Post/thread length requirements

[Dutch]

*Yes, I'm not terribly active and I'm definitely guilty of this too(Have to get this out of the way).*

In the times that I'm active around here I've been noticing that people often make really short posts that(at least to me) can come off as having a lack of purpose and being nooby. What I'd like to suggest is that for some of the sub-forums on here there be a minimum requirement for posts/threads so that(hopefully) the quality can improve. I know that quantity doesn't mean quality, but if you just make a post that says "I agree" or "lol" then it just seems like a waste of space. If there was at least some minimal requirement then people would have to put a little more thought and effort into what they say which could open up whole new discussions or even keep some from dying.

I'm totally willing to accept the possibility that when I go on one of my "vacations" from here that everyone types enough to fill up dictionaries; and when I'm on here my presence makes people post with less quality then they're capable of; but just in case that's not true I think this is something that should be considered for at least some of the sub-forums on here. There would be no sense for places like the arcade to have a requirement, but discussion forums could use this. For example I'm a member of a Smash site and we added this feature about a year ago and it has helped make posts longer(and better).

Edit: I just typed a reply in the intro thread and I can get away with just posting one letter. Maybe we should raise our standards just a little bit?

[KiarasMate]

I honestly don't think this would result in better posts from members, more so, members getting turned off from posting altogether. While it would be nice if all members posted lengthy and detailed posts for all the threads on the forum, that's just asking way too much of everyone I think. Some people are just wordier than others and not all, but some people who post short posts still can get their point across in a few lines at best. Those who constantly post single line replies are eventually weeded out in some way or another and I believe that the majority of MLK does an alright job when it comes to putting at least an acceptable amount of thought and effort into their posts. Just cause you make someone have to write more about something, doesn't mean it'll always be better. In some cases, like you mentioned, less is more.

[YFWE]

Incredibly short posts can be as irritating to me as they seem to be to you, but I dunno if it's something really viable to have an actual, set-in-stone rule for... while in some threads, that might seem like a good idea, other threads could hit some snags if there was a length requirement. Take for example the Word Association thread. Because 99 percent of the time I'm posting just one word, does that mean I can't do that anymore? Or what about in the voting threads, if someone just wanted to vote for, say, Mike, and just put 'Mike.' Can they not do that anymore?

I think there's some instances in which brevity is acceptable, if not necessary. This obviously couldn't become a requirement board-wide, but even if it was confined to certain boards, issues might still be run into. I do agree with you that it's irritating, though. The other day, I saw someone just post "lol." in a thread. And that's it. That's always been a peeve of mine.

That said, I don't think posts are necessarily losing quality, or at least entire threads aren't. Sure, you might have the occasional two word post thrown in an intelligent conversation, but the more thought-out posts are still there; you might just have to scroll down a little bit further.

I just wouldn't want to drive people away from the forum by seeming really strict, like. YOU GOTTA POST THIS MANY WORDS, OR ELSE. Those short posts can be irritating in some contexts, but is there really a foolhardy way to go about changing it? If there is, please, someone do tell; I'd be interested in hearing it!

[KingKivuli]

i understand where your coming from Dutch and yeah it would be nice to see big posts however im going with KM and YWFE here. Adding restrictions may damage threads like all the awards, plus if its quality not quantity then adding restrictions will make that harder. sometimes a few words say alot more than an entire essay