Pointless Posts

[Neil]

Let me first start by saying, this post is not aimed at anybody specifically and is not me getting on my high horse or anything, but is just an observation that has got me thinking and wondered what others thought about it, so...

Having been a member here now for a wee while and having now read through a lot of the old/archived post and the vast majority of new ones, it seems to me that there are more and more posts that are, well, pointless. Ok I know a lot of discussions do go OT at times and there are jokes within them etc, tittle tattle from time to time, but it seems that more recently some of the posts just didn't need to be made at all and add nothing to discussion at hand.

Now is this me just being miserable/petulant, or would a site like this not work without these kind of posts? A forum site needs people to actively take part for it to be successful and maybe I am missing something and these type of posts are useful/have a point.

Like I said, just interested to hear what other members (and the Mods who I guess have to monitor things like that as part of there duties)think, do you agree with me or do I need to take a "chill pill" (as I was told by some youth the other day!![ii])and just accept it as part of the "Forum world". Should we all take a bit of time before posting to see if what we are going to say is useful?

And, may I also say, that I am not excluding myself in this, as I am sure some (a lot) of my posts have been utterly pointless and some make me cringe when reading them back now[:I].

well that's it from me.
Neil:)

Do you mean pointless as in one word/non-VS related/off topic?

I dislike the former, but the latter have produced some interesting results...

VS.

[Neil]

Originally posted by VS045
Do you mean pointless as in one word/non-VS related/off topic?

I dislike the former, but the latter have produced some interesting results...

VS.

A mixture of all 3, but mainly I means ones that add nothing to the discussion/devolpment of the topic, going OT can be entertaining, but only if done at the right time/in the right context imo.

Neil

I think its a case of where you draw the line between a large group of amiable friends with a common interest or an elitist club with an aloof attitude to newer members. I like it as it is.

Some elitists might even consider this thread pointless in itself, not me I hasten to add, but you see my point

I agree with EGG - I think it's fine as it is and no harm is done with the odd pointless post but I'm sure if there was an increase in the number, the site's effectiveness may become diluted.

VS.

To be honest, Ive always enjoyed the feel to V-flyer.
It feels a very warm atmosphere and is welcoming. The current rules are a lot more relaxed than on other forums, posts are still locked on here, don't get me wrong, but to be honest, I like V-Flyer as it is.
If it ain't broke, dont fix it.

Kev.

I think it's down to a couple of things;

1. Contributors making leaps of logic in their thinking on a topic that they then don't communicate in their posts;

2. New contributors finding their feet, learning what works and what doesn't. I've tried recently to become more careful about what I post, asking myself "does this add anything?", "will it upset someone?" and "is that really that funny?". More often than not the answer is no. I allow myself more leeway with the responses to TR's where a simple and straightforward thanks to someone for the effort in preparing a piece never goes amiss.

It seems to me to be relatively self policing (far less acrymonious than some music lists I moderate) with O/T posts within specific threads often getting ignored.

A question I have of the moderators - how much deliberate trolling have you experienced over the years ?

Paul

[Decker]

Several instances spring to mind but they are gently but firmly dealt with. Normally it arises from someone whose experience of other boards leads them to conclude that they shouldn't have to be courteous and obey forum rules because this is the internet and they have freedom of speech. Ermm No - this is a private forum and you stick to the rules or leave. I can specifically think of about 5 people who have been banned so there are probably or two more. Not bad given the activity here. A tribute both to the commonsense of our membership and the reasonableness of the mods.

Define 'pointless'...?

OK, so the odd topic can ramble on a bit, but I rather like the sense of having-a-good-chat-down-the-pub that this forum exudes sometimes. And don't forget, 90% of the discussions on here are, in my most humble of opinion, thoroughly relevant - saved me a great deal of time, stress and money over the years.

So, to paraphrase a certain Mr. Joel, don't go changing to try to please anyone, we love you just the way you are. Ahh...

I think as most of the people that post here have paid for 'membership' I see no harm in letting a topic go a bit OT.

A sense of humor is great and is something this forums' members have lots of. I could easily point to a certain other forum where people TALK about FLYING where I for one am put off from participating in further due to the ego's involved.

Certainly this forum like all others has people who go OTT or are just unable to take things light heartedly but it's never been a mojor problem.

Anyway to cut it short, I'm happy with the way the forum is run at the mo.

One of the main reasons I love this forum and check for new posts daily (even though I only fly on Virgin maybe twice a year) is the relaxed, friendly attitude of the members.

There are a number of times that questions get asked which have been covered before, but I don't actually have a problem with that. Usually the question is quite interesting, and with the question being asked again (rather than the poster trawling through dozens of pages from numerous search results), someone who wasn't a member when the original post began gets to learn something new.

Chances are, almost everything there is to ask about Virgin has been anwswered before, so if questions don't ever get repeated or go slightly off topic, there wouldn't be any new posts.

...My soapbox is now free for others to use...

[Decker]

That's a valid point sstolp except that by proliferating duplicate subjects you

a) make it harder to find the definitive answer in a search
b) guarantee that the new searcher will get lots of hits for their search and be more likely to post a new thread. Catch-22 as it were.

So politeness dictates that whilst a newbie might not know to search and may thus post an already answered question, they be gently steered back to a relevant topic.

It's an interesting question about duplicates.

Obviously there are the ones where a current event, news item etc. is posted twice - normally totally innocently - I fell victim to that one recently. Of course it is necessary to lock one and direct to the other.

Then there is the issue of a general question that would appear to have been resolved but the months later is revisited. I am never sure quite how to proceed with this - I normally do search but posting a follow up question or comment to something that was discussed 6 months earlier normally seems quite strange. Also are posts archived based on original posting date or last activity as it is a shame to add detail to a post that may be archived soon afterwards.

Generally speaking I quite like the chatty nature of the forums. I think the information that comes up by going a bit OT is actually quite good and the recent trend of splitting topics seems to be working well.

Phil

P.S. Is there any process in place to protect identified useful threads from archive?

[Neil]

Can I just say I am not at all against the sites friendly banter/threads going OT/New members asking already answered questions, the point I was trying to make in my original post (which was made after a glass or 4 of a nice Red[:I], so might not of been worded to well)is that if you compare the posts say Pre-2005 to posts of today, there seemed to be a lot less 1 word/sentance replies back then.

IMO, this is a discussion forum, and making a reply so short can surely not add anything meaningful to a discussion (can it?), and therefore IMO some of the posts are pointless, but this is just my opinion, and I wondered how others felt about it.

I was not at all trying to say the whole going OT/friendly banter thing is bad, because for me it is part of what I enjoy about this site.

I personally think the Mods do a very good job, and when duplicate threds do exist, by error or because of a new member not realising I think the Mods/other members are very polite and helpful in pointing out the search function (much more so than in some of the older threads where it seemed to be done quite bluntly IMO), but duplicate threads should be locked, otherwise the site becomes unhelpful to new members looking for answers/help etc.

Ok another rant of mine over
Neil:)

This topic has been discussed a number of times before and as Neil says Im sure that those of us who have been here a while are all guilty from time to time of adding a pointless post in wome way shape or form - sometimes the urge to put on a witty reply is too much or there are those on here who know each other so it becomes a "private" joke and so on.

However - I believe that the one key thing about V-flyer is that, in the main, the topics are kept to things Virgin or Virgin related - I post on some other forums and some of these have whole rafts of posts which are absolutely nothing to do with the "theme" of the forum and which contribute nothing to a reader's knowledge - however, the people who run and use these sites are quite happy with having posts like this and it is therefore quite right and proper for people to post in the fashion - but Im glad that doesnt happen here - e.g. we do not have a "welcome to the board post area or a "happy birthday " area or some of the more personal posting areas you can see in other forums.

The moderators do do an awful lot of work behind the scenes to "tidy" up posts - change mis-spelt titles, put posts in the correct post area, advise posters about etiquette and decency, prevent duplication and so on and so forth. This is done 90% of the time behind the scenes and as a PM to the poster - its pretty reare that a mod has to publicly rebuke anyone or lock a post that is getting out of hand - it does happen however and I think that this shows that some common sense is being applied.

As has been mentioned this is a private site which is owned by Pixuk and moderted under the terms and conditions of the site - I like it like that and hope we stay that way!!

Low as my hit rate of postings may be, I'd like to think that I've never made one which could be described as 'pointless'. However, in the interests of helping this topic to develop, here goes.....

Flibble.

I'd just like to add that I support most of the comments so far. I think a healthy balance of posts is what makes this forum so good. It's nice to see a forum that has some atmosphere for a change!

However, what has got on my nerves before (doesn't seem to be happening at the moment) is people posting, as Neil suggested, totally pointless posts, such as

LOL [y]

They seem to be 'post building' more than contributing.

Just my 2c worth.

Originally posted by mdvipond
Flibble.

Bahahaha.

Got pencils in your ears too?

Oops, think I just fell into that trap.....

[Neil]

Originally posted by radar
However, what has got on my nerves before (doesn't seem to be happening at the moment) is people posting, as Neil suggested, totally pointless posts, such as

LOL [y]

They seem to be 'post building' more than contributing.

Andrew - you have totally got what I was meaning, the example statement you have made above is what, I, would call I pointless post, benefits nobody in any way shape of form.

Was starting to think I was alone in the train of thought for a while!

Neil:)

Originally posted by Attitude23
Andrew - you have totally got what I was meaning, the example statement you have made above is what, I, would call I pointless post, benefits nobody in any way shape of form.

Was starting to think I was alone in the train of thought for a while!

Neil:)

Hehe - not bad for an 'oldie' . Must be the Victor Meldrew in me.

Know what you mean about pointless posts, Neil, and have spotted the odd 1 or 20 myself. Was there any post (or forum) in particular which especially ticked you off, or do you prefer not to say [?]

[Neil]

Originally posted by Treelo
Know what you mean about pointless posts, Neil, and have spotted the odd 1 or 20 myself. Was there any post (or forum) in particular which especially ticked you off, or do you prefer not to say [?]

It was just an observation more than anything, I aint into pointing the finger or anything, its not my place to do so and as I said, I am sure at times I have made a few pointless posts myself so it would probably a case of "pot calling the kettle" and all that.

I was just interested to hear what others thought also, maybe I shouldn't of made the post if I'm honest, like I said a glass or so of Red less and I probably wouldn't of done so, but no harm done I think.

Neil:)

Oh and Andrew - very good dig with the "oldie" comment, but as I've said many a time, I like the old;)[}:)]

Originally posted by Attitude23
Oh and Andrew - very good dig with the "oldie" comment, but as I've said many a time, I like the old;)[}:)]

Dig?[:I]

There's a Help the Aged christmas card from me with your name on it, but listen here young man, I'm taken! [:o)]