Ask the Moderators

[Jper]

I'm not having any troubles with that.

I'm just having problems finding the right threads in the SGU folder, as they are spread out over pages and pages, hidden in between all sorts of redundant threads, well IMHO of course. Maybe not everyone sees it that way.

[AVFan]

Hey, could one of the mods/admins put up the new Heroes episode thread (Tabula Rasa)? The last couple episodes have been going up pretty late.

I realize that there have been problems with the forums lately, but I thought I'd let someone know.

[Skydiver]

Hi,

Could one the moderators clean up the SGU Folder a bit?
I mean, merge the newly created threads with the old ones already existing on the subjects. And also maybe moving some threads to their correct place on the forum. I could report them all, again, but it would take me forever again.

If this would be possible?
Not saying that the threads or posts aren't valuable, on the contrary.

Thanks in advance.

Jasper.

Jper

we're trying

But you have to understand, we have enthusiastic members creating hundreds of new threads a day. We merge as we can, but, right now, it's a full time job.

if you want to help, help us out, use the report post feature and bring some of the duplicates to our attention. I want to clean up the clutter as much as you do, but there's just a lot to do and not much time to do it in.

the only way we can control all the rampant thread starting would be to lock it out for the first few days after an episode airs. And you guys would hate it if we did that.

[Jper]

Jper

we're trying

But you have to understand, we have enthusiastic members creating hundreds of new threads a day. We merge as we can, but, right now, it's a full time job.

if you want to help, help us out, use the report post feature and bring some of the duplicates to our attention. I want to clean up the clutter as much as you do, but there's just a lot to do and not much time to do it in.

the only way we can control all the rampant thread starting would be to lock it out for the first few days after an episode airs. And you guys would hate it if we did that.

Oh I know you are trying Sky. I know.
And I immensely appreciate and admire you all.
I was just no sure if reporting every single thread was the way to go.
I'll keep doing that then.
Just a quick question to that end then.
What do I need to mention/do exactly when I'm reporting the thread?
Report the first post of the thread that needs to be merged or the first post of the thread it needs to be merged with?
And what do I need to mention exactly?
Do I need to mention why?
Do I need to mention an exact url to the other thread?
Just so that I know.


(((((((((((((((((((((((((GateWorld Moderators)))))))))))))))))))))

Thanks!

[Skydiver]

for the fastest replies

for example

in the report 'these three threads all deal with destiny'

then give us the url's

we'll look and merge.

Do bear in mind, though, sometimes we have duplicate threads in different parts of the forum for good reasons....like if someone wants to discuss chloe in darkness, and only in darkness, that can stay in the darkness folder while her C&R thread can remain in C&R

the biggest issues we seem to be having are multiple threads about each episode all getting made in gen discussion or the general sgu folder instead of the specific episode folder.

if you have time to give us url's it's great

[Skydiver]

for the fastest replies

for example

in the report 'these three threads all deal with destiny'

then give us the url's

we'll look and merge.

Do bear in mind, though, sometimes we have duplicate threads in different parts of the forum for good reasons....like if someone wants to discuss chloe in darkness, and only in darkness, that can stay in the darkness folder while her C&R thread can remain in C&R

the biggest issues we seem to be having are multiple threads about each episode all getting made in gen discussion or the general sgu folder instead of the specific episode folder.

if you have time to give us url's it's great

[Mongoletsi]

I'm not having any troubles with that.

I'm just having problems finding the right threads in the SGU folder, as they are spread out over pages and pages, hidden in between all sorts of redundant threads, well IMHO of course. Maybe not everyone sees it that way.

I came into Ask The Mods to say EXACTLY the same thing. The SGU folder is ridiculous now - there's like 4 identical threads on page 1 alone asking identical things about the hyperdrive, ZPMs etc.

Signal:Noise ratio is poor, poor, poor atm

By entirely unscientific means and bias, I can say with absolute certainty that the folk who do the duplicates are the folk who don't put a relevant title too.

Jper, you're officially my favourite Gateworlder for the week for just making sense. No cash prize.

[Mongoletsi]

if you want to help, help us out, use the report post feature and bring some of the duplicates to our attention. I want to clean up the clutter as much as you do, but there's just a lot to do and not much time to do it in.

Skydiver, that's all well and good but it's a bit clunky esp at the mo with the probs the board is having.

I know I may sound somewhat negative but... and this is the sad bit... after a while one gets an emotional attachment to the place Oh and my job is all about effective electronic communications, hence being so anal.

Now please bear in mind that I'm 32, management, and used to mod my very own (busy) section on an ~8k active member board... give me and Jper here privs to merge threads in a given forum (SGU), it'll take the strain off the mods, and if somebody reckons we're abusing these very limited powers (I won't, can't speak for that dubious Jper dude ) then not much is lost really.

Sorry, ramble, ramble... I just crave high quality commentary, not trawling through chaff.

[Jper]

I came into Ask The Mods to say EXACTLY the same thing. The SGU folder is ridiculous now - there's like 4 identical threads on page 1 alone asking identical things about the hyperdrive, ZPMs etc.

Signal:Noise ratio is poor, poor, poor atm

By entirely unscientific means and bias, I can say with absolute certainty that the folk who do the duplicates are the folk who don't put a relevant title too.

Jper, you're officially my favourite Gateworlder for the week for just making sense. No cash prize.

Well thanks. Have some green!

As not to go off-topic here, but I actually had another question about that.

Most of the new threads are started by "Probies". Don't the moderators need to approve "Probie"-posts? So I was wondering if we couldn't nip the problem in the butt right there.
Just a suggestion.

<snip>
give me and Jper here privs to merge threads in a given forum (SGU), it'll take the strain off the mods, and if somebody reckons we're abusing these very limited powers (I won't, can't speak for that dubious Jper dude ) then not much is lost really.

Yes, I'm very dubious.

Not that I wouldn't be honored with that. I am. I am very honored you would consider me and as I would never consider myself for that...

I think there are other people here that deserve it more than me, though. People who have been around much longer for one. Also I was a moderator once on a pretty busy board, it's not all sunshine, I can assure you. Not a nice job from time to time.

ETA/
BTW I'll stop this here, as the mods won't appreciate us taking over their important mod thread. This isn't really the purpose of this thread and Sky pointed out what I/we should do to help them.

[Skydiver]

I know exactly the problem you're having with the random slowdowns. It effects us too. It's another reason it can take hours to find and merge threads...when it takes a minute or so per page load, you can imagine that it's frustrating to try and merge them when it takes forever.

that said, hardware upgrades in the next couple of weeks will hopefully fix that.

And yes, we do approve probie threads. That said, i can't merge them from the admin panel. And when we have people making oh so informational titles like 'wouldn't it be neat if....' we can't even search for similar themes without reading each and every thread.

All I can say is, we know there's an issue, we're working on it as best we can.

[KatG]

Just to reiterate what Sky said, it helps us tremendously if you give us links to the threads.

A report that says this thread "url" should be merged with this thread "url" will be handled more quickly than one that just says "duplicate thread" with no indication of what's been duplicated. When our inbox is full of reported post, and the forum is glitching and taking forever to load, if we have to search for the thread to merge into its probably not going to be top priority.

So since you (general) should know what's been duplicated and where it's located please include the url in your report.

[RogueRanger]

just because the rank under your name has changed doesn't mean that you're off probie status. The exact post count needed to be allowed to post freely is a deeply guarded secret and something that changes when Darren is in the mood.

It'll happen

Not Fair *sobs*

[Mongoletsi]

Just to reiterate what Sky said, it helps us tremendously if you give us links to the threads.
...
So since you (general) should know what's been duplicated and where it's located please include the url in your report.

Roger Wilco!

[Blencathra]

To thou great powerful mods of thee Gated -world. I have commeth hereye to ask thy question of authorithy your majesties.

How come the "Puppies and Kittens" thread was um spaded and/or neutered. I thought it was on topic and very funny and interesting.

I'm bumping this in case you'd missed it. I second Brian's thoughts on the matter.

Just wondering... has the thread just gone to the Grooming Parlour for a wash & brush up or has it gone to be permanently euthanised?

[Skydiver]

well, it was reported for a bickerfest yesterday. Thanks to real life and hardware slowdowns, I didn't have the hours it would have taken to go through, not only picking out the bickering, but also the rule breaking oversized photos, hotlinks, etc...so it was deaded.

and it may have gone to the great pet shop in the sky. It all depends if a mod has the free time to clean it up and monitor it since experience has shown once a thread goes downhill, even after we clean it up, it tends to revert right back to its rule breaking ways.

If a mod has time and wants to work on it, fine with me. However, when it comes to devoting time to cleaning up a thread, we give priority to 'on topic' and show related threads, not ones in the off topic area. I know off topic is fun, but we consider those threads in there eminently expendable.