OPPO PSA - 'Following' Guidelines (brought back from the dead)*

"Gamecat235" (Gamecat235)
08/13/2014 at 12:56 • Filed to: owners manual, moderation, rules of the road, oppo tools, following

An excerpt of an upcoming revision to the Oppo Handbook:

There are two main levels of posting access to Oppo. One is the basic commenter and the other is authorship privileges.

Like on the main page, anyone is free to comment on any thread on Oppo. If you are not 'followed' by Oppo, your comment will show up as 'grey'. This is not a judgment on your worth as a person or a commenter; it is simply how Kinja works.

Authorship privileges are granted by the mods. If you wish to post to Oppositelock, respond to one of our semi-regular request threads. These posts will always be under the tag " !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! " so that these posts can be easily found. You may not get authorship the first time you ask, but you are welcome to request again at any point. (See any request post for expanded details on this process.)

Authors are able to follow/unfollow commenters on behalf of 'Oppositelock'. 'Following' moves a commenter from a 'grey' to a 'black'. We trust authors enough to not need our permission to 'follow' a commenter – we wouldn't have made you authors if we didn't trust you in the first place. However, any author found to be abusing their posting access to mess with other commenter's status on Oppo will have their authorship revoked, and possibly banned from the forum.

*why was this brought back from the dead? Because this was, in part, taken verbatim from the original oppo handbook which will be revised again.

DISCUSSION (38)

area man > Gamecat235
08/13/2014 at 12:57

Ah, so if you have authorship privileges, then your comments automatically won't be in the grey on Oppo even if you're not "followed" by Oppo. Is that correct?

Victorious Secret > Gamecat235
08/13/2014 at 12:59

If there was ever a time where Oppo could make use of a forum wide masthead where you could sticky important posts, this would be that time.

Gamecat235 > area man
08/13/2014 at 12:59

Correct. Authorship is a definite step up from being followed. Think about it in terms of the front page.

Torchinsky or Hardigee do not need to be followed by Jalopnik because they are authors there.

Gamecat235 > Victorious Secret
08/13/2014 at 12:59

Yep. Agreed.

area man > Gamecat235
08/13/2014 at 13:00

Great analogy. Thanks.

Hammerfrog > Gamecat235
08/13/2014 at 13:01

hmm, let's see if I'm a privileged black or a lowly grey.

spanfucker retire bitch > Gamecat235
08/13/2014 at 13:02

Stupid question: Is there a way to do a search by tag in the search field?

404usernotfound > Gamecat235
08/13/2014 at 13:03

soo, im followed by Jalopnik, and Lifehacker (?) but not Oppo. I thought as an author I was allready followed by oppo. huh.

Gamecat235 > Hammerfrog
08/13/2014 at 13:04

You're an author here, so you'll show up as a "privileged commenter"...

Gamecat235 > 404usernotfound
08/13/2014 at 13:05

Not necessarily, but authorship is much better, and more levels above being followed. Like I said elsewhere, think of it in terms of the FP: Torchinsky or Hardigee do not need to be followed by Jalopnik because they are authors there.

Hammerfrog > Gamecat235
08/13/2014 at 13:07

kk got it. Wasn't sure if authorship carried over into this brave new world.

CB > Gamecat235
08/13/2014 at 13:08

Testing to see if I'm in the cool kids club.

Oh good, I am.

Gamecat235 > spanfucker retire bitch
08/13/2014 at 13:09

No, but clicking on a tag, or "creating" a tag URL will do it.

For instance http://oppositelock.jalopnik.com/tag/rules-of-t… or http://oppositelock.jalopnik.com/tag/amarg

404usernotfound > Gamecat235
08/13/2014 at 13:09

Got it. Thanks for the clarificacation!

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Gamecat235
08/13/2014 at 13:18

Since we have hundreds of authors on OPPO, with rights to "ungray" anyone, can it be suggested that we use a modicum of selectivity before following a new commentor? In my mind, someone asking to be ungrayed on OPPO should at least have some history, however short, of commenting and adherence to Rules 1 & 2.

And I think unfollowing for OPPO needs to be left purely to the mods (if that's not already the way it works). If all authors have this power, it should only be used by regular authors against clear cases of spam.

Alex B > Gamecat235
08/13/2014 at 13:18

Wait, I'm confused. Because I'm an author here on Oppo, will I show up gray on the FP?

Shady Balkan Subject, Drives an Alfa > Gamecat235
08/13/2014 at 13:20

I still think that the new changes must not be on all of the Gawkerverse, but who am I to speak.

Shady Balkan Subject, Drives an Alfa > Alex B
08/13/2014 at 13:21

To show on FP, you must be followed by Jalopnik's account.

Gamecat235 > Shady Balkan Subject, Drives an Alfa
08/13/2014 at 13:23

They aren't not yet. But they will be in the next 24 hours (hopefully)

Luc - The Acadian Oppo > Gamecat235
08/13/2014 at 13:24

Somewhat related question. With the "pending discussion" system coming back will we be allowed to post pics or gifs in the replies again? or are pics gone forever?

Gamecat235 > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
08/13/2014 at 13:24

Yes. This is going to be something we will be further discussing and addressing.

Gamecat235 > Luc - The Acadian Oppo
08/13/2014 at 13:27

I assume that pictures (and hopefully the HTML editor) will be back. But I don't know when... and I don't know what exactly will be implemented.

Shady Balkan Subject, Drives an Alfa > Gamecat235
08/13/2014 at 13:31

The sad thing is I don't post regularly on the FP, which means less chance to be spotted and granted authorship. And when I want to comment, I am either discouraged because there are 200+ comments and at some point nobody goes to the grey, to get me out of there or don't want to write something that nobody will read. I am on Jalopnik from the pre-Kinja days and the last time we had grey, my countless pleas for authorship were not granted by the staff, which makes it even harder to want to comment with that system.

Gamecat235 > Shady Balkan Subject, Drives an Alfa
08/13/2014 at 13:32

Just like last time, they will be more attentive to this, and be on the lookout for great commenters. Jalopnik's FP authors have, historically, been awesome at this step in the process.

Slave2anMG > Gamecat235
08/13/2014 at 13:38

Testing...

Slave2anMG > Gamecat235
08/13/2014 at 13:40

Do hope images come back...and thanks, rape gif posting asshats. Twits.

macanamera > Gamecat235
08/13/2014 at 13:53

Can't any author just "follow" himself on behalf of Oppositelock to satisfy his insecurities anyways?

macanamera > Gamecat235
08/13/2014 at 13:54

Uh...

I have 8 or 9 COTDs, 2 reviews published to the front page, multiple posts shared to front page, multiple comments shared to front page, and thousands of stars in recommendations...

...and am not followed by Jalopnik.

StingrayJake > Gamecat235
08/13/2014 at 14:06

So is now a good time to ask to be followed?

Andrew T. Maness > Gamecat235
08/13/2014 at 14:39

Thank you for clearing all this up. Any idea on how long it will be before we can post pics in our comments again?

Gamecat235 > Andrew T. Maness
08/13/2014 at 14:45

Not yet. My guess is that you'll probably know when I do. =)

StingrayJake > StingrayJake
08/13/2014 at 18:27

Now... about getting authorship...

offyatindy > Gamecat235
08/13/2014 at 18:47

So I see (per the / a previous post connected to this one) there is a Following and Followers list. At first click I see a bunch of Followers and no Following. So, not having a beef with anyone - and enjoying and appreciating most popular commenters - I click on all the Followers which changes the list from Follow to Unfollow (as on Twitter). I leave my account, come back and see the list revert back so everyone is listed as Follow - though some people seem to be missing or have moved in position. Also, I click on my Following list and after a brief distraction, look again and now see it is well populated, but does not match my Followers list.

I hope this doesn't count as messing with someone's privileges. As we used to say, when I worked for a defense contractor "Don't push the RED button !" My (long winded) question then is, can any of the writers / moderators clarify which buttons should or shouldn't be pushed ?

(By the way, I'm Oppo approved, have previously posted on Oppo and would like to stay.)

Gamecat235 > offyatindy
08/13/2014 at 18:53

Do not select "unfollow for xxx blog" in the dropdown next to a comment. As far as I know, if you're already approved here, you will continue to be. =)

If that changes, we'll let EVERYONE know.

Chris Clarke > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
08/15/2014 at 12:21

I almost unfollowed your from Oppo just for kicks.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Chris Clarke
08/15/2014 at 12:24

The Gamecat would have had your head for that!

PS9 > Gamecat235
08/15/2014 at 12:35

I thought it was because they were demigods who's powers were the only real method of controlling the ancient and powerful Kinja?

Gamecat235 > PS9
08/15/2014 at 12:36

Shhhh!