Sort of an issue with the double-post prevention system

[Abstract 832]

So, I assume this forum has a system in place to prevent a user from making consecutive posts in one thread. I understand the reasoning behind this, but I think there should be a statute of limitations (of sorts) placed upon such posting, e.g, after a certain amount of time has passed, a user should be allowed to make a consecutive post after their own in the same thread.

 

I recognize that this doesn't happen often, but I've run into the problem of trying to post more content in my thread in the art section. Even though my last post was in mid-december, it still combines my new one with my old. It's frustrating, because it changes the time-stamp on the original post to reflect upon what it basically turns into a post edit. I think this is very inefficient and confusing, and again, a time limit between posts would be a much better solution.

 

If I'm just rambling and nobody but me actually has this problem... carry on, I suppose.

[Twilight Sparkle ✨ 8,526]

The post auto-merger is, in fact, governed by a timer, but we currently have it set to 100 years or something crazy like that to effectively make it merge any double post.

 

I'm certainly open to tweaking it, but what do you think would be a reasonable timeout to set for the point at which a double post becomes permissible?

[Alex Kennedy 1,228]

The post auto-merger is, in fact, governed by a timer, but we currently have it set to 100 years or something crazy like that to effectively make it merge any double post.

 

I'm certainly open to tweaking it, but what do you think would be a reasonable timeout to set for the point at which a double post becomes permissible?

I've had this issue myself, and I would recommend maybe 30 minutes to an hour. I guess it depends on the thread, though. Some threads may require a longer timeout than others, because the nature of the thread may effect how often people are going to post.

Edited January 27, 2013 by Alex-Kennedy

[Zoop 8,384]

What I typically do when I make a double post in a case like this is to add a horizontal rule at the top of my new post, to give people a visual indication of where the new content was added.

 

Personally, Id say that one day should be the minimum, maybe more.

[Alex Kennedy 1,228]

What I typically do when I make a double post in a case like this is to add a horizontal rule at the top of my new post, to give people a visual indication of where the new content was added.

 

Personally, Id say that one day should be the minimum, maybe more.

That's perfectly valid, although I think depending on the situation an appropriate time could be anywhere from an hour to several days, making it very difficult to figure out how long the timeout should be. Fortunately it's not my job to figure it out, so I'm going to stop pretending like I know what I'm talking about. Honestly I don't think it's really that much of an issue, though.

 

(Spellcheck just told me "be" isn't a word. WTF?)

[Killian Jones 2,655]

I was going to suggest something ridiculous like a week, reasoning being that if a topic goes frozen after a while, the original creator cannot bump it for a small while. And if there is something actually new after a good while, it doesn't matter it's going to be feel way more important. Although perhaps a good middle ground would be around 3 days. that way you can't bump a topic too fast, but it can be bumped after a short while 3 days I would say is the mean time for a topic to end up on page 2.

[Prismatic 49]

After my own few moments for some reason two weeks seems to be optimal.  Anything less than a week ponies can bump too fast (I mean, rules can be added to adjust to this but that's just adding additional overhead to the staff) and anything too long and the thread posting could be considered a necro.

 

Of course for Luna's sake it should of been 1001 years so all of her posts that she made she'd wouldn't be able to necro.

[NavelColt 22,880]

I was going to suggest something ridiculous like a week, reasoning being that if a topic goes frozen after a while, the original creator cannot bump it for a small while.

When someone posts in the topic, the topic gets bumped anyway, though. The merging doesn't stop the thread from being bumped. There just aren't two separate posts when they do it, it merges them into a singular one, deleting the old time stamp.

 

Since artists and alike creative audiences are probably going to be the target audience who has the highest interest in this function, if the OP is anything to go by, I'd say half a day to a full day is a good amount. Not too long, but not just a few hours so that the entire system becomes redundant. I'd be for going as full as a day and a half, but beyond that I think is a bit much. Twelve to twenty-four hours is my opinion.

[Abstract 832]

Sorry for the late reply, you know how life will get you distracted from the important things.

When someone posts in the topic, the topic gets bumped anyway, though. The merging doesn't stop the thread from being bumped. There just aren't two separate posts when they do it, it merges them into a singular one, deleting the old time stamp.

 

Since artists and alike creative audiences are probably going to be the target audience who has the highest interest in this function, if the OP is anything to go by, I'd say half a day to a full day is a good amount. Not too long, but not just a few hours so that the entire system becomes redundant. I'd be for going as full as a day and a half, but beyond that I think is a bit much. Twelve to twenty-four hours is my opinion.

Twenty-four hours sounds like a reasonable limit to me. I also agree that such a limit would be most beneficial to artists and writers such as myself, who may want to post content even if no one has replied to their thread yet. And it's long enough that I would think it would deter people from trying to bump their own topic needlessly. 

 

But I'm just one person, whatever y'all feel would be appropriate is probably the right measure to take.

[NavelColt 22,880]

I'm certainly open to tweaking it, but what do you think would be a reasonable timeout to set for the point at which a double post becomes permissible?

 

Most people seem to agree that half a day to a day, perhaps slightly more is a good medium. Perhaps we could set it for 24 hours and see how things go, adjusting the amount if needed down the line?

[Twilight Sparkle ✨ 8,526]

I've set it to 24 hours. Let's see how this goes.