Thomas savage said:
So yes at some point a line has to be drawn.
Please let's not use this post as a point of discussion , carry on with the subject of the op but please keep the above in mind.
Over the 20+ years that I have participated at various internet forums, I have seen obsessive, repetitious, thread-degrading pissing contests and flame wars ruin many good, productive discussions. Banning posters and deleting posts can result in yet more chaos when the perps whine at other forums around the internet, and complain about a site's "censorship."
Although it takes a bit of a moderator's time, a better solution is to create a special sub-forum for thread disruptors, and let them go at it there. This technique can eventually discourage and reduce the overall number of frivolous posts if you can keep those objectionable posts out of popular threads. A blatant refusal to read and respond to legitimate suggested material by ASR "Experts" arter a warning to do so should be a condition for exile to the disruptor's sub-forum.
Perhaps others have a better idea for a name for a disruptor's fsub-forum, but I suggest something that somewhat represents the problem, such as "Audio Nether-Land." Either whole threads or individual posts/exchanges can then be moved there. This could result in two primary benefits:
- Useful and informative threads are kept on topic, and remain more attractive to those who truly want do discuss and learn - especially new arrivals now - and "old topic" searchers in the future - who are turned off by a thread containing 20 useful comments and 200 blather-filled comments to wade through. (Occasional off-topic or tangential comments would be discouraged, but allowed. I certainly am guilty of that minor offense upon occasion. However, if kept to a minimum, such comments help to build the personal relationships between participants that makes a forum more personal, friendly and less sterile.)
- Those who repeatably pollute threads with useless, repetitive blather would not be able to complain about censorship, although they definitely will whine abut being shuffled off to the nether-land.