why are the hot topic threads being closed?

[Ryanalan82i]

Closing the no SD card non removable battery threads. Now the threads about pengate. Is androidcentral being paid off by Samsung or something?

 

[NurzeScott]

The Note 5 doesn't have a removable battery or SD card slot. Don't put the stylus in upside down or it will break something.

That covers what needs to be said about the subject really. Although, it is a forum and I guess people should be able to discuss all they want; it isn't hard to skip over a topic.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[dpham00]

They were closed because people couldn't discuss the topics in a civilized manner in accordance with the community guidelines.

P. S. I wish Samsung would give me something for free. Sadly, I haven't received any special perks from Samsung for being a moderator on this forum. To my knowledge, neither has any of the other moderators.

Sent from my Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note 5

 

[Golfdriver97]

When 1 thread can keep 2 or 3 Mods busy just trying to keep it clean (as in on topic, not to mention insults, etc.), it is obviously a problem.

 

[VDub2174]

They were closed because people couldn't discuss the topics in a civilized manner in accordance with the community guidelines.

This.

Threads stopped being about the topic at hand and started getting personal.

 

[Ryanalan82i]

Exactly my point, move this thread far far away from note 5 users, and others looking for info on the phone.

 

[dpham00]

Exactly my point, move this thread far far away from note 5 users, and others looking for info on the phone.

You are posting site feedback. Accordingly, it was moved to the appropriate forum,with a redirect from the note 5 forum, so people in the note 5 forum can still see it.

Btw, in the giveaways there is a standard clause "Contests are open to registered users of Android Central, provided they are not contractors (aka writers), forum moderators, advisors, admins, direct employees of Smartphone Experts -- or anyone else who might otherwise have a leg up on the other registered users. You know who you are. And we know who you are."

Not only have I not received any Samsung perks, but neither me or the other moderators even qualify for even the standard giveaways that the regular members qualify for.


http://forums.androidcentral.com/android-central-contests/43654-android-central-contest-rules.html

Sent from my Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note 5

 

[Golfdriver97]

Exactly my point, move this thread far far away from note 5 users, and others looking for info on the phone.

At the same time, we need to give those people room to vent their frustrations. And it is possible to do so, without resorting to name calling, and totally derailing the thread. The downside is, there are people who just cannot leave well enough alone.

 

[Aquila]

There is a balance between our need to be spending time weeding through all the trollish comments and drawing a line somewhere that indicates we're spending too much time in one thread. After so many in thread warnings, our options become limited to using the system (warnings and infractions) and we end up in a place where regular members, who are otherwise productive and well behaved, are receiving infractions - rather than start pushing good members out over engaging with a few bad apples. In some cases it is best to acknowledge that the value the thread could add to the forums is being far overshadowed by the damage that people are doing through it. We'll clean things up for a while, but when more posts violate the rules than fall within them - the thread has successfully been derailed and becomes a waste of everyone's time.

As an example, in the latest "pen gate" thread - I made several posts trying to bring people back to the topic after three different moderators had warned the entire thread to keep it about the OP's constructive question - this was completely ignored by most users and we were still cleaning 1-2 posts out for every post that was made on topic. At that point, the thread is taking value away from the forums, not adding to it. And it's taking time away from our ability to help members that are not trolling.

Obviously not all members can see posts that were cleaned, warnings/infractions given out - all three of the subjects referenced above were allowed to accumulate arguments from all sides (beaten well beyond death) and were closed under the guidelines above: More people were trolling than were productively contributing. I don't want my team to end up banning members who are just getting carried away in troll wars. For this reason, sometimes we take the oxygen away from the fire, rather than just continually pouring water on it.

 

[Aquila]

At the same time, we need to give those people room to vent their frustrations. And it is possible to do so, without resorting to name calling, and totally derailing the thread. The downside is, there are people who just cannot leave well enough alone.

Yes, people are more than welcome to vent, rant, complain - just as they're welcome to share their excitement, etc. Not every post has to be positive - but every post does need to be civil, follow the principles of PUPPAH - and in this way be a productive contribution to the community. There's a difference between expressing disappointment or disagreement and #Hate.

 

[Aquila]

I respect what the mods do here to help keep order. But I think many times it's overly aggressive in trying to pre-emp a perceived "fire" so to speak and cuts people off at the knees leaving you feeling disconnected from the community asking yourself what the heck.... I know that's not what's intended but is what many perceive. I'm a long standing member who has always tried to follow the rules, yet find myself feeling this way. I can't imagine what newer members must feel. It's all just so aggrevating and disheartening ultimately making me not want to participate here anymore.

Edit: seeing mods liking and thanking each others posts does NOT help what is perceived by regular users. Frankly it feels/looks like nepotism.

Any suggestions that you have, we're always looking for feedback and ideas.

sent via Nexus Assassin Edition. Gonfaloniere.

 

[Almeuit]

I respect what the mods do here to help keep order. But I think many times it's overly aggressive in trying to pre-emp a perceived "fire" so to speak and cuts people off at the knees leaving you feeling disconnected from the community asking yourself what the heck.... I know that's not what's intended but is what many perceive. I'm a long standing member who has always tried to follow the rules, yet find myself feeling this way. I can't imagine what newer members must feel. It's all just so aggrevating and disheartening ultimately making me not want to participate here anymore.

Edit: seeing mods and Ambassadors liking and thanking each others posts does NOT help what is perceived by regular users. Frankly it feels/looks like nepotism.

We try our hardest to not just snap a thread closed. We will clean posts and ask in the thread to stay civil, however, when everyone just keeps ignoring that to the point of every other post must be cleaned up due to someone breaking rules / attacking others it becomes too "Toxic" for the community. I wouldn't want new members coming into the forum and seeing a thread where someone asks a question or has a problem -- and then has people mocking & belittling them for doing something they think is "dumb" or whatever.

It definitely is a hard balance for us (mods) since we are regular members like anyone else. We aren't different from you, the Ambassadors, or anyone really. We love to participate in discussions. We just have an extra job of ensuring the boards are a fun place without everyone going down the troll / name calling path. Anytime you ever have a suggestion please let me or any of the mods know as we are always open to them.

 

[Golfdriver97]

The hardest thing about Moderating is this: where do you draw the line? It's different for each thread. One can last several weeks before it gets closed...some last only a few hours. It still comes down to the participants involved and how they act in the thread. I think we sometimes react fairly quickly due to how often we have seen a thread go off the deep end so quickly.

From my G4
Android Central Ambassador Team Leader

 

[Aquila]

Completely understood. But I had two on-topic posts deleted from the thread linked below just because subsequent posters couldn't stay on topic? That's NOT my fault and isn't fair. I shouldn't have my posts deleted because of others failure to follow the community rules. This only leads to the perception of over-aggressive moderating. Again I'm a long standing member who ends up feeling this way despite the greater understanding of what happens here. So think about newer members and how they may feel. You may think you're serving the greater good of the community, yet at the same time cutting your nose to spite your face so to speak. My apologies for sounding so harsh but I'm very frustrated with things around here lately.

http://forums.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-note-5/571262-note-5-i-wasn-t-going-like-buy.html

We're working up a solution right now that I think goes along the lines of what you're saying. Unfortunately we're going to still have to focus some conversations, but we'll do this in a way that let's us target users who are ignoring the guidelines with as much grace as possible for those having civil and productive conversations. The topics aren't at issue here, it is solely the risk v reward and our endeavor to try to resolve issues proactively (or at least in a way that has less infractions being handed out).

 

[Paul627g]

As the former Moderator Team Leader and active team member for almost 5 years I've seen all sides of the coin. I understand where the regular member is going with their thinking of the Moderator Team being overly aggressive and same time I know how I directed my team to handle situations.

We always try to let things play out with as little interruption as possible. Sometimes though we do have to interject ourselves in ways that seem harsh to shut things down.

As said here by my fellow Moderators we always welcome constructive criticism good or bad. We continue to look for ways to improve and make the forums a better place. However it does have to start with the member(s) participating to follow the rules of the forum and just plain common sense and respect for others which is often over looked in moments of debate.

All the above being said, let's move past this and get back to some good discussions.

Paul
Moderator @ AC

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[anon8380037]

Deleted.

 

[Aquila]

The moderators have instructions to eliminate redundant threads (usually with a link to the original) whenever they happen across them. Specifically with the thread linked, the OP was asking why Samsung moved away from removable storage and that is definitely in the "asked and answered" category of discussion, as there were a couple dozen pages of discussion on it. Anyone wondering user's opinions on that topic would have a huge volume of information available within that link. Reading the "copying iphone" thread (which should have been posted in "Phone Wars" and had a better title, there's not a single point made that wasn't already made in the thread that the moderator linked. In my opinion, this was the right call. It kills off a thread with high inflammatory potential that is rehashing old news and he provided a link to resources that the answer the OP's question. The ideal scenario is that the OP would have just searched and read the thread that was linked to, but barring that happening on the front end, our team will help them locate that information. It looks to me like that is what happened here.

It's been long enough that we can reopen the SD card thread and deal with individuals who can't handle themselves like adults.

 

[dpham00]

The thread/post linked below is a good example why I don't participate much anymore in the forums here. That thread started in the General News & Discussion area of the forum and had no posts in it that broke any forum rules up to this morning where one minute I was about to post in it and the next it was closed. There was no possible way someone posted anything in that short time that could get the thread closed. Instead closing it and linking to another closed thread in the Note 5 forum just killed any opportunity for users to discuss the topic (isn't that what these forums are about?). It's as if there should be no more discussion whatsoever anymore about SD cards and user-replaceable batteries, in particular when it involves Samsung's latest offerings. This makes me very sad as I want to participate in the forums and feel a part of the community. But this kind of behavior only has me increasingly looking for the nearest exit (despite being a long standing member. Over 4 years now!). That can't possibly be what you want, is it?

http://forums.androidcentral.com/ge...07320-samsung-copying-iphone.html#post4828832

My apologies, I should have checked it was open before linking. It looks like Assassin Droid took care of it however in the future, you could have pm'd me (or the person who locked the thread, if it was someone else) about your concern, as it is easier for me to check pm. Obviously if you don't feel that I adequately addressed your concern then you are welcome to post about it.

P.S. Perhaps I am mistaken, but I am pretty sure that you did participate and have multiple posts in that large thread.

 

[Almeuit]

Thanks for the replies. I still don't like the topic being restricted/funneled to the one thread in the Note 5 forum. I understand it makes it easier for the mods to keep an eye on things, but it comes at the cost of restricting the topic in being exposed to a greater audience and discussion. There's also the issue where many separate threads have been merged into that one in the Note 5 forum that have completedly changed the context of the original thread (seen the same thing happen repeatedly across various areas of the forum) from what would have otherwise happened organically. Thus to me this is all over-moderating and ultimately hurts the forum user, which is why I get so frustrated and post here for all to see. For what it's worth, this type of thing did NOT happen with much frequency in the first few years I've been a member, only seems to be in the last year or so.

I guess my whole point is: I would like to see less threads closed/merged and allow forum users to more naturally participate with minimal moderator intervention unless absolutely necessary. An example, saw that Jerry posted a comment on the blog side where he only gets involved if it involves racism or something really egregious (On that note do we really need to give people warnings/infractions for using minor curse words that most hear virtually everyday? C'Mon Man!). Following Jerry's model would certainly reduce the mods workload, no?

This isn't done even just for making it easier on mods -- it is for the good of the forum. The users can discuss various topics without having to see 5 threads about the same topic. It becomes very redundant to have multiple threads going (especially for an issue) since it just clutters it up for other questions / issues that everyone wants to discuss and also scatters up possible solutions. One thread may have a solution buried on page 2 and another thread with 4 pages are still searching - but don't know the other thread or solution exists.

 

[Kevin OQuinn]

I've been on the side of having multiple threads on one issue, and it gets very difficult to keep track of what's been said in what thread, who replied with what, etc. As long as I've been around this has been the case (trying to keep duplicate threads under control and merged into one main thread), I'm sure you have seen cases where that doesn't happen. Nobody is perfect. Some will get missed.