[peeb]

If mods are going to delete large numbers of posts, please can they leave a post explaining what they have done? Not doing this is misleading and leads to misunderstanding.

[Oisín]

Where did they do this?

Occasionally, a mod will delete a number of personal attacks between two or more members, in order to get a thread back on a decent track, but they usually offer an explanation along with this.

[peeb]

http://forums.macnn.com/89/macnn-lou...arket-crash/8/

[ThinkInsane]

I deleted the posts because they were derailing the thread. Although it may have been loosely associated with the topic of the thread, it was nothing more than a squabble between you and bigmac. Like I said after I deleted the posts, we all know you two don't like each other, and no one cares. If you want to have an argument, by all means do so via PM, because if you do it publicly your posts will be deleted. It's as simple as that.

[peeb]

Yes, my request was that, when you delete posts, you mention in the thread that you deleted them.

[Dakar the Fourth]

I seem to remember him posting right after the thread was cleaned up.

[peeb]

He posted about not arguing in the political lounge ("Take your little personality conflict to PM. You two don't like each other. We get it. We also don't care."), but did not mention that he deleted a large number of posts.

[Dakar the Fourth]

Perhaps I've been here too long, but I understood that was why he posted at all.

[peeb]

Well frankly I have no idea why he posted at all, but if the purpose was to explain that he had deleted a large number of posts, it was a spectacular failure.

[Dakar the Fourth]

Thankfully you waited a week to be melodramatic about it.

[peeb]

Yes, I thought the dramatic pause added to the melodrama - frankly I was not trying to bring up the individual case, but make a general request that if mods delete posts, they make a note to explain that that is what they did. If they are feeling gracious and want to explain why, as well, that's always a bonus, but hey, I'll settle for a simple statement of fact.

[brassplayersrock²]

stop your whining

[peeb]

No arguing in the political lounge, and now no whining in the feedback forum? Stop complaining about the whining.

[Dakar the Fourth]

First off, the thread was in the MacNN lounge, not the PL. Second, it was a bunch of posturing, not a real debate or anything. That's why it got its ass canned.

[peeb]

It's not about why it got "its ass canned", it's about asking for the simple courtesy of, when posts are deleted, that the mod doing the deleting mention in the forum that they deleted posts.

[Dakar the Fourth]

Originally Posted by peeb 

It's not about why it got "its ass canned",

Fine, then don't bring this up:

No arguing in the political lounge

[peeb]

It's a side issue. I did not realize that there was no arguing allowed in the lounge.

[Dakar the Fourth]

I somehow see this devolving into a semantic debate over what ThinkInsane's definition of argument was in that post.

[peeb]

No, the issue is clear - Thinkinsane deleted posts, and did not mention in the thread that he deleted posts. I am asking that when mods delete posts, they say in the thread that that is what they did.

[Railroader]

Originally Posted by ThinkInsane 

...and no one cares....

How arrogant and condecending.

[reader50]

Any complaints are no doubt due to our deleting so few posts. If only we had more posts to delete, I'm sure we could achieve the high standards everyone desires. Like they say, practice makes perfect.

Unfortunately, our members provide few posts at the quality level required for deletion. It's a problem, and we have assigned a study group to look into it.

[peeb]

One thing that you could study is how many posts have actually been deleted. Right now there is no way to even tell that a post has been deleted. It's possible that 95% of posts are deleted - nobody would be able to tell. Please report back when your group has investigated.

[brassplayersrock²]

peeb, do you feel that your right to free speech has been harmed?

[peeb]

I don't feel that free speech is an issue, I simply feel that if a mod deletes some posts, they should mention that fact in the thread.

[brassplayersrock²]

would you like a sub-portion of the contract stating that all mods need to inform us when they delete entire threads as well? i.e.: spam threads

[peeb]

As I made clear above, I'm not talking about spam threads.

[brassplayersrock²]

couldn't get past the non-needed complaining to notice.

[peeb]

Originally Posted by brassplayersrock² 

couldn't get past the non-needed complaining to notice.

Speaking of non-needed complaining, what exactly are you whining about? Do you disagree that it is reasonable that if a mod removes part of a thread they let people know?

[brassplayersrock²]

hope you're not how you portray yourself on here in r.l.

[peeb]

Well that's a cute personal attack, but how about answering the perfectly reasonable question I asked you? Do you disagree that it is reasonable that if a mod removes part of a thread they let people know?

[imitchellg5]

^That's the whole reason posts get delete, people.

[ghporter]

We delete posts for a number of reasons. I delete the ever lovin' snot out of spam and smile while I do it. But I have never deleted a real user's post without a darn good reason. One reason is that the user posted something so inflammatory that even after the initial fuss has calmed down it starts up more fuss later. Another is when two users get into a nice little kitten fight over something that each misinterpreted from the other's post-and then they get over it but there's a ton of space taken up by their completely off topic blathering that makes the thread unreadable.

Further:

About Moderation

Remember that moderators and administrators have the final say on any moderation decision, including the right to close, rename, or delete any thread, or edit or delete any post, for any reason. While the action will generally be explained, this explanation is voluntary and may not be provided, even upon request.

As reader50 says, we so seldom find it necessary to delete a real user's posts that it's sort of jarring when someone saw a post there at one time and it's gone the next time they look. Sorry, that's due to those of us on staff having this thing called a "life" and having responsibilities that keep us from being here 24/7 so we can catch this kind of stuff and nip it in the bud before anyone sees it.

You know, we could go to a fully moderated model-vBulletin supports that. That would mean that you'd "submit" a post and it would have to be approved by one or more mods before it ever shows up... Wouldn't that solve this issue with "I saw a post by User X five minutes ago but now it's gone" stuff?

[brassplayersrock²]

we should try that for a while Glenn

[ThinkInsane]

Not an issue, next time I will be sure to mention in my follow up exactly why I deleted the posts. I thought the implication of why was clear, but I guess it wasn't. My intention was to clear up the derailment without bringing any unwanted drama to the thread. I thought you and big mac would get what I implied with my post without having to say "Hey look everybody, I just deleted a bunch of posts" (and then having to deal with the soon to come "what did I miss?" posts and PM's). You, and possibly big mac as well, didn't get the implication, so next time I will be more direct. Sorry about the confusion.

[turtle777]

Since I got nothing to add to this, I'm just gonna delete everything I'm about to type here. Yes, you heard it right. Nothing to see here. Long live the hampstor.

-t

[peeb]

Again, it was not an explanation I was looking for, but a simple statement that x number of posts had been deleted. I appreciate your understanding of why this seems important to me.

[analogika]

Originally Posted by Dakar the Fourth 

Perhaps I've been here too long, but I understood that was why he posted at all.

Originally Posted by peeb 

Well frankly I have no idea why he posted at all, but if the purpose was to explain that he had deleted a large number of posts, it was a spectacular failure.

Well, aren't you glad you know now for next time?

I think it's a spectacular failure on your part that he HAD TO STEP IN AT ALL.

[turtle777]

Lesson: you can't fight the hampstor mods, you can only join them.

Congrats to the new mod, again

Oh wait, that thread was locked.

-t

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by peeb 

Again, it was not an explanation I was looking for, but a simple statement that x number of posts had been deleted. I appreciate your understanding of why this seems important to me.

That was a BUNCH of posts that needed deletion...would a post that said "I just deleted a bunch of derailing and argumentative posts" be enough to make it clear why those posts were gone? I'd think that we'd have to make a new rule to prevent those "what did I miss" PMs... (We should do that anyway-whether it's blood on the street of a train wreck of all-caps shouting, there's really nothing worth seeing after it's done.)

Generally, if I have to clean out a thread, the people whose posts get deleted know all about it because they also earned at least an infraction warning. But a space-filler "in case you saw more posts here the last time you looked" sort of post wouldn't hurt in some situations.

[Oisín]

That was a BUNCH of posts that needed deletion...would a post that said "I just deleted a bunch of derailing and argumentative posts" be enough to make it clear why those posts were gone?

I think that’s exactly what peeb was looking for. Or even just “Thread cleaned up, some posts removed”.

[peeb]

Yep, that's what I was looking for!

[brassplayersrock²]

so how long is peeb (snicker) banned for?

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by brassplayersrock² 

so how long is peeb (snicker) banned for?

Hush. It's a secruut.

-t

[reader50]

I'd have answered last night, except for the Snickers part.



peeb will be back with us within a day.

[brassplayersrock²]

look up peeb in urban dictionary to understand my snicker