and its not actaully works pretty well.

Maybe so.

But i don't see how that will stop the pointless entries poping up.

 

And as a matter of fact. You do already have some "mod" powers in your blog.

You are able to hide and delete comments. And i don't think anything more should be added when it comes to being able to moderate your own blog.

[Motion Spark 7,807]

I don't know if I'm asking for too much but everything can be solved and people can spam blogs as much as they want they put a feature the let's asychronically load more blogs, meaning without loading the page again, you scroll down through the box (the box will not expand, but the scroll bar will) searching for the blogs of your interest. If not, a button that says "load more blogs" or something would be below of the box and when I click I'll load 5 more blogs, and when I reach the end of the box, I can click the button and it will load 3 more blogs and soforth.

[Vicke 3,189]

I don't know if I'm asking for too much but everything can be solved and people can spam blogs as much as they want they put a feature the let's asychronically load more blogs, meaning without loading the page again, you scroll down through the box (the box will not expand, but the scroll bar will) searching for the blogs of your interest. If not, a button that says "load more blogs" or something would be below of the box and when I click I'll load 5 more blogs, and when I reach the end of the box, I can click the button and it will load 3 more blogs and soforth.

I don't think thats necessary.

If you want a long list of blogs, this is the place for you.

http://mlpforums.com/blogs/

[Motion Spark 7,807]

@@Vicke, well sometimes I'm just not satisfied with having just 5 recent blogs entries, it would be like facebook. We are users after all, and to get to that page I have to make 2 or 3 clicks. 

[Champion RD92 8,658]

Please no character limits!!! Please no I'm begging you!!!!

 

I agree about only having one blog entry visible on the front page though

[NavelColt 22,880]

Limitations on how many blogs someone can post in a certain amount of time is certainly being talked about, because when people decide to post five blogs in under ten to twenty minutes it clogs the recent blog box. Can't say much about the character minimum though, it's not a popular idea in the staff room at the moment. To quote NC,

 

The blogging system was primarily conceived as a way to let members vent the frustrations of their daily lives, without it being too blatant, such as status updates.  People can read the title of the blog and decide for themselves to read it or not, as opposed to status updates, which could contain some less than desired material in them, yet are displayed publicly on the index.

 

The blogs must be given more freedom so people can relax there on their personal space.  A character limit would only counter-act

[Vicke 3,189]

Limitations on how many blogs someone can post in a certain amount of time is certainly being talked about, because when people decide to post five blogs in under ten to twenty minutes it clogs the recent blog box. Can't say much about the character minimum though, it's not a popular idea in the staff room at the moment. To quote NC,

So you guys think its okay make an entry that says "Okay!" or "Yeah!"? Just one word that consist of 4 characters?

Because i definitely don't!

 

I agree its a place where you get your own space and a place where you can rant about random stuff, whether it's personal stuff or not.

What you guys can do, is to put a rule (or at least something) that says that you have to be serious when creating an entry.

See it as if someone posted a silly thread in the life advice section. What would happen?

 

It would get deleted. Do the same here.

Edited December 3, 2012 by Vicke

[Evilshy 5,090]

I definitely agree with the recent blog thing, and unlike most of the rest of the staff, I agree with a character limit in blogs.

 

As far as I'm concerned, any blog post that can be said in less than 100-200 characters probably doesn't have enough content to merit a blog post and should be a status update.

[Vicke 3,189]

I definitely agree with the recent blog thing, and unlike most of the rest of the staff, I agree with a character limit in blogs.

 

As far as I'm concerned, any blog post that can be said in less than 100-200 characters probably doesn't have enough content to merit a blog post and should be a status update.

 

Good to have your support on this, Evilshy.

[XrosOver 613]

No one is managing the blog posts? ...I agree with with character limit. Blogs should really only be used to start a conversation by bringing up some controversy or question.

[Arcanel 3,041]

I can completely understand where you come from Vicke, even though I'm not even a blog user, but I think the problem lies in that blgos are supposed to be "more than status updates, but less than topics". Should one put limits like those you said, the blogs would start looking more like topics instead of blogs. The staff trusts that the people will learn to recognize when to use a status update, when a blog, and when a topic.

 

I think that limitation CD mentioned, which resembles the not too fast replies but for longer time, is a great idea. After that, I think that unless there had been a SERIOUS hurricane of spammy-like blogs, it could be left alone for now.

 

Though I think that moderators for blogs could be a good idea.

[Zygen 6,066]

I've never used the blog system, but this seems like something that should be in, whether it be small or large or whatever. There should be some kinda limit, to reduce spam, just like the forums.

 

However it shouldn't be to large. I'm sure mods and the such can decide on a good number.

[Doctor XFizzle 8,669]

If blogs are way too short and consist of three or four words, can we report them as super weak and that it should be a status update?

[Bronium 512]

I have actually never been hindered by excessive blogging. How does spam actually affect you? I mean, I guess excessive posting might cause all the "Recent Blog Entries" thing to have 5 blogs of the same person, but if they do what they do in the status updates (that is, only show one of a person, even if they have made multiple updates in the past few minutes), that's solve it.

 

And to be fair, a  blog isn't a thread or a post, it is an extended status update. I mean, many people use it like if they were posting a thread, but that's not their primary reason of existing.

 

I mean, if you want to actually discuss something, the general discussion board exists. It's there and it's your best bet when you want to talk about anything non pony. It's actually funny. I remember that quite a few people saying that chat (not to discuss here of course, just mentioning it) will detract from the forums and here we are, with blogs doing exactly that.

 

I don't really see why blogs should be limited. Maybe a "you can only post two within the hour" deal, but nothing more than that.

[#1 Flutterfan 174]

As far as I am concerned [but don't know how everypony does blogs here; that, and I cannot get mine created D:< must be because I'm a Blank Flank!] Blogs are for anything that a person sees it fit for. The way I would organize a blog, for example, would be different than how someone else does. IE:

Blog Name [PonyPics]

Blog Name [Personal Day 12/8/12]

Blog Name [Personal Day 12/9/12]

Blog Name [MLP REVIEW!~!~!~!1]

So the BN[PP] would contain all my stuff; the next few would be personal days--probably what IRL me went through since the blog is supposed to be what I want, correct? Then the next--obvious.

Setting a character limit would be good, just as in--anything < [x] characters limits the amount of spam. But if a person really wants to spam "I'M BATMAN" over and over again--I don't see how it affects any of us; just the BlogFrequenters. If anything--I would take a mixture of Bunny's idea-- where Blog Posts cannot exceed [x] per hour. But I also agree for those BlogFrequenters--they need their fix--so anything that is less than [x] characters would be useful for them. 

Personally--if there are real worries about what people do with blogs just have an option where anypony can select the blog itself--and say "do not show on main page" like an ignore button. 

[Motion Spark 7,807]

I'm sorry about opening a thread, so I'm quoting my rant on here:

 

 

OK....I am at my limit at the moment, or what many of you may call "my jimmies rustled" or whatever.

 

It's been a very weird fashion lately that when somepony writes a very controversial or silly blog, every single unoriginal user with A LOT of spare time on hands write an entry copying that very first blog with meaningless content, then every other users follow along and starts creating blog after blog with similar title, developing a chain of hell.

 

I'm not bothered by that...I'm bothered by the fact that some other members, that put passion and effort into an entry and hit the publish button, won't get their "15 minutes of fame" in the 5 latest blogs entries list, because the stupid blogs keep pushing and pushing down the older entries.

 

These 5 latest entries are crucial because it's the very first thing every user sees when they log on, and it's not fair for normal entries to lose that.

 

It is possible that we can get a way to prevent these things because, I know that I am not the only one who feel annoyed by this. I don't know, maybe a character minimum or something. And also to get notifications when someone posts or quote us on blogs.

 

are mods working on something? because this cannot continue like this. seriously guys...

[Zoop 8,384]

are mods working on something? because this cannot continue like this. seriously guys...

 

 

Yes. There are changes being planned. That said, I'd like to refer you to this post:

 

http://mlpforums.com/topic/41486-how-long-does-it-take-for-an-accepted-suggestion-to-be-implemented/?p=983681