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Author Topic: Lazy Blog Post Comments Back to Topics
Wildside

Rookie Author
Toronto

Posts:99
Points:389,530
Joined:Apr 2006
Message Posted: Feb 25, 2013 9:48:47 PM

Ok this will not be a popular subject as so many are taking advantage it but why bother giving points to members who post one word comments on blog posts just to earn points?
It's irritating to see the blogs flooded with so many lazy comments.
REPLIES (newest first) Post a Reply
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Wildside
Rookie Author Toronto

Posts:99
Points:389,530
Joined:Apr 2006
Message Posted: Mar 8, 2013 10:12:52 AM

Thanks Don and everyone else for their positive input. As long as members take pride in their passion the site will continue to thrive and that's the important part.Perhaps a blog on the lazy post subject would get the attention of the masses would help?
Carry on folks!
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Don
Moderator
Message Posted: Mar 5, 2013 4:50:19 PM

Hi Wildside,

We've gave an honest attempt at deterring these kinds of posts over the years (most recently going through the forums in blitzes), and one thing we've learned is that: it's extremely hard to prevent, and allocating the time to keep up with these posters is often extensive and counter productive (when keeping in mind other site duties).

As annoying as it may seem, a lot of users do get by well enough after using the ignore member feature.

There's been suggestions of implementing a minimum character requirement, which we anticipate would be abused just as easily (ie. users providing "cookie cutter" responses to meet the requirement).

There's been suggestions of removing point credit for viewing and responding to news articles or specifically for messages posted in DNAD, but with how the actual website form works, after inquiring about this change I don't think that can be modified.

We've made our own suggestions with the developers and discussed a way that we think could resolve this issue.

There should be a site update rolling out in the next couple of weeks, if all goes well then maybe there will be a forum tool include that you guys can use to smooth things over.

-Don
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SUVFan
Champion Author Columbus

Posts:153,540
Points:1,963,480
Joined:Oct 2008
Message Posted: Mar 4, 2013 3:46:31 PM

Good thought, SmartShopper520.

In time, though, you may come to realize that topics like this one make the big gas buddy world go around. You're in your second month of membership, while the OP has been around nearly 7 years. Yet you've posted nearly twice as many messages in your short time here as the OP.

Wildside is far from the first to get annoyed by the short posts, and a lot of us with tenures shorter than Wildside can remember when the GM account was manned by an individual, not a team, and GM would not tolerate jff posts outside jff and select local threads. Those sticky threads in many categories were started by That GM.

So, to me, if nitpicking is what keeps somebody coming back here as often as they can get here, then let them nitpick away.
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SmartShopper520
All-Star Author Ontario

Posts:763
Points:118,110
Joined:Feb 2013
Message Posted: Mar 3, 2013 1:28:10 PM

Nit-picking will not get us anywhere with bringing fuel pricing down. Could we please stick to the reason we are all here. We will stand a better chance together with our gas buddy attack on the economics of fuel pricing.
Good luck everyone getting a fair petro fill this week.
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RogerB
Champion Author Indianapolis

Posts:19,944
Points:2,953,280
Joined:Dec 2005
Message Posted: Feb 28, 2013 1:00:54 AM

Some of the "lazy comments" are less obnoxious and objectionable than some of the long ones.

At least they are spending time on this website, regardless of the intellectual value of their contributions.
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MARIOWERX
Champion Author Vancouver

Posts:17,674
Points:1,971,410
Joined:Oct 2008
Message Posted: Feb 27, 2013 4:27:10 PM

Maybe they are not "lazy", they may have other complications taking priority in their life.
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Zimcity
Champion Author Twin Cities

Posts:68,736
Points:3,997,255
Joined:Aug 2001
Message Posted: Feb 27, 2013 3:15:18 PM

Yes, I was too lazy to post an actual visible character yesterday, lol.

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SUVFan
Champion Author Columbus

Posts:153,540
Points:1,963,480
Joined:Oct 2008
Message Posted: Feb 27, 2013 12:12:19 PM

Hi, Wildside. I bring a different perspective, though I liked Zim's response, too.

Your question is valid and you're under no obligation to look for similar topics. If the site ownership desired that, there would be a usable search function and the site rules would address it. And those of us who are lucky enough to be able to post daily over a period of years have no business deriding others based on their lower point totals.

There's a short answer to your question. They value the page hits and they encourage posts from folks using mobile devices. It's really that simple.

On a phone, for example, typing comments to messages is a big pain. I've done it rarely, and the previous sentences of this post by far exceed in total the number of charachters I was willing to type on that device in all of those posts. I've done it only when seated at a table. For folks posting while they drive -- and make no mistake, they do -- I'd prefer they keep it short, too, if they must post at all.

The site could moderate the posts intensely for s short period and the posts would mostly cease. They could enlist the help of any number of members for this task if they desired. Because they don't choose to use any of these obvious options, I think the overwhelming inference is that they don't want to discourage folks from posting.

I will say that in the local forum, I've seen an uptick in moderation recently, closing certain threads or moving or zapping others.

Now, for one class of short posts, I actually created a jff thread as a place they could move the posts to: OK.

[Edited by: SUVFan at 2/27/2013 12:13:20 PM EST]
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kwzh
Champion Author San Jose

Posts:22,304
Points:4,007,405
Joined:Jul 2001
Message Posted: Feb 26, 2013 7:27:23 PM

It would be nice if people would confine their non-contributions to the JFF category. It would be nice if more members would post more gas prices. It would be nice if fewer of us had real-world difficulties to deal with. I think these are all independent wishes, though.
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Gas_Buddy
Champion Author Maryland

Posts:28,523
Points:3,364,875
Joined:Aug 2004
Message Posted: Feb 26, 2013 7:14:15 PM

Wildside:

The reason I spend time here, just as you have for almost the same time, is probably for the same reason you're here; primarily to post gas prices for the benefit of others, in return for getting the benefit of their price posting. And, I find the substantive discussion topics often interesting. That said, for those that come to Gas Buddy primarily for the anonymous discussions, this is a relatively minor website. There are other, more vibrant, and better focused discussion sites.

When you see that there are more than 70 million posts in the Just For Fun category, from a discussion perspective, this is a minor site. If there was more substantive discussion, that would be a different perspective.

For the primary purpose of this website, members helping members be more knowledgeable shoppers, this is a significant, very significant website. But from other perspectives, it's still a relatively small website. In my opinion.

But, "...why have you spent such a large part of your life here?", It think you can see that my time here, if points are indicative of "time spent", has been to post gas prices. Just as your time has been.
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Wildside
Rookie Author Toronto

Posts:99
Points:389,530
Joined:Apr 2006
Message Posted: Feb 26, 2013 6:21:37 PM

Yes at least zimcity has validated himself.
gasbuddy if you consider this to be such a minor website then why have you spent such a large part of your life here?
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ziyulu
Champion Author Austin

Posts:10,159
Points:1,934,225
Joined:Aug 2007
Message Posted: Feb 26, 2013 3:22:04 PM

I see Zimcity posted a zero word comment.
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Gas_Buddy
Champion Author Maryland

Posts:28,523
Points:3,364,875
Joined:Aug 2004
Message Posted: Feb 26, 2013 2:24:01 PM

If I had such complications (and I can speak from experience), I would not be concerned about members who post one word comments on a minor website. I would either simply not read the blogs (knowing the propensity for such posts) or I would tolerate them. If there are more important things in life than a minor website, then a minor irritation the minor website would be nothing I would be concerned with.

My opinion.
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Zimcity
Champion Author Twin Cities

Posts:68,736
Points:3,997,255
Joined:Aug 2001
Message Posted: Feb 26, 2013 10:59:49 AM

 
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scoutmaster
Champion Author Pittsburgh

Posts:91,063
Points:3,585,145
Joined:Mar 2003
Message Posted: Feb 26, 2013 9:09:25 AM

Prayers for you Wildside.
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Wildside
Rookie Author Toronto

Posts:99
Points:389,530
Joined:Apr 2006
Message Posted: Feb 26, 2013 9:02:35 AM

"It's more irritating to see someone who has been a member for nearly seven years but has only accumulated a month and a half worth of points."

Fighting cancer and other complications have taken priority in my life.
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scoutmaster
Champion Author Pittsburgh

Posts:91,063
Points:3,585,145
Joined:Mar 2003
Message Posted: Feb 26, 2013 5:12:36 AM

I agree with both bytebug and maxstar.
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maxstar
Champion Author Chicago

Posts:20,799
Points:1,141,195
Joined:Feb 2011
Message Posted: Feb 26, 2013 12:12:25 AM

Or spend no time to find current active topics that cover the same issue that they create.

One word answers

[Edited by: maxstar at 2/26/2013 12:15:36 AM EST]
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bytebug
Champion Author Orange County

Posts:28,204
Points:4,453,865
Joined:Oct 2001
Message Posted: Feb 25, 2013 10:18:54 PM

It's more irritating to see someone who has been a member for nearly seven years but has only accumulated a month and a half worth of points.
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