# Why bother with the minimum character requirement for replies?
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/why-bother-with-the-minimum-character-requirement-for-replies/898
**Category:** UX
**Created:** [6 februari 2013 om 06:14 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/why-bother-with-the-minimum-character-requirement-for-replies/898 "2013-02-06T06:14:58Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@pessimism](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pessimism)
#### Post date: [15 februari 2013 om 23:58 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/why-bother-with-the-minimum-character-requirement-for-replies/898/26 "2013-02-15T23:58:50Z")
So, did you turn it off? š
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### Author:  [@finid](https://meta.discourse.org/u/finid)
#### Post date: [16 februari 2013 om 00:14 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/why-bother-with-the-minimum-character-requirement-for-replies/898/27 "2013-02-16T00:14:07Z")
The default is 20 xters. Itās still on.
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### Author:  [@Savisto](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Savisto)
#### Post date: [16 februari 2013 om 00:58 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/why-bother-with-the-minimum-character-requirement-for-replies/898/28 "2013-02-16T00:58:47Z")
I think you got it right. Thereās absolutely no value in one-word replies like, "LOLāā or the dreaded "FIRST!āā, so setting a sane minimum character count prevents that which makes contributions worthwhile. Itās a _very_ rare situation where you can answer meaningfully in less than twenty characters.
By giving a siteās admin the option to amend, or entirely remove, that limit it means that youāre not forcing your decision on anyone that disagrees with it. I canāt think of a fairer way to do it.
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### Author:  [@samjschoenberg](https://meta.discourse.org/u/samjschoenberg)
#### Post date: [18 februari 2013 om 20:57 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/why-bother-with-the-minimum-character-requirement-for-replies/898/29 "2013-02-18T20:57:53Z")
Some people are able to post with brevity
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### Author:  [@finid](https://meta.discourse.org/u/finid)
#### Post date: [18 februari 2013 om 21:13 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/why-bother-with-the-minimum-character-requirement-for-replies/898/30 "2013-02-18T21:13:34Z")
Like ālol!,ā āomg!,ā right?
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### Author:  [@naggie](https://meta.discourse.org/u/naggie)
#### Post date: [18 februari 2013 om 21:42 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/why-bother-with-the-minimum-character-requirement-for-replies/898/31 "2013-02-18T21:42:16Z")
I think it is historically useful as it discourages ā+1ā , āLikeā and āthanksā style posts. However, now thereās a ālikeā button I donāt personally care so much.
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### Author:  [@finid](https://meta.discourse.org/u/finid)
#### Post date: [19 februari 2013 om 01:02 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/why-bother-with-the-minimum-character-requirement-for-replies/898/32 "2013-02-19T01:02:47Z")
True, āLike this postā takes care of all that short replies.
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### Author:  [@VaibhavGarg](https://meta.discourse.org/u/VaibhavGarg)
#### Post date: [19 februari 2013 om 07:08 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/why-bother-with-the-minimum-character-requirement-for-replies/898/33 "2013-02-19T07:08:05Z")
Iāll bite the bullet here, How are you doing it?
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### Author:  [@billybonks](https://meta.discourse.org/u/billybonks)
#### Post date: [19 februari 2013 om 07:19 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/why-bother-with-the-minimum-character-requirement-for-replies/898/34 "2013-02-19T07:19:45Z")
abcd\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_lol\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_abcd
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### Author:  [@billybonks](https://meta.discourse.org/u/billybonks)
#### Post date: [19 februari 2013 om 07:23 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/why-bother-with-the-minimum-character-requirement-for-replies/898/35 "2013-02-19T07:23:49Z")
it took me quite a while to get this nonsense lol posted, there seems to be more constraints other then the amount of characters required[quote=āpessimism, post:20, topic:898, full:trueā]
Even if itās a configurable setting, it is still worth discussing whether it should be the default setting.
āItās configurableā doesnāt mean it isnāt a stupid feature to begin withāespecially if itās the default setting. š
[/quote]
i think this topic has been discussed over and over again, and what we are trying to avoid with these default constraints is the post i made above. it holds no relevance to anything nore does āi feel youā or āI like you ideasā or āthank youā or āme toā or ālolā. all these things are meaningless when it comes to a discussion, if you wan to thank someone; then these constraints encourage you to maybe give a reason or two why you are thanking or agreeing with some one
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### Author:  [@jrg](https://meta.discourse.org/u/jrg)
#### Post date: [19 februari 2013 om 11:10 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/why-bother-with-the-minimum-character-requirement-for-replies/898/36 "2013-02-19T11:10:18Z")
> [@billybonks](#):
>
> i think this topic has been discussed over and over again, and what we are trying to avoid with these default constraints is the post i made above. it holds no relevance to anything nore does āi feel youā or āI like you ideasā or āthank youā or āme toā or ālolā. all these things are meaningless when it comes to a discussion, if you wan to thank someone; then these constraints encourage you to maybe give a reason or two why you are thanking or agreeing with some one
Limits such as these never avoid the problem.
Users often work around them anyway by padding out with junk: Iāve seen it time and time again on mailing lists that impose limits on new to quoted text and similar, along with endless side discussions about having the problem.
IMHO, if you really want to guide the user then, as weāve got an interactive interface here, a little āguidanceā message could be shown until the rule āpassesā but a Reply could still be submitted at any time. (Maybe a warning is given, ala ārnā, requiring confirmation to post: āYour reply is quite short, are you sure thatās all you want to say?ā)
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### Author:  [@ultimape](https://meta.discourse.org/u/ultimape)
#### Post date: [19 februari 2013 om 18:19 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/why-bother-with-the-minimum-character-requirement-for-replies/898/37 "2013-02-19T18:19:34Z")
> [@koralatov](#):
>
> Itās a very rare situation where you can answer meaningfully in less than twenty characters.
I think that on top of the minimum, there should be some encouragement to answer meaningfully aside from just the limitation.
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### Author:  [@finid](https://meta.discourse.org/u/finid)
#### Post date: [19 februari 2013 om 18:35 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/why-bother-with-the-minimum-character-requirement-for-replies/898/38 "2013-02-19T18:35:00Z")
What type of āencouragement to answerā do you have in mind?
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### Author:  [@ultimape](https://meta.discourse.org/u/ultimape)
#### Post date: [19 februari 2013 om 18:43 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/why-bother-with-the-minimum-character-requirement-for-replies/898/39 "2013-02-19T18:43:47Z")
> [@finid](#):
>
> What type of āencouragement to answerā do you have in mind?
@jrg shared a good example of the general idea:
> [@jrg](#):
>
> you really want to guide the user then, as weāve got an interactive interface here, a little āguidanceā message could be shown until the rule āpassesā but a Reply could still be submitted at any time. (Maybe a warning is given, ala ārnā, requiring confirmation to post: āYour reply is quite short, are you sure thatās all you want to say?ā)
Basically some short pyschological priming to get the user off on the right footing.
StackOverflow used hints like that to keep comments in line with their usage. On Reddit, many subreddits took some pretty creative measures to encourage users not to post undesirable content. [/r/atheism](http://www.reddit.com/r/atheism/)ās mods took a creative approch in setting up 3 separate links to post that actually end up shunting things off to different subreddits.
We may need more brainstorming and examples to do it effectively, but it is a problem worth solving for any larger forum.
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### Author:  [@Savisto](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Savisto)
#### Post date: [19 februari 2013 om 18:44 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/why-bother-with-the-minimum-character-requirement-for-replies/898/40 "2013-02-19T18:44:08Z")
> [@ultimape](#):
>
> I think that on top of the minimum, there should be some encouragement to answer meaningfully aside from just the limitation.
The limitation is just a computationally easy/possible way of trying to filter out junk replies. I agree that there should be encouragement to answer/contribute in meaningful ways, but I donāt think you can institute that in the forum software itself. How would the server know whether Iām making a good, valid point, or merely pasting in a paragraph or two of _A Game of Thrones_?
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### Author:  [@ultimape](https://meta.discourse.org/u/ultimape)
#### Post date: [19 februari 2013 om 18:46 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/why-bother-with-the-minimum-character-requirement-for-replies/898/41 "2013-02-19T18:46:58Z")
> [@koralatov](#):
>
> How would the server know whether Iām making a good, valid point, or merely pasting in a paragraph or two of A Game of Thrones?
There are some low-hanging fruit that the system is already looking for, like duplicate posts and posting too quickly and short comments.
A more creative example is 4chanās [robot9001 board (nsfw)](https://boards.4chan.org/r9k/) which just blanketly prevent users from posting ANYTHING that has been posted in the past. - I donāt think we need to go to such an extreme with discourse, but the server can do a lot of things to prevent crappy content.
What I am saying is that it is not enough to simply dis-allow it, but instead to encourage people to post better in general so they arenāt compelled to get around the limitations. Its a peopleware problem.
> [@koralatov](#):
>
> The limitation is just a computationally easy/possible way of trying to filter out junk replies.
@sam was already talking about Bayesian Analysis as a extension. This is what they do to filter out email.
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### Author:  [@JAB1](https://meta.discourse.org/u/JAB1)
#### Post date: [29 januari 2014 om 10:45 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/why-bother-with-the-minimum-character-requirement-for-replies/898/43 "2014-01-29T10:45:22Z")
I found it: first line parameter āmin\_post\_lengthā in ā/admin/site\_settings/category/postingā
Thanks for the feature.
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### Author:  [@core\_dump](https://meta.discourse.org/u/core_dump)
#### Post date: [19 januari 2015 om 15:32 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/why-bother-with-the-minimum-character-requirement-for-replies/898/44 "2015-01-19T15:32:49Z")
This is just what I was looking for.
Thanks!
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### Author:  [@Tsirist](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Tsirist)
#### Post date: [20 juli 2016 om 16:21 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/why-bother-with-the-minimum-character-requirement-for-replies/898/45 "2016-07-20T16:21:40Z")
Has the ability to set the minimum posting length to 0 been revised? I am unable to set it to 0 from the admin panel. 1 appears to be the minimum allowed value. Our board is migrating to a Discourse instance, and we are all (mostly) new to the platform. The ability to quote a post and reply without any addendum is considered socially acceptable by us. š However, attempting to do so on our instance displays a message about empty posts not being allowed. It can be achieved by adding a `
` after the quote, but this is a QoL issue. Unfortunately, I cannot set the minimum post length to 0 without getting a similar message from the admin panel. There are suggestions in this thread that it was possible in the past though.
Is it possible from the CLI? Iām still picking up on how the Rails interface works.
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### Author:  [@meglio](https://meta.discourse.org/u/meglio)
#### Post date: [27 september 2016 om 19:09 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/why-bother-with-the-minimum-character-requirement-for-replies/898/46 "2016-09-27T19:09:24Z")
> [@Tsirist](#):
>
> The ability to quote a post and reply without any addendum is considered socially acceptable by us. š
May you show an example, please? I canāt figure out what an empty reply would look like and what it would mean.
Do you mean, you might answer someoneās question by just citing someone else from above?
[Vorige pagina](https://meta.discourse.org/t/why-bother-with-the-minimum-character-requirement-for-replies/898.md?page=1)
[Volgende pagina](https://meta.discourse.org/t/why-bother-with-the-minimum-character-requirement-for-replies/898.md?page=3)