Please HELP regarding One-Liners: I want the OFFICIAL word

this has nothing to do with SERPO by the way but its seems mentioning SERPO is the only way to get noticed around here nowadays.

very simply, could somebody tell me how many moderators, admins and site owners you have to u2 before somebody will clarify a site rule with a simple yes or no answer and update that rule?

if i ask for clarification again in the ideas/gripe area, will my post vanish again?

is it normal to still have no clarification after more than a month of trying to find out something that should be really simple to answer.

or does it come down to the fact that nobody wants to clarify this simple question because it would mean that there would no longer be one rule for some but not others on this board?

or is it simply not important enough?


Admin edit by SimonGray to change subject title from "what am i 'SERPO'sed to do?" to a more appropriate title others will clearly understand.

[edit on 19-3-2006 by SimonGray]

What's your question?

I read and re-read your post, but I couldn't find a single answerable question. (Except for the how many mods bit, which sounded more like a rhetorical gripe)

So, what's your question? Maybe we can get it answered.

Tell us what the matter is and then hopefully we can help

thanks for replying wyrdeone & agentsmith.

my question is very simple, or so you would think. however, having done all of the above mentioned and still had no final clarification i decided to bring it up here instead.

so, here is my question...

if in a thread you quote somebody using the quote function and then make a one-line comment, does this count as a one line post or not and can the rule on this particular subject www.abovetopsecret.com... be updated to clarify this point?

thanks for your time

Originally posted by justyc
if in a thread you quote somebody using the quote function and then make a one-line comment, does this count as a one line post or not and can the rule on this particular subject www.abovetopsecret.com... be updated to clarify this point?

While this is by no means anything more than my opinion, I would have to say, Yes, it's a one liner. My reason being that your sole contribution to the thread consists of "one line". IMO the quote or length thereof is irrelevent.

Then again, that's just my opinion and $.02 on the matter.

how about a picture as a response?

a picture is worth a thousand words, but does it apply here?

Originally posted by 12m8keall2c
While this is by no means anything more than my opinion, I would have to say, Yes, it's a one liner. My reason being that your sole contribution to the thread consists of "one line". IMO the quote or length thereof is irrelevent.

Then again, that's just my opinion and $.02 on the matter.

this is the problem you see. i am not after opinion but the 'official' rule on this matter. i have had differing opinions already from the 2 moderators who were kind enough to take some time to look into this problem, but having found many examples of it being used by both staff and members, there seems to be an apparant rule for some but not others. that is why i am asking which is it? yes or no? is it one line or not?

Emm well it's a difficult one, it's down to the discretion of the moderator I think. Just use common sense and think if the comment is going to be of significant input to the thread. If it's just to agree, poke fun, etc then you'll be penalised for sure. If you decide to go ahead with it after you're sure that it's a worthwhile contribution and you still get a 20 point deduction, just don't worry about it too much, though obviously don't continue... Even I get little warns like that sometimes.
It's like an MOT (A yearly road worthiness test here in the UK) for a car, you have a set of guidelines but depending on the tester you may get a fail on some things and not others. It's all down to the individual dealing with it really.
Be particularly careful of big threads which carry the following warning at the top:

This thread is an ATS Big-Thread with replies.
There are important new policies for threads this large. Stay focused. Stay on-topic. Minimal posts are subject to a warning.
Please click here for more information.

As they are stricter on that kind of thing, you'd have to write something pretty special to get away with it in one of those! LOL

The fact that you have quoted text is no relevance, unless your quoting an external source for the benefit of adding information and adding a comment to say this.

Like most rules in life, it's just not black and white in practise I'm afraid..

so your opinion is that there is one rule for some but not for others. sorry agentsmith, but i dont think it should be left to the discretion of the moderators as some are biased in their opinions, or like to throw their weight around just because they can whilst being guilty themselves of what they accuse you of etc etc . therefore you have a situation where the rule 'do as i say but not as i do' applies.

if you think you were penalized unfairly for something, how do you go about addresing that? do you bring it up in the gripe area where it can be promply deleted, most likely by the person the gripe was about? the points deduction doesnt even bother me but the unfairness of it's use does. would it not be simpler to have a straightforward rule on this?

It's not as simple as thyat I'm afraid, otherwise something like my response to you:

Tell us what the matter is and then hopefully we can help

Would count a one-liner and I would be penalised, but there isn't any more to say and you wouldn't like it if no-one reponded because they didn't want a one-liner when asking you what the matter is.

People are pretty fair around here, is there a particular incident you are concerned about?
And you don't have to worry about anyone deleting your post when you complain, only a few can even do that and if someone did it anyway then the stuff would hit the fan.

It's a valid question that should receive some sort of clarification. However, either way, yea or nay, there will always be instances that slip through the cracks so to speak.

Until such clarification is issued, why not try the following:

whatever the quote may be

[Your one liner, if that's all you have to say on the matter.]


And simply add to that,

["Just my $.02"]

By doing so you will have satisfied the minimal posting requirements of the boards, and at the same time you might be surprised by who/how many actually keep a running tally for you. I forget how much it was up to in that one thread. :shk:

I've been hit for a one-liner a time or two. In hindsight I realized I usually had more to say on the matter than what was posted. If only an additional passing thought on the matter, the one-liner becomes a non-issue and your contribution has just doubled.

Imagine that.

Originally posted by justyc

if in a thread you quote somebody using the quote function and then make a one-line comment, does this count as a one line post or not

A one-liner is a one-liner, with or without the quote. Whether or not the one-liner itself can be classified as a one-liner, is a different story. With or without the quote a one-liner is a one-liner. If you provide useful information to the thread or answering a relevant question, then it may not be classified as a one-liner (with or without the quote). Confusing?

Discretion and relevance is my 1 line policy.

Examples.

If a member asks for a link to an obscure UFO video and another member replies,

"At work, but i will post the link when i get home." That isn't a 1liner in my book.


"Never heard of it." That is a 1liner in my book.

Originally posted by AgentSmith
It's not as simple as thyat I'm afraid, otherwise something like my response to you:

Tell us what the matter is and then hopefully we can help

Would count a one-liner and I would be penalised, but there isn't any more to say and you wouldn't like it if no-one reponded because they didn't want a one-liner when asking you what the matter is.

People are pretty fair around here, is there a particular incident you are concerned about?
And you don't have to worry about anyone deleting your post when you complain, only a few can even do that and if someone did it anyway then the stuff would hit the fan.

well, it seems that some people around here are not pretty fair and yes there was a particular incident which sparked my questioning of the rule and it also involved one person who would most likely be able to delete my gripe. however, im not going to go into naming names or worry about the fact that my post was deleted as well as my gripe, because all of that is irrelevent as far as i am concerned.

what concerns me is the use/misuse of a site rule which is being unfairly used and that really should be addressed one way or the other, because you are condoning bias if you do not.

What's My Line?

Just do what I do: put a bold subheading at the beginning of each post.

That way, your posts will always be at least two lines long.

Oh, and break your paragraphs up into single lines.

Not only will that give you more lines, but the whitespace is easier on the eyes.

It also makes your statements seem more emphatic and important.

Finally, never use one word where twenty will do.

And there you have the Majic Posting Style® and Majic's Sure-Fire Method For Avoiding One-Liner Warnings® in a nutshell.





Fight the Power!

thanks 12m8keall2c and majic for the posting advice. i had already made sure that i hadn't posted 1 line with or without quotes since the incident but as i said earlier, it is condoning bias when some people have to apply this rule to their posts, but not others. its also hypocritical and not what ats should be promoting.

First of all, thanks for your funny topic heading. Made me laugh.

Secondly, yes I have experienced some very nasty "bullying" by one particulary arrogant moderator, finally I gave up after about 10 u2u's, it was like talking to a brick wall. The others seem to be fair and dont let their administrative position go to their heads.

I would just ALWAYS assume a 1-liner is subject to a handslapping. If it get's by, you're ahead. But you should always expect it to be rejected. Just put in 2 lines or 1 line and a header and you can be safe.

And that, pretty much, is that.

[edit on 19-3-2006 by jupiter869]

These are two distinct issues:
Warnings for one-line or short responses
Warnings for excessive quoting, and how to quote

Very short responses that add nothing to the thread are subject to warnings. Because people are human, not every moderator will notice one-line responses that need a warning (it's impossible to see every post), nor will every moderator have the same opinion of very short comments.

Quoting full posts, especially quoting the quotes of full post like you (justyc) have done in this thread are subject to large-quote warnings as well.

There have been plenty of times where I've applied both warnings to the same post.


It sounds like you already had some moderators attempting to help you with this issue. I'm not clear as to why it's confusing?

Originally posted by Majic


Finally, never use one word where twenty will do.






Fight the Power!

Majic in a nut-shell. J/k bud, well not really but you understand.

Originally posted by jupiter869
Secondly, yes I have experienced some very nasty "bullying" by one particulary arrogant moderator, finally I gave up after about 10 u2u's, it was like talking to a brick wall. The others seem to be fair and dont let their administrative position go to their heads.
[edit on 19-3-2006 by jupiter869]

i agree that the majority of mods & admins are fair and balanced and dont let their positions or egos get in the way, but what happens when they are not? do you make a gripe and then have it unanswered? do you look up the thread on what to do when that happens? i did that already and approached one mod in there who offered their services specifically because he had also had commited the very same 'offence' in that very thread but got a contradictory answer back (though that is another story in itself and my thanks again mr mod for your time there)

as members, we are not allowed access to see the gripe area... (maybe we should be able to see what (or who) gets complained about but thats another thread i guess)

i dont think i am being unreasonable by bringing this point into a public thread as a last resort either as i have gone through many routes already, been mostly ignored by those ive approached, but still feel that it needs addressing because the use of this rule is inconsistant and subject to the bias of the moderator and that is wrong.