Lately, forumers have been posting blanks as bumps. This is bad to due to a number of reasons:

They are confusing
Even me, a pretty experienced forumer tbh, didn’t know they were bumps when people started doing it.

It just looks spam
The post looks like it has no purpose whatsoever. From this, I just consider it spam.

Hard to moderate
When blanks are reported, ST can’t get to the post in the report queue (I guess normally to get to the post the words of the post are the link) which means the ST have to manually find them.

za-chary wrote:

Yes. Interestingly, in the forums, the content of the post is directly related to how we access the post from the report queue. If there is no text in the post, then it is essentially impossible for us to determine what post is being reported.

The “trend” will probably only get bigger
Why is that bad? More and more people think it’s OK to use blanks as bumps, meaning more of the cons above. People may use them in OP’s, a big issue for the ST (reason in “hard to moderate”.)

SEE THIS POST FOR MORE INFO
From this, I think the ST should dustbin these post for the reasons above, or/and give users alerts due to it. it’s the only way to solve the issue.

Nature! I support this to a very high extent.
Bumping is the correct way to do it. Blank posts are not justified, especially if not made by the owner of the topic. All of your reasons are valid, here are my replies:

Even me, a pretty experienced forumer tbh, didn’t know they were bumps when people started doing it.

I can agree with that, when it started happening, I saw it as spam

The post looks like it has no purpose whatsoever. From this, I just consider it spam.

Every post should have context. A bump sometimes stands for Bring Up My Post, which is enough context for why it is posted

When blanks are reported, ST can’t get to the post in the report queue (I guess normally to get to the post the words of the post are the link) which means the ST have to manually find them.

I don't really understand that, but I think you mean that because it has no text, ST can't get the report, which is worse because getting rid of the spam creates even more effort

Why is that bad? More and more people think it’s OK to use blanks as bumps, meaning more of the cons above. People may use them in OP’s, a big issue for the ST (reason in “hard to moderate”.

So, if more people do it, more people think it's Ok, which isn't Ok.

Lake! I hope this article has been helpful.

i support this (for obvious reasons), but can i have a source for the claim that it's harder for the ST to moderate?

why would the post in the report queue only be clickable by the content of the post? shouldn't there be moderation buttons or something. that's strange.

Jeffalo wrote:

i support this (for obvious reasons), but can i have a source for the claim that it's harder for the ST to moderate?

why would the post in the report queue only be clickable by the content of the post? shouldn't there be moderation buttons or something. that's strange.

I have an alert - but I don’t have a screenshot. Sorry

I’ve asked za-chary

dertermenter wrote:

Jeffalo wrote:

i support this (for obvious reasons), but can i have a source for the claim that it's harder for the ST to moderate?

why would the post in the report queue only be clickable by the content of the post? shouldn't there be moderation buttons or something. that's strange.

I have an alert - but I don’t have a screenshot. Sorry

I’ve asked za-chary

wait.. you actually dismiss your alerts? ive just kept all of them since 2020.

Jeffalo wrote:

dertermenter wrote:

Jeffalo wrote:

i support this (for obvious reasons), but can i have a source for the claim that it's harder for the ST to moderate?

why would the post in the report queue only be clickable by the content of the post? shouldn't there be moderation buttons or something. that's strange.

I have an alert - but I don’t have a screenshot. Sorry

I’ve asked za-chary

wait.. you actually dismiss your alerts? ive just kept all of them since 2020.

I think most people dismiss them.

1Oaktree2 wrote:

Nature! I support this to a very high extent.
Bumping is the correct way to do it. Blank posts are not justified, especially if not made by the owner of the topic. All of your reasons are valid, here are my replies:

Even me, a pretty experienced forumer tbh, didn’t know they were bumps when people started doing it.

I can agree with that, when it started happening, I saw it as spam

The post looks like it has no purpose whatsoever. From this, I just consider it spam.

Every post should have context. A bump sometimes stands for Bring Up My Post, which is enough context for why it is posted

When blanks are reported, ST can’t get to the post in the report queue (I guess normally to get to the post the words of the post are the link) which means the ST have to manually find them.

I don't really understand that, but I think you mean that because it has no text, ST can't get the report, which is worse because getting rid of the spam creates even more effort

Why is that bad? More and more people think it’s OK to use blanks as bumps, meaning more of the cons above. People may use them in OP’s, a big issue for the ST (reason in “hard to moderate”.

So, if more people do it, more people think it's Ok, which isn't Ok.

Lake! I hope this article has been helpful.

I’m on mobile so I won’t snip…. Yes I do mean that for moderation, sorry my wording was bad

Exactly right for the last quote.

dertermenter wrote:

Jeffalo wrote:

i support this (for obvious reasons), but can i have a source for the claim that it's harder for the ST to moderate?

why would the post in the report queue only be clickable by the content of the post? shouldn't there be moderation buttons or something. that's strange.

I have an alert - but I don’t have a screenshot. Sorry

I’ve asked za-chary

Is this the alert?

wvj wrote:

dertermenter wrote:

Jeffalo wrote:

i support this (for obvious reasons), but can i have a source for the claim that it's harder for the ST to moderate?

why would the post in the report queue only be clickable by the content of the post? shouldn't there be moderation buttons or something. that's strange.

I have an alert - but I don’t have a screenshot. Sorry

I’ve asked za-chary

Is this the alert?

Yes - thanks for finding that.

dertermenter wrote:

wvj wrote:

dertermenter wrote:

Jeffalo wrote:

i support this (for obvious reasons), but can i have a source for the claim that it's harder for the ST to moderate?

why would the post in the report queue only be clickable by the content of the post? shouldn't there be moderation buttons or something. that's strange.

I have an alert - but I don’t have a screenshot. Sorry

I’ve asked za-chary

Is this the alert?

https://mv-ezproxy-com.ezproxyberklee.flo.org/get_image/.%2E/0144545e6cd11647bd0112efb7b99154.jpg

Yes - thanks for finding that.

np

Does anyone know the first person to do this, or where the “trend” started? I'd really like to know why people would do this in the first place. As for a solution, a rule to say only bump topics by saying it's a bump, such as these examples

I'm just bumping up this topic!

Bump!

Bring
Up
My
Post

Bumper Car

Support they really annoy me and can be confusing for people who do not know what they are, a post should clearly display the intention.

1Oaktree2 wrote:

Does anyone know the first person to do this, or where the “trend” started? I'd really like to know why people would do this in the first place. As for a solution, a rule to say only bump topics by saying it's a bump, such as these examples

I'm just bumping up this topic!

Bump!

Bring
Up
My
Post

Bumper Car

Yes, I know who started it.

I asked for 2 Scratch Team member's opinions for sources. Za-Chary doesn't want his opinion to be used, and Harakou has probably got enough comments. I think dertermenter's alert was enough of a source to be honest.

Jeffalo wrote:

but can i have a source for the claim that it's harder for the ST to moderate?

Sure. Interestingly, in the forums, the content of the post is directly related to how we access the post from the report queue. If there is no text in the post, then it is essentially impossible for us to determine what post is being reported.

Yeah, it is quite like spam, and it is very vague in sort of the Scratch Team actually going to the link (the whole post is the link?). I saw three the week before.

I do find blank posts (not just bumps) to be somewhat spammy and confusing. But I'm going to adopt a critical mindset in this post because others have stated some good supporting points already. In doing so, we can improve/clarify the suggestion.

Let us suppose that this were implemented: blank posts are deleted and alerts are sent. Scratchers get sent alerts for making blank posts, so they get the idea that they're not allowed. Great. Let us suppose that someone is not aware of this, and makes a blank post in the forums. A Scratcher who once got an alert from making a blank post (or any Scratcher, I guess) sees this and reports the post for being blank. Well… if it's blank, then we can't access it to delete it.

Moreover, how do we feel about blank posts in an OP? Some Scratchers in Questions about Scratch ask their question in the title of the post, and while most write “See title” or something similar in the OP, others have written blank OPs before. (This is done because they believe their question is self-explanatory from the title.) Should such topics be removed? Unlike bumps, this would have the additional consequence of the user's question being removed from the forums and so they might not get the help they need. Furthermore — as the aforementioned alert states — if the question is resolved and someone reports it to be closed as such, we can't access the topic to close it.

Za-Chary wrote:

I do find blank posts (not just bumps) to be somewhat spammy and confusing. But I'm going to adopt a critical mindset in this post because others have stated some good supporting points already. In doing so, we can improve/clarify the suggestion.

Ight

Za-Chary wrote:

Let us suppose that this were implemented: blank posts are deleted and alerts are sent. Scratchers get sent alerts for making blank posts, so they get the idea that they're not allowed. Great. Let us suppose that someone is not aware of this, and makes a blank post in the forums. A Scratcher who once got an alert from making a blank post (or any Scratcher, I guess) sees this and reports the post for being blank. Well… if it's blank, then we can't access it to delete it.

This is a rule that really doesn't need to be perfect - if a scratch team member is browsing the forums and sees a blank, they can just delete it and take the appropriate action. I guess that people may be encouraged to report them, which is bad as it will clutter the report queue. So maybe say in alerts don't report blanks?

Za-Chary wrote:

Moreover, how do we feel about blank posts in an OP? Some Scratchers in Questions about Scratch ask their question in the title of the post, and while most write “See title” or something similar in the OP, others have written blank OPs before. (This is done because they believe their question is self-explanatory from the title.) Should such topics be removed? Unlike bumps, this would have the additional consequence of the user's question being removed from the forums and so they might not get the help they need. Furthermore — as the aforementioned alert states — if the question is resolved and someone reports it to be closed as such, we can't access the topic to close it.

Right - only dustbin alerts then. For OPS, ST members should just edit the post.

I support this, I knew they were bumps but I had no idea there would be no links the the report queue.

I don't think blanks are really bad but it does seem like there is proof that they are hard to moderate. Support

Za-Chary wrote:

Jeffalo wrote:

but can i have a source for the claim that it's harder for the ST to moderate?

Sure. Interestingly, in the forums, the content of the post is directly related to how we access the post from the report queue. If there is no text in the post, then it is essentially impossible for us to determine what post is being reported.

thanks. looking through the forum code, i see what you mean.



i guess a simple solution would be to get a developer to add some more clickable area for the links.

for example the making the report reason clickable could help.

(or even just an appending extra character at the end of all posts)