Locking old threads

[Elric_Francis92]

It's pretty sad don't you think?

No your not allowed to create a topic because it's been done before and you are not allowed to bring back a buried thread then how the hell are people supposed to bring up the subject they never saw and want to post their two cents?

 

I mean it's pathetic the forums doesn't allow someone to post their thoughts on a subject matter dated or not. It's like you need permission before creating a thread.

 

Am I allowed to post this?

Who do I contact?

Who's feet I need to kiss?

These forums are getting as hostel as the game their based on anymore.

[sebcreed]

I agree, as long as a thread is still relevant it shouldn't matter how old it is.

[don ovdi' island]

i made a thread asking the same thing a long time ago and i agree it's kind of a double standard here and really it depends on what mod is reviewing threads that day.

 

iirc, the admin stated if a threads last post was over a month old, to jus make a new topic for it. even so, in the case where you get a comment saying "too many threads like this!" it's probably because its another redundant thread that's been discussed to death that pops up every few weeks.

 

examples of this would be "what do you do to troll/grief others?" "how are heists going to be when they come out" "heists are never coming." "name 5 ____ that you want added into GTA" "What's your favorite car/plane/place in the city/thing to do?" "*generic bitch and moan thread*" "should i make a female character?" "Is it ok to have a female character?" "what do you do when someone's griefing you" etc etc etc.

 

 

Threads with a hint of originality usually stay open for quite a while given that it stays on topic and is not polluted with spam or flaming.

[hangover_bro]

The mods here are definitely out of control. I have been censored as well as threads locked for no reason. I have my entire pm conversation with the mod. They have no answers except stupid ish like "I love you too, man"

[Elric_Francis92]

LOL they need to hire the mods here for Destiny they actually post worthless threads by the bucket load. Then again Destiny is pretty worthless IMO anyways so-

Edited January 5, 2015 by Elric_Francis92

[fw3]

You're not alone in both your thinking or your frustration.

The subjective reaction of certain moderators, whose qualifications are often in question, are quick to point out posting etiquette, but fail to recognize sincere and humble effort on the part of the person posting.

I have no problem calling out @Girish and @Ciaran, specifically, for locking threads that never even got started because of either a subjective "report" from a single member, or based on some criteria that is known only in the moderator realm.

Personally, I would prefer someone resurrect an old thread to continue a conversation, rather than that person start a whole new thread.

Ciaran recently addressed one of my posts and made reference to, "the Search feature" being helpful. However, what he/she and other moderators don't seem to quite understand is that the Search feature is useless in most cases.

Case in point, I often refer to the "B*tch and Moan Thread," but can never remember how it's actually spelled out. Doing a search for "Moan Thread" yields a result in about 50 posts, in which the thread I'm looking for pops up at the very bottom, second to last. I mean, how many "Moan Thread" hits can there be? The search is clearly digging into posts, not titles.

Just now, I used the "advanced Search" feature to do the same search. I entered "Moan Thread" and chose GTAOnline and Title specific.

The results? Four posts, none of them the one I was looking for:
• The Official Bitch & Moan Thread for SP2MP (locked)
• Official moan and bitch about modders n hackers thread (locked)
• moan and complain about getting your pv destroyed in free...
• 1.13 Bitch & Moan thread (locked)

Bottom line is that this site is imperfect, the moderators, like the members, are imperfect and the method of delivering information and content is imperfect. Most people can easily live with that; however, some have a problem with it.

For me, it's just really annoying to put time and effort into a creative, thoughtful post to help generate interest in the site and within the community I enjoy sharing with, only to have some knub come along and lock it within six minutes of posting it because "it's been done before" or you can "use the search feature."

It would be more helpful if focus was placed on the generic, repetitive nonsense that floods the front gates by fly-by-night pop-in users who just want to vent their opinions.

​Just saying is all. Cheers, OP for posting.

[StangOne50]

thats gtaf mods logic for ya

[hangover_bro]

Change title to "official bitch and moan about mods thread" maybe they'll leave it alone.

[Raavi]

If you at any point feel like a thread has been locked unjustly, feel free to report said thread and tell us why you think it should be unlocked. If you are able to give a valid reason why, chances are it will be unlocked.

[TJGM]

In my experience if the thread is still relevant and your post isn't just another spam post, it'll be fine.

 

But before you bump a topic that's over a year old or even more, make sure you give a reason for bumping the topic rather than just posting without any clarification for the bump.

[CarimboHanky]

i made a thread about this months ago and got insta-locked...

 

this was back in october...

lately i have seen you locking old threats and stuff like that and i got a bit confused.

 

you post this before locking

 

Please do not post in old threads. It bumps the topic to the top of the board and as older topics contain outdated information/discussion this causes confusion when people read the topic from the beginning.

 

If you have a subject that you feel ought to be discussed feel free to start a new topic but first, please make use of the search function to ensure that there is not a recent topic that covers the subject that you can post in.

-dont want people to bump old threads

-want people to use search function

 

but when people use search function and post in a threat that already exist it get locked!!

 

if the person makes a new thread, it get locked and told to use the search function.

 

i just dont get it!!!

 

i know i could have made this via PM at first but wanted a public explanation for other members to read and understand.

 

 

 

-Tiger-

Sent 26 October 2014 - 07:00 PM

Hello, I locked the thread because the thread was bumped by a new person replying to a post from several months ago. This caused an old, spammy, out of date topic to be bumped to the top of the board.

 

If the thread was of value, and had been bumped for good reason it would not have been locked.

 

 

if you ask me this is some R* logic if you know what i mean!

[~Tiger~]

i made a thread about this months ago and got insta-locked...

 

I cannot find the locked thread that you claim to have made in your post history, but as you have taken this opportunity to publicly post the contents of a Private Message I will again explain why the topic that you referred to in your PM was locked.

 

It was an ancient spammy topic that should have been locked ages ago.. It was bumped to the top of the board by a new person. Upon locking the thread I posted the comment requesting that the new person refrain from posting in very old topics.

 

To clarify, if you wish to discuss a subject please start a new topic rather than resurrecting a very old thread. However, if the topic has been discussed recently (anytime from a few days ago up to three or four months or so) please add your voice to that topic rather than creating a duplicate.

 

Posting in a recent topic from a few months ago is not bumping and often re-kindles interesting debate. Bumping a very old topic (eg over a year old) can cause problems as the information in the very old topic is often out of date and misleading or confusing. On such a circumstance it would be better to start a new discussion providing there is not a recent topic that covers the subject.

 

Ultimately, if a bumped or duplicate topic is locked, it really isn't the end of the world and as Raavi advised above, if the person bumping the topic, or anyone else has interesting new information to share that will qualify it, the topic can be easily reopened.

[hangover_bro]

In my experience if the thread is still relevant and your post isn't just another spam post, it'll be fine.

 

But before you bump a topic that's over a year old or even more, make sure you give a reason for bumping the topic rather than just posting without any clarification for the bump.

So if anyone just signs up for these forums and they want to discuss something that has previously been discussed, they need to be "relevant" wtf does that mean. If I want to talk about it again I will, skip the thread if it doesn't interest you.

[Andreas]

The way I see it is that bumping threads is fine as long as they are fairly recent, i.e. from the last few months or so. That is if there isn't a more recent one. Say, if it's been half a year or longer since the last thread on the subject, you are free to create a new one instead. It is also worth to point out that if you bump a thread that has run its course, then chances are that it'll be locked, depending on how much spam there is.

 

 

The mods here are definitely out of control. I have been censored as well as threads locked for no reason.

Looking through your topic history, there is only one thread of yours that is locked - and that was by me. Just take a look at the replies in there and then explain me how this deserved to remain open. And that was just part of the reason as to why I ended it there. The post you made didn't deserve its own thread; you could have posted this in the "Share Your Stories" thread, as I explained in the final post.

 

 

I have my entire pm conversation with the mod. They have no answers except stupid ish like "I love you too, man"

How about you tell us the whole story? If you expect a clear and serious response from me or any other member of staff, you could refrain from name calling for starters. I gave you a clear response where I explained to you how we are dealing with threads and that you can PM the staff member that took action, if you feel that the thread deserves to be re-opened. After that, you once again replied in an aggressive manner. Edited January 5, 2015 by Andreas

[RedDagger]

As highlighted already by a few posts here, when you complain about someone locking a thread and/or locking bumped thread 'for no reason' and how unjust it is, there is basically always a reason for why it was necessary.

 

You can't bump an old thread (more than, say, a month old) just to post something borderline non-contributory, since it's bringing up an old discussion that evidently people thought they had nothing to add to. You'd need a good reason to bump the thread because of this, not just 'lol I hate this too' or something to that effect. Some threads should just be left alone.

 

Anyway, the search feature isn't that great for doing everything you want - a good option is to use google instead:

 

• Add [site:gtaforums.com] without the brackets to your search terms and it will only search within GTAF.
• You can also go to search tools>any time to choose a time frame for the search.
• To ignore results that include a keyword, add a minus ( [-] without the brackets) before the keyword.
• Use an asterisk (*) as a 'wildcard', where it will show results that match the keywords and fill in the gap by the wildcard - e.g. "is this the * life" gives only results with "is this the", some amount of words, then "life" - just give it a try, look at the words bolded in the suggestions and it should be clear.
• Finally, you can use quotation marks around a set of words to show only results with that specific order of words, e.g. if you search [ "is this the real life" ] you only get results that specifically have "is this the real life" somewhere on the page.

Edited January 5, 2015 by RedDagger

[CarimboHanky]

 

i made a thread about this months ago and got insta-locked...

 

I cannot find the locked thread that you claim to have made in your post history, but as you have taken this opportunity to publicly post the contents of a Private Message I will again explain why the topic that you referred to in your PM was locked.

 

just for the record here is the thread you couldnt find...

 

http://gtaforums.com/topic/744009-tiger-im-a-bit-confused/

[*MURDOC*]

The amount of bleeding in here in astounding.

 

You people really need to get out more.

[bread]

I agree, some of you are some pretty sad, whiny individuals.

 

You know what I noticed? It's usually the V/Online children that come in this section and cry about how the moderators are doing. I think they're doing a good job and at the same time I feel bad for them because they have to deal with your annoying sh*t. Give them a break, they're the reasons why this forum isn't littered with obscene material and all sorts of other wacky stuff.

 

Go outside, enjoy the fresh air and bask in some sunlight. Seriously.

[Norsea]

Staff does a lot around here so give 'em a break. They deserve it. Do you think they get paid? Nah. I wish they did though. They have to deal with a lot of the childish behavior that gives even me a headache some times.

[Elric_Francis92]

If you at any point feel like a thread has been locked unjustly, feel free to report said thread and tell us why you think it should be unlocked. If you are able to give a valid reason why, chances are it will be unlocked.

 

LOL you we don't worry about I never even seen you on here before much less lock the threads around here. Wish other mods would say the same thing. You know those who actually been locking people out.

[Elric_Francis92]

The way I see it is that bumping threads is fine as long as they are fairly recent, i.e. from the last few months or so. That is if there isn't a more recent one. Say, if it's been half a year or longer since the last thread on the subject, you are free to create a new one instead. It is also worth to point out that if you bump a thread that has run its course, then chances are that it'll be locked, depending on how much spam there is.

 

So what you are saying is of other people spam and 'harass' the thread they aren't punished we are by locking a legit thread? Oh that makes sense.

 

The mods here are definitely out of control. I have been censored as well as threads locked for no reason.

Looking through your topic history, there is only one thread of yours that is locked - and that was by me. Just take a look at the replies in there and then explain me how this deserved to remain open. And that was just part of the reason as to why I ended it there. The post you made didn't deserve its own thread; you could have posted this in the "Share Your Stories" thread, as I explained in the final post.

 

replies? So a jerk ruins a good thread and that is all it takes here? How about locking them out of the forums for a few days for being a jerk? Oh wait you need hits so sorry =P

 

I have my entire pm conversation with the mod. They have no answers except stupid ish like "I love you too, man"

How about you tell us the whole story? If you expect a clear and serious response from me or any other member of staff, you could refrain from name calling for starters. I gave you a clear response where I explained to you how we are dealing with threads and that you can PM the staff member that took action, if you feel that the thread deserves to be re-opened. After that, you once again replied in an aggressive manner.

 

 

We don't we already saw your examples and we all see how childish you don't handle the offenders but lock a thread instead so you get more hits. So far I seen one mod respond to this earlier in the thread that I would LOVE to mod here. least he isn't lock happy.

Staff does a lot around here so give 'em a break. They deserve it. Do you think they get paid? Nah. I wish they did though. They have to deal with a lot of the childish behavior that gives even me a headache some times.

 

Yes because it's SO hard to temp ban the spammers. Think about it warn them twice then permaban them Oh my gursh! Problem solved! Oh wait... they are click bait enthusiests we need those clickers so let's lock legit threads with butt heads in them instead....

 

Soooo logical.

 

[Norsea]

If you think you could do a better job, leave and create your own forum and gain a community of 600,000 + members. I seriously hope you realize that the staff here on GTAF have real life jobs, unlike a bunch of people here on the forums. They do everything they can to please you and so many other people.

[bread]

Yes because it's SO hard to temp ban the spammers. Think about it warn them twice then permaban them Oh my gursh! Problem solved! Oh wait... they are click bait enthusiests we need those clickers so let's lock legit threads with butt heads in them instead....

You're a noob.

[Andreas]

So what you are saying is of other people spam and 'harass' the thread they aren't punished we are by locking a legit thread?

[...]

Yes because it's SO hard to temp ban the spammers. Think about it warn them twice then permaban them Oh my gursh! Problem solved!

That's not what I said. If 90% of the first couple of pages or more are pure spam, then the thread will be dealt with as soon as a staff member sees it. In case a member stands out by having contributed to the spamfest immensely, they will get a warning or temp-ban issued by a mod, depending on the type of offence. It doesn't make much sense to leave a thread open when the majority of replies are irrelevant to the topic at hand. We will try to remove spam posts as soon as possible, but again, there is no point in removing them if most of the thread is spam anyway.

 

If a member is caught spamming and they have been reminded/warned before, chances are that they will be temp-banned. No idea how you come to the conclusion that locking threads is all we do. It isn't as easy as you imagine considering the traffic in the GTA Online forum. We can't be everywhere, we also have lives and are busy with our jobs, school, etc. and thus have only a limited amount of time we can spend moderating this place.

Edited January 7, 2015 by Andreas

[Elric_Francis92]

If you think you could do a better job, leave and create your own forum and gain a community of 600,000 + members. I seriously hope you realize that the staff here on GTAF have real life jobs, unlike a bunch of people here on the forums. They do everything they can to please you and so many other people.

 

I wish they did then they wouldn't be locking up so many threads for no real reason =P Please I hope they have real lives =P

 

So what you are saying is of other people spam and 'harass' the thread they aren't punished we are by locking a legit thread?

[...]

Yes because it's SO hard to temp ban the spammers. Think about it warn them twice then permaban them Oh my gursh! Problem solved!

That's not what I said. If 90% of the first couple of pages or more are pure spam, then the thread will be dealt with as soon as a staff member sees it. In case a member stands out by having contributed to the spamfest immensely, they will get a warning or temp-ban issued by a mod, depending on the type of offence. It doesn't make much sense to leave a thread open when the majority of replies are irrelevant to the topic at hand. We will try to remove spam posts as soon as possible, but again, there is no point in removing them if most of the thread is spam anyway.

 

If a member is caught spamming and they have been reminded/warned before, chances are that they will be temp-banned. No idea how you come to the conclusion that locking threads is all we do. It isn't as easy as you imagine considering the traffic in the GTA Online forum. We can't be everywhere, we also have lives and are busy with our jobs, school, etc. and thus have only a limited amount of time we can spend moderating this place.

 

 

If I ever got to see anything remotely looking like that I'd prob never have made this thread.

Maybe just bringing this up will help with how things are conducted for now on.

That is if you have time to.

[Ryan]

You don't read every topic on the forum, you don't see all the posts that get deleted, and you don't see all the members who get warned, so perhaps rather than jumping to conclusions and complaining that staff aren't doing their job you should consider the whole picture.

[*MURDOC*]

But that would require actual thought.

 

Which is difficult for some people.

[Elric_Francis92]

You don't read every topic on the forum, you don't see all the posts that get deleted, and you don't see all the members who get warned, so perhaps rather than jumping to conclusions and complaining that staff aren't doing their job you should consider the whole picture.

 

Um exactly? WE look up old threads so we don't mindless keep making news ones because they lock them and then they are locked because their 'old'.

 

So tell me. I want to say talk about getting married in GTAO. (because I actually tried this.)

 

I tried to start one and it gets locked due to a bunch of jerks replying when they could have shut up and not even responded.

I tried to bring up from the grave because I looked for it and it gets locked because of jerks replying.

 

So I want to talk about it and mine and others thread are locked because of a bunch of jerks responded to them?

The staff explained this is EXACTLY what they do. Sure they say they give warnings and what not but Um if they actually banned some of them? The jerks COULDN'T respond to the posts.

 

So socializing posters are screwed and only the popular threads like hacking an modding is allowed.

I didn't know forums are ran only to benefit those the mods see fit to bestow their grace apon.

I thought we could post in peace without harassment.

Can't get that when the mods are part of the problem. (not all of them are mind you but I only saw one mod that isn't nuts about locking and Zambatsu(?) so far is the worse culprit I've seen.)

But that would require actual thought.

 

Which is difficult for some people.

 

Insulting people because you don't agree with them is about the extent of you grasping any situation.

I heard the first thing an animal does is get mad when confused.

[fw3]

If you at any point feel like a thread has been locked unjustly, feel free to report said thread and tell us why you think it should be unlocked. If you are able to give a valid reason why, chances are it will be unlocked.

 

Most of us know that you're an anomaly, Raavi (along with several other mods); however, in trying to provide justification for a locked thread to @Girish recently, I was treated to a surprisingly immature and reactive "last word" mentality, in which he actually wrote the expression, "WAHHHH!!!!" Not someone I care to ever communicate with on this site again and someone whom I question how the hell he ever became a mod for this site.

 

Just saying is all. Overall, I applaud and support the work/efforts of the mods and admins, here. I enjoy this forum which is why I contribute. Cheers!

Edited January 8, 2015 by fw3

[Girish]

 

If you at any point feel like a thread has been locked unjustly, feel free to report said thread and tell us why you think it should be unlocked. If you are able to give a valid reason why, chances are it will be unlocked.

 

Most of us know that you're an anomaly, Raavi (along with several other mods); however, in trying to provide justification for a locked thread to @Girish recently, I was treated to a surprisingly immature and reactive "last word" mentality, in which he actually wrote the expression, "WAHHHH!!!!" Not someone I care to ever communicate with on this site again and someone whom I question how the hell he ever became a mod for this site.

 

Just saying is all. Overall, I applaud and support the work/efforts of the mods and admins, here. I enjoy this forum which is why I contribute. Cheers!

 

How very nice of you to leave out the part where you reported me (twice!) because you didn't agree with the justification I gave you.

 

Get off your high horse.