[suggestion] Ban Self-Advertising (Threads)

[Kittet3]

Or at least limit it to the Studio subforum. 

 

EDIT: (Ban the threads, not the people that make them. Sorry that's not clear!)

 

I feel like I am in a minority here, but there are too many threads whose sole purpose is to advertise a youtube video, offsite trophy guide, or offsite article written by the OP. I am not trying to squash anyone's hard work and talent, but if I was interested in any of that stuff, I would go look it up on youtube or google myself. The threads barely lead to any value-add discussion at best and, at worse, it's actually discouraging people to create an official guide for the game. Why go through the process of typing words when you can post a youtube video and be done with no peer review?

 

There's also really inconsistent moderation of these threads. I remember the big drama last year when threads of someone posting to offsite trophy guides were deleted, but yet there is no rule around it and I still see similar threads being made. I will admit that there are some OPs that I enjoy their content, but there are far too many that are outright spammy. I don't think it's fair to pick and choose who can make these threads, which is why I think we should just blanket ban all of them. Otherwise, we will just get more and more people whose sole purpose in this forum is to self-advertise.

 

I will clarify that my proposal isn't when people comment with videos and links to threads where that makes sense. "I'm having trouble doing x and y" "Oh, here's how I did it - link to video". That seems natural and helpful in that context. My proposal is for threads whose OP is literally a link or an embed with maybe a few lines of text. If banning them is too much, my second proposal is to limit them to the studio subforum since that will cut down on the number of identical threads being made and I could probably figure out a way to filter them out of my feed.

 

Anyway, that is my unpopular suggestion for the day.

Edited July 30, 2020 by Kittet3

[ThatMuttGuy]

Agreed. It's kind of annoying when you see a thread that says "Trophy Guide" and inside the thread is a link to another website. 

 

I get they want to make money, but come on. 

[TurtlePM]

It might be a unpopular suggestion here, but punishing someone with a ban because they made a specific post is WAY too much.

 

Nothing happened to those people that constantly create "help me with boost" topics when they certainly know there is a Game Session tab to create those. Those are simply deleted. So if something has to be done with the threads you mentioned, deleting them is enough. 

Edited July 30, 2020 by TurtlePM

[Kittet3]

Just now, TurtlePM said:

It might be a unpopular suggestion here, but punishing someone with a ban because they made a specific post is WAY too much.

 

Nothing happened to those people that constantly create "help me with boost" topics, they are simply deleted. So if something has to be done with those threads you mentioned, deleting them is enough. 

I don't mean ban the person, I mean ban the threads. I'll make that clearer in my OP. 

[HellcoreFire]

Just now, Kittet3 said:

I don't mean ban the person, I mean ban the threads. I'll make that clearer in my OP. 

 

It's pretty obvious that's what you meant.

[Helyx]

7 minutes ago, Kittet3 said:

I don't mean ban the person, I mean ban the threads.

 

I guess I'll be that guy. Do you mean like how you're advertising your YT channel in your signature? Or are you only against people promoting guides hosted on other domains?

[Kittet3]

14 minutes ago, Helyx said:

 

I guess I'll be that guy. Do you mean like how you're advertising your YT channel in your signature? Or are you only against people promoting guides hosted on other domains?

Ban threads.

 

Signatures, profile pages, PSN description boxes, etc. - I am fine with people advertising there. I'm just advocating against the threads whose main post is a link or a video that the person created - usually, they are trophy guides but occasionally there are other types. 

 

EDIT: I clarified my position in the title

Edited July 30, 2020 by Kittet3

[RNumbers]

 

16 minutes ago, Kittet3 said:

Ban threads.

 

Signatures, profile pages, PSN description boxes, etc. - I am fine with people advertising there. I'm just advocating against the threads whose main post is a link or a video that the person created - usually, they are trophy guides but occasionally there are other types. 

 

EDIT: I clarified my position in the title

 

I agree with this. It doesn't help that most of the videos I've ended up clicking on have been all but unwatchable. I don't think anything of value will be lost by banning these threads. I have no problem finding the quality content by other means.

[knoef_NL]

They banned my lovely website, www.*** , but are allowing all other websites.

Totally agreeing with you. The content can be found on google, no need to share it in a thread

Edited July 30, 2020 by knoef_NL

[DaivRules]

I'm expecting this to be super-unpopular, but can you just not click on the thread? There are currently:

 

Quote

Total Topics

85,860

 

And it's not like everyone must click every one of those. These get posted, and generally within an hour, they're buried. At least the ones seemingly referred to.

[Guest]

I too dislike threads made just for a video guide. Any kind of guides should be in the guides section with a written guide attach with a video if needed.

Not that it bothers me too much I'll stress over but just something I dislike like too..

there's a lot of other things I dislike too ?.

[ThatMuttGuy]

3 minutes ago, DaivRules said:

I'm expecting this to be super-unpopular, but can you just not click on the thread? There are currently:

 

 

And it's not like everyone must click every one of those. These get posted, and generally within an hour, they're buried. At least the ones seemingly referred to.

 

By that same logic, why delete any thread? It will just get buried.

[Kittet3]

Just now, DaivRules said:

I'm expecting this to be super-unpopular, but can you just not click on the thread? There are currently:

 

 

And it's not like everyone must click every one of those. These get posted, and generally within an hour, they're buried. At least the ones seemingly referred to.

I have very bad self-control

 

More seriously, I actually tried to time this thread when there wasn't a self-advertising thread in the "new threads" list so I wouldn't look shady and I had to give up because there's always at least one. At one point, I remember 8 threads being posted in short succession of each other at the peak of the issue and now the material is getting to be lower and lower quality with more ambiguous titles.

 

I'm also with knoef here - ya'll went and banned his URL. How is that different than the youtube/whatever-other-site-that-people-use-for-those-text-guides? It's the same concept- they are taking traffic away from this site and our guides as well as clogging up the homepage.

[IesuHado]

I like it for games like the ones @IBadDriverI did some where he post the entire trophy platrough be cause are short games.

 

Also more than 1 one time some of those threads have save me time with another strategies that are not explained in the guide of the site.

 

So I don't have problem also If I don't like it I don't openned it simple. But still I respect your opinion just don't think the same

Edited July 30, 2020 by NordicSaiyan

[ThatMuttGuy]

8 minutes ago, NordicSaiyan said:

 But still I respect your opinion just don't share it.

 

Uh, what

[IesuHado]

9 minutes ago, ThatMuttGuy said:

 

Uh, what

 

My bad I'm not a english speaker it was a grammar error

[Kittet3]

19 minutes ago, NordicSaiyan said:

I like it for games like the ones @IBadDriverI did some where he post the entire trophy platrough be cause are short games.

 

Also more than 1 one time some of those threads have save me time with another strategies that are not explained in the guide of the site.

 

So I don't have problem also If I don't like it I don't openned it simple. But still I respect your opinion just don't share it.

I love his video guides! I go search him up on Youtube whenever I want a video guide instead of a text one since they are done in a way that is easily follow-able. However, if he wants to advertise his videos on this site, he should make formal guide like others do- lots of people make games guides as poor guises to push out their youtube videos within the guides and I'm fine with that. It's fair and it doesn't clog up the forums. 

 

When I look up Rime, there are at least 20 youtube video guides. Do we really want 20 individual threads promoting these guides? Yes, we aren't at that point yet, but without clear regulations on self-advertising, we will slowly get there. 

[ThatMuttGuy]

4 minutes ago, NordicSaiyan said:

 

My bad I'm not a english speaker it was a grammar error

Oh ok lol. I understand what you mean now. The original way was just worded in a funny way!

Edited July 30, 2020 by ThatMuttGuy
.

[turniplord]

Wouldn't it be easier if there was an option to submit a video as THE trophy guide? That way it'll be placed in the guides section and not in the forum?

Although, it should still require them to fill out the info at the top of the guide and basic info on each trophy.

I think what I'm getting at is, can't the video uploaders be made to actually write an official guide on the site and then place their video inside of it?


I will admit, I rarely will make a thread talking about a game and post a link to my review, but that's nothing to do with guides, it's just so people can find out more about the game if they wish to. I wouldn't link to a guide, if I made any, because this site is for guides so it seems like a conflict of interest. So yeah, I think I kinda agree with the OP from a business stance.

[DaivRules]

38 minutes ago, ThatMuttGuy said:

 

By that same logic, why delete any thread? It will just get buried.

Well the content of a removed thread (Which is actually rare) is content that contributes to an environment that isn’t wanted here. 
 

Does this content truly have that same impact?

Just now, turniplord said:

Wouldn't it be easier if there was an option to submit a video as THE trophy guide? That way it'll be placed in the guides section and not in the forum?

The problem with that is the video content can be changed later and there is no way to verify it’s that same content whenever someone views it later. Also, ensuring every video has the same format and content like is done for written guides would be a nightmare. 

7 minutes ago, Kittet3 said:

Do we really want 20 individual threads promoting these guides? Yes, we aren't at that point yet, but without clear regulations on self-advertising, we will slowly get there. 

Multiple threads with the same video guides for the same game have been getting merged Into one thread for some time now. 

[Kittet3]

5 minutes ago, turniplord said:

Wouldn't it be easier if there was an option to submit a video as THE trophy guide? That way it'll be placed in the guides section and not in the forum?

Although, it should still require them to fill out the info at the top of the guide and basic info on each trophy.

I think what I'm getting at is, can't the video uploaders be made to actually write an official guide on the site and then place their video inside of it?


I will admit, I rarely will make a thread talking about a game and post a link to my review, but that's nothing to do with guides, it's just so people can find out more about the game if they wish to. I wouldn't link to a guide, if I made any, because this site is for guides so it seems like a conflict of interest. So yeah, I think I kinda agree with the OP from a business stance.

I honestly would love it if each game could have a text based and a video based guide. That way people could pick their preference and we stop getting text-guides that are just pushing videos at us. But that's probably an unpopular opinion for a different day.

5 minutes ago, DaivRules said:

Well the content of a removed thread (Which is actually rare) is content that contributes to an environment that isn’t wanted here. 
 

Does this content truly have that same impact?

The problem with that is the video content can be changed later and there is no way to verify it’s that same content whenever someone views it later. Also, ensuring every video has the same format and content like is done for written guides would be a nightmare. 

Multiple threads with the same video guides for the same game have been getting merged Into one thread for some time now. 

When new members come here and see threads with little interaction and a video or text link, they will automatically think spam. It also discourages trophy guides to be made on this site - I'm not going to make a trophy guide and waste my time for someone already linked one in a thread and is getting that trophy guide clout. This is especially true to people who do embed their OC in their guides. This is even worst for the threads that are literally a link to offsite for a game review or something. I'm not clicking on that sketchy link, especially if you don't even summarize your point of view.

 

You can't change youtube videos once you upload them besides cutting them down to be shorter. 

 

That's actually good to know. Doesn't change my stance, but I like that improvement.

 

Also, moderation is still inconsistent with these types of threads and that's just plainly unfair. 

[DaivRules]

On 7/30/2020 at 4:35 PM, Kittet3 said:

When new members come here and see threads with little interaction and a video or text link, they will automatically think spam. It also discourages trophy guides to be made on this site - I'm not going to make a trophy guide and waste my time for someone already linked one in a thread and is getting that trophy guide clout. This is especially true to people who do embed their OC in their guides. This is even worst for the threads that are literally a link to offsite for a game review or something. I'm not clicking on that sketchy link, especially if you don't even summarize your point of view.

I can’t speak to the speculation about how every new member thinks the first time they visit the site, but on your other points:

 

The games that typically have video guides posted generally don’t have anyone claim interest in creating a guide. In the (two that I can remember) instances that someone creates a written guide for the site for those games, any video guides threads had been removed. 
 

We have also been reaching out to thread starters who only post a link to have them embed their content and give some context. 
 

Edited August 5, 2020 by DaivRules

[SelectiveGamer]

I mean... I wasn't really doing mine for self promotion honestly... I mostly do mine for fun/because I want to. I never got into YouTube/Twitch streaming to become popular. That was never my goal. It was, again, because I felt like it and was mostly for fun. Whether you choose to believe that is up to you I guess.

 

As long as I can continue to do mine in some form or another... without too harsh of a consequence... that's fine by me honestly. If I have to keep to the Studio area... that's fine too.

 

I don't know what the mods want to do about all the old threads I made with it... unless they want to combine them all into a new thread in the Studio area. lol.

 

Regardless if this is implemented I'll just make a new thread in the Studio area where I'll post them from now on.

 

Keep me posted I guess.

[MMDE]

What about the threads I've made where I discuss what I thought about a game I just played? I sometimes link to like some gameplay footage of it too. I do however know the threads you're talking about though, where the sole purpose is to go elsewhere for the main content of the thread. Like posting you put up a review of the game, elsewhere, and/or a trophy guide, elsewhere, and don't even care to port them to the site, because of slight differences in formatting, or honestly, just because you made them for traffic on your own site.

Edited July 30, 2020 by MMDE

[NathanielJohn]

I've come and gone on this. I think that they can be useful, but I really wish that they at least had to put "video" somewhere in the title. It's extremely annoying to click on a thread that says "trophy guide" and then see that it contains nothing but an hour-long video.

 

Either post a mini-guide in your thread, or make it clear in the title that it's a *video* guide.