On some of the VW boards, we have ones like that with thousands of posts over many many years in threads like "what did you do to your VW today" etc. Let em' eat!
All the locked threads...why?
- Thread starter TiGeo
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Some members know how I feel about "What are you... (doing, working on, eating, etc) right now" and especially "Post your... (latest oil change, oil fill hole, latest parts purchase, latest beer consumption, etc)" threads.
IMO they violate rule number 4, The quality of posts is expected to provide substance and value of discussion. The G&OT forum does not replace social media, photo sharing, or other social apps, and is not intended for streams of consciousness or worthless posts. Off topic posts/threads will be deleted if they have no redeeming value.
IMO there is NO substance or value in these kinds of threads. Nobody wants to see your bucket of used oil and dented oil filter or the pile of parts that you purchased. They are like people posting a picture of their lunch on FB (who cares what you had for lunch)? Even if they have hundreds of pages of posts they should be sent to LaLa Land where they belong.
My $.02. End of rant.
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Sir, this is oil church. Sit up straight and don't say naughty words. No talking while the deacons are speaking.
Guys want to talk about wrenching in an offtopic thread, explain how that in any way affects your life?
Live and let live. There are 9 subforums under "general" as long as they're contained there no rules are being broken.
On ramform there is a synthetic oil thread which currently has 46,000+ posts going back 10 years. The mods pretty much leave it alone because it's a great way to have a bunch of tangentially related discussions in one thread, and guys who don't care about it know to skip over it.
Here's a thread example from a Mustang chat board - 55K+ posts, 3691 pages. Been going since 2015.
For all the grumpy guys ... nobody is forcing you to read anything you don't want to read.
Why do you think the thread was even posted ... maybe to "push buttons"?, lol. I don't see anything wrong with having technical debates with some button pushing and some so called "bickering" as long as it doesn't get into bad personal attack territory.
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I bumped the Subaru TSB flush thread last week with a recent update to the TSB and the thread was promptly locked. I have no idea why.
This is, without doubt, the most heavily moderated forum I have ever participated in… Which is probably a couple dozen.
A lot of the spiralling threads are the same people arguing over the same things time and time again. Would make more sense to handle it directly with those members than have the same thread turn into stupid arguments every two weeks over and over again.
This is, without doubt, the most heavily moderated forum I have ever participated in… Which is probably a couple dozen.
A lot of the spiralling threads are the same people arguing over the same things time and time again. Would make more sense to handle it directly with those members than have the same thread turn into stupid arguments every two weeks over and over again.
Because the forum quality is the culture that develops. If you attract a bunch of people who just want to facebook without actually logging into facebook then you get that caliber of post everywhere.
Those of us who try to (or at least used to) try to contribute meaningful content then get a bunch of replies that don't share the same quality and in some cases a couple dingbats bickering get the tread locked even when there was some quality replies decide its no longer worthwhile to spend the time to contribute quality content.
Its why i have maybe 6 or 7 used filters i have never cut and posted... I'll spend a good 3 hours taking and editing pictures maybe another hour posting them and linkng them to the related UOA and people will not even bother to apply proper replies to the appropriate thread (UOA or filter thread). The one guys going to say Ultra, another will say Denso someone will run on about delta p and positive displacement oil pumps "good times" will be had by none and it'll end up getting locked when good times and ultra guy get into an argument.
Someone might even steal and edit one of your pictures without giving credit.
So i should just save my 4 hours and post something mindless like everyone else...
Maybe post a suggesting that people are unknowingly going to be buying flooded ferraris by the millions that the state will not allow to be sold without at least a "flood" brand...
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If I had a dime from every time a certain member mentioned ‘delta p’ I’d be retired by now 😆
I remember one in particular
About a Volvo, a green Blazer, and a can of Restore, in the great garden state 🤪
...wonder whatever happened to him 🤔
I'm mostly satisfied with the modding, however I've been threatened a handful of times with using the (Grammer element) the escutcheon (...) As a method to bypass the censor
...that's just kinda how I talk 🤷♂️
At least you and a few others understand delta-p now ... 😄 PD oil pumps are next.
Maybe I'll add them to my signature, lolPS - see signature. 😋
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That's an assumption on your part. In my opinion nobody is coming to an oil forum to learn how to cook eggs. I'm sure there is an exception, but if you look at the posts in the thread that was just locked (0 weight in the Ford SUV) you'll see all well "established" members posting.
You're also assuming a forum 100% dedicated to oil neccessarily leads to members that know what they're talking about (ie "high quality discussion") when it comes to oil. That's not true either. You're going to get everything from hobbyists like me to pros who do this for a living. And you're inevitiably get bruised egos and very basic questions (again, from guys like me).
Saw one person claiming “windowed block” and possible death. Another one sticking 0w-5 in his plane.
That's entirely possible when rod bearings lose adequate lubrication, spin in the rod big end and lock up the rod on the crankshaft.
Oh no ... this is going technical now and might turn into "bickering".
😄
Because some threads are flashpoints for bickering (Alec Baldwin getting charged for example).
What you don’t see - all the deleted/moderated posts. If a thread is predominantly attracting posters who want to go into RSP, then it has ceased to be useful conversation - lock time.
We are working on addressing the perpetrators of rule violations.
It’s a lot of work, to be honest, and all of us have other pursuits besides BITOG (I know, a shocking admission, but true).
Further, many long time members get upset when a moderator contacts them in a PM about their behavior.
And having to deal with an upset person via PM takes even more time.
So, if the thread is off the rails, and the few instigators are addressed, then locking reduces the opportunities for continued conflict.
Often in those flashpoint threads, the essential points have been made. Additional posts are simple repetition. No value added.
Even if not everyone was given a chance to pile their opinion on top of similar opinions.
Well, not really, i've kinda watched it happen... Lurked here before i actually joined too...
I never said it had to be 100% dedicated to oil, i do think there should be markedly fewer off topic areas and primarily focused on oil, oil filters and automotive mechanical topics. That's an opinion though.
A more focused forum will attract people with a more focused interest, a more focused interest will translate to a greater dedication to absorb/ learn and pass on the information. Again that's my opinion and you're free to disagree, but ive seen it happen - a heavily moderated and focused forum where people are held to high standards results in a quality information base. A less heavily moderated forum and more diverse forum turns into a lower quality something - it's not really an information base. I guess it's my space.
BTW i also never said that it took a "pro" to be knowledgable, I suppose it depends on what kind of pro you mean, but most professional techs i know (and i know quite a few of them) don't really know much about oil.
If the forum is general enough like facebook, you will attract general discussion. BITOG is one of the most specialized forums I've seen, by nature its going to attract only those interested in oil (at the very least). Nobody comes here to talk about boats, or camping, or cooking, but if we're all here anyway we can all learn something new if were interested in those topics. In other words, stopping offtopic discussions doesn't keep the quality of on topic discussions any higher because everybody in this forum is here to discuss oil. That's why we came here and that's why we stay. Doesn't mean the other stuff can't add additional value.
Thank you for the succinct response.
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