Observations re limits, readability, search-ability, etc

[harryp_52556]

(*clears throat*)  This is my first post on Feedback.  I haven't read
all the threads, but I've read through the "5 posts per day limit"
thread, so I'm somewhat up to date on the issues.

Some observations:

* I'd guess that 5 posts per day is sufficient for most people.  And
since the limit is enforced after the fact with an escalation process
of Howlers, Moderation, and eventually Destruction, I doubt that the
limit is much of a real problem for anybody.  (Except the elves who
implement the policy!)


* We're at "peacetime" right now, but I want to point out that there
will be only one more "wartime" in our future.  Maybe two or three if
JKRowling shocks us with something.  My point is that making rules
that work for peacetime will probably be best, since the wartimes will
be limited occurrences.


* What with the unexpected flood of newbies from Yahoo's recent focus
on HP4GU, I think we're going through a temporary problem time that
will work itself out in a week or so.  I'd hate to see us change the
rules for a temporary problem.


* I think some (a lot?) of the problem with newbies asking obvious
questions that have been hashed many times before ("Hey, did anybody
notice that Harry's scar is in the shape of a lightning bolt?!"), is
that Yahoo's group-list software makes it difficult to find
_INFORMATION_.  The software promotes posting and tends to demote
searching.  The new Search functions help, but it's clear that newbies
aren't using it much before they post.  The number of repetitive posts
speaks for itself there, I think.  I've tried reading the forum with
the posts "grouped by subject" but I find that if I skip topics I miss
interesting posts that were tangential to the main thread and the
poster didn't bother to change the subject line.
    Repeat of overall observation: Yahoo's group software exacerbates
some of the problems we are experiencing and there's very little we
can do about it.


* When people search for something (e.g. "Dumbledore's Socks" in
message body) they'll get hundreds of posts that match those search
terms, but the relevant info is twisted in with posts that are
unrelated.  This is a problem complicated by our policy of limiting
the number of posts per day, which encourages people to post very long
posts on multiple topics.  After having read all this discussion, I
DON'T think the answer is to raise or remove the limits on the number
of posts per day.  But I do think we should discourage omnibus posts
on multiple topics.  It just makes it too hard to find _INFORMATION_.



My suggestions:

1) Keep the 5 posts per day limit.  It seems to mostly adequate.  Keep
it a guideline that continues to use a progressively escalating
management policy of Howler, Moderation, etc.


2) Discourage omnibus multi-topic posts


3) To help newbies feel welcome, if they post a topic has been covered
before, we should encourage older hands to be nice and provide a link
to those older discussions and to remind people about the search
function.  *** NOTE: I'd suggest that such "pointer" posts not count
towards the posters daily 5.


4) It would be nice if once a month (or maybe even once per week
during wartime) an Elf/Admin could post a message with links to useful
places (Search button, Database, Files, HP-Lexicon, Harry-Potter
Wikipedia pages, Google).  This Admin post could remind everybody of
the 5-post limit.
   The point of this post is to prevent the useless posts before they
are posted.  It also gives the helpful old hands an easily-found place
to point newbies to.


Thanks for listening,
Eddie