Forum Comments

MidwestFan

MidwestFan

Well-Known Member
10+ year member
This may be controversial, but I think it may be worth suggesting.

There seems to be a lot of comments on various threads lately that don't add value to thread. Zoo Chat is a great source of information and a wonderful tool to share information and ask questions. But simply commenting to comment on each forum creates a lot of unnecessary email notifications to those of us that follow particular forums.

If everyone could be courteous and think before they reply:
-Is this reply adding a comment of valuable information to the forum?
-Is this a question that has not already been answered previously in the same forum or in a link posted in the forum?
-Am I just commenting to comment on a forum? (example: sorry of death of x animal; thanks for the info; etc.)

I think this will help keep the threads useful with pertinent information! Thanks!
 
Thank you for posting this @MidwestFan. It is a sentiment that I fully support.

In addition to the extra emails these recent posts have created, it has also made it quite a challenge to navigate the forums and find postings with actual news or discussion.
 
I think that everybody can comment in a thread in the way they like, we're not obligated to add some valuable info. For email notifications it's enough with unwacht threads (something that I often do just after commenting a thread)
 
I guess if someone wants to comment something along the lines of "thanks for the info", they can just "like" the post instead of commenting about how thankful they are.

(edit: my page failed to update revealing all the comments, so I did not see that Brum had already left a comment very similar to mine)
 
Kakapo said:
I think that everybody can comment in a thread in the way they like, we're not obligated to add some valuable info. For email notifications it's enough with unwacht threads (something that I often do just after commenting a thread)
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Respectfully, I do not think that the solution of unwatching the thread actually solves the problem. The threads I am subscribed to are ones that I wish to receive updates on when content that is relevant to the title of the thread is posted. When a thread is named "Random Zoo Name News" I do not think it is unreasonable to expect that the posts in there will actually address news about that zoo. Personally, I fail to see how posts that only contain "I agree" "thanks" "that animal is cute" (of which their have been an abundance recently in some of the North America threads) can be misconstrued as news.
 
MidwestFan said:
This may be controversial, but I think it may be worth suggesting.

There seems to be a lot of comments on various threads lately that don't add value to thread. Zoo Chat is a great source of information and a wonderful tool to share information and ask questions. But simply commenting to comment on each forum creates a lot of unnecessary email notifications to those of us that follow particular forums.

If everyone could be courteous and think before they reply:
-Is this reply adding a comment of valuable information to the forum?
-Is this a question that has not already been answered previously in the same forum or in a link posted in the forum?
-Am I just commenting to comment on a forum? (example: sorry of death of x animal; thanks for the info; etc.)

I think this will help keep the threads useful with pertinent information! Thanks!
Click to expand...

I agree with most of this (it is after all forum policy), but I think the part I've highlighted in bold is a bit more of a grey area. Many people would feel impolite not providing a written 'thank you' to a question. Similarly many have strong emotional connections to their local zoo or a particular animal, and feel a need to express grief when a death is announced. Whilst these sort of posts do technically make the threads less information dense, they are also natural parts of human interaction, and, in moderation, make the forum feel like a more comfortable space [citation needed]. The problem comes when it feels like trivial posts are swamping the threads; you will notice that there have been a series of deletions recently, however if you have email notifications turned on (I personally don't) you would still receive those when the post was first made.

Brum said:
I think that a like often suffices in place of a typed thank you, except when there is a follow up question or comment.
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Yes, the 'Like' feature is a great help in this regard, although see above for its limitations. :p

Kakapo said:
I think that everybody can comment in a thread in the way they like, we're not obligated to add some valuable info. For email notifications it's enough with unwacht threads (something that I often do just after commenting a thread)
Click to expand...

Valuable info no, but value yes

Forum Rules | ZooChat

"Our expectations of how members should behave can be simply summarised in two points:
  1. Add value
  2. Be nice to people
Moderation decisions are measured against a simple yardstick of "does this add value to the community?". Content which does not add value is not likely to be allowed, similarly, people who are not interested in adding value are not likely to be allowed to stay. Please keep this in mind before posting."

See also Rule 5 for more detail.

We try and moderate this with a light touch; after all, if someone is posting in good faith they presumably believe they are offering value. However, when it becomes clear that someone is posting purely for the sake of posting we take a pretty dim view of this.
 
Questions are a big thing here, such as asking for names, things that you can find out easily. I've had multiple alerts of members asking questions that can easily be answered by possibly a google search or a quick email to the zoo. Asking for names of animals that probably don't even have names is common sense not to do it (such as herps, inverts, and fish). I also do not think that posts such as "I didn't know that the zoo ______", and"I like the name of _____" are valuable in news threads and can be annoying. I think that members should keep this in moderation.
 
ZooBinh said:
Questions are a big thing here, such as asking for names, things that you can find out easily. I've had multiple alerts of members asking questions that can easily be answered by possibly a google search or a quick email to the zoo.
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... or from asking a bunch of zoo enthusiasts on a site like ZooChat?

If you take the argument that people should "search google" or "email the zoo" to find information to the logical conclusion - then there would be no need for a site like ZooChat because you can always find the information elsewhere.

There is nothing wrong with asking questions on this site - indeed, I encourage it.

Of course, there are circumstances where it does become problematic - but I'd like to point out that those are very much the exception.

ZooBinh said:
Asking for names of animals that probably don't even have names is common sense not to do it (such as herps, inverts, and fish).
Click to expand...

I agree in this case. Assuming that everything in a zoo has a name is rather misguided.

- - - -

FWIW, the issues that have been highlighted by several members in this thread are largely the result of a single user's particular posting style. The moderation team have been in contact with this user to try and educate them about some forum etiquette and explain some guidelines about what they should and shouldn't do. If their behaviour does not improve, we will take further action.

Don't forget that you can always use the ignore function to hide posts by this (or any) user.
 
I have a quick question. When a new member joins and posts an introduction (which I agree with, we have a whole subforum for that) and we welcome them (which is also fine with me), but someone welcomes them lke a week later, is it really necessary?

Also, when someone joins and posts one of those "I should've done this a long time ago" sort of things, is it necessary to even post that? Or even to welcome them, since they've been there for a while?
 
ZooBinh said:
I have a quick question. When a new member joins and posts an introduction (which I agree with, we have a whole subforum for that) and we welcome them (which is also fine with me), but someone welcomes them lke a week later, is it really necessary?

Also, when someone joins and posts one of those "I should've done this a long time ago" sort of things, is it necessary to even post that? Or even to welcome them, since they've been there for a while?
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There is nothing wrong with the things you describe. Nobody is forcing you to read or contribute to those threads.

This isn't just a technical website full of sterile information - we are a community who interact with each other and share information and experiences.

FWIW, I am planning on building an "ignore" function which will allow you to ignore specific threads or entire forum topics so that they no longer appear in the New Posts searches. So if you find the Introductions forum (or any other specific topic) tiresome, you can just ignore it completely.
 
Simon Hampel said:
There is nothing wrong with the things you describe. Nobody is forcing you to read or contribute to those threads.
Click to expand...

Ok, thats good to know. :) I was a bit confused as I was thinking about the 'value' sense of it.
 
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