| This is - finally - a good step into the right direction. |
| Steel Ball Run anime when? |
Zefyris said: xbobx said: You could write a whole 300 characters paragraph for a single anime recommendation. Nobody is stopping you from doing that, only your own lack of interest or commitment. The current state of the Recommendations sub-board of one-lined "watch shinsekai yori its 2 good xD :^)" and generic copypastas given as answer for every repeated "give me romance animu" is the cancer that made many of those who wrote tailored and thoughtful recs leave the board. If you see a dumb repeated thread that isn't worth replying to with anything more than an single anime name. Easy: just ignore it. On the other hand, if you spot a detailed OP seeking for an anime that isn't the cliché stuff, you're more than welcomed to write down a title and explain WHY it would be a good recommendation. That's the proper kind of behavior the board should stimulate and enforce. Anyone looking for a single random title can simply Google it. For anyone interested into improving the A&M Recommendations forum, I'd appreciate support on this suggestion: Sticky thread on A&M Recommendations for charts and genres. Something is wrong lately. I keep agreeing with your posts. Anyway, yes, the way peoples just randomly throw lists in the anime rec threads without even carrying if this fits or not is annoying and discouraging for those having well thought rec being buried by that kind of spams. That new rules is really fine. The only problem I can see is. Is the moderating staff really up to the task to handle the wave of spam we're getting as a reaction. I mean you already didn't seem numerous enough to begin with. If the spam increase in reaction of this, won't that completely make things go out of hands for the moderating staff? Unless it comes down to anime interpretation and thoughts, I believe we're prone to agree on many things about this site. I don't think we'll get a lot of extra spam out of this. The truth about MAL's shitposting is that it is a lazy one. Kind of a funny analysis to be made about something so trivial and silly, but if you compare what is worshiped as "ayy lmao so funny :^) :^)" fun posting here is dust compared to the lengths people go to be "funny" on other communities. If our fellow members are lazy on the "joke" why wouldn't they be when it comes to bypassing the char count? Seeing some people doing this for the lulz on the first days is natural and I assume the staff is expecting it, but when the dust settles, people are likely to realize that staying silent is better than going to the trouble of bypassing the counter. With that said, in theory this should be a helpful hand for mods. At least the way I see it. As someone mentioned in this thread (you, probably?) if/when one uses random characters to increase the length of his/her post, it's a clear violation of the forum rules and therefore subjected to the ban hammer without further need of a discussion or extra work for mods. |
| I don't think the extra spam will last long, but it's currently happening quite a bit. Furthermore, peoples don't seem to be aware of that part of the rule : Kineta said: Finally, please do not fill your posts with nonsense to meet the minimum character limit. This includes writing how you are typing more to meet the limit, swearing at the moderators, or filling your posts with nonsense. If you do, please be prepared for your post to be removed without notice and/or for you to receive a warning or ban for spam. I'm seeing peoples adding that kind of stuff everywhere. If there isn't a way to spread the info more efficiently than this, the mods will not only have to deal with the momentary increase of spam (which is already starting to happen imo) but simply to numerous peoples used to spam who will think it's okay to just add nonsensical stuff at the end and continue just like they were doing before. And when you add this, I'm quite worried that mods are not going to be numerous enough to handle this. And this could also indirectly results in increasing the wait of the users after important reports before a mod can contact them to handle the case. |
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| "Keep writing mouthful useless information or you will get banned" -Sincerely MAL |
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| The only thing this encourages is more verbose shitposting. Thanks MAL. |
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| Way to go MAL Make the spammers fill their posts with more pointless spam |
 Nico- said: Conversations with people pinging/quoting me to argue about some old post I wrote years ago will not be entertained@Comic_Sans oh no y arnt ppl dieing i need more ppl dieing rly gud plot avansement jus liek tokyo ghoul if erbudy dies amirite |
Zefyris said: And when you add this, I'm quite worried that mods are not going to be numerous enough to handle this. And this could also indirectly results in increasing the wait of the users after important reports before a mod can contact them to handle the case. When it fit their interest, they were never light on pressing the BAN key. I myself got banned in 2014 due to 3 warnings on a period of 2~3 months or something for saying "fag", "moron" and "fuck you" in different threads. As long as they apply the same rules of "flaming" and "baiting" and enforce it with the same strength, there shouldn't be a problem. But of course, this will inevitably fall in the realms of "we need more mods" which is our daily dose of DRAMA here as years come and go and Staff never works around this issue. You're correct, though my prior experience earned throughout the years here, tell me all we can do about this is complain to the walls in this thread :| |
| The reason this is retarded is because MAL always seems to fail to realize the motive behind what they are attacking. They're not attacking spam properly by enforcing a letter count. Spammers intentionally spam to a) seek attention b) be as annoying as possible Does enforcing a letter count suddenly stop you from posting? No? Then why would it stop a spammer from posting either? If MAL would just pick their battles better, instead of making things continually more uncomfortable for the normal users, that would be great. You can't fix stupid, so stop trying to. |
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| ok I think it's a fine tool, but as Syrup- says I'm not sure about its use. Still, I would keep it if only for the marginal amount of spam it gets rid of, because honestly, making an articulate 30 character reply is not difficult at all, or 15 characters in most subforums. I have seen this kind of character limit in other sites and it seems it has worked fine so why not. |
Zefyris said: MrHawkeye said: Why waste time? Couldn't you do this anyways, rather than making it so that no message can be posted below 30 characters, let them post and then ban them? You don't deter spamming like this, do you think the usual spammers will stop because of ''be prepared for your post to be removed without notice and/or for you to receive a warning or ban for spam. Well news flash that has always been there, and since I personally don't know any user that has been banned/ and or reprimanded in any way, you can guess how well that worked out. As I see it, which is probably not the case. This is just a rule to ban more people for arbitrary rules that no one really think works. It's nice that something is finally moving but please consult with the community more, and if CD and AD are your most active boards I'd suggest prioritizing their thoughts. except that right now, you ARE warned automatically that your pot is too short for the specific board rules. When you post a lot, you can always make a mistake. But with the current system, you KNOW that your post is too short. So when behind this, you choose to fit the 30char requirement with various symbol and so on, you are voluntarily infringing the rules. That's different. For example, even me, who is usually posting quite long replies, have done some post lower than 30char from time to time. It just happens. But if the system warns me, either I decide to NOT post my reply, or I develop what I have to say. Either way, I'm now sure to not involuntarily break the rule. So this secure peoples who don't want to break the rules, and this immediately shows those who are voluntarily breaking it. It's far easier to warn/ban in those conditions. When you put it that way, it does kinda make sense. Mods, have you had any interaction with the new devs? |
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| It's just a different way to say "don't post one liners". Nothing wrong with this, as posts less than 30 characters hardly add anything to the discussion. |
 "Your sight, my delight. Will you marry me?" |
jal90 said: In my experience people will just tack on a tag to the end of the post just to get the post to let them say what they want. I've had to do it several times even though there is really no reason to expand on what I said. Sometimes you fall just short of the character enforcement and it's just annoying having to think of a way to get around it. So with what I said in mind, it's not really a service to users to have to go through that trouble when all it does is make spammers post a little bit more.I have seen this kind of character limit in other sites and it seems it has worked fine so why not. eg lol okay [30 characters] or even something sneaky like hahawhitetextwhitetextwhitetextwhitetextwhitetext Oh sure, there will be moderation for this kind of thing. But why make it a chore in the first place? This only encourages shitposting more as people will have to think up some creative way to insert filler into their posts more. More moderation will be required instead of just doing the most efficient moderation possible: ignoring the small stuff. |
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| Quick edit really helpfull.. thanks.. :D |
 read from right to left |
| What u mean by 30 characters ? Nice quick Edit option. |
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| Personally I applaud this decision, because for too long now people have been responding to threads with one liners that contribute nothing to discussion. We have threads that are becoming several pages long in only a few hours and they're nothing more than a list of people stating their opinion on the topic in question or making a dumb joke, and then leaving the thread for good. These people contribute less than nothing to the forum: in fact they make it worse. They make it more difficult to read through topics (because most of the posts are redundant) and inhibit proper discussion before it can even begin. The entire purpose of having a forum is lost. Sure, there will be times when I'll be annoyed about this rule. There are some occasions where a few words are more effective than a lot of words, but I think most people here are overestimating just how often that occurs. Simply stating your opinion is almost never enough, and no-one who bothers to pose a question on a forum is interested in a yes or no answer. Frankly, I think this requirement is too lenient, if anything. I do not think it's unreasonable to expect people to write at least a complete paragraph of text when responding to a thread: this isn't twitter. |
| Losing an Argument online? Simply post a webpage full of links, and refuse to continue until your opponents have read every last one of them! WORKS EVERY TIME! "I was debating with someone who believed in climate change, when he linked me to a graph showing evidence to that effect. So I sent him a 10k word essay on the origins of Conservatism, and escaped with my dignity intact." "THANK YOU VERBOSE WEBPAGES OF QUESTIONABLE RELEVANCE!" |
| I'm fine with this. I for one like to elaborate my responses to "serious" threads, so 30 characters are a nice limit to filter some spam posts. I can see that bad side of it was well, because like some of the others mentioned, there are times when one or two words are enough, but I guess it's a small price to pay. And quick editing is without a doubt a great idea :) |
RazielZeroDec 25, 2015 5:03 PM
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NTAD said: Kyuss said: No.See my point? Hypocrite. |
| Now you're wondering if there's white text in any of my other posts. Over there, I'm everywhere. I know that. |
| Please adjust Recommendation forums limit. There are several shows with short titles. Also, allow quote trains in Rec forums because it is logical to have them. |
| beautiful this is a dream come true merry christmas |
Mayuka said: Please adjust Recommendation forums limit. There are several shows with short titles. Is this supposed to be a joke? Why is anyone providing people with recommendations, without any explanation for why they are relevant to the users requests, what they are actually about, or any information about them whatsoever other than their title? |
AnnoKanoDec 25, 2015 5:54 PM
| Losing an Argument online? Simply post a webpage full of links, and refuse to continue until your opponents have read every last one of them! WORKS EVERY TIME! "I was debating with someone who believed in climate change, when he linked me to a graph showing evidence to that effect. So I sent him a 10k word essay on the origins of Conservatism, and escaped with my dignity intact." "THANK YOU VERBOSE WEBPAGES OF QUESTIONABLE RELEVANCE!" |
| Oh my gosh, sounds like they really want to make "MAL better", just awful m8s. P.S: Merry Christmas to Everyone! |
| Today they say you're crazy, tomorrow they will say you're a genious. |
AnnoKano said: There's not much to provide when the asker gives a specific requirement.Mayuka said: Please adjust Recommendation forums limit. There are several shows with short titles. Is this supposed to be a joke? Why is anyone providing people with recommendations, without any explanation for why they are relevant to the users requests, what they are actually about, or any information about them whatsoever other than their title? "Give me an Anime with lots of fanservice" User: Anime Title There's not much to add or explain................. |
| I personally like these changes. Thank you for continued improvements on MAL! |
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| 30 is not enough. Change it to 300 |
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| I have an idea! Why not leave MAL if you can't post 30 characters. Is it really that big of a deal. This isn't a texting forum, exspress yourselves. Honestly it does make the site worse I mean people are just typing like letters instead of text I mean why not just insert some extra words and be more descriptive. I'm for it, and I hope it helps the MAL staff. And OMG MAL WHY YOU DO DIS! I want a refund. #30charsuckz Jicetus said: Paul said: For the quick edit, I know it's extremely, extremely minor but I don't like how it shows "Modified by UserName, X minutes ago" instantly after using it unlike regular edit which it doesn't show if you do it within like 3 minutes or something. I don't want people to know I'm editing my post! I totally agree with this, I like doing my little secret ninja edits without anyone ever knowing about it. I'll miss being a ninja. |
MiraniaDec 25, 2015 6:55 PM
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Coolspot said: I have an idea! Why not leave MAL if you can't post 30 characters. Is it really that big of a deal. This isn't a texting forum, exspress yourselves. I am expressing myself. |
| Now you're wondering if there's white text in any of my other posts. Over there, I'm everywhere. I know that. |
Kineta said: I believe you're going to have a difficult time enforcing this and creating more work for yourselves in the long run. I've already seen people doing this either out of defiance or not reading this post. While that may be seemingly remedied with warnings and bans it's going to take time and many reports to do so. The community and its users have grown accustom to no restrictions on their posting which I support as limiting it not only infringes on their freedom of expression, but their enjoyment of the site.Finally, please do not fill your posts with nonsense to meet the minimum character limit. This includes writing how you are typing more to meet the limit, swearing at the moderators, or filling your posts with nonsense. If you do, please be prepared for your post to be removed without notice and/or for you to receive a warning or ban for spam. While I'm not advocating spam in its acute form I think your defining it as less than 30 characters and demanding equal or more from the community as a way to prevent it is flawed. While the 30 character isn't difficult to meet that doesn't secure better discussion it only supports more characters posted. What if users resort to chatting more often in order to meet this restriction? It's 30 characters, but it might not necessarily encourage discussion. If you plan to be serious about this issue in the way you've chose to do things you'll be required to define discussion eventually and need to uphold that definition or exercise personal opinion. I think this character limit will result in less discussion more so than improved discussion. Those who have grown accustom to posting less or have always been that way will find ways around it or leave. While there's seemingly no problem with that it will affect activity. Depending on how large of a group of users decide to leave the resulting discussion will dwindle. While it may be seen as better it'll also be fewer in number. I understand what you're aiming to do, you're trying to shape the discussion with rules in a positive way or one you envision, but I doubt that is going to happen considering the circumstances. I mean if you want to risk activity for this go ahead, but I see it as unnecessary and oppressive of discussion more than anything. |
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| This change nothing. Shit poster gonna shit posting. |
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Astros said: I believe you're going to have a difficult time enforcing this and creating more work for yourselves in the long run. I've already seen people doing this either out of defiance or not reading this post. While that may be seemingly remedied with warnings and bans it's going to take time and many reports to do so. The community and its users have grown accustom to no restrictions on their posting which I support as limiting it not only infringes on their freedom of expression, but their enjoyment of the site. While I'm not advocating spam in its acute form I think your defining it as less than 30 characters and demanding equal or more from the community as a way to prevent it is flawed. While the 30 character isn't difficult to meet that doesn't secure better discussion it only supports more characters posted. What if users resort to chatting more often in order to meet this restriction? It's 30 characters, but it might not necessarily encourage discussion. If you plan to be serious about this issue in the way you've chose to do things you'll be required to define discussion eventually and need to uphold that definition or exercise personal opinion. I think this character limit will result in less discussion more so than improved discussion. Those who have grown accustom to posting less or have always been that way will find ways around it or leave. While there's seemingly no problem with that it will affect activity. Depending on how large of a group of users decide to leave the resulting discussion will dwindle. While it may be seen as better it'll also be fewer in number. I understand what you're aiming to do, you're trying to shape the discussion with rules in a positive way or one you envision, but I doubt that is going to happen considering the circumstances. I mean if you want to risk activity for this go ahead, but I see it as unnecessary and oppressive of discussion more than anything. ^All of this, except that it won't result in people leaving so much as it will force you to ban users for increasingly trivial and arbitrary reasons which will just make you look like petty tyrants. |
| Now you're wondering if there's white text in any of my other posts. Over there, I'm everywhere. I know that. |
Caelidesu said: When I say leave I don't mean the entirety of the site just the discussion boards. A lot of people use MAL merely for its listing system which is fine, but those who like the discussion boards will likely find other means to talk among themselves such as Skype, IRC, and other non limiting methods.^All of this, except that it won't result in people leaving so much as it will force you to ban users for increasingly trivial and arbitrary reasons which will just make you look like petty tyrants. |
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Astros said: Caelidesu said: When I say leave I don't mean the entirety of the site just the discussion boards. A lot of people use MAL merely for its listing system which is fine, but those who like the discussion boards will likely find other means to talk among themselves such as Skype, IRC, and other non limiting methods.^All of this, except that it won't result in people leaving so much as it will force you to ban users for increasingly trivial and arbitrary reasons which will just make you look like petty tyrants. The point I was making is that the 30-character limit is so unbelievably easy to circumnavigate that people will be encouraged all the more to post one-word responses out of spite. Ergo, the mods will either have to ignore anyone that gets past that limit, or they'll have to start banning people left right and centre in order to enforce their arbitrary principle. |
| Now you're wondering if there's white text in any of my other posts. Over there, I'm everywhere. I know that. |
| I don't understand what the point of this is... >it prevents spam it really doesn't. All a spammer has to do is use blank characters or even just regular characters to meet the minimum character requirement. What it does do is make spamming marginally harder, but there are plenty of ways to make spamming marginally harder to do that also have not been implemented because of the effectiveness against spam to annoyingness for users ratio being too small. Is there a better reason for this being implemented other than some person trying to be helpful thinking this up without considering the consequences it might have on the users? Sure it prevents just a reaction image being posted, but it doesn't prevent a reaction image plus 30 random characters being posted. Sure the mods could delete the reaction image plus 30 random characters, but they could do that before too. It seems like a lot of the users (in CD at least) weren't one hundred percent clear with the policy against single word, not thought out, or simple reaction image responses so maybe instead of implementing this giant policy that changes the way all of the boards work the mods should have tried cracking down on the users that were spamming or simply making the rules against spam more clear, perhaps by making a new sticky specifying EXACTLY what spam would not be tolerated on each board. I agree with temmie above to an extent, that this is a product of an understaffed team of mods, or simply laziness. I would gladly offer to be a moderator to prove my point, but unfortunately I don't meet all of the requirements. Just my 0.02, but what do I know. |
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Caelidesu said: I see, I agree that might happen, but my main point was it's more detrimental to discussion than helpful which seems to coincide with your point as well. The point I was making is that the 30-character limit is so unbelievably easy to circumnavigate that people will be encouraged all the more to post one-word responses out of spite. Ergo, the mods will either have to ignore anyone that gets past that limit, or they'll have to start banning people left right and centre in order to enforce their arbitrary principle. Ravioli_Ravioli said: A good point. It only seemingly prevents spam that is under 30 characters.I don't understand what the point of this is... >it prevents spam it really doesn't. |
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Astros said: Ravioli_Ravioli said: A good point. It only seemingly prevents spam that is under 30 characters.I don't understand what the point of this is... >it prevents spam it really doesn't. mfw -> :| |
| Now you're wondering if there's white text in any of my other posts. Over there, I'm everywhere. I know that. |
Caelidesu said: mfw -> :| Astros said: =P Indeed.It only seemingly prevents spam that is under 30 characters. |
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| Now that spammers can read this since changes are documented publicly, MAL staff just created another rabbit hole for legit users to suffer through while spammers increase effectiveness of MAL security holes. MAL staff dun fckued up again. |
OppaiSugoiDec 25, 2015 8:41 PM
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KamSung said: why not to something OVER 9000!!30 is not enough. Change it to 300 |
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NTAD said: FlameWingman21 said: I can still spam alright even with this minimum count. I can still post reaction image/video. I just need to add meaningless words in it. NTAD said: The ones who do it purposely are the ones who will suffer the consequences. Good luck with that then. I seriously just strolled a little and had found many posted with white font color random words. Some even openly posted shits making the forum looks uglier than before. I seriously don't believe this is an effective move at all. It won't make this place any less cancerous, but it makes life (little bit) harder for those who don't mean to spam but are in a situation where a simple one or few words reply is enough. NTAD said: FlameWingman21 said: As Kineta said earlier, they (one-word replies) weren't permitted. Maybe at some point before I joined they were, but right now they aren't.Instead, many non-spam short reply that can be accepted depending on the situation such as: "Thanks.", "Please explain.", "Yes/Yeah/No/Nope", "No problem.", "Sure.", "Maybe", "Fuck off!"; are not permitted anymore unless we add more unnecessary and unneeded words. Some of you may or may not have noticed, and I do this a lot in the news board, but a lot of one-word posts and image only posts get deleted without notice because they are subject to the spam rule. This feature is going to help alleviate some of that. They aren't allowed? Swear I ever seen mods posting short replies like that. Can't believe now we need extra effort just to say thanks or please explain. Well, I know it's easy, but still, extra effort for those who don't mean to spam. |
| This doesn't change anything though. You can just use blank spacers to fill up the remaining out of 30 characters. Besides, there are plenty of situations I can express my thoughts in less than those amounts of characters, which gets problematic in the long run. I feel this is an unnecessary move. |
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Martin said: Exactly.Besides, there are plenty of situations I can express my thoughts in less than those amounts of characters, which gets problematic in the long run. Someone asked me a question like "was it this or that?" on a CD thread. My answer was "both". How can you fill that to 30 characters? :/ |
| There is nothing wrong with just posting an anime title on the recommendations board. If there is a show that clearly fits the request then just typing the title of that show should be fine. I could also write a synopsis and my own view on the anime. But that doesn't always add extra value either since OP could also just go to the anime page on MAL to look it up himself. Of course in some situations writing more can add plenty of value. But a lot of the time just the title is fine. Now if I want to recommend someone 'K-On' I'll be forced to type something like 'The anime K-On will probably fit your request.' Which isn't much work but it's stupid. |
galimx said: Pretty much. This is an escape from essays and homework for a lot of people.Well, you explain why you think both and compare them and add some other info or arguments. Maybe you ask a question back or set some arguments so the discussion can continue or re-evaluate. I mean, this is how good forums work. But this probably wont work on MAL, because the users are mostly teens and honestly this is an anime forum, people wont even try, I guess. |
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galimx said: Well, the question was:Maybe a little bit of actual discussion will now be here on MAL. Not just one liners, shitposting, baiting and trolling. Its the right direction. I would set the minimum character counts even higher.. Something like 60+ If this improves the forums for only a little, then Im happy. But im not expecting too much. This forum is already doomed, so whatever. Mayuka said: Exactly. Someone asked me a question like "was it this or that?" on a CD thread. My answer was "both". How can you fill that to 30 characters? :/ Well, you explain why you think both and compare them and add some other info or arguments. Maybe you ask a question back or set some arguments so the discussion can continue or re-evaluate. I mean, this is how good forums work. But this probably wont work on MAL, because the users are mostly teens and honestly this is an anime forum, people wont even try, I guess. Do you make Christmas cards IRL or for people online? And I make both. Not much to explain there. |
galimx said: If you don't want to ask about the other person and just want to answer the question it would become "Yes, I make both, for people online and IRL."Mayuka said: Well, the question was: Do you make Christmas cards IRL or for people online? And I make both. Not much to explain there. I mean 30 characters with blank spaces isnt that much anyway. If you write: "Yes, I make both, for people online and IRL. What about you? Why asking?" or something like that... This is more than 50 characters.. Its not that hard, but I guess people are too much used to writing only one word or shitposting on this site. Which doesn't really have added value over saying "both." |
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