[mas90guru]

Please consider policing the forums a little more closely.

The 8300 section is turning into what can only be politely labelled a zoo.

Every other day there's a post asking "when is so an so carrier getting an 8300".

- Create one such message as a sticky and ban further creation of new messages (half of which will be created with misleading titles like "8300 on Cingular!!" -- and then the message goes on to ask "will this ever be on Cingular")

I think letting messages like this degrade into something out of the wild wild west turns the site into a far less professional resource.


I'm all for keeping things uncensored -- but they need to be orderly. I know I just really groan every time I look in the forum and see so much that is misleading, off-topic, repetitive, etc.

You're going to start losing contributors if this slides further.

My .02

[MrKyoo]

I agree totally, but on one hand do you xxx8220;over Moderatexxx8221; the forums as one user noted too or on the other hand let the forums become chaotic with multiple same topic/misleading threads?

[snowskier79]

I agree as well however I think it is understood that these are by far the most respected and best resource for information regarding BBs. Many public blogs, tech sites consistently refer to these forums regarding new topics, support, etc.

However with that reputation provides many various types of posters. Unless the mods lock down posts consistently these will not become an open forum for discussion regardless of relevance, subject matter of each post. I do share your frustration mas90guru as daily when I am reviewing these threads many topics are a)not authentic (bad information regarding releases, speculation, etc) or b)repetitive from prior post. I point the OP(s) to Search and/or other threads contain similar topics and/or subject matter.

When a forum becomes as successful as the BBForums I think it is the mods responsibility to keep each thread as open as possible however I also believe it is each users responsibility (whether formally stated or not) to help the mods and OP to other posts containing relevant data. The mods are to assist with spam, advertising messages, and problematic (harassment, fighting, or rude) posts. Outside of that it is a public open forum to encourage discussion etc. amongst this community of users.

As originally stated I share your frustration however to continue to have this best in class forum I do not believe it's current operational state can be changed. Collectively we are community helping one another out.

Cheers! Have a safe and enjoyable weekend.

[John Clark]

As a "newbie mod" I've found that it's a tough balance of keeping the forum neat and clean but without becoming a "Joseph Stalin" (I have on occasion been referred to as both.) We do try to keep most threads open unless there is a real good reason to close them. I share your thoughts and appreciate you drawing attention to it. Hopefully, as Snowskier stated, other members will read this and remember to try not to make posts like those you are referring to, and if a thread does get closed, not to be personally offended.

[NJBlackBerry]

I closed a duplicate (actually far more prevalent than that) and got a PM flaming me. I agree - the 8300 board is a wreck. And with every new model (and new subforum) it will become a wreck with some newer members posting a question (or statement) that was posted 10 minutes earlier. Very tough to police (Stalin - I've been called much worse).

It is a very tough balancing act...

[mas90guru]

I hear a lot of "I'm getting flames/nasty PM/accused of being a censor when I take action to close a thread" responses to my initial questions.

I guess it makes me wonder --- Who exactly is running the forums?

Is it the people who drop by and never exceed 10 quality posts? (Take a look because my sense that's where your biggest issues arise).

These same people leave just as quickly. If you allow them to over-run and lessen the quality of the forum they're going to cause some of the higher quality members to visit less often.

1. You can and should lock threads that ask repetitive questions and point them in the direction of the proper thread.

2. Before a product is released, create one sticky message to handle that. Do we really need 10 threads a day speculating on what _____ is going to charge for the 8300? It is annoying when the thread title is highly misleading as well.

2. Message title needs to be corrected and on-topic to what is being discussed.

Everyone here is familiar with Howardforums. And as much as you may or may not agree with how that runs -- you have to admire the relative smoothness given the volume of traffic.

I'm not talking about censoring -- I'm talking basic forum housekeeping. There's always going to be a certain element that grumbles. That's just part of running a well managed forum.

my .02

[NJBlackBerry]

Thank you for your opinion. I do notice that on Howard Forums RIM section, they get around 25 posts a day. That is a significant difference from here.

[mas90guru]

As I type HOFO has 5,088 users online.

BBF has about 880.

[NJBlackBerry]

And Hofo has several hundred different forums. This is dedicated to just BlackBerrys. There really isn't much of a comparison. They are many times larger, with hundreds of mods, covering dozens of forums.

If you don't like the way things are run here, it is always your right to find another forum. Right?

[John Clark]

When I get home from my regular job, have dinner, talk to my wife, play with my kids and then finally make it to the computer I hit the link for "Today's Posts." When I click that there are literally anywhere from 250 to 500 new or updated threads from the day. Each thread can contain many new posts from that day. If each thread has, say, only two new posts in it that's upwards of 1000 posts to read. Now, what if I miss a day? How many hours should each of us put in? This is a busy forum and we try to keep it fairly clean. I delete/close/move/merge many posts/threads each day as do each of the mods.

I think, overall, this forum runs quite well. There is always room for improvement and *constructive* criticism is always welcome. If you see a thread/post that you have an issue with there is always the "report bad post" button.

[mas90guru]

Originally Posted by NJBlackBerry

And Hofo has several hundred different forums. This is dedicated to just BlackBerrys. There really isn't much of a comparison. They are many times larger, with hundreds of mods, covering dozens of forums.

If you don't like the way things are run here, it is always your right to find another forum. Right?

Title of the forum is suggestions. Take it fwiw.

[snowskier79]

Originally Posted by mas90guru

Title of the forum is suggestions. Take it fwiw.

. . . and a suggestion it is. Thanks for the post and content.

[potthoff]

I read these forums every day. New users to the site always reintroduce issues that have already been discussed without searching first. I don't expect the site moderators to read and delete every post where someone asks why Gmail sent messages are sent to their inbox, or where can I get cool themes (some of the more common ones). Honestly I just skip those and focus on the new issues.

I'm not a moderator, but from what I hear, the moderators for this site have day jobs and do this out of their interest for and love of Blackberry.

Lisa (one who fast forwards through repetitive tv commercials and redundant internet posts)