Cleaning Up Announcements

magspider

The announcements section needs a cleanup. Not just in content, but in approach. Too often old, obsolete announcements are bumped while new ones are buried. Relevant announcements, when seen, drown under unnecessary comments that add nothing.

The answer:

Lock announcement threads that are older or no longer apply. The thread announcing, "Welcome new educator Ila!" has no contemporary purpose.
Ban and remove pointless commentary saying, "Thanks!" or, "Great news!" or similar. These can be achieved with kudos, and their removal will ensure relevant questions and debate can be clearly seen and engaged with.

This is not a big ask, and is doable under current rules.

tradertall

Thanks!

shabazmoqsud

@magspider wrote:

The announcements section needs a cleanup. Not just in content, but in approach. Too often old, obsolete announcements are bumped while new ones are buried. Relevant announcements, when seen, drown under unnecessary comments that add nothing.

The answer:

Lock announcement threads that are older or no longer apply. The thread announcing, "Welcome new educator Ila!" has no contemporary purpose.

Ban and remove pointless commentary saying, "Thanks!" or, "Great news!" or similar. These can be achieved with kudos, and their removal will ensure relevant questions and debate can be clearly seen and engaged with.

This is not a big ask, and is doable under current rules.

@magspider

Agree with you but giffgaff can only do this if we report the threads and posts.

harrrrrry

See also https://community.giffgaff.com/t5/Contribute/Should-the-Announcements-forum-be-read-only/m-p/20284251

davidevans0000

great news thanks.

revjonty

@shabazmoqsud wrote:

@magspider

Agree with you but giffgaff can only do this if we report the threads and posts.

That's not really true though is it?

If the announcement doesn't warrent any discussion then the OP can lock the thread (only staff can initiate threads in announcements, so they have this power).

If the thread does warrant discussion then one would expect that the OP will be reading the thread (or at least some member of staff would be) in which case they can remove unnecessary posts as they go.

I think that once the usual suspects realise they won't be able to gain copious amounts of kudo for posting nothings, they'll soon give up doing so. As it stands it's totally ridiculous, and any chances of any form of meaningful dialog taking place within those threads is lost to the sea of pointlessness.

As an example, about the only useful thing I have ever seen posted in response to the payback timings thread, is somebody pointing out an error (such as a wrong date). The same could be achieved by using the report button if the thread was locked. That thread does not need discussion, and posting thanks, or a tried and tested graphic for the umpteenth time is not discussion in any case.

natty_noo

100% agree. I know people think the payback timings thread should stay unlocked, but that's one of the worst ones in there.

There are some that post, on average, 10 - 20 times in those threads. Now that's just taking the mick.

As for the other threads, yes, they should be locked because they're supposedly just 'announcements', so why do they need comments on them? And re new members of staff, Welcome & Join is the perfect place to post their threads, sticky them for a few weeks if need be, but everyone can welcome them in the rightful place for it.

allan1954

thanks for sharing.

giffgaff20147

@magspider

I agree old threads that are no longer relevant should be locked but I don’t agree that members are blocked from kudos or reply ,

they take the time to read it unlike some which is good to see ,

it shows helpers are keeping upto date with whats changing

does payback come into that I don’t know but it applys to other parts of forum

gizzblue

Like the rest of the forums ,announcements needs a severe clean up ...and read only would be a great idea .

As for nothing posts to boost post count is ,thanks ,thanks for sharing etc etc etc ....is clutter the entire forums could do without imho not just announcements...but it's yet another historical gg issue .

koshka

I agree that no longer relevant threads should be culled and those that need no comment posted locked. as to those that become kudo fests, if announcement kudos were to be discounted, like games thread ones, that would help sort those where pertinent comments were desired.

persco

I also agree old and outdated announcements should be locked. Commenting isn’t so much of an issue after all someone commenting on eg new goodybags with “great news thanks” albeit trivial is still valid.

It is also important new Ed’s and giffstaffers are announced. I don’t know how else they would introduce themselves to the community than to post in announcements.if they don’t, we will moan, speculate or wonder when all of a sudden we see them posting and commenting plus we need to know what their roles would be etc. My only issue here is the outdated and old threads that should be locked.

mangowalk

thanks for that

janny27

That sounds good, thank you.

c_lockett

Agreed @magspider.

extreme_one

@shabazmoqsud wrote:

@magspider

Agree with you but giffgaff can only do this if we report the threads and posts.

What you've said is only half true @shabazmoqsud

giffgaff could do this proactively, but they choose to only act reactively.

General forum maintenance shouldn't be left to the membership to flag up, it should be done periodically as a matter of course.

munglespoon

@shabazmoqsud wrote:

@magspider

Agree with you but giffgaff can only do this if we report the threads and posts.

We can report the posts but there has to be a policy that these posts are considered unecessary. If there is not a policy like this then the community team will not remove them they will just ignore the report or tell the reporting member to stop reporting it.

magspider

Thanks for all the comments so far in this thread. First I'd like to see the zero content responses - 'thanks for sharing' etc - removed from this thread.

While locking Announcements is one solution, it's not what I'm proposing wholesale. I'd like to see open discussion that's curated to encourage good posting behaviour. Allowing on-topic, substantive responses should be encouraged. Conditioning forumites to not post zero effort content would be more effective and worthwhile in the long run than a Draconian lockdown.

@munglespoon wrote:

@shabazmoqsud wrote:

@magspider

Agree with you but giffgaff can only do this if we report the threads and posts.

We can report the posts but there has to be a policy that these posts are considered unecessary. If there is not a policy like this then the community team will not remove them they will just ignore the report or tell the reporting member to stop reporting it.

^ this too ^

orlf

This sounds like an entirely reasonable and sensible suggestion.