PM's have maximum character limits...

[Sevens]

...but posts can have a -BILLION-

Seems as though lately some of these folks are doing this irrational line by line quoting and assassination attempts on each other and it's like watching two women fight over the same man.

I'm not sure if the character limit in a private message is a software restriction but MAN, sure we be nice to see some of these keyboard warriors get their posts clipped. Maybe their ego would follow.

[Mike Irwin]

Uhm...

Say what, now?

Care to point out some examples?

[Kosh75287]

Maybe their ego would follow.

Maybe, but I usually observe it only heightening their resolve, and enabling them to claim aggrieved status.

[Sevens]

http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=564533
Here is the most recent active one. And it's not like some very fine and rational arguments aren't being made. I'm sure we've all seen the occasional thread develop in this manner. It's certainly not the end of the world.

But if the same character limit that rears it's head in a PM (that only one poor soul is subjected to...) just kind of seem like it would be more than handy in posts in the open forums.

[BarryLee]

While I understand your concern I would prefer this simply be left to the discretion of the Moderators to handle. Placing some arbitrary character limit could actually prevent someone from posting legitimate information.

[Mike Irwin]

"Placing some arbitrary character limit could actually prevent someone from posting legitimate information."

Exactly. We're not going to do it because of that reason. Private messages and forum posts have completely different reasons for existing. The first is a courtesy, if you will, for members, the second is the entire reason that TFL (and other discussion forums) exist.


"Seems as though lately some of these folks are doing this irrational line by line quoting and assassination attempts on each other and it's like watching two women fight over the same man."

I read through the post you cited, and I see nothing more than members arguing their position and addressing comments made by other posters.

That's what a discussion is, point and counterpoint. As such, it's a valid discussion.

If you find yourself having concerns about the way a discussion is developing, use the report post button to bring it to staff's attention. We're not, however, going to shut down an active discussion just because it becomes QUOTE-reply QUOTE-reply.

That's often the most effective way to address multiple points of discussion in the same message.

[Sevens]

Back up a half mile and veer THIS direction, I'm over <here>

I have no intention or desire to have a moderator SHUT IT DOWN.
I have reported posts when I have seen them, typically spam or drive-by, I understand my role. You could easily see that I did exactly that some 2 days ago on a drive-by. You simply asked for an example, I gave an example.

It was merely a comment about character limits in PM's which seem stifling & affect one person versus open forum posts which are indeed the heart of the entire forum.

So please back up off the idea that I want the playground lady to go blow a whistle.

While I understand your concern I would prefer this simply be left to the discretion of the Moderators to handle. Placing some arbitrary character limit could actually prevent someone from posting legitimate information.

I agree and wouldn't argue this point. But it does get frustrating when saddled with it in a private message. Every time it has dinged me for it, it certainly wasn't some irrational ego-trip can condescension laced "argument"... it has been interesting exchanges of personal experience.

[Mal H]

Sevens, you may have a valid point regarding PMs. This is the very first time it has been mentioned to my knowledge over the past 16 years.

Have you run up against the limit very often? At present the character limit is 6,000 characters for PMs (it's much larger for posts, but a billion is a slight exaggeration). If that is too small a limit for a significant number of PMs, we can certainly increase it with little to no effect on storage capacity.

[Mike Irwin]

"I have reported posts when I have seen them, typically spam or drive-by, I understand my role. You could easily see that I did exactly that some 2 days ago on a drive-by. You simply asked for an example, I gave an example."

I realize that it was but an example, and thank you that you provided one, and that you weren't pointing out anything amiss in that thread other than what your original post raised as your concern.

My point remains -- it's not an issue as long as the conversation maintains a civil, polite tone.

If I misunderstood your original intent, my apologies.

To be perfectly honest, I never knew that there was a limit on the size of PMs until you mentioned it. I've probably sent fewer than a hundred PMs that are more than 3 paragraphs long.