We in this thread have deep and extensive experience with polls, and we know you need to talk for a long time before understanding what the poll question should be 
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A meme gallery with only memes would be a great thing but… it’s a gallery, not a forum thread. 
I think that the graphic nature of memes is very helpful for those who are interested specifically only about memes: you can scroll the thread and stop only on pictures.
It’s funny how some chat about memes happened using memes, so what about those meta-memes? 
Anyway I fear that Eugene’s worries are just for a very specific kind of user: someone who daily, probably many times per day, checks the forum and it’s notifications for new contents.
I personally do it a little less often and always find the meme thread with multiple new messages, usually with some memes in the bunch, so my appetite for memes is always satisfied when I open that thread.
I’m not really annoyed when some new messages are simple answers, comments or chat.
Sometimes it happens that a chat moment becomes a blob, but some other user politely complains with a “more memes please” comment and everything comes back to normality. Doesn’t it?
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I think this is a pretty big point that needs to be considered, in regards to splitting off-topic meme comments into their own threads. This is extremely on point. Well said yebellz.
This seems feasible if…
-
the Meme thread a link is created the exact location of the post being moved in the Meme Talk thread.
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the Meme Talk thread contains a link back to the original meme in the original Meme thread.
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Do you not think this is becoming an example of making mountains out of molehills?
Its a meme thread, yes, but how many times have there been memes generated from what someone said in chit chat? Thus breathing more life in to the thread, with the generation of more memes, which while their not Go related, are topical and hilarious.
Im absolutelly fine with the chit chat. While i dont typically post that often in the thread, I end up going on to the thread every day, because its hilarious.
Does it really matter that the nature of the thread has deviated? No i dont think so… its a natural thing that happens when threads have been around for a long long time and have so many different personalities contributing to it all over different times in the threads life.
If indeed someone goes waaay off topic, then, split the thread. But, having such an indepth meta discussion over soemthing as meaningless as the meaning of the meme thread, has to be the most silly thing i have seen in the forums…their memes, they dont have to have meaning much of the time. The discussion is often also funny, and… as we know from tumblr, text, is a form of meme, so discussion, odd quips, and the like… are perfectly fine. Hell, even just interesting discussions could be constude as a meme.
A meme, need not be funny, to be considered a meme. All a meme is is something that that is shared on the internet and gets reshared many times. Thats littlerally what it means. This excessive discussion over what the thread should be is utterly pointless.
Just, post memes, chat, and have fun. That is the entier point of a meme thread, fun. So lets be having it and get back to creating stupid memes.
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I was about to make a long comment about how the increase in comments and flexibility of the format correlates and is likely the cause of the thread’s popularity long-term, but if this is the policy we’re debating here, I’m happy for it. Arguably we should’ve done that for the “Comic Strips vs Memes” debate.
Also, it’s kind of funny just how much we have flouted Crocrobot’s initial restriction. We just love disobeying the old coot don’t we? 
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Crocrobot did not make the restriction, and people have posted more than just memes for several years.
That rule was added by @Eugene, who edited the post on January 1, 2020.
I think that rule (exactly one meme per post) is overly strict and does not reflect the practice, wishes, nor enforcement. Even @Eugene seems to have softened his stance on the matter, and continued to personally flout that rule even after he added it.
I agree that this is a nuanced and complex issue, and there are perhaps many questions to settle. However, we can still poll on incremental issues to gauge public opinion, and then follow up with further questions.
Let’s start with a basic question and then explore further from there.
Should the Go Memes Thread be Strictly Only Memes?
- Yes
- No
0
voters
YES would mean that these posts break the rules and should be removed (and possibly placed elsewhere).
NO would require further discussion to determine where to draw the line on what type of posts should be allowed.
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I propose a Bacon number of 2. A post must be a meme, a response to a meme, or a comment on a response. Further meta should be directed elsewhere.
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But what shall we do with people who violate this Bacon rule? A warning on the first offense? Public shaming? Or should they go straight to the gulag?
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Public shaming seems right.
Maybe a wall of shame.
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Their “too meta” posts should be deleted. I guess that’s enough “punishment”.
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The talk of punishing people for breaking a set of rules that may well change again, as inevitably, the nature of the thread will one day change again… Seems, well, kinda silly.
Just delete the offending post, or move it to a different thread called “meme thread trash posts”, or something simmilar.
Again, I must insist that the overcomplicating of this insignificant problem is beyond silly in my opinion.
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Something worth pointing out is that a great deal of non-meme posting inspires more meme creation 
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That is - honestly - one of my favorite images ever on this site :’)
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What an amusing and provocative way to state it.
Actually, I approached the topic with nuance, understanding, and tolerance, in keeping with the character of the thread that had been established 
As with most polls, the question about ‘strictly’ was completely the wrong question, given that no-one in the preceeding discussion was arguing this case. But I guess it’s nice to have a poll with a unanimous response! Has that ever been done before!?
The discussion in this thread persuaded me that:
… and indeed, isn’t this generally how we approach “keeping threads on topic”: nice that this turns out to be just another case of looking for that basic courtesy.
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Thank you for clarifying your position. I’m glad that you no longer want the Go Memes thread to strictly consist of only memes.
I wanted to ask the specific question of “strictly only memes” since your initial post seemed to be exactly arguing that case.
When you said
I took that to mean that you wanted the thread to be only memes, and when you said
it seemed to further clarify that you wanted every post to be a meme. Further, this statement
suggested that you did not want people to talk about memes in the thread.
As an aside, I feel compelled to pedantically point out that a title like “The X thread” does not necessarily rule out discussion about X, and in the context of a forum, would most often imply it.
Finally, although you later changed your stance, your assertion that
seemed to suggest that others might want “strictly only memes” as well. Hence, I thought it was appropriate to gauge public opinion on this question. Of course, as I said earlier, this is certainly not the only question to ask nor the only decision to be made in this complex and nuanced matter.
I’m sorry if I provoked or upset you. That was not my intent. I just wanted to point out that the words that you added to the Go Memes thread first post:
Please post one meme per post. Ideally, precisely one meme per post
seemed to be inconsistent with the common practice (even your own), the wishes of the community, and the general history of thread enforcement. Given this and the wink, I’ve always viewed these words to only be a mild suggestion, however, it seems that initially the whole point of this thread was to establish it as a firm rule.
Since we now seem to acknowledge the “unanimous response” that no one wants “strictly only memes”, would you also agree those words should perhaps be removed from the first post of the Go Memes thread, in order to avoid potential misinterpretation as a rule which no one seems to want.
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It’s curious to me that your above post was needed, but I guess that is “communication” for you - it takes time to get to the same page.
I thought that it was clear that:
- I started this thread when you indicated my recent position was too extreme, and I could see that this needed to be checked
- I rapidly saw that my recent position was indeed too extreme, and acknowleged that a number of times.
I’m not quite sure why it’s necessary to keep returning to my original position: it’s as if I’ve been able to say “ah, that was wrong, I checked and now I see the proper course” and you can’t quite believe it!
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You criticized my poll very harshly, suggesting that gauging public opinion on this question was not important. I meant to explain why I asked that question, and how your posts even seemed to suggest that it would be worth asking.
Further, I wanted to ask if you thought it was worthwhile to remove “Please post one meme per post. Ideally, precisely one meme per post ” from the first post of the Go Memes thread.
Are you suggesting that I’m too slow or dim-witted? 
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No, I meant to say that “it is common that we think we express ourselves clearly, only to find that communication is not that easy, and it takes time to get on the same page”.
In fact, I think that is more or less what I did say 
I’m not sure that my criticism of the poll was “very harsh”. In fact, my observation was that the poll was like most other polls. So if this is harsh criticism, at least it is not singling out your poll, but rather a criticism of polls in general.
This is what we have seen over and over again: polls created to attempt to ask what we would all like to know generally seem to turn out to be the wrong question after we see the answers
I think that this is the correct way to look at it:
And I do think that I already made this point, by saying:
If we focus on this as the way forwards, is there anything remaining?
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Sacrilege! Polls are an important part of OGS forums culture!
Yes, why am I suddenly no longer labeled as a “Pedant”? Could you please add that custom title back as a moderator? Edit: resolved (thanks @mark5000)
I think it is still a good idea to remove the text “Please post one meme per post. Ideally, precisely one meme per post ”, because
- It has the potential for being misinterpreted as a firm rule and mistakenly viewed as a statement made by @crocrobot from the very beginning. In the earlier discussion, @flovo seems to have misinterpreted it as something stated by @crocrobot and present from the beginning, @mekliff seems to have also mistakenly believed that it was a rule set by @crocrobot.
- While it reflects your personal preference, it does not seem to reflect the broader consensus, with many people (including yourself) not adhering to this practice, many people not wishing it to be the case (i.e., the nearly unanimous poll above), and this restriction not being reflected in the historical moderation/enforcement in this thread.
- In general, I think it is risky to edit other people’s posts in such a manner, since the changes might not reflect their views, intentions, and wishes, but the system makes it difficult to distinguish that it was not them that said it.
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