Not Everything Goes In Off Topic

It's fighting a losing battle trying to get people to post in the correct forums.  Since it's the only thing the contesters read, every spammer and even "News" now posts in Off Topic.  When the mods not only don't notice, but obliviously add to the conversation, what's the point of sub-forums at all?

To be honest I just click the post not read button every time I come. I dont really browse by subsection, so I never noticed it. But I'll keep more of an eye on it now. 

Eunoia, there should be no reason the News account posts off topic.  We manually move news posts into corresponding forums that either fit the headline or if there isn't a forum for the headline topic, we move it into the news/general section or the lounge.

I can only comment on what I currently see in the Off Topic forum, not sure if you see the same thing:

Touch Textbooks on the iPad obvious spam, well, maybe not so obvious because there's no link, but it's spam

TSMC claims its 28nm process is better than Intel's 22nm  general news, or processors (cowboyspace)

AMD Announces Lackluster Q4; Questions Loom For Analyst Day general news (News)

The Evolution of Google, An Interactive Timeline general news (News)

In Search of a Stocking Stuffer? Try a Portal 2 Plush Toy general news (old thread) (News)

Share your dream PC new builds? (cowboyspace)

Adafruit Debuts FLORA, a Wearable Electronics Platform general news (News)

Arctic To Sue AMD Over ''Fusion'' Brand Name general news (cowboyspace)

Not sure any of these threads belong in Off Topic, seem pretty on topic to me.  There's more, it's about half the threads started that are tech related and not general lounge-type stuff.  I know things are more visible there as it's by far the most popular sub-forum (even Two And A Half Geeks announces get posted there) but it makes me wonder if there's any point for sub-forums at all.

There are a lot of topics in off-topic that probably shouldn't be, I agree. But It is at the top and that's where most people click and where the most responses will be.

I'm guilty of this. Sorry =/

Aoshi:

There are a lot of topics in off-topic that probably shouldn't be, I agree. But It is at the top and that's where most people click and where the most responses will be.

 

I'm guilty of this. Sorry =/

Don't be sorry, I'm sure that I've done it too.  At least the sentient can be reasoned with.  What I'm most concerned with is the automated postings cluttering up every forum.  Just look at the forum stats, we're outnumbered 100 to 1.

Just a friendly reminder, there are 40 sub-forums here and Off Topic is but one of them, the only one that has nothing to do with technology. Most if not all internet message boards are thusly organized with a socially-oriented catch-all.

Welcome to the internet! Have a look around!

Hm, thanks for pointing this out. When I post, I'll definitely try to consciously post things to their corresponding forum topics

To be honest, i've tried posting in a few other sub-forums, everytime I go to do it is says something about needing a moderator to approve the post first.  Then either they don't see they need to be approved, or they just deny all of them and I never get the e-mails.  

Dorkstar:

To be honest, i've tried posting in a few other sub-forums, everytime I go to do it is says something about needing a moderator to approve the post first.  Then either they don't see they need to be approved, or they just deny all of them and I never get the e-mails.  

Hi Dorkstar,

This definitely isn't intended functionality.  Where are you seeing this and what is the message you're getting?  Can you copy/paste it here?

Thanks

I've gotten the same thing when I tried to post under the processors subcategory when I saw a leak of information about Intel's Haswell line on another article and Tried to post it, I figured it required moderator approval just so community members don't accidentally post information on things HotHardware could be posting on?

Dave_HH:

Dorkstar:

To be honest, i've tried posting in a few other sub-forums, everytime I go to do it is says something about needing a moderator to approve the post first.  Then either they don't see they need to be approved, or they just deny all of them and I never get the e-mails.  

Hi Dorkstar,

This definitely isn't intended functionality.  Where are you seeing this and what is the message you're getting?  Can you copy/paste it here?

Thanks

What Osunday is right on from what I've experienced.  The processor forum is moderated, and won't allow you to post anything in there without approval from a moderator.  I'm fairly certain there is a few others out there as well.  It's hard to tell because I typically am responding to an article, and not paying attention to what forum it's in. 

  However, if you post a reply from the article itself the reply works fine.  If you attempt to post a reply via the forum, it says it needs to be approved.

q9PTd

Wow, I posted a link and the moderation thinger didn't eat my post!

(Save your posts before clicking "Post", soooo frustrating to type out a long post and know that it's gone into the ether, never to return.)

eunoia:

q9PTd

Wow, I posted a link and the moderation thinger didn't eat my post!

(Save your posts before clicking "Post", soooo frustrating to type out a long post and know that it's gone into the ether, never to return.)

Just got the "Post Pending Moderation" when replying to this thread : http://hothardware.com/cs/forums/p/65067/443264.aspx#443264.  This one makes no sense, it's not in the processor sub-forum, and I've already replied through the forums on this particular post.  

I've started getting the same errors when trying to post in a similar manner

Ok, I think on i'm to something here.

I posted in : http://hothardware.com/cs/forums/p/65072/443304.aspx#443304

The first time I quoted rapid1 and it gave me the post pending moderation message.  I went back and erased the quote portion of the message, and it allowed me to post.

Yes, I need to turn back some of the moderation settings it seems.  Will look at this shortly.

Just tried to post "thank you" and got post pending moderation... lol

OK, I've gone ahead and relaxed the spam settings a bit but tightened up in other areas.  See if this helps.

Thanks

Dave_HH:

OK, I've gone ahead and relaxed the spam settings a bit but tightened up in other areas.  See if this helps.

 

Thanks

I seem to be getting it every time I use the quote feature now.  If I don't quote someone, it seems to work every time.

Dave_HH:

OK, I've gone ahead and relaxed the spam settings a bit but tightened up in other areas.  See if this helps.

 

Thanks

I just did and no problem

I figured out the issue.  It's not the quoting, or anything related to anything we are doing.  It's the ad's that are created after we submit our initial post.  You know, the ones that pick words in our sentences to hyperlink to some website "relevant" to that keyword.

  I simply went through a message I quoted earlier and removed the hyperlinks today and it allowed me to post. 

Good find!  I will disable those text links right now!

Thanks!

Dorkstar:

I figured out the issue.

Ha-Ha! How cool is that? Thanks for your post and the time it took to figure it out.

I'm getting the same thing,
and when I tried to re-post it without quoting I got a message saying duplicate posts have been disabled