I promise I’ll post an update the second we get any feedback, but honestly, sometimes it’s just so vague or incomplete that there isn't much to actually report. As soon as I have some real clarity, you'll be the first to know. If you haven't heard anything from my end, it's probably because I'm still sitting here in the dark just like everyone else!
Look, as admins, our role here is really just to flag these kinds of issues to the tech team and the owners, and then we have to leave it in their hands. We’ve done our part by reporting it, but beyond that, we just don't have the authority or the tools to step in and fix it ourselves.
I went ahead and pulled your post into its own thread because I really think every complaint deserves its own dedicated space. It’s just better that way—it keeps things from getting all cluttered up with other topics, and it makes it way easier for the moderators to spot what’s going on. The thread you were originally posting in was actually about a completely different PDF, so this should clear things up! I gave the mods a little nudge, too, so hopefully someone gets back to you real soon.
The decision on a ban isn't just one person acting on their own whim; it’s something all the moderators have to weigh in on together. It can't be the call of just one moderator, or even a small group, unless everyone is actually on the same page and we reach a consensus.
rapidskipper8, I’m going to go ahead and ping the mods so they can weigh in on this, though you really should have already received a direct message explaining exactly why that partial grade was handed out.
As for everyone else, please just stay out of this thread and refrain from spamming.
Actually, you don't get banned until you hit that hundred-point mark. You should really take a look at this, or honestly, just dive into the entire thread because there’s a ton of useful info in there.
I honestly think we can wrap this thread up once and for all thanks to that last point from Bliss. Huge thanks to everyone who jumped in to help clarify things—this topic is officially under control and being moderated.
Rebecca Edwards87 said:Hmm... 🤔 Honestly, I don't see why anyone would say it's off-limits, especially if you just make it clear what you're doing and exactly why you're doing it in the first place. It’s not like we haven't done things this way before—back in the day, this was a perfectly standard way to operate and it worked just fine.
We try our best to avoid over-editing posts whenever possible, mostly because we don't have a version history or a log that shows us exactly what a post looked like before someone jumped in to change it. If we do step in, we generally stick to minor aesthetic tweaks to keep things looking clean—we really only go in and strip out specific sections as a last resort.
Rebecca Edwards87 said:I’m going to stick to my guns on this one and say it again: we absolutely have to be able to tell the difference between actual spam and just... well, different kinds of spam. There really needs to be a way to distinguish between them if we want this to work.
I’m totally on board with this. Honestly, if someone just jumps into a thread to say "I agree," drops an emoji, or hits us with a "same here" without actually adding anything substantial to the conversation, it’s just clutter. It's straight-up spam, plain and simple. I don't care if it's just a single smiley face or a one-word "signed" post—it doesn't add value. Looking at how different communities handle this, some online forums have rules that wipe out those empty posts entirely, while others only target the emoji-only stuff. Some even go as far as handing out sanctions for it. That said, I do think there’s usually a bit more grace extended to the newcomers who haven't quite picked up on the local netiquette yet, but once you know better, you know better!
Rebecca Edwards87 said:Dear moderators—and please, take this in the spirit of respect intended—I really feel like you might be being a bit too heavy-handed in certain areas. There are much more pressing issues to tackle than scrubbing every single little post that consists of nothing but a few emojis or a quick quote followed by a smiley face. Look, if an emoji is purely spam, then sure, wipe it out. But sometimes, those little icons are just someone’s way of saying, "Hey, I totally agree with what was said above," or "I'm backing this quoted point." By deleting them, we actually lose a sense of the conversation's pulse; we can't even see how many people are actually on one side of an argument or supporting a specific viewpoint.
A post that’s just an emoji meaning "I agree" is hard to argue against—it really isn't much more than that. It's the exact same logic as when someone posts "👎" to signal they disagree; it’s just as unconstructive. If someone genuinely agrees with a point being made, they should probably take a moment to briefly explain why or add their own little spin to it, just like those who are pushing back should do.
Maria Hughes25 said:Would any of the site administrators or moderators be able to help me out with something if it's at all possible? I am looking to access the old "member photos" section, specifically an archive from around 2010, because there is one particular photo that means the world to me and I would just love to have it saved as a keepsake...
Who should I reach out to about this? Thanks so much in advance!
You could always just save the image directly, even if you can't repost it on the thread. Do you have a link? Maybe we aren't talking about the same thing.
Jerry Bishop4 said:No luck there. Al maybe they could at least toss in some new ones? 😢
Look, we can definitely roll out some new ones! You’ll just have to hang tight for a little bit while we figure out exactly which ones to pick and what style they should be. We need them to match the format of the ones we already have running, so there's going to be a bit of back-and-forth and negotiating among us to get it right. In the meantime, feel free to keep the momentum going by dropping new suggestions in one of the older threads (I think Velia started a really solid discussion about this once), or just go ahead and start a brand new thread. For now, I'm going to go ahead and close this topic.
northerncyclist2 said:If people are feeling a bit unloved, why hasn't anyone suggested a premium membership for maybe a few dozen bucks a year? You could get things like a 1,000-message inbox capacity, fewer ads, a larger 120x120 avatar, and a slightly bigger signature. Just my 2 cents.
Honestly, that would be such a massive shift in the whole concept of the forum! It’s something that would need to be thought out really carefully, along with a ton of other details, and most importantly, the owner would have to actually want it. This site was originally designed to be totally free for everyone, even though plenty of time has passed since it first launched and it looks completely different now than it did just a few years ago.
northerncyclist2 said:Does the owner actually care about this place, or is it basically just abandonware now? Like, as long as the ad revenue keeps trickling in, they don't bother with any upgrades? 🤔
I mean, I'm sure they care, it's just that there probably isn't enough cash on hand right now for a new server, so they're avoiding anything that might put extra strain on the system. I honestly have no clue how much of a load this would actually cause, but hey, maybe there's some other reason behind it too.
northerncyclist2 said:Thanks for getting back to me! 👍
Honestly, it might actually be worth looking into adding a vBulletin script for liking or thanking posts—something similar to this: http://www.dragonbyte-tech.com/vbeco...=22&do=product
If I recall correctly, there’s already a thread somewhere discussing a "thanks" feature, and people have definitely talked about it quite a bit. At the end of the day, though, it's totally up to the owner, and since they haven't weighed in yet, we're just waiting to see what happens.
The idea was definitely on the table, but we decided to pull the plug on it—at least for the time being. I honestly can't say what the future holds, but as of right now, we aren't going to be rolling that option out across the rest of the Help Center.
I honestly can’t get over how much I love the sound of a traditional folk instrument like the tambura—there’s just something about that bright, rhythmic strumming that hits different! It’s got this soul to it that you just don't find in modern pop music, you know? It reminds me of those old-school bluegrass sessions you might catch out in Appalachia or some deep Nashville porch jam where everyone is just vibing to the strings. It’s such a beautiful, earthy way to tell a story through music. kaže: It’s been two months since I ended up on probation, and honestly, looking back at my profile—which, let's be real, was my very first brush with this kind of trouble—it feels like a total fluke. It wasn't even something I did on purpose, if that makes any sense, but here I am. So, I wanted to ask the folks on Reddit: do I seriously have to sit around and wait another six months before I can get this probation wiped from my record?
You have to wait six months to file the appeal to get her removed, but that’s a totally different thing from trying to wipe out the partial ban. That partial sanction is permanent on its own—there isn't actually any mechanism or right to have it rescinded once it's been applied. As of right now, the moderators aren't interested in lifting the partial ban, so you're basically looking at waiting out those next few months before you can try your luck again.
The moderators have already laid everything out clearly, so I don't really have anything left to add to the conversation—and as for that sandstone, you're probably better off looking for it somewhere else.
Honestly, you guys don't even need to run a poll because I have zero intention of flooding my posts with more emoticons. That said, I really wish we had a much wider selection to choose from right here on the site; it would save us all the hassle of having to bookmark external pages just to hunt down those actually decent smileys. 😁
Jerry Bishop4 said:🙂 Well, you have the right to use twenty emojis. If I had that right, I'd tell everyone else they've had enough at ten! 🙂
It's not quite like that, though. What actually happens is that if I combine multiple posts together and the total emoji count across all of them exceeds 10, then they all just get lumped into that one single combined post.