More of a vent post .. but has a point...

[GremlinSA]

I miis the days of been able to negativly rate members.. as there are some that simply do not listen...

Okay my vent is towards this new user who, after posting in two of his threads to please use [ code] tags... he continues with out even trying to use them.. I see that the mod's have picked up his inability to follow simple instructions, because he already has a negative rep.. (only mods can rep negative)..

This user has created mutiple threads for the same question (and not even his first question).. and the only way to acctually send any sort of message to the user is either by posting.. or via email..

Posting... : Is too public, and can be regarded as spamming... expecially if using strong words (with out getting ugly or personal).. like in this thread reply.. where my reply seems to have gone unnoticed by the OP...

Email.. : (Done via CG). is private, and leaves it open to use semi stong wording... however it also reveals the senders email.. (mine). which is not what some of the users whould like to do...

PM's. : This is disabled by default when registering onto CG.. This whould be the Ideal method to get a message across to new users on propper forum usage, without Spamming the forum, or revealing your own email addy..

Vent over...

Serious Question now...

It's been asked before, and i'm asking it again... can't the Registration procces be slightly altered to allow sending PM's by default, like it does with CG emailing.

Thanks..

Richard...

[PeejAvery]

I have e-mailed aamir asking him to start using [code] tags, and to not make duplicate posts. We shall see how he responds.

I too do not like him having my e-mail address, so I used my hotmail account which I save for spam.

[TheCPUWizard]

Regarding the "PM off by default". I asked this a while back. The logic is that users who are to "..." (fill in the blank) to turn ON PM's are just as likely to be too "..." to actually read them.

Sad, but I actually understand this argument.

[GremlinSA]

However there is the Private Messages Link on the top right of each page when browsing in CG.. and any new PM's will show up bold and most of the time you get a Msgbox popup box when you get a new PM.. so there are several methods that the user will see that there is a new pm waiting for them..

How ever this same link does not inform you that PM's are disabled, or tell you how to enable them..

Gremmy...

[GremlinSA]

Thanks P..

Looks like somewhere along the line something eventually sank in because his latest post has tags...

Hopefully something can be done about the PM story...

[S_M_A]

One thing that might improve the code tags situation is to have the "Standard editor" as default instead of "Basic editor" (or maybe even remove the basic one).

[PeejAvery]

or maybe even remove the basic one.

No. I only use the basic editor. I don't like the added mess of the other editors. Clean and simple for me.

[GremlinSA]

One thing that might improve the code tags situation is to have the "Standard editor" as default instead of "Basic editor" (or maybe even remove the basic one).

That helps nothing as the person still needs to be informed about how to USE the tags .. the buttons do make it a little easier. However you can put 100 different buttons up on the editor, but if the 'user' does not knowwhat they do, they are useless...

Gremmy....

[S_M_A]

I just hoped that the mere presence of the code button would at least trigger some of the new users to use it. After all, the new generation are mostly of the "mouse" generation so they are likely to try available buttons. If someone later on would change to basic editor that will hopefully not matter since then he/she is already used to use the formatting tags.

[KrisSimonis]

PMs are by default off? Hmm ok.. I actually didn't know this.. I figured PMs are default on, since I don't like showing my email address around if I can avoid it. Hence to communicate with people on a forum privately, I prefer PMs. Turning it on by default sounds like a good idea imho. Not everyone might notice that it's turned off.

[GremlinSA]

You talking about programmers... we type, and type and type... In our body no part of it gets more exercise than the fingers...

I think i've used the buttons no more than 10 times in total ... i type 99.9% of my code tags - including Bold, Italics, and Url...

[dglienna]

Well, if the buttons are there, and they work, I tend to use them.

(there could be some samples in the whitespace around this, like the smilies, that show how to use tags)

[Edders]

I wonder if people who just ignore the "please use code tags" reponses would be bothered by getting a negative rep. Personally I just do not answer a post with no code tags (and more than a few lines of code), but I do post a gentle "please add tags" message.

It annoys me as well, but I have more issues with people who (after having their problem resolved) edit their posts so that the thread is no longer of any use to other people.

[TheCPUWizard]

I wonder if people who just ignore the "please use code tags" reponses would be bothered by getting a negative rep. Personally I just do not answer a post with no code tags (and more than a few lines of code), but I do post a gentle "please add tags" message.

It annoys me as well, but I have more issues with people who (after having their problem resolved) edit their posts so that the thread is no longer of any use to other people.

1) See my signature... .

2) If the edit is severe, I personally believe that the thread should be deleted and the user banned. Deliberate "corruption" of the CodeGuru knowledge base is about the worst thing a person could do.

[Edders]

1) Funny you mention your signature. Since that was what prompted me to do my current action. If anything, you've at least converted one person to your "fight".

Can anybody tell us what actually the stance of the moderators is on the "deliberate corruption" issue? Should we flag such a thread for the mods to investigate? Is there a history that the admins and mods can access so they can copy the original post back?