Dead Forums=spam

Only in the eyes of those who disagree.

 

The South Africa Fan force has been open for well over 2 years, and the number of posters from that country posting there has been decreasing.

At what point do you realize blind optimism isn't working? How many years does a forum have to be dead before you clue in?

What does it take to get a forum deleted? Obviously being dead and spam filled don't do it, are they any conditions where you'd admit that yes a forum should be deleted or are you really so reactionary you refuse to consider it?

 

I think the South Africa forum should be left alive. If not just for the reason it bothers people like farraday so much.

I am sure there are other things to worry about.

 

That's nice Mystery, it almost felt like home. Please, once more, with feeling.

I'm certain there must be other things to worry about but sinc eit apepars any attempt to bring them up will onyl cause the GSA's to dig their heels in and refuse to budge why nto just stick to this topic instead of dooming any other one by forcing the PTBs to turn thier common sense off.

 

If not just for the reason it bothers people like farraday so much.

 

Alright everyone let's not go there. Let this be a warning to everyone that behavior like that has been shown in the last few posts will not be tolerated. If you do not have anything to add then don't post, period.

 

Well it seems that you refuse to even answer a simple question.


What does it take for a forum to get deleted?

 

A long while back, I thought the Midwest region had gotten a little fat with forums, so I posted something to the effect that the forum would be deleted unless the locals rallied. Most had no response, a couple had one person who was dissappointed but understood. I think I deleted about 4 forums maybe. Anyway, that's what it took when I was doing this.

Some places, Northwest Ohio comes to mind, were just really slow in organizing, and it was bascially due to the sheer will of their current CR that I left the forum open, and now they've taken off. So basically, the forum had 3 people say they wanted it to begin with in order to get it created, and as long as someone is willing to struggle thru with it, I was more than happy to leave it open indefinately.

If the forum is completely abandoned for 3 months or so, it's probably worth looking into removing it....not so much that dead forums are spam havens and a problem to police, I just feel (and felt) that a ghost town forum was more discouraging for a new person who lived in that area, than for that same person to arrive and not see a forum for their town, and demand/work for getting one for themselves...new vs used / pride in ownership/creation sort of thing. Nothing really to base that on, than my own speculation.

I don't think this issue is so pressing that it demands all the chatter that it's gotten in the past couple of days, but there is something to be said for sleeker more "active in appearance" forum system...but at the same time, I can see the leave it and they may come eventually arguement too. I honestly just don't care either way.

 

Interesting discussion.

Some time ago our FanForce chapter (official since April 2002) was informed we didn't post enough, but the argument that the Base could become a spam-magnet wasn't used. We were told to either start posting more or we would lose our forum. Even when it was pointed out to the RSA in question that we prefer quality over quantity, there was no budging on the issues. "Don't become another ACG, but post more than you have been," was the directive from on high.

How much is enough? How much is too much?

Some form of standardisation would be good, from the perspective of an active FanForce member, who isn't just wandering the boards looking for kreff to disturb, (waves at *arraday).


*Derisa*

 

<juanty wave>

I hope that wasn't a capital *.



In any case I doubt it would be either hard nor harmfull to have a uniform policy on what constitutes a dead or useless forum.

 

Seb makes a lot of good points. That is where my cookie cutter response of it's up to the RSA for the region to make the decision. I'll give you an example of what I did on my return to FanForce.

I am a moderator for 11 forums in the North East. I went to all my Non-official forums and introduced myself as the new RSA for those respective forums. Some of these forums are active some are not. I also left all my current contact information for the people who are there and want to get a Chapter going. If I don't get responses or see activity from those forums where activity was low or virtually non-existent I will let them know that their forum is up for deletion. I usually give them 2 weeks to get their butts in gear as a warning. If I still don't see an effort then the forum will be deleted. Then the process starts all over again for the forum to return. If I get the minimum of 3 people that want the forum I will grant them it. I think this is a pretty decent way to decide whether or not a forum stays or goes.

 

Oh my goodness, I am sooo disappointed in this discussion. This is a not-so veiled attempt to justify off-topic spam, which is prohibit behavior on just about every forum on the JC, including the FF forums. To then accuse the RSA of bad management is just a deflection. None of this validates rule breaking. Frankly, the fact that this discussion is being entertained by the RSAs is a little embarrassing to me as a CR. This thread should be renamed "Deleting inactive forums" and the topic moved off of spam for good, or this should be locked and the discussion done with. Anything else is shameful.

 

Bloody hell. It isn't justifying off topic spam it's saying that leaving the forums open invites it. Yeah theft is wrong but I doubt anyone here leaves money in the middle of the street because we're all smart enough to realize that just because it's wrong doesn't mean it never happens. We're smart enough to realize that unless we have a very good reason to we don't risk leaving ourselves open to that kind of problem.

Just because I lock my car doesn't mean I think car jacking is okay!

So how about you get off my case hmm?

Oh and meanwhile several more threads have been locked in china for being off topic spam. I suppose locking the barn door before the horse escapes is out of the question.

Because doing that would mean it's okay for horses to escape.

 

I stand by my statement, Farraday. Forums that aren't policed for spam invite spam. If any bad management is transpiring here it's that this wasn't done sooner.

A friendly suggestion that the mods life might be made easier by locking the forums instead of constantly having to police such forums is one thing, but to be up in arms about mods enforcing the rules is suspect, at best.

 

At a certain point doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result becomes insanity.

The forum has no demonstratable local fan base. The spammers come. The mods ban lock and delete. The forum still has no demonstratable local fan base, the spammers come back, the mods lock ban and delete.
And the forum still has no demonstratable local fan base.
So what happens?

It's almost like a circle or something. And all i'm getting is removing the forum is somehow a victory for the spammers?

Hello? They're losing a place to spam, how's that a victory? I'm more concerned with actual results then worrying if some posisble rule breaker may feel some sort of fleeting visceral satisfaction that a useless forum they were going to spam got deleted.

The spammers keep coming back, year after year after year, and you're castigating me for saying you should change the way you deal with it?