Post
by Archangel » Sat Oct 03, 2009 4:56 am
Looking at a larger picture, I don't think labeling NoSpam is the way to go at all. If the community were to stay static as it is, then it's fine, but if you are expecting more people, does it really give a good impression that spam is so bad you have to label threads to be not-spammed?
I'm personally a fan of the way the Penny Arcade forums handle it for their "on topic" subforums. Most of the subforums have a thread labeled [chat]. That's a thread that is no holds barred (within forum rules), spam away, joke away, whatever. Once it hits a certain page count (100 in this case) it's closed and a new thread is started. All other threads are expected to stay on-topic.
Which brings up the question of what is on-topic. The example of a one-line joke was brought up, and whether that's spam. Does the one-line joke relate to the thread in some way, no matter how loosely? (ie, in the Creationism/Evolution thread, "Did you hear the one about the two priests..." would be somewhat on topic). Or is the joke completely and utterly unrelated (same thread "yo mamma" jokes would be completely off topic). It's a fine line, but it's important to have a distinction, I think.
Once the lines are established, it's just a matter of moderating fairly within those confines.
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