Should reports meet minimum Posting Guidelines?

[Fever]

I apologize for the double post, but I forgot to address an issue in my previous one.

It's obvious that Jackson is not at all afraid to edit member's posts. With that in mind, I submit that we all could trust Jackson to simply nuke abusive posts rather than post them after eiting for grammar.

I am aware that he doesn't want to get into edit-for-content style moderating, but if the goal is to make the boards a great place to exchange ideas and information (and it's obvious that this is in fact the goal) then we can all agree that 'flames' and other personal insults are easily recognized, and as such are easily dealt with.

Oh, did I say one more thing? One MORE thing! Why can't we edit posts? I know that the code for this board allows the admin definition of limited time periods to allow users to edit. There doesn't seem to be a good reason not to be able to edit one's own posts within, say, 15 minutes of posting them. Of course, this would only matter if regular members were given real-time posting ability.

That's it. I said it before and I'll say it again. Keep up the good work!

[Fever]

While it is admirable to strive for literacy in any forum, I believe that the draconian way that posts are withheld, edited then posted has a chilling effect on forum participation. Also, the extreme delays in posts appearing on the forums have a significant negative impact on the usefulness and timeliness of the information provided in many cases.

I would suggest allowing the posts to appear right away, but then edit them after the fact if you must. This method wouldnt' tak any more time of resources than the current method, but it would allow for time-sensitive information to be enjoyed by members, even if the grammar was initially leaving something to be desired.

One last point is that I have seen several instances where rules of grammar were actually incorrectly applied. For example, 'South Carolina' is a proper noun, but 'South Nevada' is not. However, I've seen posts with wording like "I went to north Louisville" edited and 'corrected' to read "I went to North Louisville," which is actually incorrect. Also, the use of "..." is proper if it is applied correctly.

Ok, that's enough bitching for me. The good stuff outweighs the bad by far, and I think everyone agrees on that. The fact that Jackson cares so much about the forum is a triumph in and of itself. Also, the fact that a Senior Member can post un-edited is a large mitigating factor towards the posting guidelines. In general, I say "keep up the good work!"

[Darealest1]

You would think that people who use the internet and computers would at least be able to express themselves in a manner that is intelligent, concise, and comprehendable by everyone who reads them so that they may benefit. If we didn't have the posting guidelines, the reports would diminish in their usefulness and effectiveness.

The new guys, especially who haven't been mongering for a long time really wouldn't know how to post an effective report if we didn't show them.

[Whitee]

Dear Cat Scratch,

Still a long way to go, but not bad...you are improving

[Cat Scratch]

Dear Whitee (dear oh dear indeed)

To quote Jackson in his insightful appraisal of your inane correspondence:

“If you can’t write like an intelligent person, then please do not post”

I won’t bore you with my academic qualifications nor my publishing credits but it is obvious that you are punching well above your intellectual weight.

As for my comprehension skills I would suggest that any interested reader follow the thread of this discussion or click on the search function under your last post to decide who is challenged in the coherency department. Then again they don’t need to waste any further time in assessing your credentials than to read this typical quote from a previous post”

“Viper Z, aiya, not request but comment leh, and my PM to you request don't cover all la, just my FR. Other braders may still want you to paste leh...”

Although Whitee is an enthusiastic participant in class, he continues to struggle and is not yet ready to progress to the next level. As a result he will be required to repeat the current course and undertake remedial activities. D+

[Rolly Polly]

When I was a 'regular member' and my posts were first reviewed by Jackson, none of them were held back due to grammar. I am no the best with grammar, and even saw a mistake or two that slipped by.

Also, I have put "..." in some of my posts and I have never had them removed. Probably because it was in one sentence and truly used for emphasis. I never let the evil "......" run rampant throughout my posts.

It has always appeared to me that Jackson has let things go if the posts are very readable otherwise. I think that is about as fair as it should be.

[Whitee]

Dear Cat Scratch,

Seems like writing in good English didn't help you in the comprehension department. I have clearly said that I have nothing against the rules, only the way Jackson showed his comments in the blue fonts. I have even agreed to that after realising the options Jackson has tried, and since I no better ideas.

So your comments that "If Whitee had his way then the Malaysian board (and, by extension, all other boards) would end up an incomprehensible mess" belongs to one whose retarded comprehension faculty is beyond the help of good grammar.

Have a good day.

[Johnny Sax]

I see I am in the minority re the grammar issue here, but I'll post my comments anyway.

I am of the opinion that if something is totally unreadable or very difficult to read, fine, go ahead and make the person re-write it or you re-write it or whatever...

But I have a B.A. in English, and have written professionally for magazines. Yet, normally, when telling someone about something, in the case of a Report I would write here, I like to use these ...'s because it is my style of writing, especially on the net, as I write more of a stream-of-consciousness style, with run-on sentences and such. I would have put 3 dots after the such at the end of the last sentence, for example, were it not for this super-strict interpretation of the rules of grammar, here.

Okay, some people find it annoying, and some people don't like it. But it isn't hard to read, and I think it should be allowed.

Because I love the board and respect the right of the Moderator to run it the way he wants, I will write more straight-laced English. But I don't like having to do so.

Just my 2 colones.

[Rock Dog]

There was one other thing that I wanted to add. Minimum quality in a post is made up of more than just proper grmmar, spelling and punctuation. What about content?

I've seen so many guys who engage in endless "chit chat" style of posting. This seems to be particularly true of many so-called senior members. Once they get the ability to have their posts put up immediately, they start yacking back and forth at each other in many of the forums.

A good quality post should have at least one of the following:

A picture of a girl.
Some info on where to find some girls.
Some info on how much to pay for said girls.
Reasonable requests for information regarding the above.
A (true) story on one's experiences with a girl or girls.
A well formed opinion on a topic in it's respective forum.
A well reasoned rebuttal to someone else's opinion.

I realize that this would be almost impossible to monitor or enforce. However, I don't see any reason why there couldn't be a third category of membership. Highest would be a senior membership, with the privilege of immediate posting. Next would be Regular membership for those who make quality postings. Members who make frivolous postings could be placed into a lower category where their postings are delayed by a week.

This might encourage WSG members to strive for quality postings. At the same time it would discourage much of the frivolous posting and flame wars that frequently occur in some forums.

You can slam me if you think it's dumb, but I thought the idea was worth mentioning.

Rock

[Rock Dog]

I think it's a good idea to keep up a certain standard of writing for all posts. It's not a hard thing to do and it has the effect of making the posts easier to read.

On the flip side, there's some real dumbasses out there. Sometimes they make insults or uninformed statements about things. What if their posts were allowed to be exhibited in all their illiterate glory? Then their ignorance would be on display for all to see.

There are some really good examples of these in the banned users section. Personally, I've enjoyed a good laugh many times from reading them.

Rock

[Cat Scratch]

I voted Yes, YES, YES!

I refer to Whitee's comments particularly as they relate to the Malaysian board. I have lived in Malaysia for three years (and Indonesia before that) and I struggle through the Malaysian board as it is even after Jackson applying the rules! If Whitee had his way then the Malaysian board (and, by extension, all other boards) would end up an incomprehensible mess.

I am not a language Nazi but it seems to me that the purpose of appling a strong but flexible structure to a language is to preserve its accessibiity to the widest possible constituency otherwise it degenerates into some kind local patois that is incomprehensive outside the village boundaries.

In short, respect the World in WSG and leave the "homies in the 'hood"

[Cienega32]

I posted a "MAYBE" vote for reasons that BayBoy mentioned. Sometimes there is a chat room/teenage style that presents itself with personal attacks and/or racial insults. I don't find this to be true within the forums that I frequent on a regular basis but I have seen a few messages of this type in other forums here.

Things said in a joking, friendly manner are fine but sometimes it gets a little bolder than that. I'm talking less than 1 percent of all messages that I've ever read but some of it is silly.

Overall this place is great and is managed in a much appreciated manner. The general posting guidelines are great. I know I don't want to read postings that are made with a street rapper chat room style. Let them learn the language or learn how to write. That I direct towards individuals who have English as their native language. Cheers to Jackson for trying to make literacy hip.

As far as postings that are not strictly defined as reports, I think the exchange of thoughts, practices, knowledge of the area, etc. are all good things as well as reports. Even the short "I scored a SW on (where ever) for $."

When I first came back to this site I was, and still am, impressed with all the information that I found available to me. Fantastic site! Great job by all!

[BayBoy]

I just want to say thank you to Jackson for a great website. Its given me many great hours of pleasure reading through all the reports from around the world.

Its also helped me make my travel plans alot easier knowing where all the "action" is at my destinations and not having to hunt around for where the ladies are.

Now the bad stuff. On the Panama site I still read alot of negative comments about other members and general belittling of other people, and also some very racist comments as well. It just doesn't belong on this site in my opinion.

Also this individual "Nibu" seems to break every rule that you have laid out for everyone else to follow. I'd appreciate it if you looked into it.

Thanks for the WSG.

[Baltimonger]

Jackson,
I agree that the Editor's note feature is very good in explaining why some reports are delayed because of editing work performed by you.

Having said that, I have noticed that some of these blue notes are not short and to the point in explaining the errors. One example of this is the hard return/soft return error. Maybe it would be a good idea to use a shorter explanation at the bottom of the report itself, and post a URL link to a much broader explanation. This would take up less space in the post.

Just an idea,
K.J. Baltimonger

[Langsuan Man]

I am in total agreement with Jacksons minimum requirements for posting. Anyone posting should be using a Word processing program in the first place which should contain a spell checker and or a grammar checker. The grammar checker in Micro$oft's Word should be of assistance to posters who's native language is not English.

I use a word processing program first then paste and copy to the forum and then preview my post. Many times some of the punctuation, commas, semi-colons, periods etc. do not come out correctly during the copy / paste procedure so by previewing the post I can then make the necessary corrections.

It is obvious that most posters take pride in their posts and spend a lot of time preparing them. None of us are natural writers and sometime struggle to get the correct information out. I for one appreciate all of the information that I find in the posts and my way of paying back those who have educated me is to spend a little time getting it right.

For those of you that do not have a word processing program I might suggest downloading ie Spell which is a free spell checker that will work right in the Internet Explorer browser and will spell check your posts in the forum prior to submitting them.

The URL is: http://www.iespell.com/

Langsuan Man