I placed this in the General Chat as not to disturb processes more important than the forums. First off, I would like to point out that there will always be people that are oblivious to, and in rare cases intentionally defiant of, our standards regarding forum posting. There will be the users that bump threads that have faded into obscurity, correct their mistakes in additional comments instead of using the Edit button, and try to make comment streaks rather than summing up their thoughts in one post. However, for those of us that do not often do these things, perhaps we should try to figure out exactly what is acceptable here. Formerly there was general consensus that most discussions that have not been posted on in over a week were considered dead, and not to be posted on by anyone else lest they be buried again or closed to prevent temptations. It was considered a practice of netiquette, and a gentle reminder went out to everyone who did so. Two things happened to disturb this balance: 1. People didn’t get the hint. Users (I will not name them, but I will say that they have annoyed me slightly and have been here for multiple months) have repeatedly commented on old threads, sometimes their own, only to receive the usual “don’t bump” message. They either ignore it or justify their actions, both a figurative slap to the face for anyone who has noticed their behavior before. 2. Other people began to think differently of it. The don’t bump messages became slightly more hostile (considering forum history, I am at least partly to blame for this), and sometimes warnings were given after 5 days rather than a week (lrn 2 count). On the opposite end of the spectrum, a discussion was dedicated to repeated bumping, and a few users (myself now included) believe that one week is not fair in some cases. Naturally, it stands to reason that resolved discussions must not be bumped without provoking a close. People also shouldn’t post if they have nothing to contribute, except for a few exceptions in GC and Games. But what about everything else? Can we come up with a standard (not a rule, but a strong suggestion) for what most users would consider to be an appropriate time frame for when to post on a thread? Consider the following (anyone may propose that these ideas change): - Discussions that are considered popular by the forum community (those that have a lot of view counts, or have attracted a lot of attention recently) have priority - forumgoers should be encouraged to post on these within reason - Newer discussions also have a sort of priority, but should be created solely when merited - Users should be discouraged from posting in a manner that is not constructive, especially when a discussion has not been posted on for more than three days - Users should avoid posting on discussions that have not been posted on for more than two weeks unless they have something well worth adding - Users should not post on discussions that are over a month outdated unless they have something vital to contribute, or ‘spark it back up’ No tl;dr here - if anything, at least explain your thoughts on bumping. Ideally, one would also discuss the idea of a standard, or what makes a discussion worth posting on.
Oh wow. I’ll read this, then post in a bit.
June Days. P.S. I was thinking about forum bumping actually… EDIT: OK, read it, I like the suggestions, however, only two weeks? Maybe, use commen sense, and, if it’s not withing the last eight threads of its category, should not be bumped, unless the information is vital, or just a fun game, such as Plays. Could an Admin (If this passes) make this an announcement? June Days
Yeah, sorry about that. But having a standard on what our community perceives to be the paragon of netiquette is different from guidelines, I believe.
The end response actually seems sort of open-ended. You can create an official list of guidelines as long as they aren’t rules, sticky it, and if anyone has suggestions you can entertain them.
Bump! Mike, maybe, make an announcement saying what to expect from users, so no forum bumping happens, and nothing bad out of the ordinary happens. I’d do it but I can’t make an announcement. However, if you decide to do it, I’d try and help out with it. I’d really like some guidelines and it’ll keep everything in order and professional. June Days
The thing that’s wrong with that is: we can’t just make a post of guidelines and announce it and tell everyone to follow it. The guidelines have to go through a procedure where it gets community reviewed, etc. I guess the forums haven’t been all that problematic to need guidelines.
Seriously, there really haven’t been that many problems on the forums, so if it ain’t broke don’t go fixing it.
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Theres always going to be some rule-breakers on anything, but I think the admins have done a good job on rules compared to other sites.
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I know a lot of bad sites and wikihow is amazing comapared with them.
I used to hate bumping but as a lot of the other experienced users/admins began to change their views on it I reevaluated my position and basically came to the conclusion that here and there it doesn’t matter, especially in General Chat or Forum Games. Nonetheless, though, I did push for Forum Guidelines a while back, but they were picked apart and soundly rejected. It sucked.
But the guidelines were just basic netiquette things anyway for the most part aijgieajrigjaiorjgeigear http://forums.wikihow.com/discussion/2612/wikihow-forums-guideline-set-/#Item\_39
I digress, though…
I did that, made a list of 3 or 4 of the agreed-upon ones, and even that didn’t go well. It was balderdash. BUT BUT BUT I DIGRESS.
