Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Influx of misinformation.

jeremy.king

jeremy.king

macrumors 603
Original poster
Jul 23, 2002
5,479
1
Holly Springs, NC
We are a victim of our own success.

Anyone else noticing the large increase in BS responses and misinformation when someone asks a question?

I was thinking perhaps we could flag posts individually as BS (or something more politically correct), sort of the way that Craigslist does it. I envision a nice little pile of poo icon. Then once a certain threshold is reached, the post will be deleted or better yet, branded with a scarlet letter as BS where we can all punish the poster with laughter and mockery.

Seriously though, without mods cleaning them up or people calling other people out, the helpfulness of the thread is lost amongst a stinky pile of posts...

Thoughts?
 
kingjr3 said:
Thoughts?
Click to expand...
Yes. Report. The. Post.

That angry red triangle thing over to the left, and under the username? Yeah. Click on that and report a post that is offensive, or SPAM, or whatever. The mods will take it into consideration and w/ so many posts, it's hard for the mods to see every little post.
 
devilot said:
Yes. Report. The. Post.

That angry red triangle thing over to the left, and under the username? Yeah. Click on that and report a post that is offensive, or SPAM, or whatever. The mods will take it into consideration and w/ so many posts, it's hard for the mods to see every little post.
Click to expand...

Not my point.. really. I am referring to the posts where people actually think they are helping but their solution may be wrong or just overkill. Since technically, they are not breaking the forum rules (unless the rules state you cannot be wrong), then why would I report it?

Why not let the community flag posts as incorrect instead of bothering Mods with petty tasks?
 
well generally people do 'correct' others by saying they are wrong or need to check their facts. I understand what you are saying, but I don't see your solution fixing anything, just making some members mad and on and on it goes. Some people actually may have only good intentions and be flagged etc.

This might be an instance you have to overlook it.
 
Do you really want this place to become Slashdot?

IMHO flagging posts as BS is the first step to user moderation, and all the problems that come with it.

EDIT: BTW, you could also use the existing tools to just rate the thread.

B
 
balamw said:
Do you really want this place to become Slashdot?

IMHO flagging posts as BS is the first step to user moderation, and all the problems that come with it.

B
Click to expand...

I see..What if checks and balances were put into place. Such as you can only flag is you have XXX designation (such as 6502) and only allowing one flag per registered user. That way, if you get say 25 (or whatever threshold is taken) more "senior" MR members saying that a post is BS, then let it be so.

Rating a thread is fine, too bad you can't rate a response.
 
kingjr3 said:
I see..What if checks and balances were put into place. Such as you can only flag is you have XXX designation (such as 6502) and only allowing one flag per registered user. That way, if you get say 25 (or whatever threshold is taken) more "senior" MR members saying that a post is BS, then let it be so.

Rating a thread is fine, too bad you can't rate a response.
Click to expand...

Just correct them.
But what I'd love to see is a system like the one on the Apple boards where you can actually see whether a problem has been solved.
 
kingjr3 said:
I see..What if checks and balances were put into place. Such as you can only flag is you have XXX designation (such as 6502) and only allowing one flag per registered user. That way, if you get say 25 (or whatever threshold is taken) more "senior" MR members saying that a post is BS, then let it be so.
Click to expand...


Post count and knowledge are barely ever related... :D

Every now and then I see a post in a troubleshooting thread that reads simply reinstall OSX or something along these lines. I like the fact the member in question is trying to help and even if reinstalling OSX isn't necessary, it's still a viable option.

People coming to MacRumors for Mac help must already know that they're getting free support, and as such, it comes with no guaranty. I know how frustrating it is when someone post a completely false, misleading and possibly harmful piece of advice, but all we can do is offer a reasonable counter-argument for the original poster to take onboard. :)
 
kingjr3 said:
Then once a certain threshold is reached, the post will be deleted or better yet, branded with a scarlet letter as BS where we can all punish the poster with laughter and mockery.
Click to expand...

I understand you're joking (despite your emoticonlessness) -- but do you think that that joke is far from fact? Every once in a while a thread becomes a "gang up on another member thread," and not always for good reason. Does such a member deserve to be shouted down and marked?

And how would such a system handle threads that deal with ideas outside of "facts?" Woudn't this lead to "unwanted opinions" being stricken from the record, or worse, marked as "wrong"?

I think everyone appreciates the genuine thought you've put into improving the community. But I see too many iffy consequences!

:)
 
The nature of forum threads is that people ask questions, give opinions, sometimes get their information wrong, and that others usually correct them.

Those who want "vetted" community-moderated information should take advantage of the MacRumors Guides, both to get information and to share what they know.
 
kingjr3 said:
Then once a certain threshold is reached, the post will be.....branded with a scarlet letter as BS where we can all punish the poster with laughter and mockery.
Click to expand...

Punishing with laughter & mockery sounds like an appropriate resonse. ;) :D
 
kingjr3 said:
Not my point.. really. I am referring to the posts where people actually think they are helping but their solution may be wrong or just overkill. Since technically, they are not breaking the forum rules (unless the rules state you cannot be wrong), then why would I report it?

Why not let the community flag posts as incorrect instead of bothering Mods with petty tasks?
Click to expand...

You sound like a member of AppleTalk Australia forum. Please, please let's not go down that path. This is one of the best Mac forums on the net and it shouldn't get screwed up by over zealous moderating, flagging, editing or bitchy comments when ever someone makes an innocent reply to a post.
 
Bern said:
You sound like a member of AppleTalk Australia forum. Please, please let's not go down that path. This is one of the best Mac forums on the net and it shouldn't get screwed up by over zealous moderating, flagging, editing or bitchy comments when ever someone makes an innocent reply to a post.
Click to expand...

Never been to that site.

I agree with this being the best mac forum around, but I definitely have seen a decline in quality answers. Just too many people on this site now that think they know what they are talking about giving bad advice...Like I said above, a result of the mac platform becoming more popular.

I'll just stick to my "polite" way of correcting them with a sprinkle of mockery ;)
 
kingjr3 said:
Never been to that site.

I agree with this being the best mac forum around, but I definitely have seen a decline in quality answers. Just too many people on this site now that think they know what they are talking about giving bad advice...Like I said above, a result of the mac platform becoming more popular.

I'll just stick to my "polite" way of correcting them with a sprinkle of mockery ;)
Click to expand...

That's probably better than outwardly demeaning people, editing their posts or flagging them. Leave that to the kiddies forums like I mentioned before.
 
kingjr3 said:
Not my point.. really. I am referring to the posts where people actually think they are helping but their solution may be wrong or just overkill. Since technically, they are not breaking the forum rules (unless the rules state you cannot be wrong), then why would I report it?

Why not let the community flag posts as incorrect instead of bothering Mods with petty tasks?
Click to expand...
I disagree with flagging people's posts because you think it is wrong or overkill. Maybe you're wrong. Not you personally, don't take that personally, but maybe you thought you knew something and then you flagged someone's post because the answer didn't fit your idea of a proper answer. Moderation is very subjective and if you leave it in the hands of everyone these boards would be a bigger mess.

If you see someone giving wrong information just offer a corrected suggestion. If you want to moderate then I guess you'd have to speak to an admin here. The people giving bad information probably do not know it and they probably mean no harm. It's unfortunate to see that people always assume the worst of everyone. I know people do that to me and frankly I find it sad. But I do know that if and when I am challenged, I usually wind up being right.

And I am not saying "you" as in you personally. It is more of a general "you" kind of like "you guys" but cut down to "you". I think your idea is super, but not super enough to have in the hands of everyone. Have you seen the bickering that goes on around here? Do you also think this tool can wind up in the wrong hands and good posts would also be deleted? Big picture.
 
jessica. said:
I disagree with flagging people's posts because you think it is wrong or overkill. Maybe you're wrong. Not you personally, don't take that personally, but maybe you thought you knew something and then you flagged someone's post because the answer didn't fit your idea of a proper answer. Moderation is very subjective and if you leave it in the hands of everyone these boards would be a bigger mess.

If you see someone giving wrong information just offer a corrected suggestion. If you want to moderate then I guess you'd have to speak to an admin here. The people giving bad information probably do not know it and they probably mean no harm. It's unfortunate to see that people always assume the worst of everyone. I know people do that to me and frankly I find it sad. But I do know that if and when I am challenged, I usually wind up being right.
Click to expand...

That was the point of using a threshold so there would have to be some sort of consensus. A defined number of people would have to "flag" a post as misinformation or BS before whatever the resulting action occured (such as simply removing the post). This way you couldn't simply hold a grudge, flag someone's post and then expect it to disappear. The threshold could move up or down as mods determine appropriate. The power then resides in the community and NOT a single user.

Im not interested in moderating, as I am still trying to master the use of tact. I usually say it how it is and people take offense...
 
There's an option in vBulletin (the forum software) to have "reputations" where people who find a post valuable or invaluable can flag it as such. Next to everyone's name is a little scale that can be coloured various degrees of red (for people who's posts have been flagged negatively to various degrees) to various degrees of green (for people who's posts have been flagged as being good).

The problem forums have is people become obsessed with posting in them. You can usually PM an individual (at least if you're a mod) suggesting that they refrain from posting unless they really know what they are talking about. Most sane people will accept this advice, but there's no counting for being young (eg: a teenager) and enthusiastic, which many of these people are, and are going nuts having discovered they can post all over forums whatever they like.
 
Currawong said:
There's an option in vBulletin (the forum software) to have "reputations" where people who find a post valuable or invaluable can flag it as such. Next to everyone's name is a little scale that can be coloured various degrees of red (for people who's posts have been flagged negatively to various degrees) to various degrees of green (for people who's posts have been flagged as being good).
Click to expand...

This is a nice compromise...I like it!
 
Currawong said:
There's an option in vBulletin (the forum software) to have "reputations"...
Click to expand...

I suspect that the use of this feature on this forum is reserved for just a few. ;)
 
Reputation ALWAYS gets abused on any site i have ever seen it. And it gives another difficult task to the moderators and administrators to watch over.

Very difficult to use effectively.
 
eva01 said:
Reputation ALWAYS gets abused on any site i have ever seen it. And it gives another difficult task to the moderators and administrators to watch over.

Very difficult to use effectively.
Click to expand...

<semi-sarcasm>
So we'll just stick to our dictator ways?
</semi-sarcasm>

Not sure why the push back to give the community the power to rate reputations or individual posts? Do you fear the trolls coming in and disrupting things? Or do we not want to evolve and mature as this site grows...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back