Should reports meet minimum Posting Guidelines?

[Orientalovers]

Jackson,
Instead of spending more efforts and precious time to editing those 'outformat' and 'chatroom' style postings, why not just return it to those members via private message and ask them to follow the posting guidelines, otherwise their posting will not posted in the forum. If they really want to post their posting, they have to follow our rules. This will definitely save a lot of time.

One of my suggestions is that since you have selected whom to be a senior members for the forum. Could it possible to 'appoint' senior members to incharge of each forum. Senior members will reviewing each posting in their area/region incharge, then let admin to confirm for posting. Let us help to reduce your work load?

[IntotheMuck]

It is great that there is a standard set so that reading new posts are at least readable. Thanks

[Redneck3565]

i wish there was as much focus on arranging the posts in a better geographic order, as there is about them being grammatically correct, relevant, etc. then again i am only a resident of ca, which has the most posts in it, in the most areas, rep001tered over thousands of miles, etc. is jackson sensitive at all to the geogrphic relevance of our mongering??

[Inlander]

Hi Mr. Jackson,

I for one appreciate the guidelines you have in place.

When everyone follows the rules, it makes for a quick and enjoyable reading experience.

I don't understand why you do this free of charge, but a big 'Thank You' for doing it. I will do my best to comply with all guidelines to make your job as easy as possible.

Thanks again for the site,

Inlander

[Warpig2000]

Quarentine.

I like that word Havanaman. Thanks for improving on the idea.

# of days a message could stay in quarentine before deletion is of course at Jacksons discression assuming he adopts the idea. I think feedback like this can only improve the suggestion... keep it coming.

[Randy Farang]

Jackson,

Once again, sincere thanks for all you do for us in both time and effort and in coin of the realm. Without your efforts we would all live in a far unkinder place.

Enjoy your trip back to BA and recharge your batteries by soaking your muscle in something warm and friendly.

Randy

[Organicgrowth]

Jackson,

Sorry to hear you’ve not tasted pussy in three weeks (that’s what I call discipline!).

I now fully understand the little blue messages (from Admin) which appear at the foot of some reports.

Listen, your time is valuable and I for one REALLY appreciate the service you host and indeed pay for, so I should like to suggest a possible solution.

I like Warpig2000’s idea. There is a real chance of building a vast reserve of clutter, for a rolling 45 days at a time, so I should recommend 14 days. In general people will want to see their posts “active” online (and not want to risk deletion), so they will be more than willing to edit them.

Along with the “quarantined” report, and highlighted in BIG BOLD RED an email or PM may be sent to the reporter suggesting that they use a simple text editor, and repost or risk deletion. This way your work might get cut in half, saving your editing time.

Just a thought.

Regards, Havanaman

PS. Say hola to Madahos for me!

[Warpig2000]

Jackson:

I think I might have a solution for your editing problem (might work, might not).

Rather than wasting your limited time editting posts, move the offending messages in a forum of their own, each with an identifier for the forum it initially was posted on. Posts on the 'illegible messages' forum would stay on for a maximum of 45 days and be deleted if they weren't fixed in that time.

It would be up to the poster to edit his post and make it presentable to you before it gets put back on the board it was intended for.

Hypothetically there could be an Illegible Messages- Regular Member and an Illegible Messages-Senior Member forum as well, if needed messages from Senior Members that continue to violate posting guidlines would be put in the later (work, I know). These Forums could be put in the same section as the Banned User Hall of Shame- I think that would send a message to users about your concern for grammer.

Ideally moving a post to either of these messages would trigger an automessage script to the author of the 'illegible' post, saving you the need to message them or posting to the original forum.

[Admin]

FYI, here's a good example of the kind of "report" that I have to fix several times every day:

hey gpiper my bad is true the girl at remington charge 2000 pesos
wish is now about $40 us dollars....
but the dollars went up to 50 pesos for 1 us dollars about 2 month ago ....and 2 month ago when the dollars was 16 pesos
for 1 dollars they was still charging 1500 to 2000 pesos whis was about 80 to 100 dollars you understand what i'm saying
but now the situation is way better for us ...we get more for our money....but i bet you by the summer those girl gonna star charging ways more than that you will see....

Here's what it looks like after I edited it, which is what you see in the Forum:

Hey Gpiper,

My bad. It is true that the girls at Remington charge 2000 pesos, which is now about $40 USD. When the rate was 16 pesos per dollar, they were still charging 1500 to 2000 pesos, which was about 80 to 100 dollars. Do you understand what I'm saying?

But now the situation is way better for us. We get more for our money, but I'll bet you that by the summer those girls are going to start charging way more than that, you'll see.

Here's a couple more examples from today's queue:

hiii jsf and other member of the forum just back from dubai i was in dxb 26 27 28 and am really very thanksfull to jsf he gave me the no, of firoza i called her and ask her to send some one in my hotel she send christina but i wait for her 2 houres any way i was in crown plaza and i think this hotel is very girlfriendly no probs there she directly knock my door good bbbj and play she is really good but one problem is there she did not speak english next day i was bit busy with my work on 28 again called firoza to send some one in my hotel she sad i will send goola today she knock the door at 10 p.m. and i will tell you she is really amizing totly g/f expiriance very goooood bbbbj very goood on bad on talk she make me feeel so good n happy she is really very friendly and she speak o.k. english to i really had very goood time with her but this my short trip to dubai so can not enjoy more may be next time i do and jsf next time i wanna meet you to you are really a very nice guy buddy u help me allot tell me one thing why i can't login to wsg in dxb i went to cyber cafe try to logon but i can't why like that jsf any way thanks for everything mat if you need anything from bombay ask me anytime i will do my best to you buddy o.k. everybody take care bye bye see you all ppl soon i will keep in touch bye

And also:

hey all, i need some help. i have gone to ecuador for the last 3 weeks and have been going to salinas. i have a gf there. i love the area and the beach is nice. but i need to know where the action is. my gf said that there is a place where men go in the area. (of course i did not ask her where) i have gone 3 times to salinas in the last month. i had found imperium and gatos on a previous trip to guyaquil, but i need to figure out how to get there. it is 1 and a half hours from salinas to guyaquil. please help, my gf is great, but she is normal, and thinks i am sex crazed as it is. i am going back in two weeks.

I guess I just don't understand why people have to write like children, or even worse, why they so carelessly cause me to spend my time editing their reports because they're just too f***ing lazy to write like an adult. I mean, you would think that I, the guy who pays the server bill every month and otherwise provides this FREE service, would be the LAST person that anyone who uses this FREE service would want to create extra work for.

Sorry, I just had to get that off my chest. This is what happens when you go for an abnormally long three weeks without any pussy. It's a good thing I'll be back in BA in a couple of days.

Anyway, this is why the Forum has Posting Guidelines.

Jackson

[Stravinsky]

Jackson,

I fully support the posting guidelines as they are written and believe that they should be diligently applied. My thanks to you for the time and the effort that you invest in this process. As you have pointed out, without your diligence on our behalf, the WSG would soon become a wasteland.

However, I do have a bone to pick with you regarding the posting guidelines in so far as they relate to Senior Memership Status and the relation between the two.

It seems that after a member has posted for several months, and demonstrated their willingness and abilitiy to adhere to the posting guidelines, then Senior status should be pretty much automatic. However, there are pages and pages of members who have requested Senior status over the last 2 months, including this humble correspondent, who seem to be languishing in a sort of "Posting Guideline Purguratory".

I agree with Otter Trax, and I disagree with your assertion that posts can be made in a timely fashion every 24 to 48 hours. If you're talking about a board that hasn't been posted to in weeks, or even months, that may be true. On an active board, however, such as Moscow or Buenos Aires, a lot can happen in 24 hours. Entire conversations can be initiated, discussed, bantered about and concluded within that time frame. It tends to make the contributions of regular members superfluous.

I know you're busy, but... regular members who have adhered to the posting guidelines should be upgraded in a timely manner and allowed to participate freely in the process. You can always rein them in later on, if necessary.

IMHO

Stravinsky

I agree that I have been behind in making the Senior Member upgrades. The problem is that I'm here in the USA right now using a dial up connection, and it's just too slow to allow me to review reports in rapid succession. When I retun to BA in a few days, I will have my cable connection again, and making the Senior Membership upgrades will be my first priority.

Thanks,

Jackson

[Doctor_Skank]

I am of the opinion that maintaining posting guidelines is essential to keeping the forum "legible"... it would be a shame if it would devolve into a chatroom.

I also think that some of the ideas posted below regarding an attachment requirement in the photo gallery sections are worthy of consideration. A few of the photo galleries in particular are frustratingly cluttered with useless posts.

I agree with everyone about the clutter in the Photo Gallerys, but I'm going to tackle one problem at a time.

Thanks,

Jackson

[Anonymouse]

I for one tend to agree with Trahman regarding the guidlines in the forum. I would also like to point out that Its Jackson's money, time and effort that goes into making this such a useful forum. Its therefore his football and he gets to make the rules.
With that said perhaps a gallery discusion topic and restricting photo galleries to requiring an attachment would work to reduce the continued "chatter" that Jackson has already tried to control in various places

[Orientalovers]

I always, definitely support the present posting guideline preferences for this forum. As a regular member, I always like to stay at the forum and enjoy reading fellow members field report. Also, sometime I do post my field reports for other. The activating private message indeed make me feel very comfortable and convenient to discuss some related topics and events with fellow members directly.

Recently I found out that the forum has been missed use by members, especially new members. They try to ask repeating questions that had been posted regularly and lack of enthusiasm to use forum search services. Also, I hope English should be used in this forum. If other languages have to be use in between the sentences, at least a English translation word to be follow. That's why I always try my best to post my forum in English, although English is my second language.

In fact, the effort contributing by Jackson is very much appreciated. Thanks, Jackson. Keep it up.

As a regular member, my posting always delay for posting in the forum. Most of the time, my report/discussion/information will off topic or outdated. I understand that it is a necessary deterrent to serial spammers. Can we have a better idea to post our forum more on time and advance? I am puzzling about this!

Thanks for all of you try hard to keep this forum with me - FIRST CHOICE to log on.

Best regards from Beijing,

Octopussy

Hi,

I generally review and approve reports from Regular Members every 24 hours, so I'm somewhat mystified by comments that the delay of less than 24 hours is somehow throwing off the flow of the conversation.

Of course, there is the mistaken belief by some Members that the Forum is a chat room, which it isn't. To set the record straight, the Forum is an archive of Travel Reports, not a chat room.

Thanks,

Jackson

[TrashMan]

I have read most of the comments here regarding posting guidelines preferences and it's obvious that a rather clear majority of the poll takers and responders are on the same page with respect to the current guidelines being just fine. Furthermore, I do see Jackson spending a lot of time editing posts that must have been pretty bad. As he says, he takes into account those whose posts indicate that English may not be a native language and in fact refrains from adding his edited line on those. What about some of these total morons that keep doing it over and over and over again ad nauseum? At what point should they be prohibited from posting unless they can adhere to basic guidelines? Just curious on your thoughts on this. I know that posters are banned for spamming and other offenses that are clearly intentional, but this falls into a gray area I think.

[One Man]

I support the current guidelines, although some allowance should be made for those from other countries whose english is not up to par.