Thoughts & Views of the Recent Posting Guidelines

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Aidan Lowe
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Thought I'd share my view on the recent posting guidelines enforcement. Although I don't fully disagree with it having had experience in moderation myself, there is a certain subject I feel should be revised.

This website and message board is getting increasingly popular over the course of construction of The Smiler because of the extensive coverage of day-to-day happenings TowerTimes provides its community. With this increasing number of users visiting your website moderation will become tougher.

My biggest gripe is to the whole grammar correction and proofreading of individuals posts. People are not here to sit a literary/punctuation examination, and by enforcing this I feel it will put-off people from involving themselves in discussions.

The community of TT is varied, from different backgrounds, different languages and the way they post here is their "voice", the way I see it is I've written a script for a movie but because the studio doesn't like it they hire someone else to re-write parts of my work.

I've had numerous posts deleted, all probably for good reason in the moderators eye but I've not been informed of these deletions or changes via a PM, if one is made aware of deletion and why they may learn for next time. Although you could argue the fact they should of read the posting guidelines.

I wholeheartedly agree with people being extra vigilant when replying to not quote a dozen people (some with images), it makes the discussion hard to follow and messy.

I know with new users people tend to register and post information on subjects we discussed like 50 pages before, so maybe make a thread "what we know" about the coaster and make sure newly registered users get a link to that and the posting guidelines.

Interested to hear other people's thoughts on this.

Regards.
Last edited by Aidan Lowe on Tue Apr 30, 2013 3:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Kirsty25

I can see both points but I do like the idea of a thread of info we know and has already been extensively discussed IE fins lol
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Boz
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Thanks for your Feedback Mabalzich, and for putting your points across in a professional way.

I understand all your gripes, and I will state, that Grammar correction is only being carried out on the worst offenders posts, and is being done, because of large numbers of complaints from other users.

With regards to post removal, I apologize for the lack of communication on our part, and I spent all of yesterday typing up PM templates to advise users where this has happened in future. So it is an issue we are already addressing.

I am also working on a "Smiler facts" topic as we speak, in order to hopefully resolve that problem as well.

I hope I've answered your questions, please let me know if I've missed the point anywhere.
Last edited by Boz on Tue Apr 30, 2013 4:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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aircanman
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Something I have to add and I won't create a new thread about it, the Smiler construction and photo topics is being run extremely strictly, it is almost as if the forum is there for people to put information purely to please the mod team and TTF in general, construction, photos and speculation go hand in hand and to separate them out like you have is over the top moderating, and you are giving yourselves more work to do at the end of the day.

It is making the forum less pleasing to come to when every few days we get warnings and forum changes which means we can't enjoy the experience in the way we have done from the word go.  It scares me to post sometimes just because of the mod backlash. 

As we can see no more photos have been posted now, the topic of construction is dead and people will go elsewhere due to this over mod activity.  Probably nothing will be done, but I am sure a lot of your members would agree with what I am saying, which is why I think you should re-think the actions.
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Adz
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Something I have to add and I won't create a new thread about it, the Smiler construction and photo topics is being run extremely strictly, it is almost as if the forum is there for people to put information purely to please the mod team and TTF in general, construction, photos and speculation go hand in hand and to separate them out like you have is over the top moderating, and you are giving yourselves more work to do at the end of the day.
I have to admit I'm not sure if I follow this exactly. We actually condensed around 12 topics into one to avoid precisely what you described above. It has resulted in one main topic which flows a lot better, plus a few ancillary topics devoted to stuff which doesn't exactly fit.
As we can see no more photos have been posted now, the topic of construction is dead and people will go elsewhere due to this over mod activity.  Probably nothing will be done, but I am sure a lot of your members would agree with what I am saying, which is why I think you should re-think the actions.
Construction discussion will inevitable die down around now, We're in a lull between the end of major visible construction and the next major phase which is the testing. There isn't really anything new to take photos of that hasn't already been extensively covered.

That being said, we are constantly monitoring all aspects of the forum and making changes where necessary to try and please the majority of our members. So please don't be afraid to give us feedback as it does help us do this.

I hope that helps?
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Heisenberg96
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I strongly support the team on combatting argumentative members and cracking down on disrespect. Even if it is rare on here it's still a possibility.
My main concern is with the whole spelling/grammar ruling and that members shouldn't post comments that don't have much value. Personally, I have to use my iPod a lot of the time because the computer is occupied, so spelling mistakes, however minor they are, can sometimes be common. Whilst I apologise for this and try my best to avoid it, sometimes spelling mistakes occur and I don't notice after a brief re-read. I feel it's a little too harsh.

Also, sometimes I post comments on topics which I have limited knowledge on, so my comment content is limited, but I post in these topics because I want to see what people think of the views I do have and hopefully people can shed some light on the topic and help my knowledge progress. Seeing these kind of comments being clamped down on sort of disheartens me from posting unless I'm absolutely sure my comment adds value which, for me, negatively impacts the TTF experience.
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Trisnie
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I'm not sure publicly having a go at people with a post edit is really appropriate some people do struggle with grammar and so a comment about needing to put more effort into posting really isn't a good way of encouraging people to join in and makes mods look like they are on a power trip! wouldn't a PM have been more appropriate? but in that same spirit I'm putting it in publicly and I have removed the offending post
Thanks for the good times I  have enjoyed the forum but I will have to think twice  about coming back
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Adz
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Trisnie. Thank you for bringing that up.

It is something that we as a team did discuss last night and we're looking at implementing some better ways in which to go about in the future. I myself have immense difficulty with grammar and spelling due to various things so I can understand that point of view.

I hope that helps somewhat. :)
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bensaund
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For me grammar and spelling is important, we all know from time to time we make the odd typo, but I don't think other members should make a point or spotting spelling mistakes. A little tidying up does help.

My biggest gripe on any forum are those people who write posts in text speak, for example:

"Dat rita iz gr8"

To translate for those who have studied English:

"Rita is a great ride"
If you go down to the woods today
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Heisenberg96
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I don't know, I agree that spelling and grammar is a fundamental life skill and that everyone should know their grammar. It's of paramount importance to daily life, but I don't think a forum is a place to test that. For me, I'd like to think a forum is a relaxed atmosphere where people can speak as freely and informally as they wish - this is a community at the end of the day and I think as long as you know where to use your punctuation this really shouldn't be deemed important on a forum.
I guess if someone says 'Dat Rita is gr8' because they feel comfortable to talk to friends in text speech on TTF, and as long as they can adapt their language properly in real life formal occurrences, there's no need for change. I just think its a little too picky to enforce a spelling and grammar rule which will constantly cause people to triple-check posts before sending them. It breaks up the flow of conversation and I don't understand why people can't just excuse members of the forum for making spelling errors or using text language.
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Michelle
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I think that the issue is not with people who make small SPG errors, honestly very few on this forum will be able to hold their hands up and say they've never made a mistake while posting! Any posts with such errors can be easily fixed without fuss and some are small enough not to bother anyone, the last thing we want is for people to feel they can not post for fear of errors.
The issue lies with making the forum accessible to as many people as possible, despite 'txt' becoming more acceptable in society I still believe that there are a large portion of members who will be put off reading posts which are composed in that way and because of that some very valid points could be missed.
Simply put - a post in well thought out and well punctuated English will be easy for anyone to read, a post in 'txt speak' will inevitably be misunderstood/ passed over by some and this is the issue I believe as a team we are trying to avoid. (Along with of course the fact it also just looks untidy ;) )
We'll find a happy medium in time but the fact remains that some things needed to change to ensure the standard of the forum did not drop , all of your feedback is important to us and we are constantly discussing how to act on things said to ensure the forum remains a welcoming place for everyone who wants to post! :)
Last edited by Michelle on Fri May 03, 2013 7:33 am, edited 1 time in total.
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lewis97
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Even though I try not too, I can not take a post that is written with bad grammar or in text speak, as seriously as one which is written correctly and is therefore much clearer. If you present yourselves in a more respectable way, people are more likely to consider what you are saying, because not only are they likely to understand exactly what you mean, your post is more believable and trusted if it is written in a more sophisticated way.

I'm not suggesting that everyone starts talking like they're royalty, but it will only benefit yourself if you can use as accurate grammar as possible. (Also, I'm a bit grammar conscious, and like to make sure I use it correctly, hence why I've said the above.)

However, posts shouldn't necessarily be removed just because of this, unless they cannot be understood at all, as that could result in a lot of a user's posts being removed, just because of the way they speak online. This could be seen as unfairly limiting someone's ability to post on here, which obviously isn't the intention but could be how it's interpreted.
Kirsty25

I agree with everything that Michelle has said and would like to further add that just because we all speak English on this forum, not all our members are English native speakers, thus the use of text speak may exclude them from this community, which is definitely the last thing any of the team wish to do (isolate and exclude people from the discussion).

That said people do struggle with elements of spelling, grammar and punctuation. All we want is people to be mindful and respected for their views and opinions rather than dismissed for an apparently untidy post.

I am equally sure that if anyone is worrying about posting, don't but feel free to drop a member of the team a message, because at the end of they day we want the forum to be the best it can be for all of you!
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Lee
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Spelling, punctuation and grammar in a forum as active as Towers Times needs to be moderated to ensure the smooth flow of conversation. I, along with many members appreciate a post more when its author has taken the time and effort to proof read and spell check their contribution.

As a lurker on many forums, I only recently began to actively take part in this forum particularly. One of my main reasons was the lack of text language and poor grammar. Some people may feel it's a form of snobbery, which it isn't. When reading topics as long as the construction of the smiler, it would take a lot of time to attempt to dissect what someone is attempting to say.

It doesn't take much time to spell check and proof read. We all make mistakes at the end of the day (especially if anyone like me, is using an Apple device  :roll:).

Just my two pence.
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haydn!
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Whilst I completely agree moderation is required, and the odd grammatical edit required. I also feel it is incredibly rude and disrespectful for someones post to be completely edited/removed without them receiving any notification.

Sort it out.
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Adz
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haydn!

We have already 'sorted it out'! :)

There is no need for that attitude towards the team when we are actively engaging in discussion and making (already visible) changes to the way in which the forum is moderated.
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haydn!
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Then where was my PM notifying me why my post earlier today was removed? Eh?  :P
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clayj
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As the Forum guideline thread is locked down... I'm posting & documenting this here (in the hope it isn't deleted) as requested in IM between myself and a MOD. Without posting a short story surrounding the background i've posted this in the form or mail, reply & reply to continue this publically....
Kirsty25 wrote: Hi clayj

We would like to formally remind you, to please keep all posts on topic. We are sending you this message, as we have observed you failing to adhere to this guideline on multiple occasions. Failure to adhere to the guidelines, will result in further action taken.

Kind regards
Team TTF
clayj wrote: Kirsty,

I see my post was removed, thus rendering my attempt at a public response redundant against your (still) public reply. Are you able to supply me with any examples of where I have failed to adhere to guidelines on multiple occasions ? Personally, I would like to think that I try my best to adhere to these, yes I may try to inject some humour, but I'm far from one of the usual suspects who wander off topic almost daily.

With regards the offending post which was removed this evening. I personally didn't see the big issue considering a similar post I made just a couple of days earlier seemed quite popular by being thanked by 32 members, yourself included ?

James
Kirsty25 wrote: If you have an issue with the way the forum is moderated, please raise it in the relevant section and it will be looked into there.

Kirsty
The point I want to get across is that i'm actually challenging the decision to remove a post, which was light hearted & in no way insulting joke aimed at lightening the board on what appears to be a rather dull day of updates etc. It disheartens me to continually read pointless chat on the forum which remains in place & adds to the page count to try and pick out the actual interesting information when reading the forum.
Last edited by clayj on Thu May 09, 2013 10:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Kirsty25

The reason your post was removed, was because in fairness, if it was a reply to my post, geniunely questioning if we had other pictures and you responded as you did, I would have been more annoyed than found it funny, that and other people were also upset by it.

What may be considered funny and lighthearted to you, can cause upset when a serious question is being asked. In the context, if you had posted that plus a response to the persons question, then I MAY have had a different opinion.
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clayj
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Kirsty25 wrote: The reason your post was removed, was because in fairness, if it was a reply to my post, geniunely questioning if we had other pictures and you responded as you did, I would have been more annoyed than found it funny, that and other people were also upset by it.

What may be considered funny and lighthearted to you, can cause upset when a serious question is being asked. In the context, if you had posted that plus a response to the persons question, then I MAY have had a different opinion.
I can see your point. For anyone who was upset by the post, then I am genuinely confused how, but still, genuinely sorry for any upset caused. Like i've mentioned, i'm perplexed how today's post differs from my post a couple of days ago  (quoted below) which follows the same context etc & received 32 thanks as it was left up for people to see.
clayj wrote:
mac359 wrote:
Stephenstoke wrote: Did the train get taken back into the shed earlier before park close? Or did it remain on the track?
Yes, it was put back in the shed.
I can confirm all trains are safely back in their shed for the night...CLICK HERE for photo
With regards posting a genuine response to the person's question, I usually would. However on this occasion, I clicked send & continued on with my life as I knew others (more informed then myself) would pick up the pieces + the intention, was literally, to make jest of what had become a dull repetitive thread (no disrespect intended)

Is it an option, via the current report function, that the person who has made the offending post also receives the report (not just the mods) to serve as genuine feedback as to who, what, why, where & when offences have been made as I was (and still kinda am) blissfully unaware.

Surely, this is a community & all sides should be involved in any dispute ?
Last edited by clayj on Thu May 09, 2013 11:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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