10K Character Limit

[PotatoOfCouch13]

From my experience, I've never had to worry about going too much over the 10K limit. I've always been under the 15000 mark, so maybe just a 5K increase would do the trick.

[rockiesfan4ever]

From my experience, I've never had to worry about going too much over the 10K limit. I've always been under the 15000 mark, so maybe just a 5K increase would do the trick.

The only time I go over is when I am posting stuff from the Box Score Parser into my dynasty

[Rongar]

A 250 word limit would stifle most discussion.

You're joking, of course, HGM...stifle discussion?...of motormouths like us?...compulsive writers all?

[HoustonGM]

Yes, since, a lot of posts are over 250 words. Maybe it wouldn't stifle discussion...it would just result in 5 posts to say something we'd normally be able to say in 1 post.

[Rongar]

No, it wouldn't....nevermind the fact that it would basically render dynasty-writing moot, which was what this thread was referencing in the first place. This is a message board, not Twitter.

To clarify, HGM, This Dynasty forum would continue to function with minimum to nil writing, as witness the "Brooklyn Knights" and "Canajun Ehs" franchises, which have little or no text added to their boxscores and recaps.

My impression of this forum is that it was established so that BM Gamers could play teams of their choices through several seasons, observing how their players blossomed and flourished, withered and retired.

The (laudable) idea that background stories be added was suggested by various individuals through the years. Such writing met with limited success since most of us have stamina and time enough for quick sims of baseball games, but not for long-term soap-opera writing.

This Dynasty forum is littered with the wrecks of "dynasty-writings" ambitiously launched, but, ultimately draining the energy of those of us who are statheads, rather than literati, sooner or later were becalmed and abandoned.

Again, I point to the examples of the Knights and Ehs as models of long-haul franchises. They have gotten this far, I aver, because their boxscores and recaps are accompanied by very little text which might sap the energy and patience of their author, who is, in fact, as compulsive a writer as any, with far more time to write than most of the working men; entrepreneurs; students; video-game addicts; t.v. sports-watchers, who contribute to these forums

[gosensgo101]

To clarify, HGM, This Dynasty forum would continue to function with minimum to nil writing, as witness the "Brooklyn Knights" and "Canajun Ehs" franchises, which have little or no text added to their boxscores and recaps.

My impression of this forum is that it was established so that BM Gamers could play teams of their choices through several seasons, observing how their players blossomed and flourished, withered and retired.

The (laudable) idea that background stories be added was suggested by various individuals through the years. Such writing met with limited success since most of us have stamina and time enough for quick sims of baseball games, but not for long-term soap-opera writing.

This Dynasty forum is littered with the wrecks of "dynasty-writings" ambitiously launched, but, ultimately draining the energy of those of us who are statheads, rather than literati, sooner or later were becalmed and abandoned.

Again, I point to the examples of the Knights and Ehs as examples of long-haul franchises. They have gotten this far, I aver, because their boxscores and recaps are accompanied by very little text which might sap the energy and patience of their author, who is, in fact, as compulsive a writer as any, with far more time to write than most of the working men; entrepreneurs; students; video-game addicts; t.v. sports-watchers, who contribute to these forums

I wouldn't say that the background stories dynasties haven't met much success at all. CatKnight is regarded as the best dynasty writer around, and all of his are based on storylines, characters, etc. Many have followed suit.

[HoustonGM]

Multiple types of dynasties are viable. I never wrote storyline into mine, but they still had long posts. A 250 word limit would be disastrous to the dynasty forum, period.

Nevertheless, it's all a moot point, because there's no legitimate reason for Clay/Dee to LOWER the limit. It won't happen.

[OldYankFan]

To clarify, HGM, This Dynasty forum would continue to function with minimum to nil writing, as witness the "Brooklyn Knights" and "Canajun Ehs" franchises, which have little or no text added to their boxscores and recaps.

Being on the other end of the dynasty spectrum, my dynasty had no boxscores for example and yet had some level of sucess, I think that the forum would hamstrung by a even greater limit.

I appreciate dynasties of all types, those that are basicly game recaps, and those that are works of fiction wrapped around the bones of the game. The forum should do all it can to encourage and facilitate all the dynasty writers.

Thus, if the current character limit is hampering dynasty writers, then the limit should be raised if possible.

[Rongar]

Multiple types of dynasties are viable. I never wrote storyline into mine, but they still had long posts. A 250 word limit would be disastrous to the dynasty forum, period.

Nevertheless, it's all a moot point, because there's no legitimate reason for Clay/Dee to LOWER the limit. It won't happen.

I agree...that 250 word limit was meant to apply to letters to newspapers..my point was that we contributors to the Dynasty forums could get by on much less capacity than is available to us now.

For example...the post containing the boxscore (plus space enough for brief explanations like "MoM"; "Zippies (162-0) currently lead everybody else."; "Rongar now winningest GM ever..." etc) could be the template, then if the recap had to cover multiple innings it could be split up into several "cliff-hanging" posts

[Rongar]

I wouldn't say that the background stories dynasties haven't met much success at all. CatKnight is regarded as the best dynasty writer around, and all of his are based on storylines, characters, etc. Many have followed suit.

Granted...but how many are actually read by us busy-busy folk with a fleeting attention span? For all our protestations of appreciation, for these excellent dynasties, we may never know...

[Jeffy25]

As Metsguy would say...

15rd

hahah lmao, i literally laughed out loud

[Rongar]

CAT: So..tell me something Rongar.  
Let's say you spend 1 or 2 hours writing a post in an editor.  You try and post, and it tells you the limit is 250 
words (as an example).

RON:  I doubt that anyone sits down stone-cold to write at length without having some
 idea of the prevailing restrictions…in writing to “Letters to the Editor” there will be a warning that “letters
 should not exceed X number of words…”

In forums like ours, even if there is no warning sticky, a newby would gain some idea of how far he can go,
by reading existing posts.

CAT: Now...are you REALLY going to be inclined to sit down and edit your post down to 250 words?
  Of course not, that's absurd.  As Houston said, it would pretty much render dynasty writing moot - no one
 would want to deal with that kind of limit.

RON: In fact, it is a recognized writing practice to write scads of words as they tumble, spontaneously,
 from the brain, then, afterwards, to pick out the few gold nuggets with a highly critical eye…I’m fond of saying 
that half-decent writing is 99% editing

I covered dynasty writing in my reply to Houston…ah, Cat, but supposing that we had to deal with
 that kind of limit?…I’ll bet the keenest of us would cope, somehow, necessity being the Mother of all inventions…
anyway the main thrust of the argument is: should dynasty posts have more character capacity? Since dynasties
 are supposed to be stats-driven, I say only for more stats. …I’m sure that there are lots of 
appropriate sites on the WWW for those of us who want to write sagas and epics. 

CAT: Would any kind of limit encourage me to spend more time 'thinking' about what to write? 

RON: It’s never a bad idea to spend more time thinking about anything, ere committing to the written 
or spoken word, in this age of “information overload” One might then conclude that one is better off playing a BM
 game in “Player” mode rather than pontificating profundities, that few will read, anyway. 

CAT:.  This isn't a professional situation where anyone here is being paid to make their post as tight and 
seamless as possible 

RON: Exactly…so when it comes to dynasty-writing, why waste time and energy in writing text that 
comparatively few are going to read, and certainly no one is about to send money for?

CAT: and I assure you there's no way to knock 2000 words (about 10K characters) to 250 without losing
 meaning.

RON: I agree…that’s why a kindly and caring Clay has made it possible to spread those 2000 words over 
8 or more posts if we choose…just think of that coveted record post-count, Cat! 

CAT: What a harsher limit would encourage me to do is either 1) stop trying - which no doubt some might
 be happy with, but if enough people stop then that's the end of the dynasty forum, or 2) chop my entries up
 into even smaller pieces.

RON: As previously stated, I think that the Dynasty forum would survive just by publication of boxscores;
 recaps; and sortable stats…not because anyone would necessarily even read these basics, but 
because, as I have claimed, most of us statheads happen also to be compulsive writers. We climb into forums
 because they are there! We sim a season, it makes our team look good, we can publish it, with a few keystrokes.
 
CAT:Which is harder on the reader I wonder...one post that might be slightly too long for their taste,
 or three posts back-to-back-to-back with pretty much the same word count?

RON: Neither one, Cat…yer average reader in these forums does not work hard…he skims and scans through
the various forums, bypassing the baloney with a practiced eye which he has trained to light only on what interests
 him…if you want to grab his attention, you write something controversial (or ego-stroking e.g. "Rongar is the
 winningest GM, ever!"), like –um –"No need for greater post capacity"!

[reflections]

15K would be nice.
In my dynasty. I'm trying to do a preseason write up of teams, divison by division. put in prospects. I can't even do a 4 team division without cutting and cutting.
Also I like both sides of the dynasties. Pure stats, little story......but then vivid storylines.
I could really just even 12.5k right now. lol

[CatKnight]

15K would be workable. I don't think I've ever gone above 15K.

Then again, I am still waiting for someone to tell me why any limit at all is required. Only Rongar has put up any kind of serious argument, and honestly it doesn't wash.

How does removing a limit make it harder for someone who sticks to box scores or other gameplay to do their thing? It doesn't, so why not get rid of it?

[SirKodiak]

does vBulletin have an inherent limit maybe?