This would be an excellent feature, as it would simultaneously empower users to improve the 'signal to noise ratio' to their taste whilst decreasing the workload of moderators.
Alas, I can't see such a feature in the
documentation for phpbb3, or find any available MOD that would add this functionality (other than
this defunct and broken one), only countless requests for one - so the only thing I can come up with that might help a little is my 'solution' at the end of this post.
I can't see why it's above GD in the first place.
Or better yet, posts from users on a 'foe' list. That's a feature request I kept seeing in relation to (1) - but no solutions.
JackRiddler » Sat May 12, 2018 11:54 pm wrote:4. Banning the practice of repeating already-posted ready-made copy-paste posts that run for more than one screen by copy-pasting these in other threads. A link to the already posted multi-screen copy-paste would be allowed. (Quoting older material within a thread would have to be allowed, I realize, hopefully without repeating long copy-pastes.)
I guess the 'max characters per post' setting in 'post settings' is currently set to 'unlimited'... most boards set a limit, I always thought it odd that there was no limit here, but can fully understand why that might be.
Banning any practice will mean extra grief for the mods - if you make a 'rule', it then has to be policed and enforced, with all that entails (think of it as forcing someone else to read all that copypasta - at least
twice!)
That said, since the majority of this practice stems from the activity of a very limited set of users, I can't see that enforcement would be much of a problem.
There is a feature in the Xenforo (ex-vbulletin devs) forum software that I hated at first, but it grew on me... Basically, any quoted content is confined to a box (the size of admin's choosing) such that text greys out toward the bottom of the box and there's a little 'click to expand' link. It stops 'Wall of Text' posts being repeated endlessly with the obligatory 'I agree' addendum, etc. Xenforo is $140 p.a. though.
There's a 255 character limit, AFAICT, but no limit or differentiation from a standard post regarding what type of content is displayed. I guess it's up to people to act with some sort of restraint or decorum when it comes to the content of sigs. Personally, I think they detract from the content of the post. If someone wishes to communicate something - an idea, something they wish to be associated with, whatever - one sure-fire way to make me reject it is to cram it down my throat by endlessly repeating it to me every time they write something.
It's a bit like posters who 'sign' their username after every post... my instinct is to yell
'Yes, thanks, dickhead... I know who you are - I read the name at the top of the post'.Fortunately for me, there is something I could do about sigs (and avatars) -
the nuclear option.
Sooo... A solution to the rest? Only one. Use the ignore function.
I use spam filters on my email to filter out messages trying to sell me stuff I don't want to hear about.
I use ad-blockers on a browser and network level to filter out messages trying to sell me stuff I don't want to hear about.
I block javascript from being run on my machine to filter out 'features' I don't want and prevent entities creating 'consumer profiles' and trying to sell me stuff I don't want to hear about.
And here, on RI, I use the 'ignore' function to filter out messages trying to sell me ideas and 'media product' I don't want to hear (any more) about.
Is it a perfect solution? Absolutely not. But it's the one that's technically available within the limits offered by PHPBB.
It means that 'active topics' and 'new posts' don't really work for me, I sometimes waste a few seconds looking at a thread which has been bumped by someone who experience has shown to have nothing much of interest to say - but it's only a few seconds, enough to check that there isn't anything interesting or informative preceding it. I tend to focus on the
hours I save, simply by not reading that 'content' or responding to it.
There are many thoughtful, intelligent and honest posters here who write interesting, informative and sometimes funny posts. The only way I get time to read even a fraction of them is by filtering out the junk, like so many viagra and fake rolex spams.