Preventing people abusing the forum.

[Saturn]

When people use this forum just to get their homework done for them they should at least be prepared to return here and check for replies. So many people seem to post a question (and register as members) that are so impatient that they expect an instant detailed essay, and if they don't receive one clear off and never return again despite people spending their time to write one.

Could you by any chance put a compulsory question on the registration page about what the persons' reason for registering is?

If they say they are asking a homework question they should be allowed to register, but if they don't check for replies within a month, their membership should lapse. Perhaps the same should apply to members who don't post at least one message a year.

[Despondence]

Hey Stephen C; I understand how you feel, and to some extend also agree, but I don't think that the solution you propose is going to help a lot.

First, we do have a moderator now to prevent "abuse of the forum" (which I think is a good thing). I don't think, however, that this necessary filtering of unwanted crap should be extended to policing users by requiring certain mandatory activities. That's too much like school for me..

Second, people requesting help for the singular purpose of salvaging this or that essay or grade, should not be penalized for not having any deeper interest in the topics of this forum. That kind of thing usually pisses me off when it happens to me.

And third, to some extent I also understand the "desperate cries for help" coming from these people. I mean, imagine yourself back in high school, fretting over some stupid essay you actually couldn't care less about but still have to produce in order to make the grade - woldn't you also have tried to get some help from a forum like this, if it costs you nothing? I sure would have.

Let's not make this into an exclusive club of distinguished members. I do hope that at least some of the people just dropping by to be helped with the analysis of some Ode or such, also become inspired and interested by seeing what is being discussed here.

Just my 2€ worth - I do have a different idea that might be helpful, if it can be implemented, but I'll post that separately.

P.S. I love reading your posts - you've done a lot to raise the quality and level of expertise in this forum!

[Golyadkin]

I think I might have a solution to this matter. How would you guys feel if I delete any homework help work over 6 months old? By that point, any assignment the information was needed for would probably be long past. Also, nobody would be denied the right to post or view this forum.

[Saturn]

Thanks to Despondence and Golyadkin for their ideas.

I would just like to get something straight. I don't want to see this forum become an exclusive, elitist and academic bore, concerned with meaningless minutiae and discussions about punctuation.
I understand completely why someone would desperately post a question in the hope of some help. If the internet was as ubiquitous when I was at school, I sure would have exploited it to the full, being a completely non-literary person at that time, and hating poetry and English class as much as anyone.

Despite what some may think, I'm not some dry university don, but a passionate, self-educated amature. Perhaps, carried away by the thought of some literary corrospondence, I was naieve in my hopes for this great new medium.

I think Golyadkin's idea today is a good one but many people(myself included) might be disappointed to see some of their work lost.

Despondence's idea about links to popular homework questions is an excellent one as many people seem to ask similar questions on the same poems, without searching the site, where there are already many decent posts concerning them in other sections.

I wish I hadn't started this thread - all you guys must think I'm a really pendantic snob. Far from it - I would really love to help people out with their homework, I've enjoyed doing so, I just feel some people have been a bit lazy in looking for their answers.

[Golyadkin]

I think Golyadkin's idea today is a good one but many people(myself included) might be disappointed to see some of their work lost.

What would you suggest, Maddalo ? I am open to other suggestions on what to do about this "problem".

[Despondence]

Despite what some may think, I'm not some dry university don,

Hey!
Oh well, I guess you're right. Anyhow, my university affiliation is in a completely different field (don't think we have any dons here anyway..), and my engagement in poetry entirely amateurish.

Perhaps, carried away by the thought of some literary corrospondence, I was naieve in my hopes for this great new medium.
I wish I hadn't started this thread - all you guys must think I'm a really pendantic snob. Far from it - I would really love to help people out with their homework, I've enjoyed doing so, I just feel some people have been a bit lazy in looking for their answers.

There's been some good stuff, with a lot more to come (I hope), and there's been some total crap. It has become clear to me that we are not a very big community, and that the base of uneducated but interested amateurs (such as, e.g., myself) by far outnumber the more educated ones (such as, e.g., yourself and Endymion).

Not sure exactly where I'm going with this.
Well, I guess I'm just saying that, if you have the time and skill and inclination to help people with their homework, for your own sake you should do it on a basis of your own maximum enjoyment, without expecting too much from the student. That way you'll never be disappointed, but sometimes positively surprised.

Well, that's just a bit of completely uncalled-for kitchen-sink philosophy. Vanilla version (watch out for revisions).