ADVISORY: VAGUE..topic..titles

[Moore ideas]

We continue to have problems with vague topic titles, and it's probably the number one reason for topic removals on SOC. (An improperly posted spoiler conversation is a close "first runner-up".)

SOC's guidelines state the following about topic titles:

Make sure that the subject you choose for each of your messages is a proper indication of what your message is about. For example: "Hey! That's Cool!" does not clearly indicate what a reader will find in the content of your message. Whereas "The special effects today were cool" does express what your message is about. Threads with vague subject lines are subject to removal.


The only exception to this policy is when you're creating a spoiler discussion, in which case we do not want references to spoiler information in the topic title.

Posters often complain that their topics have been removed for "no reason", or they speculate that they're "not allowed" to express a negative opinion about a character, couple, or storyline. Nope! It's because your topic title (and I'm making up these examples) was "I'm so angry!" or "How about...???" Angry about what? How about what? What are you talking about? Which character? Which storyline? Give posters a fighting change to decide whether or not it's a topic that interests them. Vague titles also lead to duplicate topics, because no one can immediately tell that what they want to post about is already being discussed.

And finally, please don't make assumptions about why your post or topic was removed. If you don't find out directly from a moderator what happened, then you'll very likely continue to make the same mistakes and your post and topics will be regularly removed. Ultimately, that could lead to receiving infractions or bans on your account. So ASK. We don't answer individual questions about these things on the forums; it's no one else's business why your post or topic was removed, and space is reserved for posting about our shows, but all moderators have a hyperlink to their email addresses (email me) at the bottom of all their posts. (See below.) If you can't see a moderator's signature, then please go into your own profile and enable the "signature" option.

[Moore ideas]

I'm bumping this advisory up to the top, because we're still having ongoing issues with vague topic titles.


* Listing several characters' names is not a clear title. What about those characters is it that you want to discuss?

* Trying to create a sense of mystery with your topic title ("An exciting twist would be....", as a made-up example) won't get you lots of traffic, but it will get your topic removed. An exciting twist about which storyline or about which character's dilemma?


These are just a couple of examples, but please be clear about what you want to discuss in your titles. And again, the only exception is when the topic is a spoiler conversation. It's the one time when we don't want specific information in tit title, beyond a broad indication of which character or storyline the spoiler is about.

And please feel free to post questions if you need additional clarification.