We all have that one friend on the forum that loves to pile on to threads once the OP has been answered, often with the likes of “As said by X”, “As said above by Y” and “To sum things up”.
The Snowball Clause will be discussed below and is one way users should exercise common sense to avoid pointy and pile on behavior in threads. Additionally, the snowball clause is designed to prevent long, mind numbing discussions in threads that contain answers being foregone conclusions at the start. I want to emphasize that this is not a policy, rather a best practice that active members of the forum should respect out of the courtesy of others. The clause should be seen as a request to not waste everyone’s time.
Snowball test
- If an original post has been answered in a few posts above and you cannot add anything to the post that has resolved the original one, then it is a candidate for the snowball clause as the point has gotten across and an additional comment will only create a pile on.
- If a post is “snowballed” and somebody later raises an objection or asks a follow up question, then there is no snowball clause and the discussion may continue to get to the point.
This test is meant to show a process of thinking before posting a pile on comment and should not be used to silence others if they have genuine content to contribute.
What the snowball clause is not
If a discrepancy in one’s answer comes up, it is best to settle the conflict through discussion. Moderators and staff do not apply to the Snowball Clause as they always have final word on the issue at hand.
Conclusion
Additional pile on comments don’t do anything other than clutter the thread and in some cases, notify parties who have already made their point (“As X said above”). This process is one that we should all think about to prevent pile on comments and hopefully clean up some of these threads a bit. As always use common sense.