Welcome to Davis_Square!

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

So a number of us gathered at the Diesel this evening to chat about the community and rules and such. In the interest of keeping everyone informed:

• The rules of the community, though slightly amended from what they previously were, are still in the community's userinfo. Some of the highlights:
• Multiple images or large (i.e. greater than 300x300 pixels) images should be put behind an <lj-cut> tag.
• Long posts should make use of the <lj-cut> tag. (Except this one, if you consider it long, because all y'all need to actually see it.)
• There aren't particular lj-cut rules for ads--it's not the case that all ads must be cut. But if they have large images, multiple images, a lot of text, etc., go ahead and use the <lj-cut> tag.
• When in doubt: use the <lj-cut> tag. The moderators may ask you nicely to add an lj-cut to your post. Please, be cooperative. Moderators won't delete things just because they aren't lj-cut, but posts from posters who repeatedly ignore these polite requests will be handled (on a case by case basis).
• There is no longer a "one ad per poster per week" restriction, either; but with respect to frequent posts on the same topic, be cooperative, etc. etc. (See previous point.)
• In general: be nice. Be cooperative. Y'know?
• plumtreeblossom plans, as a gift to the community, to buy it a paid membership, which will allow us to create a photo scrapbook, post polls, and many other wondrous things that are probably listed somewhere in the help files. More info as this develops.
• Finally, cos discovered that it's possible to set up a list of people, in addition to moderators, who can add tags to post. If anyone wants to volunteer to be on the "tag team" (plumtreeblossom's phrase, not mine!) and help sort through old posts, cataloguing them so users can easily find earlier discussions of restaurants, politics, or drycleaning, let the moderators know. ("Drycleaning"? "dry-cleaning"? "dry_cleaning"? Also: consistency.)

Generally, there was a feeling that the davissquare community, set up hurriedly over the weekend, isn't still necessary, and we ought to be fine with a single community (i.e., this one). What happens with davis_meta is up to prunesnprisms; it may be a handy place to discuss meta-issues away from those who'd rather not have to see it.

Comments

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

I think the comments in this Davis_Meta post (http://www.livejournal.com/community/davis_meta/1065.html) (in particular, hauntmeister's) underscore the problem of why it's hard to be certain what an ad is, which leads to the problem of uneven enforcement of the policy. And as firstfrost says, while "long" may be vague, so is "20 lines" (and I'd hate to see people counting words, or the like). "20 lines" may not be a bad guideline, but in the end: be nice. Be cooperative. Y'know?

[enochs-fable.livejournal.com]

I think prunesnprisms comment:

So far as I am concerned, an advertisement is a public promotion of some product or service--that's the strict definition of the term. You are advertising that you are seeking a service. By definition, this would have a limited group of interest. I, for example, have limited interest because I do not have such a space to offer for filming--and for no other real reason. a person with an apartment would have limited interest in a roommate advertisement, or that seeking housing.

I also agree that a political advertisement is just that--an advertisement, with limited interest. ALL political advertisements are of limited interest.

essayed a pretty good definition. I don't think it's hard to define ad loosely using the criteria above, explicitly including political and charity related solicitations.

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

Thanks for that! Appreciated.

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

It's...a pretty good definition. On the other hand: Almost all posts are of limited interest, period. I don't have any clothes that require dry cleaning, so even a request like "Does anyone know a good dry cleaner around here?" is something of no interest to me.

And: If an ad is "a public promotion of some product or service", then "I'm filming a movie! Anyone know a good location?" isn't an ad at all, because it's not offering anything at all, it's requesting something. And it's not even requesting a service; it's seeking advice. You may have no interest in giving advice because you have no space to offer; but then, I have no advice to give on dry cleaners, either.

Ultimately, my feeling on ads is this: like any other post at all, in this community or on my friend's blogs, I may or may not have any interest in the topic. If I have no interest, I'll scroll past it. The reason to use cut tags, I feel, isn't to keep people from the unpleasant knowledge that someone is looking for a roommate; it's to minimize the amount of scrolling-past readers have to do. Hence, a five-line ad, being easy to skip over, doesn't seem to me to require an lj-cut.

There may be other reasons to lj-cut all ads; I can't think of them, but, hey, if there are, let me know.