Thanks for the suggestion! I will bring it up at a CR4 staff meeting.

CR4 commentary is a shadow of its former aelf. Top down 'improvements' over the years have brought activoty from a raucious cacophony down to mostly an uncomfortable hush punctuated by desperate stabs at rekindling former banter.

From this post it appears some believe the blame lies with many posters who aren't meeting the 'parent-level' replies criteria. What does 'parenting' have to do with this? What level if 'parent level'? What are the levela above and below this? (I fail to see how a status that might be gained by an inability to properly use conteaception might elevate someone or their commenta to slme superior level.)Are comments that take a tone of a parent talking to their child a worthy goall? If so, please explain.

Additionally, the admonition against off topic replies with the claim that these discourage engaging conversation seems based in fantasy. Off topic repliea often spark doscussion that is not only the bulk of the commentary buy also rich knowledge and or humor..

Furthermore the list of unhelpful replies is so off base as to deaerve ridicule.

*'LMGTFY-. Some questions deserve exactly that.

*Homewotk is not allowed. - So you want us not to engage them by explaining the rulea but instead be silent and report them to the authoritiea? I though you wanted to encourage interaction...

*One word replies - Concision?

*URL - much like LMGTFY, sometimes this is exactly what is required.

*Contact manufacturer - this isn't merely an appropriate replly, it ia often the best reply. It can be exactly what the poster has failed to do and one of the only reasonable next things to do.

.

Hopefully you have not misconstrued this message as a personal insult. This is merely a much deserved critique and not a personal attack. I'm saying your post is trash, not that you are trash..

Parent-level replies: Comments that reply directly to the OP's question or topic of discussion.

Child-level replies: Comments that reply to other comments.

There is no limitation on off-topic replies. But a thread that is heavily off-topic or filled with unhelpful replies fails to help OP, which is the entire point of question threads on CR4.

Finally, if you have knowledge or (appropriate) opinions to share, then do so. But you are not required to comment on every post.

The LMGTFY posts are borderline spam at this point. A dedicated homework section is under consideration. Links, 'contact the mfg.' and one-word reply posts all deserve context - if you took the time to link to it, you can explain why its valuable in a few words or sentences.

If you think a post is poor and the OP should have put in more effort, vote it one star or simply ignore it. One star votes do make a difference and moderators sometimes remove poor-quality posts from the home page (but do not delete them).

This is not a post either, this is an announcement.

Hush,

I do not understand..."Child-level replies: Comments that reply to other comments."

If you want to PM me with an example from a thread, do so. However, that statement is able to be read as judgmental.

--JMM

You are misinterpreting this. Parent/child is NOT an assessment of comment quality and is not subjective. It references a hierarchical order - that is it. It is objective.

The original post (OP) is the hierarch. First-order hierarchy members - those that address and are subordinate to OP - are the parent-level replies.

Replies to replies (aka parents) to the OP are child replies.

Hush,

1. Using the terms parent/child in reference to hierarchical order of replies is too easily read as judgmental. Please remove these terms from your CR4 structure. Perhaps first order and second order would be better terms.

2. Many replies are clarifying or adding exceptions or nuances to an earlier reply. Although they are not directly addressed to the OP they are important information. Calling them child-level is problematic at best, because they are directly relevant to the OP, but because they are not directly addressed to the OP they are in between first and second order.

3. Many replies do veer off into the brambles, and could be given a hierarchical label of third level.

I don't know and don't really care who you are, but I invite you to do better.

--JMM

I find your declaration that posting an announcement is somehow not a post to be child-level.

Additionally I find the use of superlatives to be defective. Only two categories have been described: basically unacceptable and acceptable. The acceptable category might be called 'better', but calling it 'best' is a superlative excess (and somewhat gauche in an autohorntooting sort of way).

Upon reconsideration, I'm not sure even 'better' is appropriate, sonce that would suggest the unacceptable categpry was at least 'good'. 'Good' is probably sufficoent.

Sometimes contacting the manufacturer will be the only way for the OP to get the correct answer. (Where else can anyone get an update to proprietary software.) Frequently I add that if the OP doesn't understand a jargon laden answer they get from a manufacturer or vendor, then CR4 members can explain the answer in other terms.