Blog Gripe

we have some guys who come in and ask a question in the blog section. These are abusers IMO, who actually know better but are trying to get the question more attention. I'm thinking half the time they never come back to look at the answers. Can these posts just be removed by admin??

Quote: odiousgambit

These are abusers IMO, who actually know better...

What does IMO stand for?

I hope you weren't referring to my first attempt at a poll? For the few questions that I have asked in this first week of my membership I have tried to reply to most of the responses. I don't really know what went on before I found this forum.

If I posted my poll in the wrong section, excuse me.

Quote: odiousgambit

guys who come in and ask a question in the blog section

Now that I have reread your gripe, I realize I made that mistake too. When I first joined this community I asked a question in the blog section. Even the Wizard responded and didn't counsel me on posting the question in the wrong place. But, I didn't know how this worked. I have never been in a forum or blog or chatroom or any other medium of communication on the Internet other than email. So excuse me for that too.

IMO - In my opinion



Yeah, he may have been referring to your blog.

But you are far from the only one that's done that. And you've redeemed yourself by sticking to the forums since then. Today, another new member has posted a question in a blog.



Personally, when there is a blog that is more appropriate as a forum thread, I don't respond, except perhaps to suggest that it be a forum thread.

I may be wrong here, but blogs are supposed to be about a specific topic. In the case of a forum like this offering members their own blog, the blog should be about the person and/or a diary. In the forum's case, it probably is best suited for personal favorite casinos, games, and trip or bankroll activities.

Then again, I'm not entirely sure that that assesment is correct. Also, the blogs here are not indexed well (I'm still hoping that eventually the blog listing will contain, and be sorted by, the last post date). I'm not sure, but I son't think blogs are searchable. For those reasons, I haven't created my own blog.

The fact that I'm #2 poster, close behind #1, and that blogs don't count for the post count, have nothing to do with my lack of blog entries....

Thanks DJTeddyBear for the explanation of the acronym and the use of the blog. I don't know why anyone would ever use it. They should probably get their own website if they just like seeing their writing on the Internet.

However, the griper, should be more tolerant of new members and the mistakes they make.

Quote: chifool55

However, the griper, should be more tolerant of new members and the mistakes they make.

Thanks for giving the other side. Perhaps the blogger-by-accident could be gently chided, but post still removed.

I would think of a blog as being something that doesn't require a response. For example, the blog posts of a certain individual who went to craps dealing school were very information and enjoyable to read. However, they didn't really require any kind of response. They were his thoughts, comments, anecdotes, etc, of the events that occurred. People can still, of course, respond to blogs, but they blog by itself is not something that would seem to require a response. Other things such as comments about a hotel stay. Comments about a gambling trip, etc, etc, might also fall into this category.

On the other hand, items that do require a response, such as questions, or requests for information, should most definitely be placed in the forum.

I agree there is a glut of bad gambling questions from one-time posters, that clutter of the site. I'll discuss with JB an automated process for cleaning up short and dated threads.

Wiz -

I've seen problems with other message boards where a clean-up does more harm than good. Unless you're running into storage or bandwith limtations (either of which would surprise me), there really isn't any need to clean up.

Also, the main point of this thread is the problem of people posting in a blog rather than on the forum. My only recomendation on how to fix it would be to add instructions to the blog post page. I'm really not sure that would work....

I think we can see that a lot of folks here are sort of new to the internet, so you do see forum posts that are better off as blogs too as well as vice versa. In particular I suspect, but don't know, that the blog post with the blackjack question was some kind of drive-by shooting.

Could the poster just be informed his blog post was switched to a forum post? I see no need to delete exactly.

OK, maybe I'm being a control freak, but since I have no power, it's safe [g]

Mr. DJteddybear, I see you have eclipsed Mr. Martin again

Quote: odiousgambit

...some kind of drive-by shooting.

That implies some type of malicious intent. I think that's way off.


I see the real problem being a general misunderstanding of the terms blog and forum, and using them interchangably.

There are many websites that include blogs, with the website readers able to make entries and/or responses. This is different than forums, in that the website has a different purpose, the blog being more-or-less commentary. Many newspapers and other current event type sites are like that in that the have blogs.

By contrast, the entire purpose of forums is discussion of a particular general topic. As such, blogs seem contradictory to the purpose, and therefore easily confused.

For the record, I'm a participant in about 7 various message board forums. This is the only one that features a blog.

Quote: odiousgambit

Mr. DJteddybear, I see you have eclipsed Mr. Martin again.

Yeah, I know. I didn't want to make a big deal of it this time, because I know it's temporary.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

My only recomendation on how to fix it would be to add instructions to the blog post page.

...Or take away the option to reply to blogs.

My recommendation on how to fix it is to limit blogs to people who have a) been a member of the forum for a certain length of time (ie, 1 month) and/or b) been involved in posting responses and/or forum questions a certain number of times (ie, a certain number of posts).

A further idea can be like many other forums do and put a Rules of The Forum post, which is stickied to always be the top post. Only problem with this is that it's obvious that sometimes people don't read those posts.

Quote: konceptum

My recommendation on how to fix it is to limit blogs to people who have a) been a member of the forum for a certain length of time (ie, 1 month) and/or b) been involved in posting responses and/or forum questions a certain number of times (ie, a certain number of posts).

I like both these ideas. I think the blogs are useful for ideas, and commentary, as well as possibly for trip reports. Then any discussion of the blogs could possibly be somehow linked to go straight into the forum.

I agree those are good ideas too. I'll discuss them with JB.

To be honest, even I was confussed about what was appropriate to put in a blog, as evidenced by some of my own entries.

Currently, I have a suspicion that when a new member joins, especially the impatient type, that it is not clear how to ask a question. Then they see the blog link and just use that. Maybe the new members should have a different initial view.

Granted, this bothers me more than it should. I don't consider myself a control freak. If I know my psychology, limited to pop-psychology unfortunately, this is probably my sense of territoriality kicking in [this stuff crowds out the proper posts!]. But I can't help but notice that 2 out of the last 3 new members never bothered to learn to use the forum section.