Wolf's Motorhome Modifications

... and Other Stuff

Navigating rec.outdoors.rvtravel

 

With only a few rules, a newsgroup like rec.outdoors.rvtravel can become a valuable tool.  The problem is the noise caused by off-topic, politics and rants.


Rule 1

If there is no information in the first 15 or so lines of a post, there is no information worth looking at.  If all you see are lines copied from a previous post, the person who posted the message is just commenting on existing information and has added nothing new.


Rule 2

Anyone posting more than three off-topic rants gets blocked


Rule 3

People who are nasty all the time are blocked.


Rule 4

Block lonely hearts.  Some people like to chat.  There are other forums for such things but they choose this forum as the interests are similar.  Block them.  There's no RV information in a post from user A aimed at user B describing A's weather.


Rule 5

OT is blocked.  Block the string "Re:  OT" and you'll have about 98% of the off topic posts.  Life is good again.


Rule 6

Sometimes you have someone who is socially backward but presents some good information.  These people have either isolated themselves from interaction with society or society has done that for them.  You have to keep such people but you don't have to acknowledge their lack of social skills.  Ignore their rants.  If their rants turn into blogs, you can delete them and find the information on groups.google.com.


Rule 7

I don't care what blocked people say.


Start eliminating people with nothing to say and you'll find the newsgroup is a valuable resource.