Closing threads/No searching

[ydnandrew]

Over the last several months I have noticed an abundance of closed threads on this site. Many times it's with extremely repetitive questions --ones that frequent visitors here read almost daily before these closings. So in those cases I understand and support the massive thread shutdowns.

Other times, however, it's because people don't follow a specific format and don't ask their questions exactly how an admin would like, or because their question was asked once or twice (literally) before.

I know I recently had a thread closed, even though I had already done searches about the topic and had also read the stickies in the subforum ahead of time. I re-read and researched everything and for the life of me cannot find my answers anywhere, so I suppose I can infer from this that I either don't know how to use a web forum (only been using them for 16 or 17 years) or that the admins maybe getting a little too trigger happy on all of these closed threads.

I understand that we want to keep the site clean and don't want the irritating repetition you get on most forums, but when it feels as though 1 out of every 4 or 5 new threads I read is closed after 1 or 2 posts that becomes even more irritating to me.

Some repetition is fine. It allows for more voices to speak. There are many old threads here that were repeated time and again and no 2 are identical. When someone is asking a question that gets responses of opinion, rather than cold hard facts, I don't want there to be only 1 thread on the matter. I don't want to be told that "This is the answer and it is to be the only discussion of this matter."

Different threads on the same topic each have different thoughts and input and I, for one, have gained a good bit of knowledge from said repetitive threads. Many people, for whatever reason, do not like replying to threads that have been dead for months, or years. Sometimes it's because the game has changed so much that it almost makes the previous thread irrelevant. Many (maybe up to half) of the pvp "how to beat a class" threads seem to be out of date. Still, any time someone wants to know about pvp tactics their new thread is closed and they are directed to the old ones. The old ones that people rarely add new ideas to.

I'm not trying to disrespect Akasha or the admins in anyway. Just giving some feedback since I visit this site almost every day.

Am I alone on this? Have I gone completely bonkers?

[Theleb]

There are a couple of problems - one of which is that Akasha, Malty and I simply do not have the time to examine every single thread for its relevancy, or to see how contemporary the information is.

The second is that as you have noted the vast majority of closed threads are repeat postings without prior reference to the search engine, or those which didn't follow the format we tried to establish so that we can at least keep some semblance of order for those threads that by their nature are going to be repeated daily.

For the latter - they're going to stay closed. Their nature is such that we make huge allowances for their repetition in the first place so expecting posters to search/follow formats isn't too much to ask..and for the former;

There are always exceptions and exemptions as to which threads should be closed and hey, sometimes we get it wrong. I don't have an encyclopedic knowledge of every single thread here but I generally have a good idea which questions have been posted, and how recently - 99% of the time I absolutely stand by the decision to close a thread if i can find more complete answers with a simple search. If however, the question is obscure, or infrequently asked then we're posed with more decisions to make before closure and you know what?

We're human. I wish I had the time to give full and complete answers to everything posted along with multiple references but I don't so for those threads I find information for, as long as the new thread contains no extra information then I close them. Sure, there are some threads that are out of date (Yes, the PvP tactics are a notable example) and need updating as a matter of some urgency.

If people genuinely feel that their thread was closed prematurely then there's always a recourse to address that situation and as you will have noticed, if we've made mistakes then the threads are re-opened.

The biggest problem (of which this is a symptom) is that the Den is quite massive. Ensuring that every single thread is up to date would be a behemoth task and quite honestly as we near the end of The Burning Crusade its not one that I would care to burden anyone with which leaves us with two questions:

1) Do we wait for Wrath of the Lich King and then ensure that every single thread is regularly maintained and checked?

2) Do we start now and dig our way through a lot of old threads that in all probability need deleting to make the task in Wrath of the Lich King easier?

I'm always for expressing a difference of opinion, and yes, some threads present alternative angles to questions that are quite valuable so ultimately my solution would be clean house on threads over a certain age, and as far as the PvP section - try to persuade those PvP-fanatics amongst you to post up tactics, links, videos and ideas to fill those threads out as of now.

[Langseth]

Originally Posted by ydnandrew

Am I alone on this? Have I gone completely bonkers?

Not alone.

I just recently started playing wow this spring so starting out my knowledge base was limited to say the least. It was great to find this site, and it helped out a lot with some of the little obvious aspects of the game (yet not-so-obvious to a new player).

There IS a lot of information here, and that is also part of the problem on this end. Searching for an answer to a question often pulls up a year old thread with 20+ pages. Daunting, and possibly a waste of time to read if its out of date.

I'm personally in favor of an active conversational forum community that revisits topics in new threads from time to time. What's wrong with that? I understand the locking, but not everyone that posts a repeat thread is a lazy 13 year old who doesn't want to take the time to read for himself..

*shrug*

I do love the site, but I'm basically afraid to post anymore.

[El Tanakh]

Originally Posted by Theleb

try to persuade those PvP-fanatics amongst you to post up tactics, links, videos and ideas to fill those threads out as of now.

I am actually very interested in frapping some stuff, not for any didactic propose, but rather to get suggestions to polish my play style.

Anyway, I don't think the mod here is strict at all or that they are massively closing relevant threads, but then again I always have been a little rough with the learning people. Maybe to prevent this we can use the warning sign to petition reopen closed threads and with enough people having it done? But it might be too much of a hassle to mods.

*** Information added 1 Minutes and 53 Seconds later... ***

Originally Posted by Langseth

I do love the site, but I'm basically afraid to post anymore.

Don't be, they are quite the carebears (in a goodish sense), if your intention is not bad you will be warned at most.

[Oliselia]

There are a couple of problems - one of which is that Akasha, Malty and I simply do not have the time to examine every single thread for its relevancy, or to see how contemporary the information is.

Might be time to look at the current membership and see if adding a couple more moderators could help ease the load and possibly allow for 'relevancy review' of more threads?


Just a thought

-Oli

[Akasha]

Originally Posted by Oliselia

Might be time to look at the current membership and see if adding a couple more moderators could help ease the load and possibly allow for 'relevancy review' of more threads?

Why, when we comment that there is a lot to look through, do people always assume we should get more help? How about people do the simple things we ask?

Is following a format so bloody difficult?

ydnandrew, your thread was closed because you posted a "help with my gear" (socketing) outside of the area we designated for such threads. We dedicated a whole section of the forum just for people wanting assistance with their gear, which includes how to socket it, and we ask people to use it. Is that so difficult?!

It was the members that decided that route by the way - not the moderators or myself.

I've just done a quick scan of the moderator section to see which threads have been closed etc. All of them are well deserving. Maybe I should take a leaf out of EJ's forums and make the mod section public. So that people who read threads like this and jump on the "oh yeah, way too tough, I'm too scared to post" wagon, can see just WHY threads are being closed.

Or maybe, is we're so bad, we'll just stop altogether. Yes, I think that's a good idea.

[Lopennie]

Well I think ydnandrew is making valid suggestions I mean not everybody wants some other person's answer, they want their own, and yes there is a lot of repeated question threads that should be close but also a lot that probably shouldn't be.

Getting all defensive about it though doesn't seem to be very understanding, and will more than likely scare them away.

[Akasha]

Originally Posted by Lopennie

Getting all defensive about it though doesn't seem to be very understanding, and will more than likely scare them away.

Tell ya what, I'll go make all the emails and such I receive public, and them maybe you can tell me how I should react.

*** Information added 1 Minutes and 7 Seconds later... ***

Actually, forget about it. No need. I've told the moderators to not worry any more. Clearly people can't follow simple requests, so the requests are no longer there.

Good luck, and adios!

P.S. The reason I am so frustrated is because if ydnandrew had a problem with his thread being closed, he should have come to the moderators privately instead of turning it into a song and dance like this. Because unless your name is Menzo, we reply. And so far, most that have come to us privately, have had their threads reopened if it was in error, or further explanations provided if not.

Coming and doing it publically to try to rally up support and complain about the site moderation is not the way to do it.

[Aldgit]

I, for one, do not wish to see endless repeats of questions/threads where people can't be bothered to search first and do some of their own research before asking questions.

To this end I am eternally grateful to people who are brave enough to take on the task of moderation, and so far I have more than 99% approved of the moderation approach and process.

Also "not everybody wants some other person's answer, they want their own" ??????

Their "own" answers are normally in here, which is why they tend to be moderated (unless totally in wrong place, format etc. of course)

I do NOT look forward to wasting all my time reading repeat / misplaced items, and I don't think most of the other forum users do either, so why should we not expect people to follow a few simple rules to make everyones life here easier (apart from the lazy poster who can't be bothered to carry out a few simple search and read operations)?

Carry on Guys, you are doing a SUPERB moderation job, and I speak as an extensive forum reading whore on many topics other than WoW! :-)

[Ronam]

I have been coming here for going on 2 years now and though I don't post much myself I read most all the posts. A couple of the search features I doubt many people use are the advanced search, in which you can set a limit to how far back the search goes, and the tag search, which shows frequent topics. If you do a simple click on the search button and type something in, you may not come up with what you are looking for so try one of these functions.

One thing to think about is future people who might be looking for information. By closing repeat threads and improperly formatted or placed threads, the mods are trying to make it easier for the next person to come along with a similar question. I too have fun reading previous threads and finding out different points of view (often answering questions I didn't know I had), but after a point there can be too many points of view for someone with limited knowledge of wow to filter out their answer. Very seldom-if at all-do I see a thread closed that has genuinely new thoughts or questions.

I have also seen several times where I could infer from the thread that the OP was contacted or pointed in the right direction before or during the closing of the thread. A mod post about incorrect formatting or incorrect location is not a "don't ask this question" statement, it simply means rephrase or relocate into the proper format/location.

My only problem with this site is the fact that I can't find one this good for Druids, this site has raised my expectations too high. I often come here to search for information about them, everywhere else just doesn't compare. Keep up the good work guys!