average post length

sabrewolf · February 2, 2003, 09:07

hey there

i've noticed that a lot of threads in the apolyton/community forum have an average post-length of 1-2 lines, while the average civ3-strategy forum post length i several times as long.

is it just spamming? wanting to get that "emperor" or "deity" title?

is there any chance some administrator could run a batch which calculates the average post length of each user? a basic query is dead simple, but ideally everything between the {quote]-tags would be removed.

any chance of something like this, does this already exist or doesn't anybody care about it?

Mercator · February 2, 2003, 09:32

I think the admins are quite aware of the fact that OT'ers occasionally wander off to here to increase their postcount. But that doesn't necessarily mean they only post nonsense.

Discussing the site's features and bugs isn't exactly the material to have lengthy and deep discussions about. Just answering "Yes" or "Mozilla", say, could be informative enough for MarkG to locate a bug or so.

And of course, poly/community is a topic anyone can have his say about, while for posting in the games forums you'd usually have to know something about a game first.

If anything, the demo game forums are probably a spawning ground for "spammers", but that doesn't necessarily make it all useless garbage.

Anyway, enough of the pseudo-philosophical ****... Measuring per-user, or per-forum and per-thread post length average would be nice to see.

sabrewolf · February 2, 2003, 09:38

ok, i didn't mean the site features, etc.

i was more talking about those senceless threads which get closed (e.g. 2 from zylka: http://apolyton.net/forums/showthrea...threadid=75359 (33 posts before thread closed), http://apolyton.net/forums/showthrea...threadid=75469 (31 posts before thread closed)) and everybody seems to have to post a comment in there.

i call it spamming...

but anyway, thanks for supporting my request for some stats

Rasbelin · February 2, 2003, 09:43

Well, those 2 threads by Zylka are quite clear spam and they don't have any real conversational value.

Conclusion...

The contents matter, not the length.

sabrewolf · February 2, 2003, 09:48

rasbelin,
i'm not trying to say that 10line posts are better than 2line posts.
neither am i asking for banning/punishing people with low avg. lengths.
it's just a matter of interest

the "spamming" in those 2 threads (and a lot of others) just triggered the idea and gives me a good argument

Robert Plomp · February 2, 2003, 11:15

I agree.

Eli · February 2, 2003, 11:36

I dissagree.

DrSpike · February 2, 2003, 11:45

This forum is as integral part of the site, and posts should count here as well as on-topic. It is natural for posts generally to be shorter in this forum I would say.......that should not be a measure of their quality or use to the community.

FrustratedPoet · February 2, 2003, 13:08

And this is the prime feeding ground for the spam sharks.

Will you make them homeless?

DrSpike · February 2, 2003, 13:26

Nah they always have the chance to join a democracy game.

Tbh I post here a fair bit, and I wouldn't mind not counting the community posts, or the policing of the forum being stricter. But I don't really think it is that much of an issue. Sure Apolyton is a gaming site........but what links everyone together no matter what brand of civ they play is the community......so IMO the forum plays a useful role in the overall success of the site, no matter what the length of the posts here.

FrustratedPoet · February 2, 2003, 13:30

Quote:

Originally posted by DrSpike
Sure Apolyton is a gaming site........but what links everyone together no matter what brand of civ they play is the community......so the forum plays a useful role in the overall success of the site

/me stands up, places his hand on his heart and sings the Apolyton National Anthem

Oh Canada, Oh Canada ....

DrSpike · February 2, 2003, 13:34

No wonder you're a frustrated poet.

Bugs ****ing Bunny · February 2, 2003, 13:47

Quote:

Originally posted by sabrewolf
hey there

i've noticed that a lot of threads in the apolyton/community forum have an average post-length of 1-2 lines, while the average civ3-strategy forum post length i several times as long.

Think about it. It takes 6 words to ask "Why was my thread closed, *****?". Try explaining a Civ 3 strategy so concisely.

loinburger · February 2, 2003, 14:13

Pretty much any forum can be used for spam. Just go to the Civ III forum and start a thread like "Lol, this game sucks, lol." Or go to the MoO3 forum and start a thread like "Lol, this game is never going to be released, lol."

Just be sure to include the 'lol's. Otherwise it is inferior spam.

Solver · February 2, 2003, 14:26

Quote:

Pretty much any forum can be used for spam. Just go to the Civ III forum and start a thread like "Lol, this game sucks, lol." Or go to the MoO3 forum and start a thread like "Lol, this game is never going to be released, lol."

A very nice method of getting a PCR, though.

Demogames, OTOH, are a nice way of getting several dozen extra posts per week while not having to put much thought in them

.

Oerdin · February 2, 2003, 15:41

PCRs suck. Ming just gave me on of those. BTW I think a "Civ3 sucks thread" would get locked really fast and you'd probably get banned if you did it to often.

Ben Kenobi · February 2, 2003, 15:44

Heck, we are even graced with the presence of War4ever and Dr Spike.

Clearly a prime location for spam sharks.

That being said, we always need new members.

DarkCloud · February 2, 2003, 15:58

sabrewolf= please realize, though, that many people who post in threads here just to spam or to troll receive PCRs and have in the past.

It happens, it just hasn't happened recently for some strange reason.

It's not as if Mark and Dan and Ming just let this spam go unnoticed- don't worry, they usually have control of it!

Immortal Wombat · February 2, 2003, 17:31

Quote:

Originally posted by Lazarus and the Gimp
Think about it. It takes 6 words to ask "Why was my thread closed, *****?". Try explaining a Civ 3 strategy so concisely.

"Build **** loads of units. Attack"

spartak · February 2, 2003, 17:45

I think the most obvious comment has been overlooked.

Its not the length of your post that matters..... Its what you do with it...

Though I did know a girl once who said that girth was more important than length.

sabrewolf · February 2, 2003, 18:06

well, with length i meant average characters. by eye it's easier to distinguish how many lines there are. for a DB-query the length of the string is easier (no parsing and looking for those ...+chr(13)+chr(10) or the
s)

Bugs ****ing Bunny · February 2, 2003, 18:42

Well there you have it, Sabrewolf. You've just taken 32 words, two emoticons and a formula to say something that could have been summed up in four words.

I hope to God I never inadvertantly ask you for directions to the nearest off-licence.

sabrewolf · February 2, 2003, 18:44

sorry (<-- short enough?

)

DrSpike · February 2, 2003, 19:04

Quote:

Originally posted by Taz
I think the most obvious comment has been overlooked.

Its not the length of your post that matters..... Its what you do with it...

Though I did know a girl once who said that girth was more important than length.

But the girth of all posts is equal.

loinburger · February 2, 2003, 23:28

Nah, if you attach a large picture then you can screw up the forum's girth.

Skanky Burns · February 3, 2003, 04:47

Or put a very long sentence inside some code tags.

DrSpike · February 3, 2003, 05:52

Obviously some posters have given a lot of thought to girth increasing measures.

Panag · February 3, 2003, 07:53

hi ,

average post lenght ; its quality that counts , not quantity , .....

short brief to the point messages tend to be used the most , however there are plenty of threads where people post lenghty detailed information , .... they are also good quality but most people dont bother to read lenghty posts , ....

have a nice day

Datajack Franit · February 3, 2003, 08:43

btw spamming could be stopped by giving some kind of "value" to the posts of OT forum, as 1 post count every 10

DrSpike · February 3, 2003, 08:46

You think that would stop OT spam?