Topic: double posting on art threads?

[Joeno]

My suggestion: Make a noticeable advertisement in your signature linking to the topic with a message like, "Updating daily this month."

This sounds like a perfect solution. Or even "Updating daily this month. Last update: 6 December 2011"

If that's an issue with signature size, I'd rather increase that size to prevent having to distinguish between spam posts and drawing attention to posts - to me, "Look, I've slightly updated my debate" (by adding three words) is already clearly spam.

The rule isn't in place just for preventing spam of the obvious kind - I consider artificially keeping a post at the top through double posting spam as well, and that includes using it for any 'bumping'. That's the reason the rule was put in (keeping the flow of topics natural), not because of some more limited concept of spam.

Removing post count would, unfortunately, piss off a far larger amount of people than the number of artists facing this issue, and I really, REALLY don't want to deal with the fallout of that. Like it or not, people care about post count.

[Lord Raven]

^I'm very much in favour of this idea; but I have the feeling of "If it's not broken, don't fix it." Really, this topic is only here because people want to ensure their work is seen by their fans. And seeing as we have the "check new replies" option, or even the "check unread posts" option, if you're a silent-fan, then I don't think the double post rule needs to be ammended.

Not everyone knows what they are let alone what they do.  What stops these art threads from being purged as well?  If we can't double post and we're about to have a Purge without our knowing then all of the work goes down the drain and it's a pain in the ass to repost everything.

And not everyone's even posting "look at me i'm drawing attention to myself."  It's more like "here's a new recent uprising in gay marriage and here are my thoughts, etc etc etc...  I made a new piece of art and here's something i tried different with this etc etc etc."  It's those kinds of posts people are in favor of, not what you are suggesting.

If that's an issue with signature size, I'd rather increase that size to prevent having to distinguish between spam posts and drawing attention to posts - to me, "Look, I've slightly updated my debate" (by adding three words) is already clearly spam.

Common sense is the ultimate distinguisher.  It's not hard; you've even preached common sense yourself in regards to following the rules so I don't see why it's all of a sudden a new sort of concept here.

The rule isn't in place just for preventing spam of the obvious kind - I consider artificially keeping a post at the top through double posting spam as well, and that includes using it for any 'bumping'. That's the reason the rule was put in (keeping the flow of topics natural), not because of some more limited concept of spam.

There is no such thing as a "natural" flow of topics, and your definition of spam seems to be extremely broad to have included something like that as spam.

[Richard & Sableye]

Thats just great, I've double posted on several topics. Thanks Pkmn net! Thats real nice of you....really

[Kpyna]

All of these arguments are invalidated by the option to "Show new replies to your posts" option beside your avatar at the top of the screen. If you're following a particular topic, and have posted in it, then when someone edits new content in, that topic will be back on the list of topics for you to check for your interest.

i hate to say it but if those features went away i wouldnt even notice. i browse boards and if i see something new and interesting, i check it. sometimes i post my two cents in a topic and never visit it again. when i go on my updated topic page, i pretty much look at it, get overwhelmed by threads in forum games and topics i dont care about, and then stop looking at it. im sure im not the only member who doesnt use that feature either, so an artist could be posting until the cows come home but i wouldnt even notice if it wasn't front-page.

and with the signature thing, i honestly dont pay too much attention to signatures either. i look at the images in them and keep scrolling, i dont bother reading or clicking too many links.

[Dragonpika]

I agree that you can just use the Unread Replies function to check for art updates, generally - if you don't use it all that often, perhaps this just gives you a reason to?

However, what about when your topic has fallen to page 3 or something because you haven't posted for a while, and then you want to add something new? It's surely less spammy and more efficient to bump the old topic rather than create a brand new one, but editing won't gain you any sort of fresh audience to your art. And surely asking someone to post some meaningless four-word post just so you can avoid double posting is more spammy than just double posting in the first place?

Thats just great, I've double posted on several topics. Thanks Pkmn net! Thats real nice of you....really

It's not a new thing we've just sprung on you, silly, it's been in the rules for like forever! Says in section five, no posting multiple times in a row. Mebbe you just need to give them another glance over hmn? ^^

[Joeno]

Right, I've had a discussion about this, and this is our compromise of sorts.

First, doubleposting is not allowed by default, as per the current rules. Below are the guidelines under which a moderator can make an exception. This decision is entirely theirs - if they feel any post is unnecessary or spammy, or does not follow any of the below guidelines, they can treat it as the rules being broken. That won't be open for discussion - being allowed to doublepost like this will be a privilege that we can deny, not a right.

Doubleposting (posting twice in a row) would be allowed under the following circumstances:
* The posts follow all other rules. This should be obvious.
* The post should contain sufficient new content. It should not simply be 'look what I added in the previous post' or anything similar. This would obviously include new art, but also things like an alternative Pokemon for your team waiting to be rated or a new argument (or two) in a debate.
* The post should not be done too soon after the previous post - if you add it five minutes after the previous, you might as well edit it in.
* The post should not be done too long after the previous post - this really shouldn't be used to revive a three month old topic, just create a new one then. I know it's said to be spammy, for readers and moderators it's actually more convenient, as the info will be current.
* Doubleposting should not be done too often - doing it once or twice is fine, but ten posts from yourself is too much. I'd say that the maximum is three posts in a row, but that can change depending on the circumstances. This also applies to the number of topics - if you do it in one or two of them, that's okay, but don't do it to create a full page of topics in a forum that's all double posts.
* If there is another as effective method, use that over doubleposting (eg tags in topic titles "Last updated on this date" - especially when it comes to stickies and such)
* This applies to all forums. I'm sorry arts people, but you're no more special than anyone else in this.

The guidelines are deliberately vague to allow the moderators to make a decision based on the circumstances.

As always, the exception that doubleposting is allowed if the content of the post is too big for a single post remains.

And again, let me emphasize this - the moderator is the person who decides it's allowed. We're not going to accept discussion on this, as by default doubleposting of any kind remains forbidden.

[Kpyna]

i think the new doubleposting terms are definitely satisfactory, thanks guys.

I agree that you can just use the Unread Replies function to check for art updates, generally - if you don't use it all that often, perhaps this just gives you a reason to?

but if its not my art thread, then its not really benefiting me to sift through a bunch of useless replies to posts to check on one obscure artist i kind of like. why would i want to click through 3 pages of mostly junk topics, when its the exact same likely waste of time to pick through 3 pages of mostly already read art topics? not to sound disrespectful to the artists here, but i can't see myself going back several pages, checking all art threads daily for updates. call me lazy, b

[Legacy]

Reading over these new guidelines, I'm actually rather happy with them. I'm happy with the result, and happy with how we came to it =] Thank you Jeroen, and Sylar, I hope you're reasonably happy with the result too.

[Enigma]

^yeah, the additional rules on this seem awesome. Moderators using their common sense and discretion is a decent way to go imo =D

i hate to say it but if those features went away i wouldnt even notice...
and with the signature thing, i honestly dont pay too much attention to signatures either. i look at the images in them and keep scrolling, i dont bother reading or clicking too many links.

But...that's just daft. Really.

You guys are asking to have an issue addressed.
We've pointed out we have functions in place to help with this.
You're saying "oh but yeah I don't use them."

Well...isn't that your problem then? ^^;

Either way, these new rules will hopefully satisfy those issues raised. ^^