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These threads need to go. They cause unnecessary strain on the servers and take up space. They are entirely spam and serve no purpose. It's not a game, it's spam. If spam is disallowed everywhere else, it should be disallowed there as well.

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

I suppose they do count as spam but then, reporting what we got from the Galley and Mallarchy Pond etc could count as spam as well. After all, who bothers to read through the posts to see what other people got?

All these threads are a way of farming for Forum Points or getting the 100 posts required for the Blue Building. The forums for other kinds of topics are more or less dead for many reasons which have been pointed out here - Lets Talk Forums Again

Looking at the user run game rules url=https://subeta.net/forums.php/read/141297/User-Run-Game-Rules[/url] all it says is that you can ping up to 5 users per post; presumably pinging the user above is included. So, that thread doesn't seem to be treated as spam, but I suppose the repeated one word message could appear as such for example when there are only two users posting. Thankfully, I think I haven't seen any absurd amounts of daily posts there. It usually picks up and stops a bit later when noone else continues to post.

It's still a game just like throwing a ball back and forth is, but IMO it's gets dull fast and I'd very much rather play other games if they give out valuable forum points or something decent instead of barely anything. If it weren't for the forum points, I don't think anyone would spend a huge amount of time combined posting on that thread.

Are you trying to correct my English? I don't understand the point that you're trying to make there. "This" vs "That" is about relative location. This is the internet. Relative distance is highly irrelevant on the internet. I'm referring to another thread, which can be reached with a simple click, as I have hyperlinked it. Which makes it more "near" than "far". I would not correct anyone using "that" in this context but I also don't go around correcting other people's grammar on the internet, where language is a thing of its own. Regardless, my grammar has nothing to to with the subject of this thread so I don't know why you're commenting on it in the first place, let alone with a winky face, which most would assume is meant to indicate that you're being snide in your correction.

That being said, I am aware of the current rules for the forum. That's why this is in the Suggestions and Ideas forum. Thank you both for your feedback.

Oh no, I'm not trying to correct it. I just found it unintentionally interesting, and mentioned the Simpsons Smokey Bear reference for a bit of situational humor. Sorry, I didn't know you won't understand it.

For classifying activities as games and spam, they are distinct but they can overlap. I believe Subeta doesn't consider this as spam, otherwise they could have just locked those threads. I find their enforcement of forum rules to be unevenly lax and strict; for example people have bumped their own threads and hardly anything happens, but a necro results in a guaranteed lock. You can ask them again for their view on this matter.

That's why I'm suggesting that it be considered as spam. I know it isn't currently considered spam. You're also not supposed to bump your own threads. If it's not being enforced, that's on the minimods to handle, but just because one rule isn't enforced strictly, doesn't mean that others shouldn't be as well?

IMO, the 'Ping The User Above You Threads' is a symptom of two issues which are more important than those threads themselves. Yes, they do take up space, but doesn't strain the server much when much fewer than one post a minute is made there in general.

First, it has to do with the enforcement of spam in general. It's not well regulated except in the worst case. Perhaps because it's not clearly understood due to a lack of standards. Also, there's a complete lack of timely reminders to other users that they aren't following the rules. The example I brought up was bumping, because it's considered spam but is generally ignored.

Second, the forum points arguably are a major incentive for people to post. People tend follow the path of least resistance when there are benefits, so this happens. And if something like this is blocked, they will find another way of least resistance around it. I'm just letting you know in advance.

Overall, it is the staff's job to provide an answer to your suggestion, but you need to let everyone know your intentions and be prepared to explain why it's spamming.

Oh boy. Here we go again with the thing I don't agree with or find utterly pointless therefore it takes up server space and should go. Which fair enough, fine. The threads are rather tedious but its the equivalent of playing kick the rock on your way home from school or work. It doesn't need a reason to exist; its just something you do when you're bored. Those users that participate in the thread are basically doing the same thing. Very many forums outside of subeta even have their own sub-forums just for spam. Remember poking people on Facebook? It served no other reason other than to poke someone and notified you that you poked them. Yet people loved it. Isn't that essentially the same thing as pinging someone?

And as was stated before, its a good way to build forum posts or farm points. The forums kind of already aren't active so I say let people chat or spam in their own designated space, which is what the Ping Users thread, and other threads like it, seem to be doing.

Don't forget, the highest achievement tier for forum posts is 25,000 posts. :'''''D When you say bump do you mean people literally just saying "bump"? Not posting twice in a row right?

Good point I wonder what's the purpose of such a high tier, because unless you're staff or a MM, most of the 25k posts are going to be fluff haha. Oh well, the 'Claim the user above' threads will provide plenty of posting fodder :D

What I meant about bumping is something like "Still buying" to bring your thread of the top, although it's obvious from the title. I know people don't like to create duplicate threads and don't want to wait until the third page, but that's what the stickied rules said, and it has no meaning when nothing is done about it.

Posts made in the Games forum do not count toward post count, but they do give you forum points. People use the games forums to farm forum points. I get that. I just think threads like that where they literally just ping each other shouldn't be allowed, let alone be giving out forum points.

And yes, bumping is generally a post with no real content, just to move their thread up. On Subeta, we can't post two times in a row, so it stops that from happening, but imo if you're pinging in a new post saying that you're buying/selling/trading, that's different. I don't see the point, cause it redirects the people who click on the ping to that post instead of the first post where all your items are, so I just ping in the first post, but that's the one example (or if you're in the CW thread, making a new post with the new items and pinging, that's fine, that's actual content) I can think of where it's like....whatever. The no double posting thing pretty much handles the spam issue, except for in the games forum.

Honestly, I've been on this website for 8 years now and I have over 10k forum posts, but I haven't been very active in the forums in years. I think unless you're in a forum group that communicates solely through subeta (a lot of people are using discord pretty much exclusively now), you're not going to have nearly that many posts. People used to rack up those forum posts like crazy, back when cults were still a thing, before discord. Now it seems like every other forum group you join, there's a discord. Also I've seen plenty of threads remade before page 3 and every time, a minimod has commented telling them that they broke the rule, giving them an unofficial warning. I've yet to see one go overlooked for very long (especially in the buying/selling & cw forums).