And the spam blaster himself makes an appearance. Gasp, shock, awe, etc etc. Hi!
It occurs to me that some people might have no idea what 'spam' is. The forum interpretation. So here, in non-rant form, I will provide you with my interpretation, and how to avoid doing it so as to not piss me off. Or uh, other people . VERY useful information, yes? Agreed.
Spam is, in a word, unnecessary. Of course I'm going to elaborate. Spam is regarded as useless or unnecessary replies to a topic. They can be single word responses which don't contribute, messages that are in support of something and bring in something random that has no relevance, or people just trying to be funny without contributing.
An example would be me saying I hate such and such (I am using a recent actual occurrence as my example) and someone saying "Well don't hate me just cause that's all I do I mean it is my name lol"
Some people might not view that as spammy. But fact is it doesn't contribute, it's not really funny, and it has no place in a serious discussion. Off topic replies are stupid as well. "I hate this" "I do too, and here's a good reason why" "Myself as well, and here's something else pertinent" "I also hate that, and french people"
Now everyone hates french people, but what does that have to do with the conversation? Nothing at all. And often as not conversations derail after that, because everyone is commenting on french people. It could be said that is the normal flow of conversations, but on the internet, specifically in forums I moderate or nazi-ify, that's not how things go. Serious discussions stay on topic and digress into things that are related, not off the wall crap.
It's hard to judge exactly what is spam and what is not if you are the offending party, especially if you are new, so I have drawn up a few short guidelines.
- If it is unrelated to the topic, it is spam
- If it is something trying to be funny in a serious topic, it is spam
- If it is a flame of any kind it is spam
- If there are excessive symbols (OMGLOL!#@!@HFEWK@#12``1) it is spam
- Really, if you look at it before clicking submit, and see that it's not a good post, it is spam. Common sense, people.
If the tone of a topic is goofy, you obviously will have more leeway. If it's a topic that's stayed on topic and doesn't have many weird influences, best to stick to the straight and narrow. It takes common sense and a tiny bit of thought. Not too hard really.
I'm not saying no spam ever. I am probably a spam nazi but I don't want to turn these forums into a boring place where fun is sucked into a black hole and all that exist are neo-hippies with pallid demeanors, striped shirts and black berets, sipping their latté and snapping for applause in some poetry club in hoity-toityville. I like having fun as much as the next guy. I just don't like looking stupid while having fun, and it upsets me when I read a post that makes me think "this guy is stupid". I don't want to think that about members of this forum, you know?
These rules seem rather direct but I don't expect people to try to circumvent them by quoting them verbatim. Don't get around my anti-spam policies, please. Just use your common sense. Don't piss people off. Play nice with others. Please keep the topics actually on topic. Pleeeease. If that can happen, Shiney will be happey. And maybe the others will too.
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