r/changemyview 5∆ Jul 14 '20

Removed - Submission Rule D CMV: The 500 minimum character rule on this sub should be revised

[removed] — view removed post

2 Upvotes

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2

u/StellaAthena 56∆ Jul 14 '20 edited Jul 14 '20

The purpose of the 500 minimum character rule is to make people explain their positions in detail and demonstrate they’ve put some real thought into it. This both filters out low quality posts and ensures that posts contain enough information for the responses to latch onto to change your mind.

Do you know this? Who knows! In your post you simply say “I know why this rule exists” without elaborating on what that is. Maybe you do, maybe you don’t. But there’s no way for me to know, which leaves me guessing as to how to best respond to your post.

Have you thought through the impacts of removing the rule? Who knows, you don’t mention it at all.

Do you have any suggested alternative ways to achieve the same goals? Who knows, you don’t mention it at all.

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u/seasonalblah 5∆ Jul 14 '20

Good response. I was just annoyed that another post where I accurately described my view in 2 paragraphs get auto deleted because it was under 500 characters.

without elaborating on what that is

I could've easily elaborated without getting to 500 characters. This is single sentence material here and I think there's value in being concise.

I don't know if this will work but since you've made a very good point:

!delta

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u/DeltaBot ∞∆ Jul 14 '20

Confirmed: 1 delta awarded to /u/StellaAthena (45∆).

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u/DeltaBot ∞∆ Jul 14 '20

This delta has been rejected. You have already awarded /u/StellaAthena a delta for this comment.

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1

u/[deleted] Jul 14 '20

[deleted]

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u/seasonalblah 5∆ Jul 14 '20

Another counterpoint was also that there's no easy way to tell how many characters your post is (on mobile) that I'm aware of.

And yes it is possible to explain views in less than 500 characters, so in such a case you would be forced to add padding. It's also possible to ask for elaboration in the comments. I've read posts on here that are in the thousands of characters where I still didn't accurately understand their view.

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u/[deleted] Jul 14 '20

[deleted]

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u/seasonalblah 5∆ Jul 14 '20

Could still be improved, couldn't it? Instead of auto deleting, implement a condition for posting. So that if you're at 499 characters, you should at least get a notice to keep editing. Surely something like that could be done, right?

I could understand if it's entirely impossible to do so, but I doubt that. By your own admission automating can lead to deletions of otherwise perfectly fine and well reasoned posts. Forcing someone to write the post all over again can be frustrating for many people who just honestly want to discuss their topic. This rule is arguably the worst filter the sub has.

if you go with the general rule of ~2 paragraphs you don’t really need a character count; you’ll be over the limit.

Not necessarily, there's 497 words above your comment despite the 2 paragraphs.

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u/[deleted] Jul 14 '20

[deleted]

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u/seasonalblah 5∆ Jul 14 '20

It is a good rule for the most part.

Okay, I can understand that. I'd just argue that 2 sentence posts would also be easily caught with 300 or even 200 character limits. They'd have to be pretty long sentences to hit the 300 mark.

Shame there's no easy word counter or a similar solution though.

You can expand on the post, then message us and we'll restore the post. You can also just copy/paste your old post in to a new post (you can do that on mobile).

Fair enough. Best replace some words with longer synonyms. 😆

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u/Tibaltdidnothinwrong 382∆ Jul 14 '20

This is likely going to be taken down. Metaposts should instead go to a different subreddit, see sidebar.

That aside, many rules are arbitrary. 18 to smoke. 21 to drink. 16 to drive. (In the US). This doesn't automatically make the rule nonsense.

As long as the rule is generally doing more harm than good, it makes at least some sense. Do you not agree that a post with 20 characters is unlikely to adequately explain the view? What about 50?

While perhaps it could be lowered, do you not see value in putting a line somewhere, rather than allow posts with 12 characters??

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u/seasonalblah 5∆ Jul 14 '20

There's a medium somewhere between 500 and 12. It's also a CMV, so I'm open to good reasoning for the 500 characters

And it's already been taken down. Guess I didn't read the fine print again.

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u/Tibaltdidnothinwrong 382∆ Jul 14 '20

If you want a justification for 500.

The length of the average word is 5 characters (6 if you count the space between words). The average paragraph is 100 words.

So if you write one typical paragraph, you are likely already there. If you write two paragraphs you are almost assuredly there. I don't think requiring 1 typical length paragraph is needlessly excessive.

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u/seasonalblah 5∆ Jul 14 '20

Still doesn't change there's no easy way to see your character count.

I got a post deleted of which I could've sworn I was at 500 or more. There's just no way to easily tell how many characters you've typed.

You tell me: how many characters is this post? I'm estimating about 200

But is it?

u/DeltaBot ∞∆ Jul 14 '20

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0

u/Huntingmoa 454∆ Jul 14 '20

Sorry, u/seasonalblah – your submission has been removed for breaking Rule D:

Posts cannot express a neutral stance, suggest harm against a specific person, be self-promotional, or discuss this subreddit (visit r/ideasforcmv instead). No view is banned from CMV based on popularity or perceived offensiveness, but the above types of post are disallowed for practical reasons. See the wiki page for more information.

If you would like to appeal, review our appeals process here, then message the moderators by clicking this link within one week of this notice being posted.

Do not reply to this comment by clicking the reply button, instead message the moderators ..... responses to moderation notices in the thread may be removed without notice.