carmatic Posted May 18, 2009 Share Posted May 18, 2009 recently, there has been alot of threads which had started with a link to an article, but goes on to be discussions about the things which are only written in the first post... is there a way to verify that people have read the articles before allowing them to post? my first idea was to open the page with the article in a special way... maybe a script or something that detects when you've scrolled to the bottom of the page, kind of like the EULA on installs... but that might not be technically possible, and many pages which host articles have tons of comments and stuff going down the bottom... my other idea is that the topic starter has to set up some questions pertaining to the article he linked to, probably multiple choice questons, and people are only allowed to post in that topic if they answer the questions correctly i also have a much simpler idea, where people who view the topic for the first time will only see the first post, and the forum functionality is hidden until the link to the article is clicked on... what do you guys think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Lyle Global Moderator Posted May 18, 2009 Global Moderator Share Posted May 18, 2009 Sorry i didn't read your post, but posted my two cents anyways.. KIDDING! Possibly a bad idea.. who would judge if people get to discuss and how long.. what if there is no link? It would be a nightmare Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Berserk87 Posted May 18, 2009 Share Posted May 18, 2009 it would be cool if when the articles where made and put on the front page, it made/linked to a forum post, so that there would only be one area to comment on, and people that dont check the front page could still see it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Lyle Global Moderator Posted May 18, 2009 Global Moderator Share Posted May 18, 2009 it would be cool if when the articles where made and put on the front page, it made/linked to a forum post, so that there would only be one area to comment on, and people that dont check the front page could still see it. I believe that's already a feature, we just don't use it unless the forum news is very popular and we link the comments / stories. It has been used in the past, just we don't normally do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carmatic Posted May 20, 2009 Author Share Posted May 20, 2009 Sorry i didn't read your post, but posted my two cents anyways..KIDDING! Possibly a bad idea.. who would judge if people get to discuss and how long.. what if there is no link? It would be a nightmare if there is no link, then the article there is plain to see and there is less of a problem its when the material that we talk about is hidden behind a link, in addition to whatever fraction of it that the topic starter has decided to use as part of his first post, that people will either not spot the link or ignore it thinking that they know the 'gist' of it or something... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurë Veteran Posted May 20, 2009 Veteran Share Posted May 20, 2009 I think the OP should make it clear what his/her point is, and perhaps include the most important parts of the article in their post. I think your ideas about the questions could get what you want, but they would make it harder for people to post articles and for people to reply. I think it would reduce the number of responses, even from those who did read the article. That's just my opinion though, not an "official line". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred Derf Veteran Posted May 20, 2009 Veteran Share Posted May 20, 2009 Yes, the best form would be achieved if the thread poster would select only a few of the most relevant paragraphs from the original article and then linked us to the entire article. Those that wanted to read the whole thing could still do so but at least there would be a good chance that the most relevant information would be read and a good chance that the thread discussion would have some sort of minimum quality. Some people are still going to comment based on the thread title alone though so it's hard to avoid completely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Lyle Global Moderator Posted May 21, 2009 Global Moderator Share Posted May 21, 2009 Yes, the best form would be achieved if the thread poster would select only a few of the most relevant paragraphs from the original article and then linked us to the entire article. Those that wanted to read the whole thing could still do so but at least there would be a good chance that the most relevant information would be read and a good chance that the thread discussion would have some sort of minimum quality. Some people are still going to comment based on the thread title alone though so it's hard to avoid completely. Very good point Fred! Some people BOLD selections of text that they think are important to the readers, and if someone posts an entire article, I myself just read the bold, possibly the whole thing if I find the bolded sections interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eevo Posted May 21, 2009 Share Posted May 21, 2009 i read the 1st paragraph of the 1st post and im guess the rest was a load of bla bla bla. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kylejn Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 No offense, but this is an awful idea. Let's say someone posts a link to an MSNBC article about North Korea testing a nuclear weapon. Even if I already knew all about this, I wouldn't be allowed to participate in the conversation until I clicked the link. Doesn't make any sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenMartian Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 Nah, it's fine the way it is. This way, I can judge which of you are the idiots who have mouths bigger than their brains :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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