Member Avatar for dojo

I have just installed a hack that won't let people post messages under a set number of characters. That makes my people stop posting one liners. Love it.

Did you install such things?

  • 8 Contributors
  • 10 Replies
  • 214 Views
  • 3 Weeks Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by big_k105

Dani AI

Generated

A short policy note and practical checklist for anyone thinking about a minimum-post-length rule.

Several members here have already tested or argued both sides: saw better-quality replies after enabling a restriction, while and remind us that very short replies can be meaningful. Other contributors pointed out two predictable problems: users will try to pad posts with spaces or repeated punctuation, and a hard block can annoy or drive away contributors. Use those observations as the starting point rather than as a final rule.

Practical approach:

  • Prefer a soft gate first: show a clear reminder in the quick-reply area and prompt the poster to add context when a submission is very short.
  • Validate by content, not raw length: strip HTML and whitespace, collapse repeated characters, then count words or alphanumeric characters. This stops trivial workarounds.
  • Make the rule flexible: different forums need different tolerances (support threads vs. deep discussions). Consider reputation or post-count exemptions for trusted members.
  • Monitor and iterate: track new-post rate, first-time poster success, and moderator workload; A/B test any change before making it site-wide.

Example (very small) check to run server- or client-side before accepting a post:

text = stripHtml(input)
text = text.replace(/\s+/g, ' ').trim()
text = text.replace(/([.!?,-])\1+/g, '$1')    // collapse repeated punctuation
words = text.split(' ').filter(w => /\w/.test(w)).length
if (words < 2) showMessage("Please add a little more detail")

Caveat: any rule that reduces low-effort posts will also add friction. Roll changes out gradually, measure the impact on new users, and keep moderators empowered to make exceptions.

Recommended Answers

All 10 Replies

Member Avatar for AlexJ

I've thought about this. But if found that many of my members post good one liners and sometimes a few words can have a lot of knowledge in it.

Member Avatar for Dani

I agree. Sometimes a couple of words is all that's needed.

Member Avatar for Nikolas

I agree. After all if a one line reply is a spam message you can allways delete the post.

Member Avatar for Dani

Yup :) (Case in point)

Member Avatar for mddv

also with some of those forum mods the poster can get away with a couple of characters and just a many spaces to fill the charactes or by .........'s

I think that there is no need for it since as others said that there are some threads where one word explains it all.

Member Avatar for XanderCreation

I think all it does is aggravate the posters, and does little to clean up the forums.

Member Avatar for dojo

Well, I am seeing a plus in the posting. Had 2-3 youngsters who liked to post something like "me too" and still posted a lot. Deleting all those messages and telling them yet again they should make better posts was a pain. Since the implementation they found out they do have more words in their vocabulary. I have a notice over the quick reply too, reminding them to post on topic and respect the rules (have the rules link there too). Don't know about others, but my members now put more thought in their messages. Not to mention that the automated warning is less personal and doesn't offend them at all. And it's not the end of the world: 75 characters is 75% of a line of a post (10-15 words) don't think it's quite that hard.

Member Avatar for ResaleBroker

I have the minimum set in vBulletin to ten (10) characters and haven't had any complaints. ;)

Member Avatar for Dani

Hmm ... 75 characters is a lot for an Internet forum. While your posts might be of a higher quality, have you noticed a decline in new posts per day? It's possible many people might type a quick reply, see it not go through, so just say "the heck with this" and never bother to elaborate on it.

Member Avatar for big_k105

I have a minimum character limit set to 5 on my forum. I do get complaints but most people don't complain. It's something everyone got use to and its only 5 characters so its not like they can't just use a second word :)

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.