Current affairs and the Anchor man

[Dave A]

First off, I really like the idea of the current affairs thread, yesterday we saw the first threads made by the new Anchor man which I believe is a bot that links to another site and creates topics from the news or something technical like that that I'll never get my head full around. The only problem is, I logged off yesterday and he'd made one thread, I log back on today an he's made 54 of them. I think theres too many threads being created too fast, no-ones going to discuss any of them, out of thoes 54 threads only a handful have any replies and only a couple of thoes have more than 1 reply, and thats only 2 or 3.

Just a suggestion, but really it depends on how you want to use the current affairs forum but if you want it to be a discussion of the news and current affairs I think theres too many threads being made too often, it there any way of slowing Anchor man down, maybe limiting his threads to more urgent news or setting a limit on the number of threads per day ect? Less threads would set the forum up for better and more focused discussions, any news Anchor man doesn't bring up can always be posted in a general news topic or something like that. I think that forum has great potential, I just can't get round it very easilly with all the threads being made so fast.

 

[gt_masta]

And he also made 2 threads about Champ bailey :
https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?t=75513
https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?t=75506
I noticed he makes thread every hour, maybe it could be every 12 hours or something so that topics at least stays in the first page for some time.

 

[Dave A]

He's made 54 within the last 17 hours, I think 1 thread every 2 hours would keep enough news coming in but not at such a rate no-one bothers replying to any of it. And we could have a general current affaris thread stickied at the top or something like that for news that he doesn't cover that anyone else would like to mention or discuss.

 

[G.T]

More urgent news would be created by members anyway (without the bot), because they will be talked about. So far, so many threads have been made and only a few have any replies in them. The others are a waste of space IMO because they will probably never be replied to. And then there is the multiple threads that are being made, one example being shown in gt_master's post.

It is a great idea, but I just think it is a bit of a waste of space IMO. But people may think that about the Convo Forum...

 

[Touring Mars]

I agree with what live4speed is saying, I don't think it is allowing discussion of the topics - whereas before the anchor man started posting, some topics were generating discussion points, but now they are already 3 pages away... also, multiple threads about the same topic makes discussion impossible... maybe a sub-forum dedicated to discussion is required?

 

[Dave A]

Possibly, I think the forum has huge potential myself. It's obviously something the mods and the admin would have to look at and decide what the best move would be, but I don't see and drawbacks to a sub forum for discussion's.

 

[Famine]

I PMed Duke a little while ago about this, asking if it was possible to merge Anchor Man's threads and get him to post all related links in a single one in future.

Anchor Man is a Premium Member with no previous posts, so I suspect a creation of the Staff.

 

[Iceman]

Jordan has stated that anchor man is a bot (although indirectly), in the thread called "Good Idea!" in the current events forum. I have to agree, he's getting a bit out of hand

 

[Sharky.]

I agree that Anchor Man's getting out of hand. He needs to be restricted to about 5 or so threads every couple of hours.

Plus, his posts tell us hardly anything about the topic, so we have to click the link to find out exactly what it is he's on about.

Ha!:

...Don't be afraid to break the ice in here - you don't expect Anchor Man to post everything, do you?

Looks like he's posting everything anyway

 

[Dave A]

5 or so threads every 2 hours is still 60 or so threads a day.

 

[Sharky.]

Ah yes, good point. Maybe 5 threads a day, then.

 

[Jordan]

He has obviously been posting far too much material due to incorrect cron instructions. He should now post three top stories every day at 8:00 AM. However, this will probably not happen. Let's just keep an eye on him.

 

[Sharky.]

We certainly will!

 

[G.T]

Great!

 

[Dave A]

👍 Should make the forum a lot easier to follow and better for discussions.

 

[Sharky.]

Looks to have worked, Jordan.

👍

 

[Cosmic]

OMG! So many thread and no posts!

 

[Small_Fryz]

He has obviously been posting far too much material due to incorrect cron instructions. He should now post three top stories every day at 8:00 AM. However, this will probably not happen. Let's just keep an eye on him.

What do we do when he has been naughty? Report to moderator? Give him a warning?

 

[VIPFREAK]

Was Blazin's SN taken over by a bot too? have you seen the Auto News forum?

 

[daan]

Nah, Blazin' is still Blazin', but Famine is a bot.

 

[Touring Mars]

What do we do when he has been naughty? Report to moderator? Give him a warning?

He has already been reported

 

[Touring Mars]

Anchor Man can't quote quotes properly

AFP - Irish rockers U2 upset the form book at the annual Grammy awards here Wednesday, hauling in five trophies, including the coveted Album of the Year award for "How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb."

Can he be fixed??

 

[livemusic]

I never knew he was a bot, I thought it was just someone with not much to do besides read news' websites.