Ask the Moderators

[Skydiver]

I was wondering how many posts one has to obtain before they are no longer reviewed by a MOD and when can one get a signature, or be able to ad one?

the exact number is a secret and changes. But it will happen. One thing to note however, just because the 'probie' name under your username changes doesn't necessarily mean your user group does

I just used the word s******ing in a private message, and it *'ed the naughty word in the middle of it...i doubt the word 's-n-i-g-g-e-r-i-n-g' comes up very often, and of course the word it thought it was should be blocked...but it is possible to make an exception to the with the word is surrounded by 's' and 'ing'?

I doubt it comes up often enough to be worth your time changing the list of blocked words, but I just thought I would raise it as, if anything - it makes me think of that unpleasant word in the middle of a pleasant conversation

we run into the same problem with n i g e r, but i'm afraid that the word filter works on a chain of letters, regardless of what is around them. It looks and blocks letters, not words. So sorry, we are limited by what it'll do.

Word.

BUT... sometimes you see identical threads left to evolve, with unique ones moved to "general" which kinda kills the convo.

There should be a "did you honestly, really, seriously search or even look for another thread like the one you intend to start?" It's all about signal-to-noise people, signal-to-noise

If you can figure out how to make newbies take 5 minutes to look, i'll buy you lunch.

One thing that can help is if the more experienced people NICELY tell newbies 'hey, there's a thread about that topic here....' and help them. Don't be rude, don't be mean, don't yell at them, just help them learn

[Skydiver]

speaking of off topic

Ok folks, our reminder...this is the 'ask the mods' thread...which means that only teh mods should be giving hte answers. And, as i'm sure you know, none of yous is mods

so, please, let's save the answers for the mods. If you want to help as a user then you can PM or VM a person, but we need to keep the answers to mods only please

[Jper]

If you can figure out how to make newbies take 5 minutes to look, i'll buy you lunch.

Well, Sky, you could prevent them from making new threads until they are off probie status. Also, wouldn't it be possible for people to get a message when they click to make a new thread? A reference to the thread you made about new threads?

speaking of off topic

Ok folks, our reminder...this is the 'ask the mods' thread...which means that only teh mods should be giving hte answers. And, as i'm sure you know, none of yous is mods

so, please, let's save the answers for the mods. If you want to help as a user then you can PM or VM a person, but we need to keep the answers to mods only please

Sorry, Sky. I knew that.

[Skydiver]

i'm afraid that the locking out of thread abilities isn't possible, nor is a popup message. nice ideas though

[Bareassedmunky]

we run into the same problem with n i g e r, but i'm afraid that the word filter works on a chain of letters, regardless of what is around them. It looks and blocks letters, not words. So sorry, we are limited by what it'll do.

It's a good thing they haven't had any earth based episodes set in certain african countries then...discussions would get very confusing...I kind of hope one of the writers reads this actually, and does it just to annoy the forum users!

[Arga]

About Spoilers tags.

I'd like to comment about the spoiler tags.
There are different kinds of spoilers.
I divide them in 2 principal categories:
spoilers that tells something about FUTURE events, (which haven't been broadcast yet)
and spoilers that tells something about events that have just been broadcast (not in all countries though), but too recently to be considered as general knowledge for everybody.

The problem is that most of the time, when someone makes a post with thoughtful spoiler tags, we don't know in which category falls the content.
For me, if it's about the episode that just aired yesterday, I don't mind reading the spoiler, because I obviously know already about it, however, if it is a future revelation, I'd rather not read it; but it's sometimes too late because I assumed the spoiler would be about something that happened in the last episode, and I opened it...

It would be a good practice, in my opinion, to precede a spoiler tag with the reason why it's hidden, like "contains information about episode xxx", or "contains information about not aired episodes", or something like that, so we can decided whether or not to open it.

[Skydiver]

people are supposed to do that

it's supposed to be 'spoilers for....' then the tag

'supposed to' is the operative word though

however, if there are untagged spoilers in a post, please report it and we'll go in and tag them

[greytop]

Is there a cap on the visitor messages, like there is on the private messages?


Inquiring minds wants to know, like me.

[DigiFluid]

I was wondering....

A few times now, I've come across spoilers for various shows (most notably SGU) being posted in places where they have no business being--and not being hidden by spoiler tags. Since inconsiderate souls have already spoiled things from upcoming SGU episodes for me (including the bloody season finale), I was wondering if and hoping that there's some kind of punitive action being taken against violators.

While one could certainly say that it's one of the hazards of fandoms, it's always been my observation that GW is very much aligned with keeping things as spoiler-free as possible within reason. I guess I'm just hoping to hear that some kind of action is being taken to punish people who wreck it for the rest of us--past the occasional stickied thread which these people obviously don't read anyway.

[kiwigater]

I know what you mean, I've been hugely spoiled on some future plot lines
As for punitive action, as you know we don't discuss moderation decisions in public, however in general it would depend on the situation. We can't take action if we don't know about it. The best thing is to report the spoiler and we can take care of it. If it's in a grossly inappropriate place we would most likely talk it over with the poster to make sure they're aware of the guidelines, and if necessary infract them. While this is more for our record keeping than a means of "punishing" a member, it does help us keep track of members who might be consistently causing problems. If that does happen then further steps can be taken.
I really think most spoiler posts aren't malicious, they're just forum members getting overexcited, and/or not thinking about it.

If you have a specific poster in mind please contact any of the mods
I hope that helps explain

[Jper]

I was wondering....

A few times now, I've come across spoilers for various shows (most notably SGU) being posted in places where they have no business being--and not being hidden by spoiler tags. Since inconsiderate souls have already spoiled things from upcoming SGU episodes for me (including the bloody season finale), I was wondering if and hoping that there's some kind of punitive action being taken against violators.

While one could certainly say that it's one of the hazards of fandoms, it's always been my observation that GW is very much aligned with keeping things as spoiler-free as possible within reason. I guess I'm just hoping to hear that some kind of action is being taken to punish people who wreck it for the rest of us--past the occasional stickied thread which these people obviously don't read anyway.

However, I consider myself a considerate poster when it comes to posting spoilers, but even I still forget it sometimes. It happens. Not only for me, but others as well. Also, some threads have spoiler warnings in the title which then doesn't require spoiler tags in the posts, but others don't have the warning (while they should) and I forget sometimes that there are indeed threads without the spoiler warning in the title. That happens too.

[DigiFluid]

Of course....let me clarify....

Jper: I didn't mean to criticise things like episode discussion threads/folders. When you go into, say, the 1.06 'Water' subforum I think it's perfectly reasonable and fair that discussion of that episode is fair game--no spoiler tags required. I'd even go so far as to say that if you go in there without having seen said episode, it's your own fault for going in there in the first place.

I'm not even really all that upset with *current* discussion in the main SGU folder. At the moment for instance, it wouldn't trouble me in the slightest that people are discussing parts and pieces of "Water" in the main SGU folder (although I can certainly sympathize and understand with the position which disagrees with this).

My issue is when I'm reading discussion on the latest episode and some inconsiderate jerk says "oh well, this happened this week because x is happening in a few weeks." That sort of thing makes me want to punch that person in the face. Know what I mean?


kiwi: Of course, I understand you guys don't go about discussing punishments and whatnot in public--that's between the webstaff and the offender and I wouldn't presume to demand to know what's going on there. I'm just really hoping to hear that something is being done to deter spoiling....beyond the proverbial shutting of the barn doors after the horses are gone (vis a vis, sticking spoiler tags on their post and that's the end of it).

I'd love to help out with reporting, and I do when I get hit by them, but I'm sure you can understand that I'm doing everything in my power to avoid reading spoilers in the first place Which, naturally, doesn't particularly facilitate the process of rooting out habitual offenders....

[Jper]

Jper: Know what I mean?

Yeah, sure. I was just commenting in general. For all the others who are reading. As you say there others ("although I can certainly sympathize and understand with the position which disagrees with this"). I'm only watching "Water" later and just came because I had a P.M. but I just don't go anywhere except my safe threads, for now. So, I'm outta here. I really sympathize with you. I really hate spoilers, but I have given up on trying not to be spoiled while still browsing and reading boards & threads and thus just stay away.

[Skydiver]

Of course we want users to tag their spoilers. And the mods fix them as we see them or as they're reported to us.

As to correcting bad behavior, we need to know about it to do it. which means if you see people posting untagged spoilers, please report them,same with threads with spoilery titles. Then the mods, as we see that we're correcting 'joe' on a weekly basis, can have a little chat with 'Joe' about spoilers.

We do what we can to correct and fix things, but we can always use help to find the folks breaking the rules.

[Ripple in Space]

Since they've already started filming on the Feature Film MacGruber, do you know if Richard Dean Anderson will be reprising his role as MacGyver, MacGruber's father?

http://www.cinemablend.com/new/MacGr...ing-13375.html