Is there a better way to handle Gri's posts?

[mouser]

so far, Gri has successfully managed to stir up an interest and a bit of controversy about his/her/its art work - this is what artists do nowadays. i just need to know how to purchase Gri's artwork now before it becomes widely sought after.

[nudone]

farmsteader, don't take my 'Gri is an artist' idea too seriously. i just see this current DC phenomenon as something i can either become annoyed by or simply let it wash over me.

if i play along with Gri's game, jumping from one forum to another, one post to another, then it is my own choice/fault for doing so. Gri has set the game up but it remains for us to participate. you might be tricked into doing so the first couple of times but it doesn't take long to ignore Gri after that.

providing Gri doesn't take over the DC forum then i have no real complaint. if i thought Gri's method of forum jumping was such a brilliant idea as Gri does then i'd embrace the Gri infection of DC, but it does seem a very silly way of conducting things. Gri obviously thinks they've created a brilliant system that will take over the forum world or, at least, will have a go at spreading through the friendlier ones. i think it is massive egocentricity that makes Gri believe they can just appear on a forum and begin applying a new set of rules. if they haven't learnt by now that the system doesn't work then they obviously don't care what anyone else's opinion is - the system is that good we are clearly just fools for not appreciating it.

so, the choice is, become annoyed by Gri's eccentricity/selfishness or treat him/her/it as a source of amusement. just as Gri doesn't want to participate fully in the DC forum and would rather subvert and force upon us a new set of rules, i will choose to reinvent how Gri expects to be perceived. therefore Gri has become this thing that makes weird posts, i don't follow the links as they obviously aren't important or their content would be posted on this forum (that is the flaw in Gri's experiment).

Gri, is my DC poet. i quite enjoy reading these Gri posts now, they don't really stir any profound thoughts in my head when reading them but that's probably because i'm just not getting it - my fault, not Gri's, as it is up to me as the audience to interpret Gri's message.

as for what is art, i find Damien Hirst an amazing artist but i think Jeff Koons a fraud. i wouldn't be surprised that the downloadable video murders we have today will be considered art at some point in the future - such is the whim of mankind.

edit:
i see Gri has just made a post saying it is up to us to follow the links or not - clearly the resulting forum jump is of no real significance then. it is all about self participation in the game. is it profound, lord, i don't know. Gri's posts negate themselves - my head spins from the zen like sophistication of it all.

another edit:
the way i'm questioning what i consider a forum to be and the way the 'rules' should work does make believe more and more that Gri is a new kind of internet artist. i wouldn't have thought about such things without Gri doing what they are doing.

[Eóin]

Just my two cents, but if we are to take what Gri is doing over on his own forum as some form of art, then his constant postings here about it constitute nothing more than advertising, or more simply; spam.

[The_Evil_Elf]

Ok... got a couple of problems with the question-- not because of the question but because I found a few things missing from your forum at registration.

I work on several SMF forums and have two of them currently being integrated with new Joomla! installations.  On both forums, we have a TOS or TOU (Terms of Service or Terms of Use for those of us who are too tired to remember acronyms ).  Anyway, the point is this... you ask if you should have a set of rules for the forum.  The answer is a resounding YES!

You ask if she is spamming or flaming.  The answers are yes and no respectively.  On both of the current SMF installations I work on the most, we define spamming as making more than 5 topic posts per 24 hour period, replying to your own thread with nothing new or helpful to bring to the topic that you created, or creating a new post with the sole purpose of refocusing attention on an old post you have made.  Flaming, however, is decided by more than one administrator and moderator on a private board that only they can see, post to, and discuss on.  When the users feel another member has flamed or otherwise broken the TOS/TOU, they have the option and the opportunity to refer the post for review.  If the member has, indeed, broken the terms of agreement, they are moderated for one to seven days.  During this time, they may not post to the board at all.  They are, however, still allowed to view the posts of other posters and/or refer others for violation.  After the third time of violation, the member is completely banned from the site, IP and all.  The username is not recycled, and all avatars, smilies, etc, that were uploaded  by the member become the property of the board.

On first and subsequent violations, the member has the opportunity to defend themselves by responding to an administrative e-mail.  If, after 7 days of nonresponse or after the administrators have not gotten a satisfactory explanation from the member, the account is moderated.  We use SMF Hacks' Warning mod to show other posters the member is in violation of the TOS/TOU.  Thus far, we have only had to ban one person from the forum.  He was a known flamer from a past location of the forum and was given the benefit of the doubt before banning.

To make a long rant short (LOL), one should NEVER allow registration on a site, page, forum, or other Web-accessible area without first making it known what is expected of the members who sign up.  If you would not allow your children to behave like wild animals in your house (yes, i do understand you probably don't have any yet ) then why would you let your users run around your forum ungoverned?  Not much but it's my two cents and it's made a lot of difference in the forums I manage and administer

I don't have a signature line made up yet; but I'll leave you with this .... The lack of control in a nation is directly related to the lack of rules and lack of ability to govern it's people by their leaders.  (I just thought that up LOL).

[f0dder]

Evil Elf: imho it's not a good idea, for this forum anyway, to set a strict limit on amounts of topics that can be created before you're considered to be spamming - it's more useful to look at content of the topics.

And I also don't see a reason for any scapegoat "warning signs" or the like. Might be necessary on other forums, but things work quite fine here without them. Heck, I think a reason that things work so well here, is that we don't go along with all those punishment ideas and rigid rules... doesn't work everywhere, but it's worked fine here so far

[CodeTRUCKER]

Somehow Mouser has been able to police this forum by inculcating in us the motivation to police ourselves.  A rare quality in leadership; indeed, and we are the better for it. 

Regardless of what anyone may think on their first impression, I would suggest that person(s) would do a great disservice to their self and others if one does not take another look.  DC is quite remarkable, besides gaining a better mastery on coding.

The jury is still out on the issues concerning Gri and ourselves.  It would be interesting to return here and see what verdict was rendered, provided we did not err and vindicated ourselves demonstrating we did have the wisdom to judge rightly.

<Edit - Hmmm.... nothing new?>

[Clara Listensprechen]

Somehow Mouser has been able to police this forum by inculcating in us the motivation to police ourselves.  A rare quality in leadership; indeed, and we are the better for it.  

Regardless of what anyone may think on their first impression, I would suggest that person(s) would do a great disservice to their self and others if one does not take another look.  DC is quite remarkable, besides gaining a better mastery on coding.

The jury is still out on the issues concerning Gri and ourselves.  It would be interesting to return here and see what verdict was rendered, provided we did not err and vindicated ourselves demonstrating we did have the wisdom to judge rightly.

<Edit - Hmmm.... nothing new?>

-CodeTRUCKER (December 07, 2007, 06:46 PM)

Well I have an update for you, although it appears that Gri has become a non-issue since the post I'm replying to has been posted. Gri's quest has been directed to my board and I've set up a section for him there. I've set up 2 SMF boards for him to be Admin on so that he has greater resources at his disposal.  Why? I figured out what he wanted (for the most part, anyway) and while he's become a non-issue for you guys all this time, I have a related question about YOUR board...the second SMF board I've seen that has a "threaded view" in place, and I'd like to know what setting you set or what file you modify to get this.

Gri's quest is basically a trackback of a discussion, but the ability to view the linktree where even individual postings are mapped out is a good alternative, and I for one have an interest in just such a capability. A picture of what I'm talking about was taken of that other board:

Is there a better way to handle Gri's posts?

Ideally looking for a function that looks like this, which is an archive of a now-defunct DCScripts.com board

Is there a better way to handle Gri's posts?

This is the thing I want to know how to do, and it's something that is applicable to what Gri has been looking for as well.