Bumping Policy

[darkangel76]

NO!

ONE THREAD PER LONG TERM.

If it was changed, I'd have said so in an announcement. People should read over the rules if they want the details. They are all in there and up to date.

 

[Blinking Blue]

NO!

ONE THREAD PER LONG TERM.

If it was changed, I'd have said so in an announcement. People should read over the rules if they want the details. They are all in there and up to date.

That's what I figured, but the rules vs what was actually happening was causing me some confusion, since nothing is getting taken down or locked or anything. So I was unsure if everyone was really busy or I'd missed an announcement and the rules hadn't been edited because only one person can, something like that.
Thanks!

 

[darkangel76]

We are human. It takes us time to get through these. We get roughly 20+ reports daily and find even more than that on our own without the reports. This is, quite frankly, a lot. And we volunteer our time to run this forum. We do what we can, but we hope our members will meet us half way. Would be nice if members actually followed the rules we set rather than not, but all we can do is enforce once they've been made and then do so as able.

 

[megyn]

i think what i am seeing is a lot of old members coming back, thinking they know the rules. maybe the Big Red Bumping Warning needs to come back for awhile ? We always mention it in the Introductions but returning members often dont go there.

 

[Temptationist]

i think what i am seeing is a lot of old members coming back, thinking they know the rules. maybe the Big Red Bumping Warning needs to come back for awhile ? We always mention it in the Introductions but returning members often dont go there.

I agree with this!
There's a lot of users who disappear and
come back after months of inactivity.

 

[Mr Quixotic]

I have some concerns about the way the new bumping policy is working.

I've reported ten or more people in the long-term male request board alone in the last week - some around/over three days ago -, where it seems no action has been taken, and the threads remain where they are. I know mods and staff are busy and this is not a reflection on them or their efforts, because I truly appreciate what they do, both publicly and behind the scenes, and the time and effort they donate to BMR, but from an outside perspective it can appear to defeat the purpose of implementing a rule if it can't be swiftly and properly enforced.

The rulebreakers threads remain where they are for days, pushing down quickly those who are doing the right thing and by the time action is taken those latter remain buried on the later pages where they've swiftly been relegated to anyway. Either kept there by more people breaking the rules, or by legitimate bumps from other members. It can breed a sense of, "Well, what's the point," frustration.

 

[darkangel76]

Ok. This is going back up since, well, it needs to go back up. Let me also spell a few things out while I'm at it:

1) Every request section HAS NOW HAD FOR A WHILE rules for how to use long term posting.
2) Every request section HAS NOW HAD FOR A WHILE rules for how to use short term posting.
3) Every request section HAS NOW HAD FOR A WHILE the SITE RULES FOR BUMPING POLICY (among other pertinent reminders).
4) We continue to get over 40 reports daily on top of the rule breaking we catch on our own.

This said, there's no excuse as to why people cannot read the blaring remminders in the request sections. Sure. Accidents here and there happen, but the levels we are seeing are ludicrous and show blatant disregard by most. Those who think we aren't acting fast enough, you need to place yourself in our position. We are volunteers for starters and we are also being swamped with reports. On top of things, we have other issues that arise that also take higher precedence than mere thread bumping.

I don't like it, but our hand is being forced in a way. I don't like it, but if that's how people want it. So be it. =/

 

[dearestdarling]

Maybe more moderators would help. I agree that without immediate consequences, those that don't care to follow the rules don't have much of a reason to do so. If the current mods can't keep up with those that break the rules, I'm sure there are some dedicated members here that wouldn't mind contributing some of their time to helping out.

 

[Jeufufns]

It also doesn't help that a lot of people have posted in other people's threads already. I could spend hours reporting the countless foreign posts I see the thing is they were often made before the ruling. I almost feel like a complete cleansing of the request section is in order, it would be a lot easier that way.

I know it would be a big thing to do but the scope of the problem is quite large and I feel cleansing the entire section would be the only way to really root out the problem, partially because these cluttered threads also make it quite difficult to moderate.

My humble recommendation:

1. Archive all request threads and set a deadline for them to be deleted (so that people can copy first, also helps clear some space)
2. Assign new moderators to the sections (I would gladly volunteer for example because it annoys me seeing all these rules broken so blatantly.)

 

[Temptationist]

I think you should send a mass-PM or email to everyone on BlueMoon just to really drive these rules to point. Not sure if there is that "message all users" option for BMR mods?1

 

[megyn]

I had been on a trip and so had not done much reporting until last night and last night I wanted to cry there were so many violators I think I fell asleep trying to find them all.

One stress case I have seen is where an old member returns , returning members seem to have a very high propensity to not follow the new rules, one would assume because they don't know about the change yet.
But last night there were lots of people who have been active these months who should really know better .

I will throw out a few other ideas in addition to sectional mods -

Public shaming? (on forum not actual public, several possible mechanisms) Keep it friendly/humorous though, not nasty.
Short term loss of bumping priv (I believe this is already a thing, but there is a lot of overhead involved so maybe it is not that feasible?)
Immediate archiving of either old or new "multiple threads" - right now it takes a while to resolve this because they give the user the choice which one they want to keep and some time to respond .
Some sort of positive socialization/education
we love this place, people overbumping are reaching out but they are doing it at the expense of others.

Of course the risk if we start going really hard on these too is turning off members, or pushing them to use other accounts to get around any punishments. I don't really know what the answer is.

I do want to thank the mods and admins for the work they do, now that I can see under the veil a little I am always amazed at how much stuff they have to do

Final thought - any education /socialization /communication method needs to be rotated/refreshed, otherwise it becomes background noise and automatically mentally filtered.

 

[Yoga Princess]

I've only been a member about a week, but it seems like half the post on the site simply contain the word "bump" in them. LOL

 

[AnnaBeth]

Thank you for taking the time to update and explain what's going on, DA. I very much appreciate all of the Admin Team who are having to take time out of their own enjoyment of the site to deal with these issues.

 

[Jeufufns]

All I know is this: ever since the bumping policy was implemented I am getting far fewer RP requests. So few that I frequent the forum less than I once did. I would prefer the bumping policy get repealed and just let those who are most active and more interested given more priority. Supply and demand, pure and simple.

Those more active and interested are going to check the requests every day and will, in the end, see more requests than if some people would spam their threads all day.

And honestly, the types of people who spam bump usually don't have the greatest of request threads.

 

[Cafe au lait]

I don't agree with the idea of punishing members without giving them fair warning beforehand. People should get two strikes before taking the axe to them. I however, do applaud the work the Admin and all the volunteer "Staff" do here. I would like to join and volunteer as well helping out where I can.

 

[Chaos]

There has already been PLENTY of warnings. Im shocked this is even still an issue.

 

[xavierrol]

"Please don't dominate the rap, jack, if you've got nothing new to say." The Grateful Dead - New Speedway Boogie

Words to live by!

 

[Charlotte Honeycutt]

I don't agree with the idea of punishing members without giving them fair warning beforehand. People should get two strikes before taking the axe to them. I however, do applaud the work the Admin and all the volunteer "Staff" do here. I would like to join and volunteer as well helping out where I can.

They are given more than a fair warning by learning how to read. This is a writing site and it's not that hard to do so with. The moderators and other staff shouldn't have to spend so much time going over this, but yes... major major applause to the moderators and admin team for their hard work.

 

[Malicious Lullaby]

They are given more than a fair warning by learning how to read. This is a writing site and it's not that hard to do so with. The moderators and other staff shouldn't have to spend so much time going over this, but yes... major major applause to the moderators and admin team for their hard work.

 

[Rauk]

As staff, it definitely does take a tremendous amount of our time to clean up bumping errors. As DA said, we are volunteers. We sacrifice time away from our real life responsibilities, not to mention our own roleplays and everything else, to do whatever we can behind the scenes to make sure this place runs as smoothly as possible, without pay. We're not asking for recognition or thanks. Only that more people read the rules and use common sense. In the end, we're only human and even if we doubled the amount of staff with their eyes on over-bumpage, it still wouldn't reduce the amount of people actually breaking the rules.

If anything, I firmly believe we need a more solid way of making sure newer and/or returning veteran members are properly educated about this simple and important policy. Data shows that the bumping policy is broken due to ignorance, moreso than complete disregard. It would make more sense to me to take a more proactive approach, than reinforcing a reactionary solution.

And as for the punishments and warnings for repeated offences, they really aren't all that bad. They're reasonable, and appropriate. I would outline it in this post, but everything is very clearly spelled out in the bumping policy, and I'd like to heavily encourage everyone to reference it. It's a quick read, and anyone is always totally welcome to ask questions if they're not sure how to interpret it. We want you to understand the policy, and to not be too embarrassed to ask questions regardless of what they may be.

 

[Temptationist]

I definitely have to agree with experiencing far fewer replies to my request threads. The short term ones do well but my main long term that bumps only once a week does extremely poorly. I would say since rule has been implemented, I've only received about 5 or so responses. It's very disappointing.

However, I knew this would happen. I wasn't a supporter of this new bumping policy because I used to frequent another forum who impletemented the same policy and it failed as well. It fails because it requires a HUGE amount of supervision and enforcement. It also forces users to do more "surfing" as I call it. Users have to specifically seek out threads since they are only getting bumped once a week, therefore most posts end up several pages down by the end of the week. Very few people surf more than 2 pages in. The majority will look at the first page and that's it, so once your Thread leaves first, you're pretty much at a time-restraining plateau counting down the hours before you can bump again.

I think it was a valiant effort but I don't feel this policy is benefitting anyone. I know the purpose of it was to allow equal recognition but if ultimately it has caused the opposite (people receiving fewer requests) than maybe it should be re-evaluated.

 

[Jeufufns]

I definitely have to agree with experiencing far fewer replies to my request threads. The short term ones do well but my main long term that bumps only once a week does extremely poorly. I would say since rule has been implemented, I've only received about 5 or so responses. It's very disappointing.

However, I knew this would happen. I wasn't a supporter of this new bumping policy because I used to frequent another forum who impletemented the same policy and it failed as well. It fails because it requires a HUGE amount of supervision and enforcement. It also forces users to do more "surfing" as I call it. Users have to specifically seek out threads since they are only getting bumped once a week, therefore most posts end up several pages down by the end of the week. Very few people surf more than 2 pages in. The majority will look at the first page and that's it, so once your Thread leaves first, you're pretty much at a time-restraining plateau counting down the hours before you can bump again.

I think it was a valiant effort but I don't feel this policy is benefitting anyone. I know the purpose of it was to allow equal recognition but if ultimately it has caused the opposite (people receiving fewer requests) than maybe it should be re-evaluated.

However, you and I are very active members. Members that can only dedicate themselves to this site once a week will suffer. While the new policy requires a lot of work, it is fundamentally more egalitarian than the first come first serve system.

I myself have received more requests ever since the rule was implemented. Both of our cases are simply anecdotal evidence.

And people don't leave the first page even in a system like the old one. In fact the old one doesn't motivate you to do so, what with everything shifting so quickly, you could just check the first page over and over again.

 

[Temptationist]

I definitely have to agree with experiencing far fewer replies to my request threads. The short term ones do well but my main long term that bumps only once a week does extremely poorly. I would say since rule has been implemented, I've only received about 5 or so responses. It's very disappointing.

However, I knew this would happen. I wasn't a supporter of this new bumping policy because I used to frequent another forum who impletemented the same policy and it failed as well. It fails because it requires a HUGE amount of supervision and enforcement. It also forces users to do more "surfing" as I call it. Users have to specifically seek out threads since they are only getting bumped once a week, therefore most posts end up several pages down by the end of the week. Very few people surf more than 2 pages in. The majority will look at the first page and that's it, so once your Thread leaves first, you're pretty much at a time-restraining plateau counting down the hours before you can bump again.

I think it was a valiant effort but I don't feel this policy is benefitting anyone. I know the purpose of it was to allow equal recognition but if ultimately it has caused the opposite (people receiving fewer requests) than maybe it should be re-evaluated.

However, you and I are very active members. Members that can only dedicate themselves to this site once a week will suffer. While the new policy requires a lot of work, it is fundamentally more egalitarian than the first come first serve system.

I myself have received more requests ever since the rule was implemented. Both of our cases are simply anecdotal evidence.

And people don't leave the first page even in a system like the old one. In fact the old one doesn't motivate you to do so, what with everything shifting so quickly, you could just check the first page over and over again.

The only reason I'm still on and getting any requests at all is because of the "short-term" request Thread operating on old rules. I've had to "cheat" the system in a way within obliging the rules by taking content OUT of my long term and placing it IN a short term request. That's how I get around it. Which isn't ideal because it essentially turns the "short-term" into the same dynamic and ecology that the long-term was prior to this initiative.

So I find both sections are actually counter intuitive.

 

[Xanaphia]

I don't really have a dog in this fight, as I rarely bump anymore, but I agree with Temptationist. I don't see much point in equalizing the playing field. People who are on more to bump are on more to play. Why do they need to be held back by those who don't have as much time to be on? There isn't anything wrong with having a life outside of BMR, but those who are on here more often shouldn't be punished for it either.

I still really like the idea of short term quick connects, but there is nothing stopping people from having their main thread in the quick connects section and thus circumventing the spirit of the rules.

 

[Revelations]

Perhaps the paradigm of long term vs short term needs to be rethought? That is, maybe we could have a section for slower bumping, but one for quicker, more expedient bumping as well? Basically just renaming and a refocus of the current sub boards for ads.