[Suggestion] Dealing with bad thread titles

[Deleted]

Hello MMO-Champion visitors/crew,

Don't you just hate it when you click a thread and expect something, only to be dissapointed by the complete misleading title?
Aren't you sick of people using "halp, have problem with addon" when the thread is about where to download a custom UI?
Have you not died a little inside, every time you see thread titles like "whats the problem?" or "help me plix" or even "what shud i do????"

I am a big fan of clean, simple thread titles that are right to the point and can tell you exactly what a thread is about. I know, this is not the best place to educate people, and most of the thread title abusers will not read or learn anyway. But what if we (the community and it's moderators) took a stronger stand against these kind of titles? What if we would just close threads that have no-good titles? After all, if the author of the thread could not be bothered thinking of a decent title, why should we -forum visitors- even bother giving any thoughts on a good reply?

No, I will not advocate everyone using brackets like I do. Nor do I ask everyone to use proper English, grammar and punctuation...
But we have to draw a line somewhere, right? So, I would like to suggest the "Blizzard way" of handeling threads:

Any thread that has a bad title, uses <Blizzard> anywhere in it, choses sensational words or contains words in the title that are generally considered "not-done", gets closed with a simple "Please follow the Forum Guidelines" message. You could even automate this, having a script check for bad words and auto-close (or simply not allow) such threads.

Examples? Sure, let's post a few of these thread titles...
- Blizzard wtf you doing?
- please help me with this problem
- interface problem and dont know wut 2 do
- retarded ghostcrawler killed my class
- how did i not see this before

I honestly think these forums would become a better place overall. Readability would improve, people are encouraged to think twice about their post if their first one got closed and the moderators have less problems closing such a thread. After all 90% of all threads with a bad title are not that "internet worthy" anyway.

Looking forward to your ideas, feedback and opinions!



TL/DR: This is no thread for you.
Either spend two minutes of your life reading the above, or do not click the "Reply" button at all.

[malkara]

I agree with this. It's very annoying when people make misleading, half finished, completely no-sense making thread-titles. I support this.

[Fuzzzie]

I would suggest you report the OP and mention something like "misleading title" and a mod can change it.

[reverendball]

bad thread titles usually have bad thread content too

i posted this a while back

- I HATE THIS GAME AND IT USED TO BE GOOD AND IM GLAD IM QUITTING AND YOU SHOULD ALL READ ABOUT IT
seen daily, starts with "i was in closed beta" and usually contains various world/realm firsts and gladiator titles

- IM A GENIUS AND I JUST CAME UP WITH THIS BRILLIANT ORIGINAL IDEA FOR TRIPLE-SPEC
seen at least once a fortnight, new level of failure each time, everytime you suggest triplespec, blizz delays next patch release

- ZOMG QQ NERF PAPER, SUCH FKN BS YO, ROCKS NEED MOAR BUFFZ
seen daily, this includes arena team makeup qqs

- QQ PTR/DATAMINED NERFS/BUFF ARE BULLSHIT MAN, WTF
seen a lot of times per set of updated patch notes / datamined info

- WTF TANKS/ENHANCE/FERALS NEED A LEGENDARY QQ
seen fortnightly, sigh

- OMG PPL IN THE LOOKINGFORDERPS TOOL ARE SUCH NOOBS AND ARE SO FKN STUPID
this includes NEED MORE VOTEKICKS threads

- QQ WHY DOES BLIZZARD FAVOR HORDE/ALLIANCE, SO IMBALANCED WAAAAAH
seen most days

- OBVIOUSLY PVP/PVE IS SOOO MUCH MORE SKILLZED THAN PVE/PVE
this includes campers defending their douchebaggery and qq about "pvp nerfs killed our pve yo" and vice versa

- CRAPPY WOW IS DEAD, SWTOR/RIFT/DCUO/BARBIES PLAYHOUSE IS AWSUM WOWKILLER YO
need i say more?

most of these "new" threads deserve instant infractions/bans imo

pretty sure this covers 90% of the qq threads on MMOC
and while i report all these threads as they appear,
i agree with Gnowo and wish it was automated to refuse new threads by such severe "special needs" forum users
i know its not possible to automated such a wide range of fail, but it is just a wish after all

[Sunshine]

In general, automating things like that is tricky, because it's inevitably going to catch some bad cases. Ok, so you want to block the word "rape" in titles (rape is a bad word, right?)... then you have people talking about the Ruthless Gladiator's D^#&* and so on. If you found a way to actually filter all bad titles correctly 90% of the time, then congratulations, you're doing cutting-edge work in my research field.

The best thing to do is report the OP with a specific comment about the title, and we'll change it. I know that I already change ambiguous/offensive titles whenever I happen to run into them, and I suspect other mods do the same. If you facilitate it by reporting them, it'll make things even faster.

[Zheryn]

I've been thinking about making this post for a while too. It's so freaking annoying when people can't just title the thread so people understand what the thread is about.

[Deleted]

Fuzzzie, Unicorn and others who replied,

Thank you your your reactions. As always, I do report the post and more often than not, the thread title is changed. But my suggestion goes further than the average "rename and be done with it" policy. I would like to suggest that threads with bad titles (which, as reverendball already pointed out, are usually just bad threads) are closed on the spot, just for having a bad title. After repeated title abuse, infractions come into play so they get the message eventually...

There is really not much of a downside to this, other than that a few clueless individuals may make a second thread, asking why their first one is closed. To prevent that, I also suggested that these threads are closed with a standard reply. You have to be really dense when you post a third thread, after your first two are being closed with a "Please find a better thread title" message and an infraction handed out...

Specific reply to Sunshine: I know for a fact how hard it is to implement a decent word filter and how easily it can be circumvented. All it takes is a start-end BB code in the middle and you can insert any word into the forums. But I am not proposing a word filter that just checks for bad words. It should check for words that are most commonly used in bad titles. Reverendball was spot on with most thread titles, and you could easily deny threads with the following words in the title: "quitting, quit, noob, idiot, retard, blizz, blizzard, etc."... In fact, most forum software comes by default with these options, so a first step is easily made

The number of unwanted threads with "Blizzard" in the title is infinite; the amount of complaining, insulting and bitching unmatched. However, the number of "desirable" threads (the ones you actually *want* on your forums) which had "Blizzard" in the title, are counted on one hand.

[Deleted]

What would your proposed word filter say about:
"[Theorycrafting] A comparison between Blizzard and Arcane Explosion for the raiding Arcane mage"

[Sunshine]

Thank you your your reactions. As always, I do report the post and more often than not, the thread title is changed. But my suggestion goes further than the average "rename and be done with it" policy. I would like to suggest that threads with bad titles (which, as reverendball already pointed out, are usually just bad threads) are closed on the spot, just for having a bad title. After repeated title abuse, infractions come into play so they get the message eventually...

If they're bad threads (pointless whine/qq with no discussion), they're already closed on the spot (and infracted where necessary). If they're maliciously misleading titles, they should be infracted anyway. If it's a misunderstanding or a cluelessly bad title, it can be edited by a mod if someone reports it or if the mod sees it. There's no reason to close a good thread just because the person had a herp derp with the title.

Specific reply to Sunshine: I know for a fact how hard it is to implement a decent word filter and how easily it can be circumvented. All it takes is a start-end BB code in the middle and you can insert any word into the forums. But I am not proposing a word filter that just checks for bad words. It should check for words that are most commonly used in bad titles. Reverendball was spot on with most thread titles, and you could easily deny threads with the following words in the title: "quitting, quit, noob, idiot, retard, blizz, blizzard, etc."... In fact, most forum software comes by default with these options, so a first step is easily made

Whatever list you can come up with, I can come up with completely fine thread titles which have those words in it. Like I said, filtering "bad threads" by title is a cutting-edge NLP research problem. It's not as easy as a word list, no matter what you define that word list to be. We're not going to block "Blizzard" in titles because some of them are bad; as you pointed out yourself, there are good threads with that as well.

[Deleted]

Don't get too defensive there, Sunshine... It's just a suggestion based on my personal experience and findings

In regards to your last line however: Are you really willing to let a title with the word "Retard" go by, just because there is an incredible small chance that someone will, one day, create a thread about little Timmy with the title "Mental retardation and how it affects your daily routine"?

If one would do a query on the database right now and searched for "Blizzard" in the title row, you would find... What? 930 results? Looking at each individual title, I bet you that not less than 900 are along the lines of "blizz fails again" or "gogo blizz you fukctards"... And that is just an example of the extreme amount of unwanted threads you can keep out-the-door by filtering. Working with more degrading, insulting and mocking terms will filter out so much more of those unwanted posts.

But, I digress. So I would like to ask a new question to all readers of this thread: What is the general opinion on coming down harder on people/threads with bad titles? You know, the cold style that Blizzard uses on their forums? The "our-way-or-no-way" method, so to speak? Would you like (or mind) to see this style of moderation on the MMO-Champion forums?

[Arlee]

Idk... I could totally see someone making a thread like that in the off-topic forums

Personally I feel like Mods are pretty darned active in taking action against people that deserve it. It takes a little bit of effort from the normal (haha I'm normal ) users in the form of reporting/whispering mods to please look at something. However, I feel like an active system that requires participation on all sides is in the long run better than a system that just runs on auto pilot.

[Tyrianth]

The "our-way-or-no-way" method, so to speak? Would you like (or mind) to see this style of moderation on the MMO-Champion forums?

No I wouldn't. If the title doesn't intrigue you, it's as simple as skipping to the next thread title.

Also:

retard
verb |riˈtärd| [ trans. ]
delay or hold back in terms of progress, development, or accomplishment : his progress was retarded by his limp.

Why punish people who use the word properly (such as myself), because of the few people who misuse the word.

[Panjandrum]

No I wouldn't. If the title doesn't intrigue you, it's as simple as skipping to the next thread title.

Also:



Why punish people who use the word properly (such as myself), because of the few people who misuse the word.

Because on a gaming forum there are few uses for it properly and it's usually (99.9%) of the time used as an insult. As someone with a mental issue (though borderline and which doesn't affect my learning faculties at all) I find it offensive and there are forums out there which have banned it. As soon as you bring this point up, you get hordes of weasel words pointing that statement, but virtually no threads on the mental health issue. It's logical, but nonsensical in this context. I've even seen someone called out for it trying to claim that the people he was calling "retards" were actually mentally ill and had learning difficulties. Bull. He was just trying to wriggle out of being infracted. If he'd meant that, he would have used a better word for it than something which could be considered an insult.

This might be a UK thing, and it might be more acceptable to use the word "retard" or "retarded" in a US context, but I've found discussing the mentally ill can be done without using the word. Use "Little Timmy has Down's Syndrome" or "I have an autistic son" or "My daughter is bipolar" - people who come into contact with it usually use the specific words for the condition rather than call people "retards". "Retardation" is a symptom of a lot of different syndromes. People who are autistic have different needs from those with Down's Syndrome, even if their development may indeed be "retarded". And if you are talking about historical issues (ie prior to when such terms became used)... well, what are you doing discussing it on a WoW forum?

And the synonym for more casual usage is "held back".

[Deleted]

I recently started reporting bad titles, but have yet to see much result.
Well, good luck on reading all the reports, moderators!

Also, on a related note: Reduce the "report-a-thread" cooldown to 15 or 30 seconds please.
I have a number of tabs open and hate to wait one minute before being able to report the next one