Random Thoughts

[Scott5114]

I don't like the spam either. Here's the front page of the General board. Of the 14 most recent threads here, 8 of them are tolbs threads (one of those 8 got moved to fictional). So pretty much more than half of the most recently replied to 14 threads are from one user, and I (and probably the post quality restrictions filter too) categorize some of those as spam.

I know why you circled my name (because I was the one who moved it), but without that context that makes it look like you think I'm tolbs's sockpuppet

[tolbs17]

I dunno, wait a little until one thread has concluded and then start another?

If you bombard the forum with 2-3 threads a day, it shows you just want to vent. We're not here to unilaterally care about the same things you do. And we're not here to put out all your little fires, so to speak. Most of us want to share knowledge and learn something, not just post about minor differences in signage.

I normally make one thread a day. I will keep waiting

[thspfc]

I don't like the spam either. Here's the front page of the General board. Of the 14 most recent threads here, 8 of them are tolbs threads (one of those 8 got moved to fictional). So pretty much more than half of the most recently replied to 14 threads are from one user, and I (and probably the post quality restrictions filter too) categorize some of those as spam.

It wouldn't look like that if a few users didn't perpetuate tolbs' threads by complaining about the number of North Carolina references in them.

[Max Rockatansky]

I dunno, wait a little until one thread has concluded and then start another?

If you bombard the forum with 2-3 threads a day, it shows you just want to vent. We're not here to unilaterally care about the same things you do. And we're not here to put out all your little fires, so to speak. Most of us want to share knowledge and learn something, not just post about minor differences in signage.

I normally make one thread a day. I will keep waiting

I'm not sure if you are aware but there is numerous Facebook groups which are more about popcorn posts.  Freewayjim, Roadgeekery and there is no way that is MUTCD complaint are common places to see more generic posts (including Google Maps images). 

[US 89]

I normally make one thread a day. I will keep waiting

Protip: this is the wrong approach for most internet forums.

This isn't Discord or Facebook or a chatroom where you just post whatever comes to mind. Because it takes a little longer to make a post on here, it's generally expected that posts be thought through more and contribute something that a good chunk of the forum's membership will find interesting. This is a forum full of nitpicky pedantry and attention to detail, so the fact that a lot of people even on here have been consistently finding your topics too nitpicky or focused on uninteresting details should maybe suggest something. People get tired of seeing posts with contextless Google Maps links to some minor thing that North Carolina does, especially when it's framed as "why don't other states do it like this?" or as a poll with "do you prefer x or y?". Even on here, most people don't care.

If a post isn't going to contribute something interesting and well thought out... it's better off if it's never made at all. Waiting another day or two doesn't help. It may reduce the degree of forum spamming, but it doesn't make the post any better. There is no need to post a new thread (or at all) every day. Nor is there any need to apologize for not posting on here... which I've seen a couple people do in recent days/weeks.

(Side note: this culture does vary by forum. On another forum I lurk and post in on occasion, probably over half the posts consist of one-line thoughts that may not contribute a whole lot. That seems to be considered acceptable over there as opposed to here, but I find it makes threads exceptionally hard to read as it's basically a chatroom in a medium that wasn't built for that purpose.)

[tolbs17]

I normally make one thread a day. I will keep waiting

Protip: this is the wrong approach for most internet forums.

This isn't Discord or Facebook or a chatroom where you just post whatever comes to mind. Because it takes a little longer to make a post on here, it's generally expected that posts be thought through more and contribute something that a good chunk of the forum's membership will find interesting. This is a forum full of nitpicky pedantry and attention to detail, so the fact that a lot of people even on here have been consistently finding your topics too nitpicky or focused on uninteresting details should maybe suggest something. People get tired of seeing posts with contextless Google Maps links to some minor thing that North Carolina does, especially when it's framed as "why don't other states do it like this?" or as a poll with "do you prefer x or y?". Even on here, most people don't care.

If a post isn't going to contribute something interesting and well thought out... it's better off if it's never made at all. Waiting another day or two doesn't help. It may reduce the degree of forum spamming, but it doesn't make the post any better. There is no need to post a new thread (or at all) every day. Nor is there any need to apologize for not posting on here... which I've seen a couple people do in recent days/weeks.

(Side note: this culture does vary by forum. On another forum I lurk and post in on occasion, probably over half the posts consist of one-line thoughts that may not contribute a whole lot. That seems to be considered acceptable over there as opposed to here, but I find it makes threads exceptionally hard to read as it's basically a chatroom in a medium that wasn't built for that purpose.)

I don't get along with others through social media. Most of them are not roadgeeks. So I just present my ideas here really.

[thspfc]

I normally make one thread a day. I will keep waiting

Protip: this is the wrong approach for most internet forums.

This isn't Discord or Facebook or a chatroom where you just post whatever comes to mind. Because it takes a little longer to make a post on here, it's generally expected that posts be thought through more and contribute something that a good chunk of the forum's membership will find interesting. This is a forum full of nitpicky pedantry and attention to detail, so the fact that a lot of people even on here have been consistently finding your topics too nitpicky or focused on uninteresting details should maybe suggest something. People get tired of seeing posts with contextless Google Maps links to some minor thing that North Carolina does, especially when it's framed as "why don't other states do it like this?" or as a poll with "do you prefer x or y?". Even on here, most people don't care.

If a post isn't going to contribute something interesting and well thought out... it's better off if it's never made at all. Waiting another day or two doesn't help. It may reduce the degree of forum spamming, but it doesn't make the post any better. There is no need to post a new thread (or at all) every day. Nor is there any need to apologize for not posting on here... which I've seen a couple people do in recent days/weeks.

(Side note: this culture does vary by forum. On another forum I lurk and post in on occasion, probably over half the posts consist of one-line thoughts that may not contribute a whole lot. That seems to be considered acceptable over there as opposed to here, but I find it makes threads exceptionally hard to read as it's basically a chatroom in a medium that wasn't built for that purpose.)

Looking at the recent non-tolbs General Highway Talk threads that have reached two pages? Almost all of them are either

A) a variation of "what highways have you been on" (i.e. lowest numbered route you haven't been on, most challenging conventional roads you've been on)

or

B) looking for examples of a certain type or characteristic of a road or things relating to a road (i.e. drive thrus backing up onto streets, long state highways that tie into short state highways, busiest 4-lane highways, highways that were underbuilt)


Of course there are some exceptions. But not many.

Neither of these types of post are high-effort.

The only difference between most posts that "succeed" in General and tolbs17's posts are that tolbs almost exclusively links to things from North Carolina, which is where it becomes spam. For example, if tolbs created the thread "Most Exciting/Most Embarrassing Ends Of A Single Interstate", he would have linked to the unremarkable ending of I-9999 in Greensvillesdalesboro NC, which nobody is interested in seeing, and therefore people complain about another North Carolina link rather than discussing the thread topic.

[tolbs17]

This thread is specifically about North Carolina

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=25425.msg2621761#msg2621761

[SkyPesos]

If a post isn't going to contribute something interesting and well thought out... it's better off if it's never made at all. Waiting another day or two doesn't help. It may reduce the degree of forum spamming, but it doesn't make the post any better. There is no need to post a new thread (or at all) every day. Nor is there any need to apologize for not posting on here... which I've seen a couple people do in recent days/weeks.

Or he can post in his "tolbs17 in one thread" thread, if he really wants to get his thoughts out, and doesn't clutter the forum for the rest of us.

(Side note: this culture does vary by forum. On another forum I lurk and post in on occasion, probably over half the posts consist of one-line thoughts that may not contribute a whole lot. That seems to be considered acceptable over there as opposed to here, but I find it makes threads exceptionally hard to read as it's basically a chatroom in a medium that wasn't built for that purpose.)

I see this variation between subreddits on Reddit a lot too. Some of them expect high-quality threads (sometimes even more strict guidelines than this forum), while some others as many shitposts as they want, and a lot in between.

[Scott5114]

This thread is specifically about North Carolina

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=25425.msg2621761#msg2621761

Okay, so? That doesn't actually respond to the problems anyone has here.

[Max Rockatansky]

This thread is specifically about North Carolina

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=25425.msg2621761#msg2621761

Okay, so? That doesn't actually respond to the problems anyone has here.

More so, why was it posted on the General Board?

[tolbs17]

This thread is specifically about North Carolina

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=25425.msg2621761#msg2621761

Okay, so? That doesn't actually respond to the problems anyone has here.

Ah, I see what it is now.

This thread is specifically about North Carolina

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=25425.msg2621761#msg2621761

Okay, so? That doesn't actually respond to the problems anyone has here.

More so, why was it posted on the General Board?

Because it was not related to roads?

[Max Rockatansky]

This thread is specifically about North Carolina

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=25425.msg2621761#msg2621761

Okay, so? That doesn't actually respond to the problems anyone has here.

Ah, I see what it is now.

This thread is specifically about North Carolina

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=25425.msg2621761#msg2621761

Okay, so? That doesn't actually respond to the problems anyone has here.

More so, why was it posted on the General Board?

Because it was not related to roads?

And that makes it belong in General Highway Talk because why?

[tolbs17]

This thread is specifically about North Carolina

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=25425.msg2621761#msg2621761

Okay, so? That doesn't actually respond to the problems anyone has here.

Ah, I see what it is now.

This thread is specifically about North Carolina

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=25425.msg2621761#msg2621761

Okay, so? That doesn't actually respond to the problems anyone has here.

More so, why was it posted on the General Board?

Because it was not related to roads?

And that makes it belong in General Highway Talk because why?

Because I was asking why do some buses only drive 45 mph and not 55 or 60 or even faster.....

[Max Rockatansky]

This thread is specifically about North Carolina

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=25425.msg2621761#msg2621761

Okay, so? That doesn't actually respond to the problems anyone has here.

Ah, I see what it is now.

This thread is specifically about North Carolina

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=25425.msg2621761#msg2621761

Okay, so? That doesn't actually respond to the problems anyone has here.

More so, why was it posted on the General Board?

Because it was not related to roads?

And that makes it belong in General Highway Talk because why?

Because I was asking why do some buses only drive 45 mph and not 55 or 60 or even faster.....

In North Carolina, how is that non-regional highway talk?  Do you seriously not see the problem we are all trying to illustrate with posts like this? 

[tolbs17]

This thread is specifically about North Carolina

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=25425.msg2621761#msg2621761

Okay, so? That doesn't actually respond to the problems anyone has here.

Ah, I see what it is now.

This thread is specifically about North Carolina

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=25425.msg2621761#msg2621761

Okay, so? That doesn't actually respond to the problems anyone has here.

More so, why was it posted on the General Board?

Because it was not related to roads?

And that makes it belong in General Highway Talk because why?

Because I was asking why do some buses only drive 45 mph and not 55 or 60 or even faster.....

In North Carolina, how is that non-regional highway talk?  Do you seriously not see the problem we are all trying to illustrate with posts like this?

Yes, but take a look at this though...

https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title46.2/chapter8/section46.2-871/#:~:text=The%20maximum%20speed%20limit%20for,is%20more%20than%2055%20miles

It's not just NC that requires school buses to go 45 mph, Virginia does it too... however, they are not as strict compared to NC with the 45 mph laws.

So with you saying that, should that thread get moved to the "Southeast" board? I did ask and it never got moved...

I do see the problem. I'm obsessed with nitpicking because it creates an error for people to read.

[Max Rockatansky]

This thread is specifically about North Carolina

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=25425.msg2621761#msg2621761

Okay, so? That doesn't actually respond to the problems anyone has here.

Ah, I see what it is now.

This thread is specifically about North Carolina

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=25425.msg2621761#msg2621761

Okay, so? That doesn't actually respond to the problems anyone has here.

More so, why was it posted on the General Board?

Because it was not related to roads?

And that makes it belong in General Highway Talk because why?

Because I was asking why do some buses only drive 45 mph and not 55 or 60 or even faster.....

In North Carolina, how is that non-regional highway talk?  Do you seriously not see the problem we are all trying to illustrate with posts like this?

Yes, but take a look at this though...

https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title46.2/chapter8/section46.2-871/#:~:text=The%20maximum%20speed%20limit%20for,is%20more%20than%2055%20miles

It's not just NC that requires school buses to go 45 mph, Virginia does it too... however, they are not as strict compared to NC with the 45 mph laws.

So with you saying that, should that thread get moved to the "Southeast" board? I did ask and it never got moved...

I do see the problem. I'm obsessed with nitpicking because it creates an error for people to read.

Really if you want it direct I'm implying that the majority of your posts are wasteful.  If you can't stop posting fluff, then maybe this isn't the hobby for you.  I don't know how many ways people can say to you "stop spam posting"  without you getting it?

[tolbs17]

This thread is specifically about North Carolina

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=25425.msg2621761#msg2621761

Okay, so? That doesn't actually respond to the problems anyone has here.

Ah, I see what it is now.

This thread is specifically about North Carolina

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=25425.msg2621761#msg2621761

Okay, so? That doesn't actually respond to the problems anyone has here.

More so, why was it posted on the General Board?

Because it was not related to roads?

And that makes it belong in General Highway Talk because why?

Because I was asking why do some buses only drive 45 mph and not 55 or 60 or even faster.....

In North Carolina, how is that non-regional highway talk?  Do you seriously not see the problem we are all trying to illustrate with posts like this?

Yes, but take a look at this though...

https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title46.2/chapter8/section46.2-871/#:~:text=The%20maximum%20speed%20limit%20for,is%20more%20than%2055%20miles

It's not just NC that requires school buses to go 45 mph, Virginia does it too... however, they are not as strict compared to NC with the 45 mph laws.

So with you saying that, should that thread get moved to the "Southeast" board? I did ask and it never got moved...

I do see the problem. I'm obsessed with nitpicking because it creates an error for people to read.

Really if you want it direct I'm implying that the majority of your posts are wasteful.  If you can't stop posting fluff, then maybe this isn't the hobby for you.  I don't know how many ways people can say to you "stop spam posting"  without you getting it?

Then I will stop spam-posting minor details and start posting more interesting stuff that people would enjoy! I go out to ride my bike sometimes...

[Max Rockatansky]

This thread is specifically about North Carolina

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=25425.msg2621761#msg2621761

Okay, so? That doesn't actually respond to the problems anyone has here.

Ah, I see what it is now.

This thread is specifically about North Carolina

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=25425.msg2621761#msg2621761

Okay, so? That doesn't actually respond to the problems anyone has here.

More so, why was it posted on the General Board?

Because it was not related to roads?

And that makes it belong in General Highway Talk because why?

Because I was asking why do some buses only drive 45 mph and not 55 or 60 or even faster.....

In North Carolina, how is that non-regional highway talk?  Do you seriously not see the problem we are all trying to illustrate with posts like this?

Yes, but take a look at this though...

https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title46.2/chapter8/section46.2-871/#:~:text=The%20maximum%20speed%20limit%20for,is%20more%20than%2055%20miles

It's not just NC that requires school buses to go 45 mph, Virginia does it too... however, they are not as strict compared to NC with the 45 mph laws.

So with you saying that, should that thread get moved to the "Southeast" board? I did ask and it never got moved...

I do see the problem. I'm obsessed with nitpicking because it creates an error for people to read.

Really if you want it direct I'm implying that the majority of your posts are wasteful.  If you can't stop posting fluff, then maybe this isn't the hobby for you.  I don't know how many ways people can say to you "stop spam posting"  without you getting it?

Then I will stop spam-posting minor details and start posting more interesting stuff that people would enjoy! I go out to ride my bike sometimes...

So basically more localized stuff nobody wants to hear about.  So basically, just more wasteful spam...

[LilianaUwU]

So basically more localized stuff nobody wants to hear about.  So basically, just more wasteful spam...

Dare I say the situation turned you into Mad Max? 

[tolbs17]

This thread is specifically about North Carolina

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=25425.msg2621761#msg2621761

Okay, so? That doesn't actually respond to the problems anyone has here.

Ah, I see what it is now.

This thread is specifically about North Carolina

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=25425.msg2621761#msg2621761

Okay, so? That doesn't actually respond to the problems anyone has here.

More so, why was it posted on the General Board?

Because it was not related to roads?

And that makes it belong in General Highway Talk because why?

Because I was asking why do some buses only drive 45 mph and not 55 or 60 or even faster.....

In North Carolina, how is that non-regional highway talk?  Do you seriously not see the problem we are all trying to illustrate with posts like this?

Yes, but take a look at this though...

https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title46.2/chapter8/section46.2-871/#:~:text=The%20maximum%20speed%20limit%20for,is%20more%20than%2055%20miles

It's not just NC that requires school buses to go 45 mph, Virginia does it too... however, they are not as strict compared to NC with the 45 mph laws.

So with you saying that, should that thread get moved to the "Southeast" board? I did ask and it never got moved...

I do see the problem. I'm obsessed with nitpicking because it creates an error for people to read.

Really if you want it direct I'm implying that the majority of your posts are wasteful.  If you can't stop posting fluff, then maybe this isn't the hobby for you.  I don't know how many ways people can say to you "stop spam posting"  without you getting it?

Then I will stop spam-posting minor details and start posting more interesting stuff that people would enjoy! I go out to ride my bike sometimes...

So basically more localized stuff nobody wants to hear about.  So basically, just more wasteful spam...

And I don't care about hearing about that's more than 500 miles away from where I live unless it's something interesting like a major highway or a rail project.

[Max Rockatansky]

^^^

Then go join a forum or social media platform that is all about North Carolina and stop wasting our time.  We don't want to hear about your local stuff. 

So basically more localized stuff nobody wants to hear about.  So basically, just more wasteful spam...

Dare I say the situation turned you into Mad Max? 

If you can't fix what's broken you'll go insane. 

And yes, that is a Mad Max movie quote.

[tolbs17]

^^^

Then go join a forum or social media platform that is all about North Carolina and stop wasting our time.  We don't want to hear about your local stuff. 

Used to be on City-Data but got banned from there since then. I got too pissy....but ok. Maybe I should join Reddit?

[SkyPesos]

^^^

Then go join a forum or social media platform that is all about North Carolina and stop wasting our time.  We don't want to hear about your local stuff. 

Used to be on City-Data but got banned from there since then. I got too pissy....but ok. Maybe I should join Reddit?

Southeast board here works too. There's most likely more people interested in NC roads than in the General board.

[tolbs17]

^^^

Then go join a forum or social media platform that is all about North Carolina and stop wasting our time.  We don't want to hear about your local stuff. 

Used to be on City-Data but got banned from there since then. I got too pissy....but ok. Maybe I should join Reddit?

Southeast board here works too. There's most likely more people interested in NC roads than in the General board.

Now maybe I should just get a moderator to move the thread...