Hey I was wanting to talk about the rule that says that you can’t ask for a progress update from the author or else the thread will be closed
What did you want to discuss?
You can feel free to send them a private message, just don’t bump the thread itself.
I wanted to discuss a change in that rule to where it’s up to the thread owner to chose whether or not you can ask for a progress update
Hey sorry I have to go to bed because I have work tomorrow so goodnight
I can’t see the rule changing since it’s the way it is for a reason.
If the creator of a thread is active on the forum, and someone posts an “any updates” post then that won’t cause the thread to be locked. Chances are we mods won’t even notice it happened unless someone flags the post and I really can’t see anyone flagging it.
However if a thread’s been dead for months, the author hasn’t logged on since forever, and someone posts “any updates” wet’ll lock the thread. Having lots of “any updates” posts at the bottom of a dead thread isn’t useful. That said, even if the thread has been locked, the creator of the thread can always contact the mods, at any time though to unlock the thread again.
Okay sorry not asleep yet someone had just posted on another thread by the way how long do you guys wait until you lock a thread
I don’t think there’s any hard guidelines. I’m generally looking at the last constructive post on the thread being a month ago. I’ll check and see if the original poster’s active, if they’re active I’ll send a message asking if they want the thread locked. If they’re inactive I’ll lock the thread. But the second the original poster returns and asks for the thread to be unlocked we do that.
And it’s not like there’s any punishment for posting “any updates” on a thread. It’s just a “please don’t do that” even if they’ve resurrected a bunch of ancient threads.
Really because people keep saying that the thread will get locked down if you ask for any updates at all and is @Shoelip a moderator because he sure is acting like one
Never mind on the Shoelip part
Firstly, it’s possible to edit your own posts so you can remove that bit yourself.
Secondly, if you’ve a problem with how another forum member is acting, it’s best to either message them directly and speak to them, or to flag the offending post(s) and speak to the moderators directly about your concerns.
Let me just grab the appropriate section from the rules.
[quote]If You See a Problem, Flag It
Moderators have special authority; they are responsible for this forum. But so are you. With your help, moderators can be community facilitators, not just janitors or police.
When you see bad behavior, don’t reply. It encourages the bad behavior by acknowledging it, consumes your energy, and wastes everyone’s time. Just flag it. If enough flags accrue, action will be taken, either automatically or by moderator intervention.
[/quote]
I’ll add that the number of flags that are considered enough to draw moderator attention is 1. I know the new forum system does take a little getting used to though.
Sorry don’t wanna start another thread for this, but when is it considered bumping? Like how many days ago does it have to be?
It’s not about time. It’s about the content of the post. If you’re just asking, “Are we there yet?” it doesn’t matter if it was an hour since the last post, or a year, it’s just bumping.
Conversely, if you’re actually adding something to the conversation, it doesn’t matter how long it’s been since the last post. (Although it is worth noting that what exactly constitutes ‘adding to the conversation’ gets more stringent with time. A list of spelling errors on a game that hasn’t been updated for a year isn’t exactly adding anything.)
@Cat_Raider It’s fine to post here. I’m not sure if there’s any definite rules for it.
Constructive’s important. The type of thread is also important.
I actually disagree with Reaperoa. If someone posted a long, extremely constructive, comment on the thread for a game that was six months inactive, and the author hadn’t been on the forum for a few months I’d lock that thread. I’d lock it to save other people going to the time and effort of providing feedback on a game where said feedback may or may not be needed. I would likely also mail the comment poster or make a comment in the locking post to explain why I had locked the thread though.
I know that I for one get excited when one of my favourite WIP suddenly appears on the front page again, and it’s such a disappointment if it’s just a post asking for updates. Which is the second reason that we lock inactive games posts. It saves the post descending into a whole bunch of “any updates” and other bumps. When it’s far better to just message the author and ask them directly. (Or at least it was for me on the old forums when I had messages set up to email me, whereas no settings to hear if anything had been posted on my threads. I’ve no idea about the settings on this forum though.)
On discussion topics generally the rules are a lot looser. In general, don’t post a single sentence on a thread where the last post was a few months ago. But if you’ve something constructive to add to the discussion feel free to go ahead and do so.
I do bump threads sometimes, but that’s only if I’m specifically referencing them in another thread, directing people at the thread, or if we’ve had an influx of people asking the same question that can be easily answered in another thread. Or if it’s CJW’s IDE. Of course, with the new forums that’s no longer really needed.
Hey just so you know this thread is for all questions about the forums rules and regulations and I guess to questions about the forum in general
Hey @FairyGodfeather are the moderators just friends Of the website owner or are you chosen out of all us other coggamers and if it’s option one I wanted to talk about invites to topics I was wondering if the site owner could add the ability to invite with out a email address so you can more efficiently invite other coggamers to a thread you love and think they would be interested in
@Generikb I was just a regular forum member. I can’t speak for the others.
The invite function isn’t to invite forum members to a topic. It’s to invite people who’re not on the forum in a manner that will allow them to post without needing to login to the forum.
If you want to invite specific forum members to a friend just tag their name like @Generikb and they should get a notice. Or you could just message them a link.
I’m a friend of the other two CoGsters – Jason and I haven’t met yet.
But I think Jason chose all the mods based on their constructive contributions to the forum. We don’t know each other outside the forum.