Post limits for Incidents Forum

[Scubadivemaster 3]

This may not be technically possible, but here is a suggestion.

The Incidents Forum is an important place to share information and to learn. However, in many, if not most, of the threads, the discussions move off point as posters bring up their favorite topics and try to insert them in a place that they know others will be reading. There are some members that post their opinions in every incident thread, whether relevant in any way or not. There is no "cost" to posting, so many seem to interject their thoughts without taking the time to think them through or decide if they are contributing anything.

If it were possible to limit the number of times a person could post, maybe people would spend their posts more wisely. Whether the limit is one post per thread, 5 posts per month, or 20 posts per year, maybe it would encourage people to start another thread in the appropriate forum rather than hijacking the original thread.

My thought has always been that the Incidents Forum was a place to READ, unless you had specific information about the incident, or something to contribute that was well thought out, to the point, and that simply could not be posted anywhere else on Dropzone.com. I think of it like testifying at a trial, where you shouldn't be called as a witness unless you actually have something to say. Or like speaking at a funeral, where your words and thoughts should have the gravity that the situation calls for.

My intent is not to diminish the forum, but to focus it.

Submitted respectfully and politely, with no intended insult to anyone.

[Meso 38]

Thanks for the suggestion, unfortunately there are some complexities to such a system which would may hinder things if implemented.

For example, say someone with authority or close to the incident is receiving new information over the course of several days, and wants to keep providing additional information that is relevant - he would be prevented from doing so. And the last thing we want is to restrict important information from getting through.

What we may do at some point though (we're working on big stuff in the background here, for this year), is to create it so that posts can be downvoted to a point where they are collapsed by default and one needs to click on an expand button to show them. Which could remove some 'fluff' from threads.

[Scubadivemaster 3]

Thank you for taking the time to consider this and reply.

[jrodrod 3]

Or, to borrow an idea from an unrelated forum, have the 1st post be a wiki. Kind of like integrating the incident database with the forum. OP or mod can update the wiki with references to posts.

Wiki can have a standard format of type of malfunction, equipment, etc.

Downvoting to be collapsible or faded fonts is also helpful in general, not just for incidents.