yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[About XDA developers] mpolanski:
I've spent couple of last minutes doing some statistics for one of dev threads started no more then 10 days ago (number of posts made by user as of today - not at the moment he/she wrote it). And first 10 pages looks like this:

"tnx" / "super" / "noone knows what is this" posts

27 posts

avg. posts for user posting this kind of trash = 101

most post user posting it = 840

posts from users below 10 posts = 5

posts from users below 50 posts = 17

"not working, help!" with no explanation

1 post

user has 339 posts today

"not working, help!" already explained / already mentioned as bug by dev

10 posts

avg. posts for user posting this kind of trash = 117

most post user posting it = 677

posts from users below 10 posts = 1

posts from users below 50 posts = 6

real bug found / bug not mentioned by devin first / second post

8 posts

avg. posts for user posting this kind of posts= 212

most post user posting it = 677

posts from users below 10 posts = 0

posts from users below 50 posts = 3

please don't spam / use search

1 post

user has 9 posts now

other non-dev

19 posts

avg. posts for user posting this kind of trash = 172

most post user posting it = 677

posts from users below 10 posts = 1 (!)

posts from users below 50 posts = 10

Of course it's based on my own opinion, and I might not be best person to judge. Anyway I tried not to count same user twice in same category if there was no clear reason for it.

For me, it clearly shows that most of trash posts is made by users below 50 posts, not those below 10 posts, but... unfortunately it's not really uncommon for those above 50 (some of them have couple of hundreds posts today). 1/3 of "thanks" posts is made by experienced users. 1/2 of questions about things already explained, and totally non-dev posts is written by them as well.

I really doubt limit of 10 posts will help. tbh, I think it will always get messy without strict moderation in dev threads, and some kind of bug tracking tools (btw. why it's so uncommon to use code.google for example? Using it for project doesn't mean you can't use xda as knowledge source or dev discussion). If I had a vote, I'd say limit of 50, and strong recommendation for developers for 2nd thread - "Q&A, howto for newbe" kind.
[About XDA developers] mpolanski:
I need to agree with this opinion. But easy way out is to give devs possibility to release user from this limit. If someone is seriously interested in dev thread, and writes PM to dev about serious and useful things, he should be allowed to post regardless of limit.
[About XDA developers] sakai4eva:
Nicely done... It seems that I might have to retract my suggestion, but most of these threads were started before the "Thank" button is in place
[About XDA developers] QwertyManiac:
It is time enough for letting the developers (OPs) of the Development topic board to do self (one-time) moderation of posts on their own topics. They can decide the `who` and `what` better than others.
[About XDA developers] JVH3:
Potential Additional buttons.

I would like to see a {Read Post} button.

The user would press this to acknowledge that they read a post.

Ops could require certain posts of their thread to be acknowledged as read, such as the first 6 posts.

Common solutions and required information could be included in these posts.

Then also add a button, {Info in Required Reading}

This would reduce the number of posts that tell users to search.

A user gets enough of these, maybe 10, a mod would automatically be alerted.

Stats could also be used on the Read Post. It the user has acknowledged 100+ posts as read, they may be excempt from further acknowledgement.

Users with 100+ thanks given to them could also be excempt.
[About XDA developers] :
^^ yeah, that would be a good idea, allow OP to lock/unlock their own threads.
[About XDA developers] sweepstakes:
Alright. Ten posts isn't much. But when hundreds of people start spamming 'off-topic' it becomes a bit of a problem.

In my opinion disable post count in the off-topic forum. I know people on here who have post counts in their thousands. 95% of which is from off-topic.
[About XDA developers] cajunflavoredbob:
One thousand thanks to the admins for this. I appreciate the amazing mod team here, and this may help to curb some of their work. I would suggest that the limit be raised to 25 as has been suggested before.
[About XDA developers] fadi669:
This is a very nice approach. I agree that the complaining wont stop, but this will surely filter some crap.
[About XDA developers] Frankenstooge:
Great move! If this works for the good, please try 20!
[About XDA developers] dvgrhl:
I still don't get it. When something is wrong, you do two things. First, you identify the problem. Second, you come up with a solution for that problem.

Here, the problem is that some new members don't bother searching for answers to their problems before they post new threads or in existing threads with questions that have been answered many times before. No argument from anyone, this is a problem.

But the solutions people are suggesting do nothing to actually motivate new members towards solving this problem themselves. On the contrary, the "solutions" offered will harm the presence of what could be contributing members to this community.

Everyone has to start as a newb at some point. That includes sometimes asking dumb questions. The more people that become part of this community and feel confident interacting with everyone else, the better off xda is. Cutting off new members is the first step towards the stagnation of this community.

So the question isn't whether these stupid questions by some new members are annoying, it's whether they are so bad that it's worth affecting the future direction xda will take? Things have been progressing pretty good as is.
[About XDA developers] th3:
Thanks, and a massive welcome for the move since I can really understand how difficult it is but... 10 is very low. I agree with those who stated 25 to post there. I'm never winning any popularity contests anyway so here's my little opinion.

Most of the posts in dev nowadays are one liners, repeating the same - not 10x - but 1000x answered qs, asking useless qs due to not bothering with reading/search but just wanting to go along with geek latest ROM flash fashion, "+1"'s and off-topic posts. I've seen so many wanting to flash the latest nightly update in there when they don't even know what a kernel/radio/flash/hboot and even simpler basics are. "Updates?" and "I can't wait for your xx release" also make a big chunk of dev forum posts now. It just isn't the same standard as it was. The mods/staff have none of the blame and do an excellent job - some things are just very difficult to deal with due to the raw frequency/numbers.

As I mentioned to pulser_g2 a few days back, I read here since the days I was on Modaco, back with HTC Typhoon. I had joined here back then but didn't keep account of details and never posted. I rejoined again in 2010 and my first post in dev section was when I was past 200 posts on here (and IIRC, due to a major stock kernel error). Nearly all of my posts before then were in General or QA. But the old XDA-Dev mantra is now broken next to every post in the dev sections so I really don't know what is what.

And BTW, I don't see this as a double edged sword from experience. Such rules will make no difference to the influx. Back in the Typhoon days, XDA-Dev was still right at the top even without most such users. I've followed most tech sites since 1998 back from the old Icrontic forum days and when you have such a quality site, mass amounts of productive users will always be attracted and join. Or are you trying to make it Facebook? :p

The biggest problem I have in dev sections is, said without euphemisms a) idiot himself breaks rules carelessly b) idiot sees another idiot breaking the same rules, he joins in to feed, defend and support him c) too many of such join in to give the newbie idiot who carelessly breaks the rules, support and moral victory, when he is confronted about it, and help him with qs/complains that have no right to be in that section and break many rules (in a way, trying to justify their own previous doings). Result? a) outbumber d) who do stick to the mantra/rules so b) types dominate and increase creating c). They don't learn or change their behavior believing those of us d) types are wrong and "hostile/aggressive". So you're getting a section filled with a) b) c) types and less and less of d) types or their posts. It's these users that irk me the most rather than the newbies ;)

Pulser's idea of every ROM having a thread in QA where qs are diverted to I feel is a must. Thanks for you work and time.
[About XDA developers] dekeijzer:
I think a better idea would be to:

-force users to have used the search at least 5 times before allowing to reply in dev-threads.

-having at least 50 posts OR consent from a mod to post a thread in the dev-section

-a "no thanks" button, allowing you to mark a post as not useful without alerting a mod.

This button wouldn't display anything at all for different users, but the user itself will get a notification that one of his posts was marked useless; giving a clear sign that he should up the ante on his next post :).
[About XDA developers] colossus:
Hi,

My personal opinion is to have 2 extra tabs where the thanks muti qoute area is one for help which links you to all the relevant links for the thread and one for updates which the dev's fill in every time they have updates on there projects-surely this is better than trying to police threads all the time-anyway just a thought.;)
[About XDA developers] sakai4eva:
^ I think... We need to devise an algorithm to prevent posts with too little punctuation for appearing.

This also points out the need for a grammar police for the there =/= their =/= they're infraction
[About XDA developers] kanttii:
Ah! At last people are forced to use search before posting, at least on development forums!

The search criteria could be improved, though, for example with additional operands, for example:

gingerbread + "32A 6.35"
[About XDA developers] cornellalum:
I see the point ... some development forums have been flooded with posts that should be in other categories.

On the other hand, though I post infrequently and have a low post count, I have an engineering background and know when it is appropriate to post to devel threads.

Not everyone is as aware as I though. If anything, this policy will motivate me to contribute to other forums, in a meaningful fashion. I don't remember my post count but getting to 10 shouldn't be too difficult. :)
[About XDA developers] zer0-1ne:
+1

10 char
[About XDA developers] homer.web:
Hello guys, I do not know how exactly you are organized in administering the site, but what I could suggest from my experience I have from the other site, where I am admin of some forums. This is how it works:

If you would like to become an admin of the specific forum, you can apply for that. Than, if he/she agree, the global admin setup a week long voting in that specific forum for you, to become a admin. If you are voted by users, than you become one of the admins of the forum with some privileges others do not have, like:

You can delete/move post

You can warn users, they are violating forum rules

You can ban users, who are violating forum rules for certain time (15min. 30min. 60min. 180min. 360min), so they are not abble to log in and post

Also, if I log in, in the header and footer section of the forum it shows, which admins are currently logged in and are in this forum, so everybody knows, that there is an authority. This thing alone is usualy enough. It works like with the police and speeding. If you see them, you slow down automatically, even if you are not speeding.

But beside that I agree with the 10 post limit, and maybe it could go higher to 20 or 25. Aslo I would set this limit to private messages as well.
[About XDA developers] joris_o:
I think it's a good move. The future will learn if it needs to be 25 posts, but for now, let's just start with something.

My compliments for making at least a step ahead and don't wait before it's really too late.

Keep up the good work with xda!
[About XDA developers] Biofall:
The way you phrase it makes it sound like a scare tactic, which I guess works. :P
[About XDA developers] KCRic:
I would say ta3 has the best idea I've seen. Some sort of 'not helpful' or 'off topic' button to hit when there's a post or thread that has nothing to do with the forum or thread. This allows us to police our forums, taking a load off the mods and making it easier for them to spot and delete pointless threads/posts.

Plus the idea of every ROM having another thread in the QA sections so when a noob has a 'dumb' question, it can be answered without being flamed.
[About XDA developers] pulser_g2:
Replied in-line above in red
[About XDA developers] DougG_ATL:
This is a very viable policy that I wish more message boards would put into place. I'm floored at the volume of users who seem incapable of reading a thread and following directions. The post limit will force new XDA users to do just that.
[About XDA developers] quXa:
I'd like to start off my third post with a sincere thank you towards the XDA-developer staff. The site runs smooth, the XDA application for Android is brilliant and I have learned a lot in the last couple of months about the basics of smartphone custimization and developement of their OS's.

Whilst reading the announcements made concerning the regulations towards new users or lurkers, I gained the urge to post something about the subject. As a major lurker I noticed that most of the development topics are filled with junk posts. When I run into any trouble with a chef's ROM the search function is my ally. The same question -- as well as it's answer -- is often posted numerous times within the same topic. A habit most -- from my personal experiences -- younger internet users seem to possess. The new regulations seem to be a good idea to put a halt to this phenomona, but I believe there are some downsides worth considirating.

Firstly, the minimum of ten posts for posting within a development topic consequently implies that lurkers are forced to participate in topics beyond their interests, thus meaning their posts hold no real contribition towards the topic itself or just spam a couple of general chats. As lurker myself I only post when I feel I could actually contribute someting, which is almost always not the case. The incentive or ability to post valuable information could be lost.

Secondly, the members responsible for posting junk in the first place have often surpassed this threshold already. This thus not eliminate the poster from continuing to spam the topics with questions already asked or even worse, off-topic posts.

However, considering the creation of new accounts this could be a viable rule. The ability to post junk is removed, resulting in cleaner topics.

As for the adding of devices I am not sure. The forum is user-friendly enough to increase the number of devices. I bookmarked the HTC-HD2 forum, since it is practically the only one I follow. As a result the vast number of devices is no burden to me.

Difficult decisions, and again I am thankful that the XDA-moderaters feel obliged to step in and take action.
[About XDA developers] homer.web:
Well, it seems to me, that a site with more than 3mio registered users shouldn't have just one forum specific moderator or admin. It's not enough, even on our much smaller forum, where our users are more likely from just one time zone, we have usualy 5-10 forum specific admins. And all those admins can ban the users for those shorter times I already mentioned. My experience is, that 15min. ban usualy cools off the problem user, and if not, you can still ban him for longer time. There is also list of recently banned users with the description, why they were banned, who banned them and for how long they are banned.

And just for amusement: My very good old friend, who is a doctor (surgent) says after 20 years of contact with the population, that 95% of the population are complete idiots, even if they don't look like. So with quick math, you can expect, that appr. 2,85mil. of your users belong there. Not very optimistic, but probably true. But what is optimistic, that 150 000 of your users are very intelligent and clever. This corelate with the Gausse curve of intelligence distribution in population - where you can read, that 10% of the population in max. is abble to successfully study higher type of the school like college. Even if there are attempts to higher those numbers (like in europe by european commitee - I think that currently they say, that there are 14% of the population with higher education) it does not mean, that the population is smarter, but it means, that they are lowering the difficulty of the school.

So what I wanted to say is that you should let more from 150 000 to manage those from 2,85 mil... :)
[About XDA developers] thx1200:
Absolutely 1000% THIS.

You said it much better than I in my feeble post many pages back. I could not possibly agree more.
[About XDA developers] pulser_g2:
That's why there's another 50+ senior mods to go round as well :)

Check out the moderator list in About XDA for the structure of the system.
[About XDA developers] homer.web:
I did... ;)
[About XDA developers] Mac11700:
I think having a 10 post + prior to being able to post in the Dev's section has good points...and bad points..but..something needs to be done 4 sure.

You will never stop n00b's from posting dumb questions..it isn't never going to happen..but if you structure the Developers forum in a manner that is conducive to the developer and his testers..instead of running a chat room..then perhaps things might change.

You really need 3 places set up with each rom that's put out..

1) The developers OP...a place to put up any change logs..updates..and a place for those directly involved to add their input to it..from theme designers to beta testers...only if the Dev wants it set up this way. It shows what's available..what it has or has not..any updates or apks and the FAQ's..This really

should be primarily

for the Developer..not everyone else..

2) A theme page..for...well workable themes..and development on them.

3) A general page dedicated for each Rom where folks can go to discuss the roms..and n00b's questions...

Not just the present Q&A forum

...A dedicate thread on a separate dedicated forum for all of the Roms...Many folks like to help out and answer what questions they can on the Dev's forum..This allows them to continue helping others..Also..having this..moves it off the Dev's page..totally un-cluttering it for easy reading so folks don't have to go thru 1000+ pages to find a answer..or a update or apk someone has put up..The dev or moderator..can update the main page as needed..

You won't need the 10 limit rule if you have this...and nobody gets left behind..or their feelings hurt..There won't be a need to send them off the dev's thread any longer..they will have their own place to ask and everyone still gets to help out as much as they want..

Mac
[About XDA developers] stephj:
There seems to be quite a few for and against votes here, but from a practical viewpoint from someone who tends to hang out in the sub-forums of both General Discussion and Windows Mobile Development and Hacking, the amount of chaff in the latter has been drastically reduced at at a stroke.

Having said that, this thread alone has generated nearly 300 posts in a couple of days!
[About XDA developers] Trident:
Personally, I like the idea of having someone have at least 10 posts before they post in a dev forum. I think that you should have at least 50 posts before you

start

a thread in a dev forum. That would mean you've already asked a lot of questions and responded to some people. It also stops people from posting stupid "Where do I find X?" in a dev forum. We might also get people to stop starting threads titled, "AOSP w/WiMax" when they are just asking if there is such a thing and where to find it. Most people don't look in the proper forum until someone calls them a n00b and tells them where the appropriate place to ask is.
[About XDA developers] martey:
The earlier calls in the thread for increasing the posting limit to 25 concern me.

I realize that I might be the only person so affected, but I have been a member of the site for a decent period of time (long enough to have absorbed its rules, I think), but still have not reached 10 posts. Personally, I think that it would be great if there was an exception based on the age of your account, or the number of times you had logged in.
[About XDA developers] Watevah:
Most people can't lurk, and I'm afraid they will start spamming in other forums to get their 10 posts and go back to ****posting in dev threads...
[About XDA developers] cajunflavoredbob:
Would it be a problem to have this change affect NEW users only, and not existing users? This should appease everyone's concerns about those of you lurking around here. No one minds users lurking. That's actually a very good way to start off in any forum.

Most new users find XDA through word of mouth and Google searches when they have a problem with their devices. I hate to say it, but this seems to be more prevalent in the Android area as there has been a serious influx of younger users in that section since the OS was introduced. We don't see it quite as often in the WM areas of the site as the vast majority of those users are older and have these devices because of work... or they got a HD2 for all the cool stuff it does. I only state this because I've been in the WM area for quite some time, and I've recently been poking around in the Android area.

I mean absolutely no offense here. I'm just pointing out that some of the noobish questions and comments are because this is the first forum that some users have ever been on before. They may not know what is appropriate or how to ask these questions. This isn't an excuse, obviously, but may help to shed some light on the reason behind the poor post manners.

Another idea would be to have only ONE mod per device forum instead of having them spread out between three or more different device forums. I know this would be especially helpful in the newer device forums where tons of people frequent. I noticed that dharvey is mod of the Wizard, HD2, and Rhodium forums. Both the Rhodium and HD2 are very popular in the WM environment (HD2 being wildly more popular of course). Perhaps having him mod the HD2 thread only and recruiting someone with a Rhodium to mod the Rhodium forum would help with the process a bit more. This is only an example, not a jab or anything.
[About XDA developers] pulser_g2:
This change will only affect new registrations :)
[About XDA developers] cajunflavoredbob:
Ah, well, there we go. So for those worried that they won't be able to post anymore in the Dev section, no problem. It doesn't affect you. Thanks for clearing that up.
[About XDA developers] Product F(RED):
Most people are in favor of 20 or 25 posts instead of 10 posts though. The last few pages show that.
[About XDA developers] drp1:
I'm kinda late to chime in, but wanted to say I agree with the policy. A threshold that's too high may risk pushing the junk to a non-dev forum, and while that may leave the development forum cleaner, it's like sweeping the dirt under the carpet. Somewhere in the 10-20 range seems reasonable.