tedster - 8:26 am on Mar 22, 2002 (gmt 0)

Thanks for the good word, SmallTime

I can say that every time I need to deal with a URL in Browsers and HTML, there's automatically a tension. I appreciate that some issues about page design can be difficult to explain fully using only words or code snippets -- and a URL makes the job seem a lot easier.

On the other hand, the looser I get with allowing URLs, the more links I see that don't need to be there for the sake of the discussion. Even further, those posts are often a side track, however subtle, from the topic at hand. Whether intentionally promotional or not, these posts are often part of the "noise" and not the "signal".

So there's always a trade off: keep the "signal" strong, or set a precedent that may hurt the overall usefulness of the board, even though it helps in one case.

I've recently decided that it is useful to require words over examples. For one, it makes the forum content more easily searchable into the future. Also, in some way, a well worded question often points toward its own answer. I;m sure we've all noticed this - explaining a situation well helps to resolve it.

Yes, that means the person writing the post needs to do more work up front. Well, that's not a bad thing, IMO. It helps to boost the signal.

>> dying of overwork...

Well, there are days!