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Author | Topic: Thread Post Limit | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Jon Inactive Member |
Hey all...
I kind of liked the old days when topics were closed after about 300 posts. I was surprised to learn a while ago that this was only because of software limitations on the old boards; I had been under the impression that it was to keep the place new with fresh ideas and prevent single threads from overtaking the efforts of this place's brilliant minds. So, I'm wondering, with that purpose in mind, is it conceivable that this 'feature' might ever be brought back, and are there other members out there who would also like to see its return? Jon Edited by Jon, : No reason given. Check out the Purple Quill!
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nwr Member Posts: 6408 From: Geneva, Illinois Joined: Member Rating: 5.1 |
Jon writes:
Yes...., and are there other members out there who would also like to see its return? The discussion becomes pretty sterile when a thread gets too long.
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Adminnemooseus Administrator Posts: 3974 Joined: |
From Topic number of messages limits in the Private Administration Forum (Sept. 18, 2009):
Adminnemooseus writes: I still like the 300 message arbitrary cut off point, unless there is some specific reason otherwise. Although there might be a rare exception, the chances of a topic remaining on topic and sustaining a quality debate is about zero. Even if the topic hasn't gone totally to hell, redundancy of messages is probably the case. Actually, I suspect the typical high quality topic lifespan is about 20 messages. Adminnemooseus
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purpledawn Member (Idle past 3457 days) Posts: 4453 From: Indiana Joined: |
After 300-400 posts the same arguments start being retread. New participants to a topic after 300 posts don't usually want to read all the arguments made in the topic before joining the discussion and this causes the older participants to repeat their arguments again.
If the participants are repeating old arguments, it's time for summaries and closures. I always liked the summaries. We don't see those much anymore since we stopped closing at 300 posts. It was a way to see if the primary participants came to any conclusions different than when they began.
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jar Member (Idle past 394 days) Posts: 34026 From: Texas!! Joined: |
I'd love to see the 300 post limit reinstated. If there is still more to be said do a reboot.
Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!
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Omnivorous Member Posts: 3978 From: Adirondackia Joined: Member Rating: 7.3 |
Yeah, 300 is good.
By then, the thread is about something else, and even that is being repeated.
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GDR Member Posts: 6202 From: Sidney, BC, Canada Joined: Member Rating: 1.9 |
I definitely prefer the 300 post limit and I'm inclined to possibly limit it to as few as 200 or 250. It seems to me that at that point any discussion can be summarized and sprung off into a new thread if it is worth continuing.
I know I'm not normally going to read 200 posts or more to enter into a discussion. JMHO
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Nij Member (Idle past 4889 days) Posts: 239 From: New Zealand Joined: |
A lot of threads have become repetitive by the time you reach 200; some before 150 or even just 100, because for some subjects there is only so much you can say or think or argue.
Rather than a blanket "300 and that's it", would a graded system be appropriate? When a thread reaches (say for example) 150, it gets reviewed by moderators to check for "on-topicness" and quality of the posts as well as how much has become repeated argument. Then if it passes, a further review is given every 50 (or 20 or 9pi) posts following that to ensure it stays fresh and focused. Thoughts? Just tossing ideas.
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Dr Adequate Member (Idle past 284 days) Posts: 16113 Joined: |
As the number of posts on a thread tends towards infinity, so does the average distance between the content of the posts and the original topic as measured by any given metric.
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Admin Director Posts: 12998 From: EvC Forum Joined: Member Rating: 2.3 |
I do have a concern about the 300 post limit that it might cause some threads to be closed prematurely. I agree that most threads have petered out by 300 posts, but there are a fair number still going strong in a constructive way. The post count can sometimes become artificially high, perhaps because there were one or two hundred posts taken up by a troll or by moderator messages because of some problem or because it took time for the topic to become clear to everyone or for other legitimate reasons. And then there are some threads that should be kept open to address continuing issues that only get occasional attention, such as Good Calories, Bad Calories, by Gary Taubes or ICR Sues Texas.
So I'll vote for imposing the 300 post limit more often, I'd just like to see it done after a brief assessment of the merits rather than blindly. I think Adminnemooseus's tendency to err on the side of closure is fine, since we have the Thread Reopen Requests 2 thread.
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Jon Inactive Member |
Admin writes: I think Adminnemooseus's tendency to err on the side of closure is fine, since we have the Thread Reopen Requests 2 thread. I actually think this is a pretty good idea; along with the fact that old topics can and often were (under the old system) restarted with fresh points in new threads if anyone cared enough to continue debating them. I feel that if nobody cares enough of the topic to start a new thread, then it's probably not worth debating further, and anyone still debating the topic is likely only doing so from obligation to finish what they've started, which is not a very good reason to debate, in my opinion. Jon Check out the Purple Quill!
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CosmicChimp Member Posts: 311 From: Muenchen Bayern Deutschland Joined: |
Yes, I too want to see it limited BUT with the summaries called for. Also the caveats that Admin has pointed out above. Oh, and Dr A is right.
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Adminnemooseus Administrator Posts: 3974 Joined: |
There seems to be a broad approval of the idea of closing topics after about 300 messages, subject to exceptions and the possibility of there being a reopening.
There also seems to be a general favor towards having summary statements just before topic closures. Currently, there is one prominent topic I feel is long past closing time. It is Potential falsifications of the theory of evolution, currently at 585 messages. New and more theme specific topics are needed. On the other hand, there are "no specific theme" type topics, such as Humor V and Topic Proposal Issues. There is no general need to close those at C. 300 messages, except maybe the case of the topic having gone totally bad (such as being infected with large doses of irrelevant stupidity). Thoughts of others? Adminnemooseus
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Coyote Member (Idle past 2106 days) Posts: 6117 Joined: |
Topics dealing with politics could be closed earlier, say at 5 or maybe 10 posts.
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