Several months ago, when the resurgence of one-liners was in its early stages, still uninhibited by any action from section moderators, I began to neg some culprits with -A and -K in the hope that they would see the light. Maybe I was a bit overenthusiastic, but in a few instances, one moderator restored the 1K I had taken away and admonished me for doing so. Discouraged, I stopped rating for a while.
In the meantime, the trickle of one-liners grew into a flood. Many other members began to get annoyed, as threads began to degenerate into the kind of content-free garbage that pollutes the Chinese forum. People took the law into their own hands and attempted to fight the pandemic of non-contributing posts with vaccinations of -1K and -2K. The mods were noticeably silent. One well-regarded senior member even began handing out -5K injections in his frustration.
This forum was deservedly celebrated in the past for being well disciplined and to the point. While members had fun, they knew better than to waste other members' time with insultingly useless posts. How was the forum spared this plague of one-liners? Tight moderation was an important factor, but noobies also paid attention when more senior members expressed their disapproval or tried to guide them in the ways of the forum.
While contributing noobies will always be welcome, a plethora of posts that ignore the culture and guidelines of the forum will inevitably put off contributing members and in some cases drive them away. Who would not be discouraged when his report attracts just a handful of ratings but more than a dozen blegs for a WeChat contact?
Clearly the solution is to educate new members in the culture and practice of the forum before they run wild posting one-liners. Everyone who signs up needs to be sent a PM linking to the forum guidelines and warning of adverse consequences if they choose to ignore them. Every forum, like every club, has rules you must abide by if you want to join it.
Until more effective ways are found to get the message across, I am back to trying to do my part. I'm moving towards applying these rules of thumb in my ratings:
1. Negative ratings for one-liners should be accompanied by a request like " Put brief comments in a Rating. Please read the Forum Guidelines before posting again."
2. Use -1A for first-time posters, unless the post is ridiculously stupid, like "
"
3. Use -1K if the poster has been warned before and continues to spew one-line trash.
4. Reserve -2K for the worst cases of recalcitrants stubbornly flooding the forum.
5. If a -1K rating would drive the poster into buggered beggary, fall back to using -2A instead.
6. Don't pile on if the offending post has already received -K. Move on to another one where you can make a difference. It is about educating the poster rather than expressing your frustration.
