Forum:Blogging solutions

Blogging has recently seen a large spike again, as a result of the Black Ops info coming in. While blogging is generally liked by the community, it has major flaws which are largely ignored. It seems to me that most blogs have some sort of flame war in it, which often ends badly and cannot be kept clean of spam or abusive messages. Yes, even the "OMGWTFBBQSAUCE" which seems to be spamposted on like, every blog (which, in my opinion is just annoying) is spam. There's also the problem of it spamming the Recent Changes to hell and back, which makes it harder for editors who actually want to help out to do so.

So, I give you 4 solutions:


 * 1) We disable blogging completely. This has been done on the RuneScape wiki, without any bad repercussions. They have a very strong community without blogs, so I don't see why that can't be the case here. The whole feature can be taken out without a problem.
 * 2) We make blogs admin-only. This has been done on the SpongeBob Wiki, to great effect. Any non-admins seen posting a blog will have their blog deleted and be strictly warned. Repeat offenses result in a very long block. This doesn't seem like a bad idea whatsoever, as commenting will still be allowed on these blogs.
 * 3) We restrict blogs to being CoD-related only. This isn't a social site where you come to socialize. This is a Wikia wiki, where people come for information. This will eliminate the problem of fan fiction, which shouldn't be on this wiki.
 * 4) We disallow commenting of any sort. Blogs would still be allowed, but comments wouldn't be.

Blogs are turning this wiki from an informative database to a social site. This cannot be happening, and I urge you to think about this subject hard and ask yourself if there is any real benefit of having blogs.

Discuss below, and if you have any more solutions, feel free to post them.

Thanks. 22:15, September 10, 2010 (UTC)

All we need to do is get rid of off-topic comments, because the vast majority of the spam from blog posts are idiots trying to be funny by copy and pasting four year old jokes and spamming "hilarious" image macros that sucked then and suck now. Darkman 4 22:22, September 10, 2010 (UTC)

Personally I'd prefer no blogs whatsoever; as said in the original forum, other wikis have implemented such measures without a negative reaction. Also, recently I've found it difficult scrolling through MyHome (don't slate me for this, I don't like RC) and find it constantly spammed with blog comments. - 22:27, September 10, 2010 (UTC)
 * If you think My Home is bad, check out the Recent Edits page. Good luck trying to find an actual edit! Darkman 4 22:29, September 10, 2010 (UTC)
 * My point exactly. -STBMW2FONTSIG.jpg StB_Flag.jpg 22:32, September 10, 2010 (UTC)

Blogging is something that spams recent changes and the activity page, both are used greatly throughout the wiki and help with reverting vandalism/spam, finding spam pages, and anything else that is mused in an attempt to make the wiki ruined.

We have a wiki for socializing and a fan fiction wiki for stuff most commonly used in blogs (that aren't news). And blogs are also used to spam and etc. Posting comments like "LOLWTFBBQSAUSE" or "TEH LULZ" is really just annoying and is only filling the wiki's activity with spam.

I know we don't have to read blogs, but with them clogging up the wiki's activity, this has been going on for too long already. Why use blogs when you can use other social sites? We are not a place to socialize, we are an encyclopedia made to inform readers about Call of Duty - do we really need blogs to socialize, and not do anything to actually help the wiki? No. We need clean up, more mainspace editing, expanded articles, and to prepare for the release of the new video game, Call of Duty: Black Ops.

News, however, should be kept, as it informs users and others of the changes happening on the wiki, how to prepare for it, etc, and also are informing readers of Call of Duty: Black Ops news, and news for other games as well.

Blogs in general are just something made to make a wiki anything but what it is at it's heart: an encyclopedia. I would vote strong support to making blogging restrictions so that only Call of Duty news, wiki news, and etc will be allowed. -- 22:32, September 10, 2010 (UTC)
 * The actual blogs aren't the problem; its the comments. I wouldn't mind a complete perma-freeze on commenting, because it is the real problem, not blogs. Darkman 4 22:34, September 10, 2010 (UTC)
 * That's actually not entirely true. Remember TheManOfIron's "Favorite sandwich?" blog? That blog was the top of the wiki activity for a while until it was deleted. There are also many blogs out there that are considered spam as well. -- 22:36, September 10, 2010 (UTC)
 * Do you know why it became so popular? It's because of commenting. If nobody could comment on it then it wouldn't have a lot of activity related to it. See what I mean? Darkman 4 22:38, September 10, 2010 (UTC)
 * IWell if the blog wasn't made, people wouldn't have commented. If we were to have no and commenting and just blogs, that would just be unneeded and should really just end up having the blog deleted anyway. -- 22:42, September 10, 2010 (UTC)
 * So we should just get rid of user's being allowed to express their opinions period? I mean, I don't mind prohibiting certian types of blogs (like "omg my life sux"), but getting rid of everything is not a good idea. I mean, is there any real harm in someone posting a blog about how they got cheated out of a nuke? Darkman 4 22:45, September 10, 2010 (UTC)
 * As I said, we do have a wiki for stuff like that. If some user wants to make a blog about how they got toobed from across the map or w/e, they can simply go there. -- 22:48, September 10, 2010 (UTC)
 * I thought that was for OT stuff like "my life sux", not discussion of the CoD games. Darkman 4 22:50, September 10, 2010 (UTC)
 * It is a social wiki, so any user there who wants to post something about getting teebagged by some 11 year old could go there instead of here along with anything else dealing with socialism. -- 22:54, September 10, 2010 (UTC)
 * So the main wiki should just be dedicated to mindlessly editing the wiki? That what it sounds like you're proposing. Darkman 4 22:56, September 10, 2010 (UTC)
 * By no means am I trying to promote stupid edits. I am saying that there is a wiki for blogs, and that blogs in general are just plain unnecessary.
 * As for the codsocial wiki being only OT only, why would it be called the Call of Duty social wiki? -- 23:06, September 10, 2010 (UTC)
 * I thought it was called the CoD Social Wiki because its for members of our wiki to go OT and shitpost without clogging up the main page, not so they can do stuff like share stories about how they pwned some dude. Basically it's supposed to be a moron quarantine. Darkman 4 23:11, September 10, 2010 (UTC)
 * Well in fairness half teh blogs do just end up flamebaiting, even the genuine ones. Plus there's alot of BUMPing going on now. Emblem-pirateflag-1.jpg Smuff 22:47, September 10, 2010 (UTC)
 * Agreed, but that's usually caused by users in the comments, not the actual blog post. Look at our BO news blogs; almost all of them have at least one discussion about how Treyarch is totally ripping off Wii players. However, the actual blog doesn't mention the Wii version. Darkman 4 22:49, September 10, 2010 (UTC)
 * Yeah see? Instead of making a new blog they plague another one. I don't mind if the blog is related to CoD, it's when people completely change the subject. Emblem-pirateflag-1.jpg Smuff 22:52, September 10, 2010 (UTC)
 * Same here. Even if you make it something like COD-only blogs, you're still going to get spam like some kid saying that his parents won't let him get BO until Christmas. Just shut down commenting and it'll go away. Darkman 4 22:54, September 10, 2010 (UTC)
 * All I want to see is a Home page with actual edits in it, speaking of which is IRC working for anywone? Emblem-pirateflag-1.jpg Smuff 22:57, September 10, 2010 (UTC)
 * Same here. I've become a bit less active just because there's so much comment spam that I find it hard to see if there is vandalism going on. Darkman 4 22:58, September 10, 2010 (UTC)
 * Shame IRC is down, it would be alot easier to discuss. But Yes, I try to get vandals and I can't get the damn 8 year old when 12 10 year old are arguing over the FAMAS or the M16. Emblem-pirateflag-1.jpg Smuff 23:02, September 10, 2010 (UTC)
 * To connect to IRC, try using webchat. -- 23:07, September 10, 2010 (UTC)

I think that stricter rules should be enforced just to discourage some editors from making off-topic blogs 22:35, September 10, 2010 (UTC)

I am all for disabling blogs because they cause more harm than good. The only blogs that are worthwhile are the news blogs that keep us updated on Black Ops. Therefore, I think we should restrict blogs for admins only, to keep away off topic blogging. 22:37, September 10, 2010 (UTC)

Can we just get rid of it? Almost every blog is made by editors with > 500 and it gives people who should only have 200 edits 1000 edits. Plus the blogs are begionning to attract Anon spam which is a big distraction also. I try to get the vandals and this just takes attention away from that and the War Room. yes, I admit they are getting better but it's the same people posting the same crap on a different blog. Do one or the other, make it so they have to be approved by an admin or just shoot 'em in the head. Blogging is a luxary we can't seem to afford anymore, not a right. Smuff 22:38, September 10, 2010 (UTC)

I have come to the conclusion that after reading the optoins these are my thoughts:


 * 1) 1 to just outright ban blogging. I have seen some nasty fights happen on blogs which would never had happened if there were no blogs to begin with. If that will not pass the I am open to having #2 proposition put in place. As stated, it would be open to only Admins. #3 has always been the option I have advocated. Off topic blogs have no place on the wiki in my opinion. #4 if we dont allow commenting on blogs then there's no sense in having them in the first place.

That's just my opinions  Talk  23:31, September 10, 2010 (UTC)

Well, back in the good ol' days, people who wanted to voice their opinions just made a user subpage to do so. Blogging is simply that upgraded, but it's not a worthy one. It's too user-friendly, and that tends to attract the low-lives.  bibliomaniac 1  5  02:26, September 11, 2010 (UTC)

I recall a similar thread, which was also made when blogging saw an increase in popularity. Seeing as how we have news blogs, and Black Ops is a much-anticipated game, it's only natural we'd get so many comments. Many comments (the majority left by anons) are off-topic, belittling others' opinions, or flamebait. Now, looking at the solutions people suggested. Removing the ability to comment on blogs denies users to express their opinion on them. Restricting to admin-only would eliminate all hateful comments, since admins are required to be civil, but other users would start to see this as unfair (though not a violation of AEAE). I agree with points above saying that the wiki is not a social site. That's why it's called a wiki. Though since this isn't a social site, we wouldn't have forums, roleplay, usergroups and blogs (some exceptions). Yet we still have them on the wiki. There's even a social wiki, though some users either are unaware of its existence or don't care. The social wiki was meant to solve the problem of the blogging tantrum brought up by the Halt Blogging thread, though said thread eventually died down as users lost interest in the issue. I believe eventually this complaining in blogging presently will eventually blow over. LITE992 04:13, September 11, 2010 (UTC)

I've already pointed out that Recent Changes can be filtered by namespace, so a surge in blogging shouldn't severely impact on patrollers who actually do it properly. Again, when a new wave of users signs up on release of Black Ops, we'll get massive numbers of userspace edits and requests for signatures that will flood Recent Changes. The moment the game comes out, the main character's article will get fifty edits a day, and that will flood Recent Changes, and in fact would be harder to patrol if that were the case. However, we don't disable editing on particular namespaces because they're used more often than others. I disagree with Callofduty4's statement that blogs are turning the wiki into a social site rather than an informative site. We haven't lost any of our database of information. Readers still mostly come for the reference material. Unfortunately, Call of Duty is a static franchise and the material we cover is limited and is already covered better in FAQs and Walkthroughs from other sites.

In short, don't hate on blogs because people like using them. Yes, there are bad comments; but there are bad edits on mainspace articles. When Black Ops comes out, there will be a surge in bad edits. Will we restrict editing because of the number of people who will rage over whether or not a particular trivia point should be included? If users abuse editing privileges, they get blocked accordingly and their privileges are removed. The same should be happening with users who abuse blogging and commenting features. Why can't bad blogs be stopped? If there are too many, then we need more admins to deal with these cases instead of disallowing their use. --Scottie theNerd 04:50, September 11, 2010 (UTC)
 * You state "Will we restrict editing because of the number of people who will rage over whether or not a particular trivia point should be added?". Well that's why we have to protect pages sometimes, to restrict bad editing and edit warring on a specific page. 11:17, September 11, 2010 (UTC)
 * And when a blog draws flak, it too should be protected or deleted to restrict bad comments and flame warring. We don't stop people from editing when a few people edit war; we likewise shouldn't stop users from blogging because a few aren't responsible bloggers. --Scottie theNerd 12:59, September 11, 2010 (UTC)
 * Also, I'm also disappointed at the proposal that I have to be an admin in order to blog. Not all bloggers are off-topic posters, and admins in general don't blog. But if that goes through, I guess I'll put in an RFA for the sake of being allowed to blog. --Scottie theNerd 04:52, September 11, 2010 (UTC)
 * That's only one solution, and is probably the least desirable of the four. I only put that one in because it is used by another wiki. 11:12, September 11, 2010 (UTC)

I would not miss blogs verry much if they were eliminated. I use them to see what a group of people says before bringing it to a forum. Also, my blogs generally don't recieve much attention. Another thing is that Mainspace editing has gone down so much that there is a new edit every 15-30 minutes. That is absolutely unnacceptable. Well there's my $0.02 for today on this subject.
 * A low "quantity" of mainspace edits isn't "unacceptable". As I raised above, the content of Call of Duty is rather static and doesn't require a lot of maintenance. While there are still things to do, we're not going to spike in edits until Black Ops is released. Older games need to be covered in more depth, but few people are up for working on them. --Scottie theNerd 12:59, September 11, 2010 (UTC)
 * Ya'know, Scottie, I love how you always have an answer to everything I say. Not that it's a bad thing or anything, but you always counter my argument with a good point. Great job.