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Seattle

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ⓘNews and current events in or about Seattle, Washington, USA.

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submitted by carelessNorth Capitol Hill[M] - stickied post
Recently there was a post made by /u/jjm83 that outlined some issues with /r/Seattle, and while it had some great points, the solution it proposed was to create a new subreddit.
Because promoting a subreddit without first checking with the mod team of the sub you're promoting it on is not in line with this sub's rules, the post was removed.
That being said, I'd like to start discussion about what the best solution to the problems identified. Here's some of the text from the original post (paragraph breaks added by me):
I get you guys are tired of people asking the same questions over and over, but there is a reason people ask them. Sometimes old posts are hard to find, and even though they are supposed to, people don't always read the sidebar.
The attitude of this subreddit is appalling when it comes to people just seeking simple answers to questions. It's ridiculous. Reddit as a whole is supposed to be about being a community.
Hell, rule #6 of this very subreddit clearly says it, but the vibe being put out is anything but. If you're not in the /r/seattle clique then you don't matter.
I see the problems identified here as the following:
1. People ask the same (sometimes poorly researched) questions on this subreddit.
2. The regulars on this subreddit are, justifiably, more than a little bit annoyed at being asked the same questions repeatedly.
Because we want /r/Seattle to be a friendly and welcoming place, we need a way to resolve the friction between issues #1 and #2 above.
The proposed solution was to create a new subreddit, as I mentioned. Here's my thinking on why this solution isn't effective (copied from my conversation with /u/jjm83 in modmail):
Fragmenting a community into smaller subreddits to answer questions doesn't help because it doesn't work. Exhibit A in this argument is /r/SeaList; it's for buying, selling and really anything you'd find on Seattle.Craigslist.org
Does it work? Not really. /r/SeaList has 2,222 subscribers, a tiny fraction of /r/Seattle's 68,000+.
Exhibit B: /r/SeaJobs has 2,956 subscribers.
Looking at the subscription numbers, it seems that the creation of a new subreddit doesn't really work - these two examples have been around for 4 - 5 years, and they aren't getting the traffic they need to be effective.
I'm not saying that I'm right - I'm just trying to give my perspective on the "Make a new subreddit" solution.

Let's come up with a solution!

I have my own ideas on how to solve this problem, but I'd like to get the discussion rolling - and damn, did this post get long. What do you think is the best solution to this problem?
all 167 comments
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[–]dementedavenger99 31 points32 points33 points  (12 children)
Set-up filters like this sub may help: /r/RealEstate/
We could also hold a seminar called "Learning To Ignore Posts That You're Not Interested In".
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[–]maadison 26 points27 points28 points  (9 children)
We could also hold a seminar called "Learning To Ignore Posts That You're Not Interested In".
This.
There is little reason to be upset about the repetitive posts. They're generally easy to spot from the title, and thus easy to ignore. It's not like there's a limited number of bits allocated to /r/Seattle each day. If you don't like them, don't click on them. Feel free to downvote. But just leave them to be answered by those who want to answer them.
I'd love to see broad support for a moderation policy that allows repetitive posts and supports deleting nasty and snarky comments on them so that newcomers/visitors don't have a bad experience in /r/Seattle, even if they're rude by posting "bad" questions.
Alternately, as mentioned in a previous exchange with you (/u/careless), I'd strongly support using the sticky thread as a weekly "Post your questions about moving/visiting here" thread, as some other subs do.
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[–]carelessNorth Capitol Hill[S] comment score below threshold-11 points-10 points-9 points  (8 children)
Should we allocate less time to the Weekly What's Happening thread then? What do you think the right ratio between What's Happening and "FAQ Answers!" threads should be?
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[–]maadison 6 points7 points8 points  (7 children)
Devil's advocate question: if the Weekly What's Happening thread can't earn its place on the front page from upvotes, is there enough interest in the community for it?
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[–]castle-black 13 points14 points15 points  (1 child)
The issue is reddit's algorithms will cause it to plummet after a day or so, when it needs to stay visible from mid-week through the weekend and easily accessible. I think it's a valuable part of this sub.
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[–]Jhesus_Monkey 2 points3 points4 points  (0 children)
Agreed.
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[–]carelessNorth Capitol Hill[S] -2 points-1 points0 points  (4 children)
To echo what /u/castle-black said, it's the reddit algo that will drop it after a few days, and... people who are regulars here won't want to upvote it, because dang it, they see that post every week.
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[–]raevnos 2 points3 points4 points  (2 children)
So make it a sticky.
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[–]carelessNorth Capitol Hill[S] comment score below threshold-8 points-7 points-6 points  (1 child)
Currently we sticky the What's Happening this Weekend post from Wednesday through Sunday.
We could do a "Here's where to post your FAQ" sticky from Sunday afternoon to Wednesday morning though.
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[–]raevnos -2 points-1 points0 points  (0 children)
Just sticky the weekly one.
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[–]maadison 1 point2 points3 points  (0 children)
OK, I get that the discounting algo gets in the way, but then you say:
people who are regulars here won't want to upvote it, because dang it, they see that post every week.
and that feels to me like it supports my point that there's limited support for the thread.
IMO, Reddit just isn't the right venue for it. And the event threads I've seen rarely have very much in them.
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[–]carelessNorth Capitol Hill[S] comment score below threshold-8 points-7 points-6 points  (1 child)
Set-up filters like this sub may help: /r/RealEstate/
Filters / tagging posts seems to be a popular solution. I'll bring up my one point about it; over half the traffic reddit receives is mobile, and mobile apps do not show tags, AFAIK. Given this point, do you still think this is a worthwhile solution?
We could also hold a seminar called "Learning To Ignore Posts That You're Not Interested In".
If only... there are soooooo many people that would benefit from this seminar.
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[–]kaisengaardRainier Valley[M] 10 points11 points12 points  (0 children)
I'm personally for tagging, if it's something we can figure out and implement (without breaking stuff; I'm prone to accidents). I'm guessing there might also be a way for mods to tag posts as well, in case a submitter forgets or can't. I've never utilized tagging, so it would be something we'd need to get help on, I'm sure.
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            [–]____really____ 80 points81 points82 points  (12 children)
            "Lets come up with a solution!" ...deleted ...deleted ...deleted ...deleted ...deleted ...deleted ...deleted ...deleted ...deleted ...deleted ...deleted ...deleted ...deleted ...deleted ...deleted
            Wtf.
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            [–]carelessNorth Capitol Hill[S] comment score below threshold-29 points-28 points-27 points  (3 children)
            Per my comment over here, this conversation is being brigaded by folks from another sub, which is the reason for the comment deletions.
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            [–]mr_mojo_rye_sin -3 points-2 points-1 points  (0 children)
            ty for taking on this issue.This subreddit needs it.The off topic character assaulting downvoting brigade has turned into a normality in this subreddit.Witnessing the down votes on your replys has sealed my tin foil hat belief of sock puppeting in /r/seattle.Because the people i meet in my city face to face.. arent assholes like this.. and I meet lots every day.
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                        [–]dreamydemon 20 points21 points22 points  (23 children)
                        Do other cities have this issue? How do they handle it?
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                          [–]rainpants 7 points8 points9 points  (0 children)
                          /r/chicago will downvote and move on. There's an autobot that responds and then there are usually a few earnest responses...there's hardly ever people who take the time to be like I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU ARE ASKING THIS.
                          I don't know how you get to that point. Just pull the circlejerk anger responses? Can't you put them on a timeout and say we have an autobot that handles informing these people, it's under control...until it just...self regulates like Chicago manages?
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                          [–]ihminen 2 points3 points4 points  (1 child)
                          No one has asked to have these votes deleted. Dumb questions are voted down. The other post was complaining about the down votes.
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                          [–]carelessNorth Capitol Hill[S] -2 points-1 points0 points  (16 children)
                          I think you're making my point for me here. Look at the numbers:
                          The splintering of subreddits doesn't work well, in my opinion. /r/SeaList and /r/SeaJobs have been around for years and years and they don't have an appreciable fraction of the subscribers that /r/Seattle has - why do you think that starting a new sub will be effective?
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                          [–]maadison 17 points18 points19 points  (2 children)
                          If only 10% of the people in a sub are interested in helping tourists and answering repetitive questions, then /r/askXXXX is only going to have 1/10th the subscribers... but they would be the RIGHT subscribers. So I'm not sure your argument about splintering proves that it's a bad idea.
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                          [–]carelessNorth Capitol Hill[S] comment score below threshold-6 points-5 points-4 points  (1 child)
                          You make a decent point. If it appears that the /r/AskSF and others are effective at getting questions like that answered, then... what do you think the criteria for "Take it to the other sub" should be?
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                          [–]mynameisvladBelltown 4 points5 points6 points  (0 children)
                          Is it a question that fits in that sub's purview? If so, then take it to the other sub.
                          It's not a very hard criteria. In fact, it's basically how subreddits have worked all along. If something fits better in Y, take it to Y. As long as you have an official, consistent policy, then it'll work.
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                          [–]compbioguy 15 points16 points17 points  (2 children)
                          Yeah, you are wrong, though. /r/AskSF is a great subreddit and I think you are making everybody else's point that those communities are largely not interested in hearing the same questions over and over, hence the low subscription rate. That said, again, I participate in /r/AskSF occasionally and it does separate out the community posts from the questions well.
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                          [–]carelessNorth Capitol Hill[S] -5 points-4 points-3 points  (1 child)
                          That's a great piece of information! Do questions on /r/AskSF generally get answered pretty quickly and thoroughly?
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                          [–]compbioguy 3 points4 points5 points  (0 children)
                          I think so, I like using it because I get advice on what to do in SF (I lived there for a bit, so I also have something to add). I understand the balance mods face about overwhelming with common questions while not filtering out completely. An alternative to the ask city surreptitiously model is to have banned common questions with a wiki page or something pointing common answers. You could also have a weekly dumb questions thread or something. I think /r/nfl does things like this
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                          [–]casagorditaSeaTac 3 points4 points5 points  (0 children)
                          It doesn't take a lot of people answering those repetitive questions.
                          Case in point: There's a site called Cruise Critic that has forums where people post questions about their upcoming cruise, and local stays on either end. There are about ten basic questions that get asked over and over, making up 90% of the posts there. Could these people find their information by just searching the board? Of course. Will they? Obviously not. So there are about half a dozen local people who've started hanging out there and answering the Seattle questions. Nobody asked us to--we just found our way there, somehow, and started doing it. Call us unofficial ambassadors, call us dorky know-it-alls, but it's working. Some people just have time on their hands and a desire to be helpful.
                          It would work the same here, I'm sure. The snarky replies would be left behind, and people could get actual, civil, helpful answers to their reasonable but much-asked questions.
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                          [–]524427 13 points14 points15 points  (7 children)
                          Why is subscriber count your metric for success? It only takes a handful of people with google skills to answer nearly all the beginner level questions.
                          Ypu should ask the mods of those city subs why they diverted questions to other subs, and whether it's helped.
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                          [–]carelessNorth Capitol Hill[S] comment score below threshold-24 points-23 points-22 points  (6 children)
                          Ypu should ask the mods of those city subs why they diverted questions to other subs, and whether it's helped.
                          So... is there something preventing you from gathering the data to support your argument?
                          I mean, gosh, you seem like a really nice person and all, but... if you want some information collected, why not go do the work of data collection yourself instead of telling other people to do it for you?
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                          [–]524427 15 points16 points17 points  (3 children)
                          It was a suggestion, no need to be offended.
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                          [–]carelessNorth Capitol Hill[S] comment score below threshold-18 points-17 points-16 points  (2 children)
                          I'm not offended in the least. I hope you actually put forward some effort to support your point of view; I'm interested in hearing what the results of your survey would be.
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                          [–]524427 13 points14 points15 points  (0 children)
                          Here's the thing, if I go over to these other city subs and ask them how their Ask___ subreddits work, you're going to have follow up questions. I shouldn't have to be the proxy for your conversation.
                          Additionally, it seems kind of weird that a non-mod would ask those mods how & why they setup their processes. They might ignore me or figure I'm some kind of troll from within their community.
                          However! In trying to be helpful to you, here are some pre-filled modmail messages. All you need to do is click the links and click send. Easy peasy.

                          SanFrancisco

                          Portland

                          NYC

                          Austin

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                          [–]524427 10 points11 points12 points  (0 children)
                          The only 'effort' I need to support my point of view is the voracity with which some of those subs try to get their users to post in the Ask___ equivalent, even though they have such low subscriber numbers.
                          /r/portland has a big red banner. /r/sanfrancisco lists their top AskSF posts in the sidebar.
                          Requiring that I survey those subs just sounds like you want to dismiss the idea outright.
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                          [–]soberasfuck 5 points6 points7 points  (1 child)
                          Damn you're snarky as fuck
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                          [–]BubbaWayneBallard 1 point2 points3 points  (0 children)
                          It's totally not his fault, it's all because some other sub exists.
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                          [–]throwaway69420bl4ze 55 points56 points57 points  (19 children)
                          Careless - How do you expect us to collectively come up with a conclusion if you delete every comment chain you don't agree with?
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                          [–]carelessNorth Capitol Hill[S] comment score below threshold-41 points-40 points-39 points  (17 children)
                          The only comments that were deleted were those that were not on the topic of the post.
                          It's unfortunate that people feel the need to brigade from other subs, but when it happens the mod team has a choice; let the conversation devolve into what the brigadeers want it to be about (you suck, you're literally Hitler, etc.) or we can remove the off topic comments and continue to have a conversation with the folks who are interested in discussing the problem at hand.
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                          [–]throwaway69420bl4ze 35 points36 points37 points  (13 children)
                          So you're saying the way this sub is moderated is off-topic? That has been the bulk of what you've been deleting. I feel like that is pretty central to a lot that goes on here and the reason many people are upset with the direction of this sub. If you're going to remain a moderator of a sub for a large city, you need to be open to criticism and not silence it. This thread is a prime example of the totalitarian moderation that takes place regularly. It's not a good sign when you need to create a throwaway in fear of being banned solely because you want to voice criticism or displeasure with the leadership of the sub.
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                              [–]carelessNorth Capitol Hill[S] comment score below threshold-43 points-42 points-41 points  (9 children)
                              So you're saying the way this sub is moderated is off-topic?
                              Yes. Didn't you read the text at the top?
                              ... the problems identified here as the following:
                              1. People ask the same (sometimes poorly researched) questions on this subreddit.
                              2. The regulars on this subreddit are, justifiably, more than a little bit annoyed at being asked the same questions repeatedly.
                              Because we want /r/Seattle to be a friendly and welcoming place, we need a way to resolve the friction between issues #1 and #2 above.
                              Now we're all done with this off-topic conversation.
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                              [–]mr_mojo_rye_sin comment score below threshold-14 points-13 points-12 points  (0 children)
                              Exactly the way it should be ty for moderating properly.
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                              [–]thatdood 11 points12 points13 points  (0 children)
                              This subreddit is overcomplicating things. Basically you can't make everyone happy and that's what you're trying to do. Upvote what you like. Ignore what you doesn't appeal to you. Downvote if it's offensive or careless. (Ha. Ha.) Let the votes do the talking. Just like the radio plays the same shit everyday and /r/Seattle might have the same post every week it's not going to be perfect but every now and then you'll get something you like.
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                              [–]turtlehanaLake City 9 points10 points11 points  (0 children)
                              • (1) While it can be a bother to some users, users could start tagging their posts via adding it in their title; [Moving to Seattle], [Best Places to Eat], [Hiking], [Camping], [Jobs], [For Rent], [Tickets], [Pictures], etc.
                              • (2) I am on mobile however I do use desktop half of the time. If adding tags to title is bothersome then, while I couldn't see it on mobile, it'd still be beneficial to have tags.
                              • (3) Simply just allow all posts and let users down vote or up vote.
                                • (a) Moderate for general assholery and derailing.
                                • (b) Still have a bot post a link to the faq for frequently asked questions.
                                • (c) See about delaying or removing voting/vote visibility.
                                • (d) users can learn to simply not click on posts that annoy them.
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                              [–]Jasonberg 48 points49 points50 points  (17 children)
                              I think we need to think like Seattle people. Crafty and creative.
                              We kill off those jobs and requests and photos and ITAP and other SEA subs and get everyone in here.
                              Then, require Tags. Gotta question because you're coming to visit? Gotta tag it. Took a picture of Mt Rainier? We've got a tag. Job request? Tag. Restaurant/date/anniversary/Mother's Day/other? Tag!
                              Then, allow people to sort the posts by tags they want to see. If you want to see pretty pictures, leave the pix and ITAP tag on. You want Seattle news and current events? Leave the tag on.
                              Don't want to be asked about jobs? Just turn that tag off and you won't see it.
                              The number of people here will increase. The number of angry people will decrease. The effectiveness of communication will go up as visitors will get their answers. And those that are too lazy to add a tag won't spam the sub.
                              It's a win, win, win, win, win. Except for the subs that are living off those people that have left.
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                              [–]ChosenRyan36 30 points31 points32 points  (2 children)
                              If we're doing this I would like to see a tag for events and then not remove event posts as spam.
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                              [–]ChosenRyan36 15 points16 points17 points  (0 children)
                              Same with job listings, tickets, and everything else really. Admittedly most posts will be crap, but currently most posts are crap anyway. This is where our upvotes and downvotes help. If we are so intent on keeping everything in one subreddit, then all types of posts should be allowed if they have the proper tag.
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                              [–]starlightprincessTukwila 1 point2 points3 points  (0 children)
                              Yes. Sometimes you need more than a couple days notice if you want tickets to an event.
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                              [–]VoltasPistolKent 4 points5 points6 points  (0 children)
                              Tags sound like a pretty great idea. I'm not 100% sure how they work, but by making tags like "Food", "Music", "Meetups" might actually encourage people to write better, more specific posts instead of trying to sound vague enough to not get deleted for asking specific questions.
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                              [–]carelessNorth Capitol Hill[S] comment score below threshold-21 points-20 points-19 points  (12 children)
                              I like this idea!
                              I really wish it would work, but here's a hard reality we have to face about reddit: Over half of the traffic reddit receives is from mobile apps.
                              Tags don't appear in mobile apps, Nor will filtering based on tags work on them.
                              If there's an app out there that does use tag-based filtering, please do let me know!
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                              [–]mynameisvladBelltown 10 points11 points12 points  (2 children)
                              Tags don't appear in mobile apps, Nor will filtering based on tags work on them.
                              So what? It wouldn't be any different than the current experience, you're not in any way degrading the mobile experience by adding in tags and filters. However, you'd be greatly improving the desktop experience. So mobile is neutral change, desktop is positive change. Therefore, net positive.
                              You're never going to benefit 100% of users by sheer fact that each person is different and will want different things. If you can help a big chunk of users without negatively impacting the rest, that's as good as you'll get.
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                              [–]PeacefulTreeLand -1 points0 points1 point  (0 children)
                              The mobile experience would be degraded if they then allowed any and all posts. I don't think I would try and shift through tons of useless to me content, I would just leave.
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                              [–]carelessNorth Capitol Hill[S] comment score below threshold-9 points-8 points-7 points  (0 children)
                              Using a bot to post comments works across both mobile and desktop browsers....
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                              [–]TheOdyssey_ 19 points20 points21 points  (8 children)
                              Lets not help desktop users since mobile users wont benefit
                              Sweet.
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                              [–]carelessNorth Capitol Hill[S] comment score below threshold-17 points-16 points-15 points  (7 children)
                              That's not what I said - just pointing out that it's completely ineffective for more than 50% of the traffic. Bots, however, are effective for 100% of the traffic.
                              Thoughts?
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                              [–]ohthatwasmeCapitol Hill 11 points12 points13 points  (6 children)
                              My thought is that it is still better than nothing. I don't expect a 100% seamless perfect browsing experience when I am on my phone. I don't think most people have that expectation.
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                              [–]carelessNorth Capitol Hill[S] comment score below threshold-13 points-12 points-11 points  (5 children)
                              Fair enough - nothing is perfect, really.
                              However, I see it in contrast to the option of having a bot either:
                              1. Comment on posts that are about FAQs, giving the user links to the FAQ answers on the wiki.
                              2. Do the same as above, but also delete the post.
                              What do you think of these options? I see them as more effective because they work on both mobile and desktop browsers.
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                              [–]SdstcChpmnkBallard 6 points7 points8 points  (4 children)
                              To be fair, if half the traffic is desktop, and this is a workable solution, wouldn't that cut the problem in half? At least?
                              I think this is a damn good idea. Lots of other subs do it and it works just fine.
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                              [–]carelessNorth Capitol Hill[S] -3 points-2 points-1 points  (3 children)
                              I'm not saying it's a bad idea, I'm trying to explore all of the options and pointing out that it's not a silver bullet that fixes everything.
                              I made a post about using Automoderator, link tags/flair and a separate subreddit in conjunction with each other - it's not the entire solution, just a sketched out idea for some changes around FAQ's.
                              Let me know what you think?
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                              [–]SdstcChpmnkBallard 2 points3 points4 points  (1 child)
                              I think it's at least a functional idea that won't hurt anything, and will possibly help you out.
                              I'm not one of the people that is here every day and hates everything you do and stand for though, so what does my opinion count for? I even upvoted you! God, I'm going to be a pariah...
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                              [–]carelessNorth Capitol Hill[S] -3 points-2 points-1 points  (0 children)
                              I even upvoted you! God, I'm going to be a pariah...
                              There are literally dozens of us. DOZENS!
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                              [–]VoltasPistolKent 15 points16 points17 points  (5 children)
                              I think we should stop encouraging downvoting "common questions" like where is the best beginner hike to a body of water, which Thai place has the best Tom Kha Kai, and why there is a giant plume of smoke over such-and-such neighborhood right this very minute. These are very specific questions that expand knowledge of the subreddit. Okay, maybe you personally don't care about Tom Kha Kai, but maybe you will eventually need to know this obscure piece of trivia and you're not doing anyone any favors if you downvote it so much that the submitter deletes it. Now NO ONE will know ehere the best Tom Kha Kai is, and now no one can Google it, which leads to more "common" questions on /r/Seattle.
                              Stupid questions (What's the best hike? Any good Thai places in Seattle? DAE hate Comcast???) should be downvoted to tell, but not detailed questions like the ones above.
                              A giant link to an /r/AskSeattle subreddit may help, along with text in the submit box: "Hey! If your submission is in the form of a question, submit it to /r/AskSeattle!" You have to actively herd people towards an alternate subreddit. Make mod posts encouraging people to add to the hivemind at /r/AskSeattle. Appeal to vanity by saying we're all so smart and it's a darn shame if we don't share our wealth of knowledge with people who seek our guidance. Ask others to ask people to come ask questions. If you want a new subreddit to thrive, you have to work at it.
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                              [–]PeacefulTreeLand 4 points5 points6 points  (0 children)
                              I like this way of thinking!
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                              [–]TreebeezyBallard 1 point2 points3 points  (1 child)
                              I definitely asked about Thom Kha once.. Weird.
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                              [–]VoltasPistolKent 0 points1 point2 points  (0 children)
                              Uh.... Well, this is awkward.
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                              [–]carelessNorth Capitol Hill[S] comment score below threshold-10 points-9 points-8 points  (1 child)
                              That sub name is being squatted on by a user - but I'm sure we could come up with another name that would work.
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                              [–]sprajInterbay 15 points16 points17 points  (0 children)
                              He's an active user, what's wrong with just using that sub?
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                              [–]ckb614 12 points13 points14 points  (10 children)
                              /r/running has a daily Q&A thread. Make everyone post to that if they have questions and delete all the other threads
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                              [–]The_Sultan_of_SwingBryant 0 points1 point2 points  (0 children)
                              I've seen weekly threads in other places and those tend to work better because there isn't necessarily enough traffic to sustain good conversation in a daily one.
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                              [–]carelessNorth Capitol Hill[S] -3 points-2 points-1 points  (8 children)
                              That's a really interesting idea. We could auto-create this thread daily - it wouldn't be stickied, but it would be created.
                              Do you think this would be better or worse than having a bot point users towards FAQ's and delete posts that are common questions?
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                              [–]ridukosenninFederal Way 3 points4 points5 points  (0 children)
                              How about a weekly basic question thread. Similar to /r/personalfinance "moronic monday", "foolish friday". This creates a safe place for newcomers to ask any question .
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                              [–]ckb614 5 points6 points7 points  (6 children)
                              I hate bots in general.
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                              [–]carelessNorth Capitol Hill[S] -4 points-3 points-2 points  (5 children)
                              If we made a daily thread, it would be bot-created. They're just tools for accomplishing a task that humans find repetitive.
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                              [–]ckb614 4 points5 points6 points  (4 children)
                              I'm talking about automoderator bots. When shit gets deleted for not having a question mark in the title or whatever it's enraging. A bot to post the thread is fine
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                              [–]carelessNorth Capitol Hill[S] comment score below threshold-7 points-6 points-5 points  (3 children)
                              Just want to make sure I'm understanding you correctly here:
                              1. You are in favor of a bot to provide information to users that post FAQ's.
                              2. You do not want the FAQ posts removed.
                              Let me know if I've got that wrong.
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                              [–]ckb614 4 points5 points6 points  (1 child)
                              I want a bot that posts a daily Q&A thread.
                              I want any self posts that should have gone in that thread to be manually deleted by a moderator.
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                              [–]carelessNorth Capitol Hill[S] comment score below threshold-9 points-8 points-7 points  (0 children)
                              I want a bot that posts a daily Q&A thread.
                              Do you think it would be effective if it wasn't stickied? Remember, we have the Weekly What's Happening thread that is stickied every Wednesday morning.
                              I want any self posts that should have gone in that thread to be manually deleted by a moderator.
                              And I want world peace and Ferrari :-)
                              While I appreciate your zeal in signing the mod team up for a whole lot of work, we're volunteers. And using a bot that detects certain common words and phrases makes our volunteer work a whole lot easier. We do review the bot's actions regularly.
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                              [–]raevnos 6 points7 points8 points  (0 children)
                              Get rid of that stupid bot that comments on every other post with "you look like you're wanting to visit" messages.
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                              [–][deleted]  (2 children)
                              [deleted]
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                                [–]TheOdyssey_ 9 points10 points11 points  (2 children)
                                Posted something similar elsewhere but I feel like much of the problem is the tone of the post.
                                The 'im new help me' sets people off since 'new' people are expected to utilize the resources provided and ask something more pointed than 'Where is the best bar for 1 night since I'm here a weekend?'
                                Who the fuck wants to answer that?
                                However, if they came in without the qualifier that they're new, and instead phrased the question in a more conversational, 'What do you think/What are your thoughts on...' type way, those posts see more success.
                                I don't think changes need to be made, though. Tags are a solid call who cares about the mobile stat? If it helps one user base why not use it?
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                                [–]carelessNorth Capitol Hill[S] comment score below threshold-12 points-11 points-10 points  (1 child)
                                The 'im new help me' sets people off since 'new' people are expected to utilize the resources provided and ask something more pointed than 'Where is the best bar for 1 night since I'm here a weekend?'
                                Who the fuck wants to answer that?
                                I see both sides of this; the new user is thinking, "Hey, maybe there's something cool happening this weekend that isn't in the FAQ's and such.", whereas the regular is thinking, "Jeeebus, not friggin' again."
                                Tags are a solid call who cares about the mobile stat? If it helps one user base why not use it?
                                I'm not saying it's a terrible idea, just that there are more effective methods than tags. Bots, for example, aren't hampered by the problem of being effective for less than half the traffic.
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                                [–]TheOdyssey_ 12 points13 points14 points  (0 children)
                                Yeah but the bots removing posts isn't what people seem to want. Tags are. It doesn't have to be the only solution but it does solve a part of the problem.
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                                [–]butterlog 2 points3 points4 points  (0 children)
                                I don't see this as a problem at all. If someone asks an interesting question that others would also like to see answered, it will get upvoted and stick around for a few days. If the question is inane or redundant, it will get downvoted and go away. This is reddit working as intended. If people are annoyed by this, they need to get over it.
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                                [–]nacrastic 2 points3 points4 points  (0 children)
                                Yeah I'm not really sure what is to be done about it. I personally go by the "would I answer this question in person" and generally the answer is yes, I would stop and take a moment to offer a few sentences of information. I wouldn't turn my nose up and walk away.
                                But reddit is a different place than a face to face interaction so I dunno.
                                I don't like the vibe of this subreddit and that's why I've mostly stopped reading and posting
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                                [–]tastysmeltFremont 4 points5 points6 points  (0 children)
                                Wow this thread is an esoteric dumpster fire, tags seem like a neat idea through
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                                [–]mr_mojo_rye_sin 6 points7 points8 points  (5 children)
                                It might be easier to discuss what the regulars of /r/seattle deem an acceptable thread.
                                I think rule number one needs to be expanded on a bit.I would like to see moderators a bit more active moderating
                                posts that do not contribute to the point of the thread.
                                /r/seattle regulars also need to brush up on their reddiquette. Down vote isn't a dislike button.It is a shame I have to
                                expand all down voted posts to find an opposing view. heading to work merry monday people.
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                                [–]soberasfuck 4 points5 points6 points  (1 child)
                                Yeah, why are people here so quick to downvote? This sub is terribly unfriendly and I can't figure out why.
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                                [–]mr_mojo_rye_sin 0 points1 point2 points  (0 children)
                                Same.
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                                [–]carelessNorth Capitol Hill[S] comment score below threshold-11 points-10 points-9 points  (2 children)
                                It might be easier to discuss what the regulars of /r/seattle deem an acceptable thread.
                                That's an interesting approach. Do you have any thoughts on what should and should not be deemed acceptable?
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                                [–]margeink 12 points13 points14 points  (0 children)
                                This has been discussed every time a thread like this appears. Allow all posts and let the community/votes decide. Stop removing posts that you personally do not find "appropriate".
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                                [–]mr_mojo_rye_sin 0 points1 point2 points  (0 children)
                                Personally I dig the tagging idea.However we would need to come to a community based consensus on what the various tags will be.
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                                [–]clobster5 4 points5 points6 points  (12 children)
                                Something we use on /r/protectandserve is a weekly hiring questions thread due to the high numbers of hiring and job seeking related questions we get. Many of those questions were repetitive. Now hiring questions posted to the sub are met with Auto-Moderator asking them to move the question to that thread and delete their post. It's helped quite a bit.
                                For /r/Seattle, compiling some of the more common questions, or even just restricting all questions for /r/Seattle a similar weekly thread may be beneficial. This prevents you from needing to create and moderate a completely separate subreddit. You can view our current weekly hiring thread here. Also worth noting is that it's permanently stickied to the very top of the sub so people will see it.
                                I hope that's of some help.
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                                [–]kaisengaardRainier Valley[M] 5 points6 points7 points  (11 children)
                                I think that's one of the two ideas that seem to be bubbling up. Either using a comprehensive tagging system or find a good balance for what posts are stickied when (and what would go on those stickies).
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                                [–]casagorditaSeaTac 3 points4 points5 points  (10 children)
                                Creating an /r/askseattle sub seemed to be bubbling up, too, but the mods don't seem to like it, so that's that, I guess.
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                                [–]kaisengaardRainier Valley[M] 4 points5 points6 points  (0 children)
                                I think looking at how it works for the other city subs mentioned isn't a bad idea. I'm thinking the pushback is more of a "will this actually help?" kind of thing. I think most users will agree that having the same questions over and over is annoying; there just seem to be different methods suggested to address that.
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                                [–]castle-black 5 points6 points7 points  (2 children)
                                That's because they don't have control of it and it takes away from the sub they mod...
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                                [–]carelessNorth Capitol Hill[S] comment score below threshold-8 points-7 points-6 points  (1 child)
                                I'm open to the idea of creating a sub for questions. Why would you say this? This isn't true.
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                                [–]raevnos 6 points7 points8 points  (0 children)
                                Probably because of comments like this:
                                There's someone squatting on that particular sub name, but I'm sure we could come up with something else if that user won't give it up.
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                                [–]carelessNorth Capitol Hill[S] comment score below threshold-8 points-7 points-6 points  (5 children)
                                I'm not against it - I won't speak for the other mods. There's someone squatting on that particular sub name, but I'm sure we could come up with something else if that user won't give it up.
                                The other popular option seems to be tagging. Thoughts on one, the other or both?
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                                [–]casagorditaSeaTac 3 points4 points5 points  (4 children)
                                I don't have much of an opinion on the tagging idea. I've never felt a need to use them to filter in subs that have them, but I imagine it's not that challenging--anybody should be able to do it. I do wonder if everybody will, however---if there still won't be people who complain about the posts with repetitive, basic questions, tagged or not, and who post hostile, snarky replies. They'd have less legitimate grounds, but that isn't likely to stop them all. A sub specifically for questions, with a really effective means of redirecting posts that belong there, would do better at cutting down on the nastiness here, I'm thinking.
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                                [–]carelessNorth Capitol Hill[S] -4 points-3 points-2 points  (3 children)
                                A sub specifically for questions, with a really effective means of redirecting posts that belong there
                                In my experience, having a different sub for some posts will give the malcontents of the world exactly what they want, i.e. the opportunity to tell other people what to do. For example:
                                "Get your question out of here and take it to /r/SeattleFAQs you newbie tech transplant terrible person, you."
                                That being said, I'm willing to explore it as an idea. What do you think of this:
                                1. Set up Automoderator to auto-comment on posts with certain keywords in them and redirect folks to the subreddit. The post won't be removed from /r/Seattle, for a couple of reasons:
                                  1.1. To advertise on /r/Seattle that the subreddit exists and drive subscription there.
                                  1.2. To give /r/Seattle folks the ability to respond if the user is asking something that isn't a FAQ.
                                2. Tagging the post with link flair [/r/SeattleFAQ] so that it can be easily filtered by folks that use the link tag/flair filtering.
                                3. Automoderator would trigger this comment message on only FAQ's, which is to say:
                                  3.1. Moving to Seattle
                                  3.2. Fun things to do while visiting Seattle
                                  3.3. Anything else I should put here? I'm open to ideas....
                                Thoughts, opinions?
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                                [–]casagorditaSeaTac 1 point2 points3 points  (2 children)
                                A sub specifically for questions, with a really effective means of redirecting posts that belong there
                                In my experience, having a different sub for some posts will give the malcontents of the world exactly what they want, i.e. the opportunity to tell other people what to do. For example:
                                "Get your question out of here and take it to /r/SeattleFAQs you newbie tech transplant terrible person, you."
                                If the /r/SeattleFAQs sub is well enough publicized, and those posters reminded by the Automoderator to take their question there if it is indeed a FAQ, then I have a whole lot less sympathy for them if they leave it on the main board and get shit on for it.
                                That being said, I'm willing to explore it as an idea. What do you think of this:
                                Set up Automoderator to auto-comment on posts with certain keywords in them and redirect folks to the subreddit. The post won't be removed from /r/Seattle, for a couple of reasons:

1.1. To advertise on /r/Seattle that the subreddit exists and drive subscription there.

1.2. To give /r/Seattle folks the ability to respond if the user is asking something that isn't a FAQ.

Tagging the post with link flair [/r/SeattleFAQ] so that it can be easily filtered by folks that use the link tag/flair filtering.

Automoderator would trigger this comment message on only FAQ's, which is to say:

3.1. Moving to Seattle

3.2. Fun things to do while visiting Seattle

3.3. Anything else I should put here? I'm open to ideas....
                                Thoughts, opinions?
                                Makes sense to me, mostly. The current Automoderators directing people to the wiki seems to catch nearly all of the posts is should--can we just use the same criteria for the new one? It also gets a lot of false positives--questions that aren't routine and answered in the wiki--but those posters are free to leave their question in the main sub if they think it's really unique. The tagging makes sense, too--might cut down ever-so-slightly on the hostility to the posts that remain on the main sub.
                                My only suggestion would be to call the new sub something besides /r/SeattleFAQ. /r/askSeattle suggests that it's for questions of all sorts, routine and not. /r/SeattleFAQ tells people it's for frequently asked questions, and newbies aren't always going to know that that's what their question is. I think a lot more people will leave their post on the main sub, and piss people off, if the alternative is /r/SeattleFAQ. I know you said someone is squatting on /r/askSeattle, but you mentioned the possibility of persuading them to let it go? Or another name.../r/askaSeattleite? Or...? (haven't had coffee yet so my creativity is at a low ebb at the moment). Something that won't encourage people to bypass it because, oh, no, my question is special!! when it really isn't.
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                                [–]carelessNorth Capitol Hill[S] -3 points-2 points-1 points  (1 child)
                                The current Automoderators directing people to the wiki seems to catch nearly all of the posts is should--can we just use the same criteria for the new one?
                                That's /u/SeattleConcierge - a bot created by a user, not automod. But I can ask the author for his regex and adapt it as needed. Not that it's hard to figure out one on my own.
                                I know you said someone is squatting on /r/askSeattle, but you mentioned the possibility of persuading them to let it go?
                                I'll ask /u/loquacious, but due to my last interaction with this user, I am not optimistic.
                                I think a lot more people will leave their post on the main sub, and piss people off, if the alternative is /r/SeattleFAQ.
                                Something that won't encourage people to bypass it because, oh, no, my question is special!! when it really isn't.
                                Well, here's the situation; I am not going to either have AM delete the user's question about "Moving to Seattle", or encourage the user to delete their own question. The reasoning here is that someone might have something to contribute from /r/Seattle and I don't want to censor anyone unnecessarily. And by tagging the post we're giving the whiners who don't want to see them a way to get out of seeing them.
                                So... we'll give folks a pointer to the /r/SeattleFAQs (there's an 's' at the end of it, and someone has already squatted on the one without an 's' at the end of it), but we're not going to either be rude to these folks or delete their posts.
                                What do you think?
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                                [–]casagorditaSeaTac 0 points1 point2 points  (0 children)
                                I know you said someone is squatting on /r/askSeattle, but you mentioned the possibility of persuading them to let it go?
                                I'll ask /u/loquacious , but due to my last interaction with this user, I am not optimistic.
                                Perhaps if s/he's approached by somebody else...somebody without that history with her/him?
                                I think a lot more people will leave their post on the main sub, and piss people off, if the alternative is /r/SeattleFAQ.

Something that won't encourage people to bypass it because, oh, no, my question is special!! when it really isn't.
                                Well, here's the situation; I am not going to either have AM delete the user's question about "Moving to Seattle", or encourage the user to delete their own question. The reasoning here is that someone might have something to contribute from /r/Seattle and I don't want to censor anyone unnecessarily. And by tagging the post we're giving the whiners who don't want to see them a way to get out of seeing them.
                                I don't quite understand this. If you suggest that people delete their original post from /r/Seattle in cases where they decide themselves that it really belongs on /r/askSeattle, you're not censoring them--you're giving them pertinent information and asking them to make the decision. /u/careless, you've seemed to have no difficulty deleting a whole lot of posts on this thread, and we have to take your word for it that it was always necessary. Those unilateral decisions were okay, but giving people information and options is unacceptable censorship?
                                So... we'll give folks a pointer to the /r/SeattleFAQs (there's an 's' at the end of it, and someone has already squatted on the one without an 's' at the end of it), but we're not going to either be rude to these folks or delete their posts.
                                What do you think?
                                Deleting posts automatically would be rude (as well as too heavy-handed to be really effective--you'd end up with posts getting deleted that shouldn't be). Asking people politely to consider moving their post to the right sub is neither--that's what I think.
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                                [–]sprajInterbay 4 points5 points6 points  (5 children)
                                Why haven't any of the other moderators posted in this thread?
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                                [–]kaisengaardRainier Valley[M] 12 points13 points14 points  (0 children)
                                I'm honestly just not sure what to do about the frequent questions situation. I like the idea of tags, personally. In subs that utilize them it can make it really easy to just sort to what you want to see. People might come to /r/seattle for different reasons, so it's one way of catering one sub to many different types of users. It wouldn't help mobile users, necessarily, but I think that's okay.
                                I like corralling topics into "official" threads (like a weekly questions thread, a weekly what's happening thread, etc.), but there are some drawbacks. You can only have one stickied post at a time, and figuring out what the right mix of stickied posts might be isn't easy.
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                                [–]CiscoCertifiedBothell 6 points7 points8 points  (3 children)
                                Its because /u/careless is the only mod here.
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                                [–]sprajInterbay 3 points4 points5 points  (0 children)
                                I wanted to make him say it :]
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                                [–]carelessNorth Capitol Hill[S] comment score below threshold-16 points-15 points-14 points  (1 child)
                                Not true, however, given the amount of vitriol from the off-topic folks that are brigading this particular thread.... I don't blame them one bit for not wanting to jump into this thread.
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                                [–]PeteyNice 6 points7 points8 points  (1 child)
                                Can the solution involve bringing back the old header?
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                                [–]AnzahlRiverton comment score below threshold-6 points-5 points-4 points  (0 children)
                                Was the old one more artistically appealing than the top of a yellow tulip and the Needle from below, set against a sunny but slightly overcast sky? I see this banner as a truly progressive piece that thumbs its nose at the constraints of convention. A transfomative work that scoffs at the elements and principals of design?
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                                [–]VoterApathyPartyRenton 1 point2 points3 points  (3 children)
                                there's a bot that helps new users - just leave it at that
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                                [–]ChutneyRigginsCrown Hill 4 points5 points6 points  (0 children)
                                I agree. I think the bot does an adequate job of pointing people in the right direction.
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                                [–]carelessNorth Capitol Hill[S] comment score below threshold-12 points-11 points-10 points  (1 child)
                                There are two bots that point people to resources; one is user created that attempts to find "Moving to Seattle" posts and a couple other types of frequent posts and point users to the wiki.
                                The other bot is Automoderator, which posts about the rules to very new users and removes the post. This is due to trolls and spambots using brand new accounts.
                                Two questions for you (and everyone else):
                                1. Do you think we should up the usage of bots to point users to the wiki and other resources for frequently asked questions?
                                2. Should Frequently Asked Question posts be removed as well as #1?
                                What do you think?
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                                [–]VoterApathyPartyRenton -2 points-1 points0 points  (0 children)
                                assuming that people can find the links (and will actually click on them) to resources, sure, that's a good idea.
                                myself, I'm really tired of seeing the same questions repeatedly asked - so any action taken that could conceivably remove or minimize the amount of those posts is a good thing.
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                                [–][deleted]  (1 child)
                                [deleted]
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