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Rapid Closure of threads

Discussion in 'Policies, Guidelines and Terms of Use' started by VE3MIJ, Feb 17, 2012.

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  1. VE3MIJ

    VE3MIJ Guest

    Hi All,

    Coming back in to the hobby after a 15 year absence, it's great to see good information on here. One thing I've noticed though that is disturbing, is a rapid closure of many threads in a hobby where useful information that can be refined and added to in a thread, gets fragmented due to rapid closure of threads.

    I'm on many other forums and have never ever seen this kind of behavour before. It's not encouraging and honestly it makes me think twice about spending a lot of time in here. 60 days is ridiculously short for thread closure, especially in a hobby where equipment gets used for decades.

    Perhaps someone can enlighten me as to what the thinking was behind this, or if it is some sort of knee jerk reaction to an issue on the forum?

    Many thanks!

    73 Jim
     
  2. WG7X

    WG7X Platinum Subscriber Platinum Subscriber QRZ Page

    Jim,

    Speaking strictly from a participants point-of-view, I think that it is simply a matter of history.

    Of my time here, which has been since it's inception, there have been certain subjects that come up over and over. Most of the arguments that go along with these subjects have also been given time and again. The operators and moderators here have tried many things to keep discussion on an even keel. At one time there was even a forum for politics! That one went badly soon after it began, and it is no longer here.

    So, the moderators have an active role in the community, and it is their efforts that have made QRZ dot com a workable place to come.

    Some posts are made just to stir the pot and those get short thrift. Others drift into endless arguments and these too get shut down. At this point, given the experience and history with the moderators, I think that they are getting pretty good at telling which threads will head into the dumpster. So they take action.

    It can be annoying at times, but the alternative is worse. I have mostly given up on other ham radio sites because of the lack of effective moderation. The hate, discontent, back-biting and name calling that goes on there is enough to make any reasonable person thankful for the job that the moderators here do.

    73 Gary
     
  3. K8MHZ

    K8MHZ Ham Member QRZ Page

    Which is exactly why I left eHam and became a Zedder!
     
  4. AF6LJ

    AF6LJ Ham Member QRZ Page


    E-Ham is an squired taste.
    The Zed is well managed and people are welcome to bring up almost any topic, and as long as there is no fighting, or name calling and mo politics it's likely to remain.
     
  5. VE3MIJ

    VE3MIJ Guest

    Thanks Guys, I appreciate the feedback and the history on this. It's a shame that some people can't behave well enough that it has to be done. At least I did try to search for an answer, before starting this thread, but didn't have much luck. Hopefully this might help others, that wonder the same when they drop in.

    Must say, it's good to be back. Bought a new rig to go with my collection of old ones that I pulled out of boxes... :)

    73!

    Jim
     
  6. AE1PT

    AE1PT Ham Member QRZ Page

    There are a couple more dynamics that come into play. We have found that 60 days is a reasonable amount of time for a thread to have no additional posts. After that time, some of the participants may have moved on--and in some cases the thread has become unwieldy and difficult to follow. Almost any thread that exceeds 100 posts is not only difficult to navigate--but wanders all over the place.

    The 60 day policy has been in effect for over two years now. Staff saw increasing problems with new members dredging up threads that were several years old--some eight or more! Almost everyone in the conversation had moved on and in some instances major participants had become SK...

    We were also being abused by ax-grinding members who were deliberately resurrecting threads many years old. Many arguments erupted over this. Our position is that if something that brings new information to the table is necessary for public posting, one of two things can happen. If a thread is recently closed a member may contact QRZ staff and request that it be opened again. This is not something that will happen often--especially if the intent is to cover territory already sufficiently discussed within the closed thread. Otherwise, the member may begin a new thread, and post new and relevant observations there. It may lead to a bit of fragmentation--but the reality is that most boards are composed of the same subject material over and over again. There are even predictable cycles!
     
  7. AA7EJ

    AA7EJ Ham Member QRZ Page

    I would like to suggest to let the original poster delete the post and flag it for an administrator / moderator to be closed and DELETED soon, maybe even automatically.
    Some of the posts are time sensitive ( special event, swap meet etc.) and some of them get to be a discussion forum resembling no relation to the original post.
    I see very little value in preserving these for future generations.

    As for repetition of subjects, so what, maybe it gets into new area of discussions.

    And if you apply my first suggestion it will go away soon anyway.

    73 Vaclav
     
  8. W2WDX

    W2WDX Premium Subscriber QRZ Page

    I also suspect, having operated several boards myself, that the admins have to consider storage space on their servers. Especially on "Free to Members" boards. Additional storage on servers does cost money. It is one of the reasons why auto-purge functions are part of the software for boards.
     
  9. KGRJOHN

    KGRJOHN QRZ Member

    ~~~~~~~~~

    I think that's right!
     
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