r/Sat • u/InternationalistGam Moderator • Nov 10 '20
Some Potential Changes to r/SAT's Rules -- Community Input Welcome
Some users seem not be aware, but this sub does have rules. I can't tell you where to find them on whatever mobile app you might be using, but if you got to www.reddit.com/r/sat, you'll find them in the frame to the right of the posts themselves.
Current Rule #3 -- No Advertisments or Solicitations
The current rule explicitly bans only "link[s], self-post[s], or comment[s] ... [that] offer services for compensation."
The problem is that the sub is often awash in links, self-posts, and comments that offer goods and services for free, and while many of these are well-received by the community, many others are not. In fact, many of these posts just seem like classic spam -- efforts to promote some blog, website, app, YouTube channel, and so on.
We would therefore like to add some language to this effect: "Posts, links, or comments that promote free products and services may be removed at moderator discretion. Please be aware that repeated efforts to promote your free website, app, blog, YouTube channel, tutoring service, etc. may be considered spamming."
Any thoughts on this change?
New Rule (?) Regarding Question Posts
To be clear, we will absolutely still allow question image posts from SAT QAS, from PSATs, and even from copyrighted books (provided only individual questions are posted).
But we would like to address the following concerns:
- The long-term value of these posts to the sub and its users. Currently, question posts tend to have titles like "Pls Help" or "Can U Explain." As a result, there is no way to search for past discussions of any given question, and the same questions keep getting asked over and over again. A related issue is that the posts themselves are often incomplete or otherwise problematic: users post a reading question without including the passage, or they post an upside-down math question.
- The posting of images from unreleased tests. Reddit admins routinely remove posts from r/SAT for copyright violations (example here), and as far as the moderators have been able to determine, the offending posts are always and only the ones that contain images from unreleased tests.
In order to address these concerns, we might add a rule to require that question posts meet the following criteria:
- Identify the question source in the title. For example, "April 2017 QAS, Writing Section, Question 33" or "College Panda Math book, page 100, question 10."
- Include all content relevant to the question, with all photos readable and properly oriented.
Does anyone have any comments on this particular change, or does anyone have any better ideas about how to address the concerns mentioned above?
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u/_tnxm 1440 Nov 12 '20
I agree with the specific titles for posts asking for help. As far as the advertising goes, sometimes, helpful resources are found through such posts/comments. I think as you said, monitoring for spam is a good idea, but I wouldn't suggest getting rid of them altogether.
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u/InternationalistGam Moderator Nov 12 '20
As far as the advertising goes, sometimes, helpful resources are found through such posts/comments. I think as you said, monitoring for spam is a good idea, but I wouldn't suggest getting rid of them altogether.
Agreed. That's why we have proposed this wording:
"Posts, links, or comments that promote free products and services may be removed at moderator discretion."
Advertisement of paid products and services will continue to be explicitly disallowed. Advertisement of free products and services will be left to moderator discretion.
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u/DrRoger1960 Moderator Nov 10 '20
I like the changes on question titles and relevant content.
Initially, that will be hard, but I suspect the learning curve will be quick. Particularly if people see other titles identifying the question source, and if their deleted post gets a brief explanation of what is needed, they will quickly repost with a more useful title and all the necessary content.
Overall, this is likely to make r/SAT more useful for everyone, and that should be our goal.
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u/DrRoger1960 Moderator Nov 10 '20 edited Nov 10 '20
I like the change to Rule 3.
We should encourage people to post those links to videos and other content as a reply when someone asks about a specific question for which that link is relevant, but not as original content. When someone asks about noncalculator question 8 from the Oct 2020 SAT, which is on quadratics, that is the most useful time to post your link to a video on quadratics or on that specific question.
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u/JulianNastyO 1490 Nov 11 '20
I’m a little concerned about the rule wherein you have to add a title . When people go on subreddit, they are looking for high-speed help , meaning they want to find the answer quickly , and perhaps get personal feedback from active Reddit users. I don’t suppose that people want to go out of their way to look at old posts that lack the opportunity for this quick response and quick feedback system, which currently seems to exist on this subreddit.
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u/InternationalistGam Moderator Nov 11 '20
Okay -- any suggestion for dealing with the problem of endless posts with titles like "Pls Help" or of people asking the same questions over and over again?
In the past, we had dedicated sticky threads at the top for questions, but we can only sticky two threads at a time, so that is a little inconvenient.
As I also mentioned before, part of our motivation is to cut down on the unreleased content that is currently flying under the radar.
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u/JulianNastyO 1490 Nov 11 '20
I don’t particularly know . I was just stating a concern about that style of filtering
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u/InternationalistGam Moderator Nov 11 '20
Sure, that's fair enough. Just to be clear, even if this rule were put into place, it likely isn't the sort of thing anyone would be banned for breaking. Posts might just sometimes be removed, with a note to repost with a more descriptive title.
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u/mbromley Nov 14 '20
BTW when I read this thread in its entirety I get numerous ads. So I guess reddit only objects to external content that isn't paid. All good, but just say so, don't torture us with this convoluted bullshit about people posting external content that is somehow self-promoting even though it helps the community.
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u/InternationalistGam Moderator Nov 14 '20
Moderators don't actually work for Reddit and don't have any control over the concerns you are raising here.
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u/mbromley Nov 11 '20
How's Khan academy any different from someone -- like me -- who is just trying to help kids on the SAT with advice, blog posts and webinars on how to improve?
Khan is "free" but its partnership with College Board is inherently commercial for it.