Suggestion on future contest rule change

[Bored@Work]

LoL What bullshit are you saying?

Everyone who can read can see that you responded to a message from "ChrisGreece52 on 2013-01-15, 22:13:57".

And for your other posts, here https://www.eevblog.com/forum/beginners/question-on-electricity/msg306054/#msg306054 you started to go completely bonkers, posting the same junk three times in a row.

9 months!?

Yep. We have October, that posting from ChrisGreece52 was from January. You didn't bother to read the tread. You didn't bother to read the date. You were just eager to do another shit in the woods to get to your minimum posting number.

And then you have the galls to come here and tell us something about "quality postings".

Who cares about the dates, I was not even aware of it.

See, that is my point. You weren't aware of it, because you didn't care. You just wanted to do yet another dump. And you want to lecture us about quality postings?

Everyone has to start somewhere. If EEV forum is full of people like you I will stay awa and join other forums.

I won't miss you. Good by, and don't let the door hit you on your way out. But of course I know you won't leave before the end of the contest. In the meantime, may I suggest you join my fan club, run by Private Fluffer?

You should really go pick on those cheapskates trying to win contest.

You mean people like you?

Don't be jealous. I can understand your ego, old guards feeling threatened by newbie. 

Wanker. I don't even have subscribe to the contest, I am not taking part. I am interested in having a readable forum where clueless people don't set the standard.

[EEVblog]

I joined after seeing the contest video but mainly because I didn't know there was a forum until then.

I only mention it at the end of almost every video, and link to it in every video 

[flolic]

B@W - one of the reasons that I love this forum   

[Wytnucls]

Interesting stat maybe:
To date, about half the contestants have 20 posts or less on the site. (450 out of a total of 940)

[sync]

I think the 5 posts rule doesn't work well. Maybe just drop it. Then new users can entry the contest without been forced to write (meaningless) posts. If they have something to contribute they will do it anyway.

[Mr Smiley]

Interesting stat maybe:
To date, about half the contestants have 20 posts or less on the site. (450 out of a total of 940)

You seem to have a problem with people with low post counts 

I take it, that if you were running the comp you would specify a minimum of 710 posts to enter; now i wonder where i got that number from 

And anybody with less than that magic number ( 710 ) is meaningless and unwanted within this forum. And heaven forbid dare they attempt to join any of Dave's  competitions 

Dave, we have a winner,,,,, it's,,,,,,,, Wytnucls, he's the only one here worthy of such a prize ( well all of them actually )

 

[Wytnucls]

Of course I have a problem with people who have a low post count, especially 141 for some reason.
I know I will win the competition as I have also entered uncle Vernon and his dog. Spotty had some trouble with the five meaningful posts, but Einstein, our cat, provided the necessary help.
If it was up to me, I would exclude anybody who is not from the colonies...

[Yago]

I did post to qualify for the contest , but I did try to make relevant posts .
The thing that I feel is the differential for my perspective is that I am a relatively old fart with a few decades as an EE , and have been a member (and avid reader) for a while before the contest .

Summing up and if not mentioned before , maybe the qualification could be minimum of six months membership prior to the contest .

Just a thought .

[walshms]

Of course I have a problem with people who have a low post count, especially 141 for some reason.

Well... okay, so the question becomes one of understanding what you want as a standard.  Quantity doesn't equal quality; I'm sure that everyone would agree with that.  Time has the same problem... you could be around for a couple of years, but not necessarily be very "vocal" or post a lot.  But what constitutes quality?

Is it participation?  Is it having a good idea?  Is it helping others?  What about just having a point of view that may or may not influence others?  It it presenting facts, or presenting opinion? 

On time, do you have to have registered before the contest?  How long before? 

If the purpose of the contests is to increase interest in the forum (and presumably, increase participation as well) then it seems to be accomplishing that.  Will everyone who comes along meet your criteria for quality?  Of course not -- but whether they do or not, the purpose is satisfied.

I don't think Dave really wanted to create an "old boys club" or private forum, though he does have the supporters' forum and that would be just that -- a private forum.  If you want a lower signal to noise ratio, that would be the place for it.

George Carlin did a bit on a particular priest that wrote a letter to the FCC about something he heard on the radio that he didn't like.  His take: there's two knobs on the radio; you can chance the station, or turn it off, but limiting speech because you didn't like what you heard (or in this case, saw) isn't appropriate. 

Before you get annoyed -- I'm not at all suggesting that you're trying to limit speech here.  What I am suggesting is that you could take a different point of view, which would be to work to raise the quality of the posts by leading by example.  It's easy to complain -- it can be harder to do something about it, but it's also a lot more satisfying.

If everyone that's finding themselves annoyed by the new members were to simply respond only to those things that interested them, and ignore those things that didn't, the forum would naturally clean itself up over time.  People do tend to follow examples; just set a good one, and stick to it, and the end result will be positive.  There will be something for everyone, and nearly everyone will benefit from it.

Just my humble opinion.  Your mileage may vary.  No warranty is expressed, or implied. 

[c4757p]

the supporters' forum ... lower signal to noise ratio, that would be the place for it.

Lower SNR.. an apt error

[walshms]

Good catch.  I won't correct it either -- I should have said "higher signal to noise ratio", of course.

Lower the noise was what I was thinking, and my brain apparently twisted it in the typing.   But, I think it's fair to say that the point is valid, yes?

[c4757p]

But, I think it's fair to say that the point is valid, yes?

If you were talking to someone else... but unless I missed something, I don't think Wytnucls said anything particularly unreasonable... I think you overreacted to his first comment, and I'm pretty sure the second was tongue-in-cheek...

[walshms]

I wasn't accusing anyone of anything.  I was only offering a point of view; what prompted it was the comment about "141 posts."  Taken out of context?  Maybe... but I'm really only trying to provoke some thought here.

The problem, I suggest, isn't as simple as some would like.

[c4757p]

Well, I think it was rather an obvious joke... Like I said, I think you have a valid point, but it's kind of preaching to the choir, most of us agree with you I think.

[walshms]

I think I missed the joke... maybe because there wasn't a wink or anything obvious about it for me... but I apologize if I've upset anyone, especially Wytnucls.  No intent there.

I certainly don't want to be seen as preaching either... but hopefully the thoughts might benefit someone.  Either that, or give them a nicely needed rest.   

[c4757p]

Fact is there has been relatively little flooding the forum with crap posts in the scheme of things.
It only stands out because it's more than usual and people are looking for it.

As for my actual thoughts on this... here they are. We haven't exactly been inundated with people shitting out filler posts so they can enter the contest. Perhaps a couple, but really, it's been minimal. Anyone annoyed by it should probably consider being less easily annoyed and/or pissing off

[walshms]

Now that's what I was looking for... I didn't think there was really that big a change, but I wanted to see if anyone else saw that.  I'm seeing about the same quality of things I did the day I joined the forum -- admittedly, not that long ago, but the reason I registered was because of a particular thread that I wanted to comment on.  I'd been reading for a while before that.

That was before the contest announcement, BTW.

[liquibyte]

Why can't everyone just enjoy the fact that Dave is nice enough to have a contest and stop bitching about post counts.  I am and have been a member of many, many forums over the years and one thing I always see is trolling and bitching.  Stop it, jeez.

There's good info here and that should be enough of a reward.

(Disclaimer: I entered this last one.  Congrats to whomever wins.  Thanks for the site Dave.)

[Mr Smiley]

The number 141 was the number of posts i had made when i commented on Wytnucls 710 posts 

Perhaps Dave has a secret evil streak, and is pissing himself laughing at all this     

Go on Dave, admit it, your enjoying every argumentative post 

 

[EEVblog]

Before you get annoyed -- I'm not at all suggesting that you're trying to limit speech here.  What I am suggesting is that you could take a different point of view, which would be to work to raise the quality of the posts by leading by example.  It's easy to complain -- it can be harder to do something about it, but it's also a lot more satisfying.

If everyone that's finding themselves annoyed by the new members were to simply respond only to those things that interested them, and ignore those things that didn't, the forum would naturally clean itself up over time.  People do tend to follow examples; just set a good one, and stick to it, and the end result will be positive.  There will be something for everyone, and nearly everyone will benefit from it.

That is how I try to run the forum.
It is, as best as probably can be I think, a "self-regulating" lead by example forum.
Moderators (Simon, Geoff, and me) generally don't moderate anything unless there is a report. Then we act on that report. First moderator on the scene makes a call whether to ignore the complaint as a storm-in-a-teacup, delete or edit the offending post(s), give a little "hey, settle down" post, or ban the user.
When I first formed the forum, I was (and still am) a huge fan of unmoderated free speech, and personally I like a totally free-for-all forum, "you can't handle it, leave" kind of approach. But I heave learned that such forums do ultimately degenerate into chaos, and the bullies, trolls, and plain idiots run riot, and the forum gets less popular and not more popular as a result. So to run a good forum you really do have to compromise, and there are really two ways to do: 1) total heavy handed moderation, which sucks arse. I think I'd rather have no forum than that. Or 2) the lead-by-example steer the ship kind we have here.
I think it generally works well.

[Fsck]

I joined after seeing the contest video but mainly because I didn't know there was a forum until then.

I only mention it at the end of almost every video, and link to it in every video 

There's videos!?

yeah, like some of the others on the forums. I found the forums before I found the videos.

[EEVblog]

yeah, like some of the others on the forums. I found the forums before I found the videos.

I know there are many forum members who don't watch the videos at all, which isn't surprising. The forum stands on it's own as one of the leading electronics forum out there.

[casper.bang]

Moderators (Simon, Geoff, and me) generally don't moderate anything unless there is a report. Then we act on that report. First moderator on the scene makes a call whether to ignore the complaint as a storm-in-a-teacup, delete or edit the offending post(s), give a little "hey, settle down" post, or ban the user.

There's another category too though, which I seem to have hit more often than any other; that of "non topic" which results in a locked thread. I live by "Dare to question status quo" and if there is something that truly annoys me, it's other people telling me what I can or can't debate in life!

In general, engineers/developers tend to speak right off the bat and be wonderfully politically incorrect, that's how we get stuff done, unlike politicians who excel at dancing around a topic saying nothing. As long as there are no personal attacks and the tone is civil, I really wish threads would be allowed to continue, regardless whether they digress from some arbitrary technical topic.  *shrug*

[Yago]

I have seen many a forum grow popular , reach a critical mass and implode in a ball of trolling mouthy tossers .

Some of the concerns posted in this thread seem to be about defending this forum from such an event rather than the competition .
I would definitely agree with this defense , as I feel this place is more than worthy of such loyalty .
All IMHO and right or wrong the spirit is admirable .

Long live EEV , may the wisdom triumph

You can always save up for a nice meter , it won't break your heart not being included in a little competition .

[kphannan]

I've been more a lurker for a couple years, afraid to post and getting flamed.  Ah, so what even in a flame there may be a gem.  I'm an EE by schooling, but mostly software professionally.  Got to exercise the EE part of my brain more, after all I did design / build a controller for a sample changer on an x-ray defractometer, way back in the early 80's.