TVTropes Now available in the app store!
Open

Follow TV Tropes

Following

Trope Repair Shop, The 400 Post Limit and Dead Threads

Go To

Devour Since: Dec, 1969
#1: Jan 29th 2012 at 12:42:41 PM

There's nothing wrong with the 500 post limit on TRS, but the fact that there's a full page and two posts without any posts in them for over a month...? Yeah.

It really needs more trimming when a thread doesn't get posted in for over a month, as there's about 100 slots that are currently being hogged by dead threads. (That's not even counting the ones that haven't been posted in since the start of this month.)

EDIT: Combine that with threads like this (in case you can't be bothered, the thread is finished and the page has been remade but the thread isn't closed) and you see a trend towards lots and lots of slots being taken up by untrimmed threads.

edited 29th Jan '12 12:45:10 PM by Devour

Madrugada Since: Jan, 2001
#2: Jan 29th 2012 at 12:46:56 PM

Holler the threads that are stale and deadlocked or appear to have died from a lack of interest or lack of consensus, and ask for a lock due to inaction.

Holler the ones that simply need to have a crowner called so that work can be started on them.

If they've been called and are simply waiting for someone to do the work, do it.

The whole point of the thread cap is to encourage people to actually finish doing the repairs that are needed and agreed on, and to weed out the threads that haven't come to any conclusion.

edited 29th Jan '12 12:47:05 PM by Madrugada

troacctid (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#3: Jan 29th 2012 at 1:37:04 PM

Before you ask for a lock due to inaction, you should probably give them a bump to see if anyone is still interested.

Willbyr Hi (Y2K) Relationship Status: With my statistically significant other
Hi
#4: Jan 29th 2012 at 2:23:02 PM

Something that's been on my mind for a while - when is it safe to conclude a thread is "dead"? The Expiry Bot killed a thread at 90 days before it went away. I've been clocking threads in Image Pickin' at 60 days after the last post, but I've been thinking that moving the limit to 45 days would be a good idea, as we've hit a point in IP where threads are being created about as fast as they're being locked so we're stuck at 350ish threads.

edited 29th Jan '12 2:25:14 PM by Willbyr

Madrugada Since: Jan, 2001
#5: Jan 29th 2012 at 2:26:09 PM

I'd say a bump at 30, a clock at 45, and a lock at 60 or clock expiry whichever comes first.

edited 29th Jan '12 2:27:11 PM by Madrugada

ArcadesSabboth from Mother Earth Since: Oct, 2011
#6: Jan 29th 2012 at 2:59:42 PM

I agree they should be bumped before locking them. As fast as new threads are created, it just ain't possible for all 500 of them to be on the front page where the action is. There's only room for 99 on the front page, and like it or not anything that isn't on that page tends to be ignored.

Not that truly stale threads that generate no interest or deadlock with no hope of a consensus shouldn't be locked.

edit: spelling

edited 3rd Feb '12 7:11:17 PM by ArcadesSabboth

Oppression anywhere is a threat to democracy everywhere.
azul120 Since: Jan, 2001
#7: Feb 3rd 2012 at 1:52:29 PM

Agreed. Something has to be done. I would like to start a new TRS, but this is nothing more than a bottleneck ATM.

FastEddie Since: Apr, 2004
#8: Feb 3rd 2012 at 1:57:06 PM

Okay. I'll see if I can get more on the first page for TRS.

eta: It is now set 250 per page. Let's see how that works.

edited 3rd Feb '12 2:01:24 PM by FastEddie

Goal: Clear, Concise and Witty
djbj Since: Oct, 2010
#9: Feb 5th 2012 at 10:30:23 AM

Why don't we just lower the thread cap again? Did we decide somewhere that we wouldn't lower it anymore? Even though having 500 threads is much better than what it was before, I think it still leaves too much room for threads to go stale. I think either 250 or 300 would be an optimal final thread count number, but for now we can lower it to 450 or 400.

Also, I'm not sure that putting more thread on the front page will solve the problem. For me, at least, it just makes the pages too long and the threads harder to find.

ThatHuman someone from someplace Since: Jun, 2010
someone
#10: Feb 5th 2012 at 12:43:48 PM

[up]I think lowering the cap was pretty opposed in this thread.

edited 5th Feb '12 12:44:45 PM by ThatHuman

something
azul120 Since: Jan, 2001
#11: Feb 5th 2012 at 7:18:34 PM

There's still the problem of too many threads open. I can't start a new one!

Twentington Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Desperate
#12: Feb 5th 2012 at 7:34:23 PM

Agreed. If anything, the cap should be RAISED. Literally every time I check, 501 threads are open.

FastEddie Since: Apr, 2004
#13: Feb 5th 2012 at 7:35:45 PM

So close some. Pretty easy math.

Goal: Clear, Concise and Witty
shimaspawn from Here and Now Since: May, 2010 Relationship Status: In your bunk
#14: Feb 5th 2012 at 7:38:55 PM

I have personally closed five threads today. We're closing threads at a good rate. The issue is that people want to open new threads more than help on existing ones.

Reality is that, which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. -Philip K. Dick
feotakahari Fuzzy Orange Doomsayer from Looking out at the city Since: Sep, 2009
Fuzzy Orange Doomsayer
#15: Feb 5th 2012 at 7:39:06 PM

What I really want is a page somewhere in Administrivia explaining exactly how crowners work. I have no idea how to create one, but proper use of them seems to make it a lot easier to fix a topic.

That's Feo . . . He's a disgusting, mysoginistic, paedophilic asshat who moonlights as a shitty writer—Something Awful
shimaspawn from Here and Now Since: May, 2010 Relationship Status: In your bunk
#16: Feb 5th 2012 at 7:41:24 PM

How to fix a trope covers it but an actual page would probably be good.

Reality is that, which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. -Philip K. Dick
Martello Hammer of the Pervs from Black River, NY Since: Jan, 2001
Hammer of the Pervs
#17: Feb 5th 2012 at 7:45:23 PM

Closing threads isn't that hard. I sometimes just go to the last page in the TRS board, find a few threads that look done or like nothing else needs to be discussed. Then I post, saying, "this looks like we're done" or something along those lines. At that point I holler a mod to get it closed. If I missed my estimation, the thread stays open and hopefully some work gets done quickly. Otherwise, the thread is closed. Any time I want to open a new one, I try to close four or five old threads to make the space.

And yes, it would be nice to have easy-to-find instructions on how to make a crowner. I only just figured it out myself a few days ago.

edited 5th Feb '12 7:45:53 PM by Martello

"Did anybody invent this stuff on purpose?" - Phillip Marlowe on tequila, Finger Man by Raymond Chandler.
ArcadesSabboth from Mother Earth Since: Oct, 2011
#18: Feb 7th 2012 at 3:14:34 PM

Yeah, making crowners is only sort of obliquely explained, partly, on some other administrivia pages about renaming. Where to go to start one, how to start the different types, is not explained. A separate page for How To Make A Crowner would help.

As for raising the thread limit, then the TRS will go back to being the quagmire it was before, with over 1000 threads, and still it would sit at maximum and be closed. The fundamental problem is that people want to start new threads more than they want to help resolve old problems, and that mismatch will not be solved by a higher thread cap. Only removing the cap entirely would make the TRS permanently open, at the cost of getting almost nothing accomplished in there anymore.

edited 7th Feb '12 3:16:23 PM by ArcadesSabboth

Oppression anywhere is a threat to democracy everywhere.
SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#19: Feb 8th 2012 at 12:30:23 AM

About crowners, it would be nice to have an explanation about how they work as well, since it is nowhere spelt out easily - how many votes you need, the yes/no ratio needed to call one etc.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
MarqFJA The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer from Deserts of the Middle East (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
#20: Feb 8th 2012 at 8:30:32 AM

This may be a tangentially related question, but... How about making a "sandbox" page for tropers to list tropes/articles that are in need of TRS work (with one or two lines summarizing the essence of the problem, perhaps with the longer version being put on the trope's discussion page), while we deal with the effective "stalemate" between thread creation and thread closure in TRS?

I mean, Cryptic Mirror raised a good point here:

Could there be an automated queueing system or something set up? I've been trying to get a page into trs for a few months, but it is always closed. It would be helpful if there was a way you could flag a page, do a write up on the issue you think needs examined, and then queue it so that when the level drops the next in the queue automatically pops up (complete with its write up). It means that if you aren't a hard core TRS user you'd still have a way to get an issue in other than relying on dumb luck to hit the small gap where it is open.

I too am suffering from this problem, BTW.

edited 8th Feb '12 8:35:45 AM by MarqFJA

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
ArcadesSabboth from Mother Earth Since: Oct, 2011
#21: Feb 8th 2012 at 6:45:39 PM

[up]Yes, please!

Oppression anywhere is a threat to democracy everywhere.
Vidor Since: Nov, 2009
#22: Feb 8th 2012 at 9:54:28 PM

For several days I was checking the forum to see if we'd gotten under 500 posts so I could submit a rename proposal. Got to submit it today after the thread count finally dropped below 500. Am not a moderator so I can't go closing threads, but it looks like right now there are twelve threads in the forum that have not had a post made in them in two months. Several dozen threads haven't had a post in over a month.

Agree with all others above who don't know how to make a crowner. That How To Fix a Trope Page says nothing about how to actually do the things it tells you to do.

edited 8th Feb '12 9:54:45 PM by Vidor

Martello Hammer of the Pervs from Black River, NY Since: Jan, 2001
Hammer of the Pervs
#23: Feb 8th 2012 at 10:14:58 PM

@Vidor, like I said early in this thread, if there's no room start pushing to get stale threads closed. If it looks like an old thread is already done, holler a mod on the last post and ask if it can be closed. If it's awaiting action - usually has a star icon next to it - then post a "bump for fixing this" or just start fixing it yourself. Then holler to get it closed.

"Did anybody invent this stuff on purpose?" - Phillip Marlowe on tequila, Finger Man by Raymond Chandler.
Deboss I see the Awesomeness. from Awesomeville Texas Since: Aug, 2009
I see the Awesomeness.
#24: Feb 8th 2012 at 10:19:51 PM

Which things on How To Fix A Trope Page do you need help on?

edited 8th Feb '12 10:20:03 PM by Deboss

Fight smart, not fair.
lu127 Paper Master from 異界 Since: Sep, 2011 Relationship Status: Crazy Cat Lady
#25: Feb 9th 2012 at 4:50:02 AM

How to fix a trope is informative and useful, but should be in TRS, not FAQ. Or at least, put it in both subforums.

"If you aren't him, then you apparently got your brain from the same discount retailer, so..." - Fighteer

Total posts: 186
Top