by walkInSilence
Is this in the Alien forum and not in complaints because only Aliens post one liners?

Nope. This thread is applicable to any other forum as well, but since there has been a rash of snarky 1-liners in the Aliens and UFO's forum recently, I decided it was time to make a statement here.

*waves*

by Shar_Chi
I actually would prefer some of the long-winded and poorly articulated responses copped a penalty. So many posts make my eyes bleed that could really have been condensed in to 1 or 2 relevant points. What is implied in a one liner is often more thought provoking than an bumbling essay.

There are some posters that come to mind, Shar_Chi, when you mention this. We'll have to 'take this under consideration'.

Actually, further back in this thread, I made the statement; "Sometimes the smallest posts have the biggest impact and I've given out applauds for 1-liners which actually had that effect."

So I agree with you on that point.

I would rather read one line then a paragraph of dribble. ATS should always be about the quality of the posts not the quantity

by Strodyn

typed loads of stuff that my browser just lost.

It happens now and then. I usually work my posts out on 'notepad' before pasting them and hitting the 'post reply' button. Thanks for your thoughts on this topic, though.

I think one liners such as 'I agree' or '' should be allowed in this forum, due to the speculative nature of the subjects raised.

From the original thread authored by Simon Gray...

One Line or less Responses or "me too" atta-boy comments contribute nothing to the discussion. These include rows of smilies, "you're wrong", or other similar short responses.

I think "I agree" would fall into that catagory. If I could make a point about why I agree or disagree with whomever I'm responding to, it should be added to the post.

For instance, pretend I disagree with your point about the 1-liner "I agree"...instead of just writing "I disagree" I would add that I disagreed because only saying "I agree" doesn't tell me why you agree.

I know that sounds confusing (to me anyways :lol but to make my point here...suppose you were involved in a lengthy debate where, after a series of 'back and forth' posts, you began to understand where your position was wrong and your opponent actally was right. As a result, you made a post which stated only that you agree. In that circumstance, the 1-liner post is really very important in that it shows you have come to a conclusion and are submitting the fact that you now willing to concede to their argument.

A warning for a 1-liner in such a circumstance would be wrong, imo and can be applied to what you say in the quote below...

If I read a new hypothesis about something on here then as it stands I can either
a) say nothing
b) think heavily about someone else's idea then extend it or
c) think heavily about someone else's idea and then dismiss it.

If you think heavily about a hypothesis, you must have at least something to add besides "I agree/disagree" or it would not have required 'heavy thinking' at all.

Under no circumstances can I express an opinion to the original author that I like his train of thought and where he is going with something.......or the contrary, express an opinion that I think his ideas are unfounded, not without 'padding' it with unnecessary words ........I always have to represent my thoughts with 'facts' or opinions, despite how little thought goes into some of the initial posts, eg;

"I disagree that that picture looks like a UFO, to me it looks like a balloon.
(Or even just posting 'looks like a balloon')

(Unneeded patronising stuff)
There a lots of pictures on the internet that show what balloons look like in the air; eg
URL1
URL2
Have a look there.
(/end Unneeded patronising stuff)"

Getting a general consensus on a matter as speculative as is raised here I think is more important than having to explain agreement or disagreement.......

If further debate from the original poster is raised, then that is when examples should be presented, once the subject has actually become a debate, not creating a debate just because we have to.

If someone does raise a debate, and I agree with their points as opposed to the original authors, I cant express support for him, without again dribbling words out that serve no purpose.

Good points. All I can think of in reply is this... suppose you had said in reponse to the OP, "It looks like a balloon", I would not consider this a non-constructive post. You are giving your 'gut-instinct' opinion on the image, but not immediately backing it up with any research. For some moderators, it's not enough and may garner a warn, while for another moderator, they'd be willing to let it go for any number of reasons. We're not bots and because of that vary in our responses.

Personally, if your post said only, "It looks like a balloon" and I looked at the image provided and agreed with you, I think I'd let it go. But if I looked at the image and found it to be of something on the lunar surface, I think I'd warn the comment.

At the same time posts such as 'that's dumb' should not be allowed, as they are not presenting a contrary argument to whatever the think is 'dumb'. That doesnt mean however that they could not express it in one line.

I agree





[edit on 6/11/06 by masqua]

Originally posted by magnito_student

I'm sure some get tired of 4-9 lengthy paragraphs.

Relax

Over four paragraphs is too much to me also.
I would rather they post a source after a sample.

Originally posted by kolo_heights
I would rather read one line then a paragraph of dribble. ATS should always be about the quality of the posts not the quantity

From page 1 of this thread...

by me

I'd like to make something really clear on this issue... speaking for myself only, as a moderator here, I will only give out 1-liner warning when there is nothing constructive being said. If a post said something like; "I don't believe a word of it because it goes against the Laws of Physics", then I wouldn't do a thing and just move on, even though the Law of Physics which makes the poster disagree was never mentioned. At least that 1-liner opened up the opportunity for discourse on the application of those laws.

I think we've gone over this a few times now...

Quality over quantity, within reason.

I thought I'd just reinforce that point. I think the problem stems far greater then just one-liners, but rather some posters reluctance to dismiss posts rather rudely, without any form of rapport or conclusion. This can be 1,2,3 10 lines, thats not the problem.

But then again, in a forum where contraversy is strife heated and sometimes blunt responses are required.

I feel most of the responsibility lies within the poster, setting out exactly what their posting, whether their trying to prove anything and what areas they hope to discuss.

A well constructed topic will usually lead to good debate.

[edit on 6-11-2006 by kolo_heights]

Originally posted by Senaden

Originally posted by magnito_student

I'm sure some get tired of 4-9 lengthy paragraphs.

Relax

Over four paragraphs is too much to me also.
I would rather they post a source after a sample.

I hate to say this, but I think this is indicative of our society. It's all about 60 second sound bytes without any substance... like reading the headlines and ignoring the story beneath. If a topic requires a few paragraphs to set up, so be it. There comes a point where it can become tiresome, to be sure, but I doubt 4 or 5 paragraphs is hardly 'too much'. what i hate more than that is a 1500 word essay without breaking it up into a paragraph. Now that makes my eyes bleed.

Posting a source is the best way to go, I agree...and 2 or 3 paagraphs of cut/paste included with that link is even better.

But there are some topics where no weblinks exist as well.

w
h
a
t
?

(runs away)

[edit on 6-11-2006 by Elijio]

[edit on 6-11-2006 by Elijio]

Originally posted by masqua
I hate to say this, but I think this is indicative of our society. It's all about 60 second sound bytes without any substance... like reading the headlines and ignoring the story beneath. If a topic requires a few paragraphs to set up, so be it. There comes a point where it can become tiresome, to be sure, but I doubt 4 or 5 paragraphs is hardly 'too much'. what i hate more than that is a 1500 word essay without breaking it up into a paragraph. Now that makes my eyes bleed.

Very well said, I liked your comment "I think this is indicative of our society. It's all about 60 second sound bytes without any substance... like reading the headlines and ignoring the story beneath." I have repeatedly beat this issue like a dead horse.

Here in America especially, we seem to have moved away from reading,from which knowledge can be gained, to television from which I see no intellectual benefit. If something is more than two or three paragraphs, we are probably not going to read it. Books? Forget about it!! It's really,in my opinion, a sad state of affairs. Good post,Masqua!

Originally posted by Elijio
w
h
a
t
?

(runs away)

you're lucky I'd never warn anyone for a 1-liner like that in a thread I started myself



Even if it is in one of the forums I moderate.

First line.
Second line.

Just kidding, I agree. One liners are getting kinda out of hand...
ksdadbashkdbak.....

So why can't a person share an opinion with out having to talk for nothing?


You see i made my point with one line but i am explaining with this line that there is nothing else to add to what i said above because anything else would just be prolonging what my intentions were when i posted my 1 liner explaination of why i think 1 liners are not a bad thing.


See now that was not a one liner post however the rest after the 1 line was just a waste of space.

I agree that one-liners are usually a bad thing, but sometimes I do not find nothing more to say.

For example, in a thread I posted a picture of Mars made by using 3 different pictures taken with 3 different filters that correspond to the Red, Green and Blue light, so it is possible to make a more or less RGB image.

Then I got an answer asking why I was finding it difficult to get anything other than red skies, when the sky in my picture is a blueish white.

I made the answer the biggest that I could, but it was only 26 words.

I think that the best way is to see the context of the answer to the thread or the post that has made that poster make an answer. Unfortunately, there is no way to do that automatically, that must be controlled by the mods.

Originally posted by kolo_heights
I would rather read one line then a paragraph of dribble. ATS should always be about the quality of the posts not the quantity

i completly agree with that, most of the time i cannot be sit and read paragraph after paragraph of stuff which dosent make alot of sense at the time of reading it. so if it can be summed up in a few words and a link to where the info was from i dont see any problem with that.
i do think some one liners (or thread killers as i call em) such as or some other line which kills the thread because theres nothing to add to it should not be allowed.

This is the 3rd time I've said this in the thread...


I'd like to make something really clear on this issue... speaking for myself only, as a moderator here, I will only give out 1-liner warning when there is nothing constructive being said. If a post said something like; "I don't believe a word of it because it goes against the Laws of Physics", then I wouldn't do a thing and just move on, even though the Law of Physics which makes the poster disagree was never mentioned. At least that 1-liner opened up the opportunity for discourse on the application of those laws.

I think we've gone over this a few times now...

Quality over quantity, within reason.

If I can say what I have to say with a "oneliner" I will.

If the mods want to penalize me points for a "oneliner".... fine. That's just the cost of doing business here at ATS sometimes.

Originally posted by whaaa
If I can say what I have to say with a "oneliner" I will.

If the mods want to penalize me points for a "oneliner".... fine. That's just the cost of doing business here at ATS sometimes.

If what you have to say can be said with a 1-liner, then that's not a problem, as long as what you say is on-topic and contributes to the discussion. It's the sniping off-topic stuff that this thread is about.

A line like 'This is BS' gets a warn and a line like 'This is BS because (reason)' does not. Does that clear it up?

Originally posted by kolo_heights
I would rather read one line then a paragraph of dribble. ATS should always be about the quality of the posts not the quantity

I have to agree with you kolo_heights! I think this is all about quality and not quantity. Whew, that's two lines!!

Mondo

Originally posted by Mondogiwa

Originally posted by kolo_heights
I would rather read one line then a paragraph of dribble. ATS should always be about the quality of the posts not the quantity

I have to agree with you kolo_heights! I think this is all about quality and not quantity. Whew, that's two lines!!

Mondo

Yup, you're abosolutely right...it's about the quality of what is being posted. There is no quality in a line like this...

"What utter garbage!!!!!

While 2 lines like yours is just dandy, Mondo.