Meta Suggestion: P.A.R.T. Campaign (People Against Rule-Out Threads)
I say this is a meta-suggestion, since this is a suggestion for how ideas are suggested are handled in this forum, and not about the game itself.
If you have been here for a moderate amount of time, you will know that threads here are constantly made, with many of them being ruled-out ideas, or just bad threads that people want to keep putting thier 2¢ into for whatever reason.
That needs to stop. The Ruled-out thread problem is so big, there is a policy of deleting them on sight by mods. It is a shame really, since that's why most new people come here for, posting an idea they independently came up with and the desire to help, but unfortunately for them it has likely already been talked about to death before they even started playing CoC.
So, I have some suggestions to help combat this.
- Make a ruled-out forum section with a short thread life on it, instead of outright deleting.
- Encourage people to report any and all ruled-out threads using the black ⚠ sign (! inside triangle) on the first post
- Boycott replying to any 'bad thread' that is posted.
- Use strategies to keep good posts from sinking too far down the page count.
The first and second suggestion go together. For one, having the Ruled-out thread pulled and put into the trash heap called "Ruled-Out Ideas (and bad threads?)" people can still get their 'fix' of explaining whatfor to the thread creator, and not make the new person feel miffed from thier thread being deleted 'without warning'. There of course is a warning, but they rarely understand the meaning of it until it is too late. Having the prospect of the thread being moved, rather than deleted, will make people feel less guilty about reporting such threads, and people having thier thread reported on will feel less resentful if thier thread is only moved, instead of deleted. They will get the idea that they made a mistake, while other forum-goers that are compelled to keep posting and explaining things will have a chance to do so. People still can keep posting in those threads once they are moved to the Ruled-out sub forum, and leave this one free for original ideas once again.
Suggestions three and four go hand in hand as well. The third one helps push bad posts further down the page count, while the forth suggestion helps keep the good ones near the top. Some strategies for keeping good threads near the top is to save small, mostly unimportant, comments for later. That way when you need to bump a thread back up, you can legitimately do so with a comment, than with a more blatant bumping post.
Please vote, and post here if you have any comments or support this idea. Take part in P.A.R.T. now! Voting would be akin to signing up, more or less, and would be an easier list for people to see who supports this idea.