Gagged! (for now, anyway)

[Ish]

As a regular, but not prolific poster (two eyes, but only one mouth, right?) I don't have a large amount of posts—around sixty-something—which means I can't for example, post my experience of crossing the road in the US, because the thread is in the Politics, Religion and Social Issues forum. https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/193085/

I can understand why contentious issues are off limits to new members. Some of the things in there, though, seem to be innocuous enough to allow for a wider participation. (Such as being allowed to say what it was like crossing the road!)

Could some of these threads be opened up a bit? Also, if I were, for example, to start a thread "Post your experience on crossing the road in the US!!" would that get deleted because I don't have enough posts to post in my thread, or would it be moved to the PR&S forum where I couldn't comment afterwards?

 

[MongoTheGeek]

It looks though like the thread is in the wrong place. How about using this thread to tell us?

 

[Ish]

It's just a bit of nothing out of context, but it was the most recent example so I could remember it!

If I talked about the experience, would that be X and tell??

 

[wordmunger]

I'm a little biased (over 3000 posts), but I think 100 posts is a reasonable limit for participating in political discussions. It's a serious enough amount that no one's going to accumulate that many posts just to troll the forums, but it really doesn't take that long to get 100 posts. If you really want to talk politics, find one of the umpteen political forums around the net. Or post on my blog

 

[miniConvert]

I have to agree. I found it annoying myself initially, but as with any community once you start to get involved and feel more 'at home' your post count rapidly hits the 100 mark.

Perhaps you could bookmark the thread and add your comments once you are able?

 

[Ish]

My point wasn't that I can't post in political forums. That I quite understand and agree with.

I was thinking that some of the things in there aren't really political and seem to be innocent enough to open up a bit. I'm chuckling to myself here - what is it they say about "yesterday's news"? The thread sinks into oblivion and gathers dust and then I get 100 posts and start talking, for example, about crossing the road or something else equally irrelevant and everyone goes

Isn't humour wonderful !

 

[nbs2]

I think I see your point - but with a solution that seems different. I think that some threads are started in that forum b/c the person expected the responses to get political, but they don't. Maybe sending a PM to a mod about moving from the political to community or current events would be a possible answer. I think it would be appropriate to justify the change, to save the mod some time.

I only mention that because the discussion that you bring up about crossing the road feels apolitical (as it currently stands) to me.

 

[jimN]

If you manage to answer enough posts in this thread you'll be able to post your own experiences of crossing the road before you know it. At any rate, from my own experience of crossing the road over ther, I can't imagine that it was that exciting anyway.

To be honest I had the same problem as you when i started out. I contributed to a couple of threads that subsequently got moved into the political forum and i couldn't add anymore. This is particularly irritating when you get into a discussion with someone within the thread and can no longer respond.

I'm not bitter!

 

[floriflee]

I've had a couple of threads moved to the political forum before I could post there, and it was a little disappointing that I could no longer contribute. However, the Mods are pretty good about moving threads if you are nice to them and can provide them good justification. At the very least, I'm sure they will accept cookies, Apple products, or money/gift cards to move a thread out of a restricted forum.

 

[Ish]

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions! As I mentioned, I have no problem with not being able to post in a political forum as yet. The thread was more to highlight the nature of some of the things I can't comment on. No JimN, it's not that exciting, a bit hair-raising maybe, but the topic typified the bizarre nature of what I couldn't say!

Thanks for the suggestions floriflee; you're not suggesting I try to BRIBE the mods are you??

And no, I'm not bitter!

 

[floriflee]

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions! As I mentioned, I have no problem with not being able to post in a political forum as yet. The thread was more to highlight the nature of some of the things I can't comment on. No JimN, it's not that exciting, a bit hair-raising maybe, but the topic typified the bizarre nature of what I couldn't say!

Thanks for the suggestions floriflee; you're not suggesting I try to BRIBE the mods are you??

And no, I'm not bitter!

BRIBE?? ME??? NEVER!! I was merely suggesting that you make an offering of gratitude for all the hard work they do....

 

[SilentPanda]

If you see a thread in a forum you can't post in but the thread doesn't need to be in that forum, report the original post and request it be moved. If a mod moves it then you can post and if not... then it's probably meant for that forum anyway...

 

[Mudbug]

We mods and gods have talked at great length about the minimum post count for that forum, and decided as a group that 100 was the right place to set it. While not a common occurance, we've grandfathered in a few members who participated in the past in that forum prior to the minimum and still had under 100 posts due to the lack of posts counting in there.

I stand by the 100 minimum as it really helps control the troll population and keeps out members who only want to register to say "my politician is smarter than your politician I have no proof and off I go" then never come back. It makes it so that in order to participate in what is often hot-button issues, you've already made a recognizable contribution to the forums and a name for yourself.

After that, be as political as you'd like, but as the members of that forum will tell you, facts talk, and bs walks.

If you think you've been here long enough as a lurker and your prior posts have contributed in a way that justifies letting you into the restricted forum, send us a note and we'll give it a more specific judgement. We're not trying to limit the options of good people, just trying to lower our workload on a rather busy message board.


and to more accurately answer your question - you want something like a political forum, but for less hot-button topics, right? Isn't that what the community forum is for?

 

[Ish]

We mods and gods have talked at great length about the minimum post count for that forum, and decided as a group that 100 was the right place to set it.

Hello, Mudbug, thanks for posting. As I mentioned, I have no problem with the 100 post count for that forum, or the reasoning behind it. I agree.

If you think you've been here long enough as a lurker and your prior posts have contributed in a way that justifies letting you into the restricted forum, send us a note and we'll give it a more specific judgement. We're not trying to limit the options of good people, just trying to lower our workload on a rather busy message board.

Many thanks for the offer, I'm happy to wait and earn my stripes!

and to more accurately answer your question - you want something like a political forum, but for less hot-button topics, right? Isn't that what the community forum is for?

Yes it is. The reason I posted the thread was that I'd been surprised a few times recently, coming at the posts from the 'New Posts' route and not noticing which forum a post was in, to find I couldn't post replies to some things that seemed innocuous and I wondered why they were there, other than the fact that they were 'social issues'. The thread is a wry look at the bizarre nature of what I couldn't say, nothing more.

I would like to say that I enjoy the MacRumors forums immensely. What a great bunch of people. Don't know how much the mods have to take out—not too much I wouldn't think as I regularly troll through the posts and only know one thread where anyone has said anything nasty. (Though I have a very low threshold for nasty.) I'm sure I'd come across it more often if it happened a lot.

 

[jimN]

66 posts as of good friday at 10am - don't worry you're getting there. I suggest working night shifts, my post count jumps up when I'm sat up all night with nothing else to do.

 

[xsedrinam]

Hello, Mudbug, thanks for posting. As I mentioned, I have no problem with the 100 post count for that forum, or the reasoning behind it. I agree.

Many thanks for the offer, I'm happy to wait and earn my stripes!

Ish, you seem to have a good attitude about it. Don't worry about "earning stripes". Once you get in to the political forum, they'll be all too happy to give you all the stripes you need. 30 posts to go to get your thick skin on.

 

[Ish]

Thanks, people!

 

[jimN]

30 posts to go to get your thick skin on.

Just 19 left, his posting seems to have become quite prolific now he has something to aim for. Maybe it should be possible to monitor posting rates overtime. I know that someone broke down posting stats at christmas time (was it doctor q) but i'd be interested to know whether people tend to post quicker to make the 1st 100 or 500 and what the average number of posts new members make in their first weeks and months - there seem to be a lot of people who appear and disappear just as quickly.

A bit dull perhaps but there are a lot of people out there who like stats.

 

[0098386]

I think the system is fine. Like other folk have said; it keeps the trolls out. Nobody is going to post 100 messages just to talk crap in the aforementioned boards just to get banned straight away.

 

[Ish]

Just 19 left, his posting seems to have become quite prolific now he has something to aim for. Maybe it should be possible to monitor posting rates overtime. I know that someone broke down posting stats at christmas time (was it doctor q) but i'd be interested to know whether people tend to post quicker to make the 1st 100 or 500 and what the average number of posts new members make in their first weeks and months - there seem to be a lot of people who appear and disappear just as quickly.

A bit dull perhaps but there are a lot of people out there who like stats.

I have posted more today it's true, but I'm not really one for talking politics much so I'm not really aiming for that. I look at the forums most days and today there were actually some questions I could contribute to (well, I tried anyway) - I use my Mac to do all sorts of stuff but I'm not a techie so I usually shut up. Didn't even look at it yesterday!! Today I'm on my own and it's raining outside (contrary to all the forcasts which said five days of dry, bright weather)

If you're going to WATCH what I'm doing I'd better ask for this to be connected with the Big Brother MacRumors is Watching You thread!!