I agre with the suggestions. Additionally, there should be time limit after which a thread would be locked. No threadshould continue for more than a week. 

The number of participating members in the forum is limited.  Therefore it does at times appear that a thread is getting dragged as same members are commenting versus each other. Some could be doing for points others for coaxing others to join in.  I would suggest as follows :

1. The Threads should be started on fixed days every week, say. every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.

2. All threads will close on, say, Sunday 12.00 pm.(midnight)  (There will be no carry over).

3. Administration can also initiate threads.

4. The total number of posts in a thread should be capped at , say, 50 and it will then close.

5. A member can initiate maximum two threads a day.

6 A post should not be more than 160 characters in length.

6. A member can contribute max. five posts per topic per day maximum.

7. The Admn. can carry over a post to next week if the topic is interesting or extend it in the running week if participation touches 50 posts fast           enough 

The above can be used to develop guidelines if found worthy of consideration.

Very rigid rules concerning forum will result in dullness as spontaneity is also necessary.

So what I feel is that,

1. Initial cap of 5 threads by a single member each day should be imposed again. If felt necessary, it could be brought down to three than  five.

2. Repetition is a serious bane because there are some members  who keep repeating the same thing again and again in different ways, so capping the number of posts to a fixed one say, 40 or 50 is okay.

3. There should be no fixed time as to when a thread may be started, because it really is not the way a person might condition himself or herself and it might deter forum activity. but there should be restrictions on how long a thread can be carried further. It so happens that a thread may remain idle for a week or two until a new member comes in or even an old member may find something new related to the topic. So in that case, he or she may ask for the said topic to be reopened.

4. Contests related to writing articles should be started, that is where the major focus of our site lies and will also help bring a competitive edge back.

These are all I can think of, for now.

I agree, we cannot ask for time bound starting of threads but we can limit the number of threads to 2-3 a day per member. Besides we can certainly limit 5-6 posts per thread by a particular member which in my views is enough to give their view points. While we cannot restrict the freedom of expression of a member we can certainly restrict repetition of the views by limiting the number of posts.

This is what I feel and I will just reply to the queries posted , so that I can put forth my views about them..

1- Weekly leader feature should go on but no member gets the top slot more than one time in a month (even if they remain on top as the points still count for shares) - I agree with this since other members have absolutely no chance to get on top of the leader board as of now ! I guess when you limit other posts , we can see a decline automatically n the number of points as well!

2- Limiting the number of forum posts in a particular thread - This is something that I have always said should be done. No more than 3 or 4 posts on a topic which will bring down repetitive posts , churning the same ideas again and again . 

3- Limiting number of threads started by a particular member in a day - I would say no more than 2 or 3 threads each day should be allowed for each member because I see so many threads going unanswered.Many of them also get repeated on the same topic in different words which make them uninteresting .

4- Besides starting a few writing contests asap after all that is the star attraction of this site - Absolutely ! This will definitely bring in more participation as we have seen before. I am all for it like the other members who have responded here.

• Number of threads maximum 5 per member per day
• Response should be clear, to the point, No riddles. No ridiculing.
• Forums should be made of Hub of knowledge.
•  Article writing competitions should be reintroduced
• Repetitive and monotonous responses should be avoided.

1- I think we should agree to 2 threads per member a day

2- A thread should have maximum 5 posts from a particular member

3- The thread can go on for a week maximum or 50 posts

4- A particular member gets 1 slot at top of the leader board once in a month (irrespective of number of points)

5- All posts/threads considered spam will be deleted and points will be reduced.

I hope admin will look at the suggestions posted by different members.

I am frankly not comfortable with too many choking controls for forum. Ideally a kind of self-control and a free and informal air should prevail and pervade in every part of it.Only understanding the problem of spamming and its able management would go a long in making the forum a great place to be, not thoughts of putting undesirable shackles on members. I propose to keep forum activities outside the ambit of contests and competitions. For me a sincere 'like' or a warm 'thank you' is quite a reward 

suni51 wrote:

1- I think we should agree to 2 threads per member a day

2- A thread should have maximum 5 posts from a particular member

3- The thread can go on for a week maximum or 50 posts

4- A particular member gets 1 slot at top of the leader board once in a month (irrespective of number of points)

5- All posts/threads considered spam will be deleted and points will be reduced.

I hope admin will look at the suggestions posted by different members.

How about separate rules for new and senior members?

- 2 topics for new and max 5 for senior members per day
- 2 replies per topic per day for new, 10 replies per topic per day for others,
- 10 replies overall per day for new, 50 replies per day overall for others

Let me know your suggestions.

chinmoymukherjee wrote:

I am frankly not comfortable with too many choking controls for forum. Ideally a kind of self-control and a free and informal air should prevail and pervade in every part of it.Only understanding the problem of spamming and its able management would go a long in making the forum a great place to be, not thoughts of putting undesirable shackles on members. I propose to keep forum activities outside the ambit of contests and competitions. For me a sincere 'like' or a warm 'thank you' is quite a reward 

I agree too. However I believe there should be some way to stop flood of unnecessary/meaningless replies at least for few people who does it.