Disappearing threads?

[kelso]

I think there may have been something about this awhile ago. not sure.

I know the board has changed ownership, but the mods/admins seem to be the same. Has there been some change in policy with threads?

I do not ever remember in the first 3 years or so I was here that entire threads were deleted? There was a few exceptions, but more often they were locked or something like that.

Just asking as there has been 3 times or so that I can think of that I will post on a multiple (10 pages or so thread) and the next day I come back and it is gone like it never existed. All the posts are just ...gone. I never receive pm's so do not think it is something I have said but......guess I will never know what happened after I posted?

I know that we are supposed to keep things respectful and such but just wondering how and why certain threads are getting deleted? After 20 pages... maybe just delete the one thing that made it get washed away vs the whole thread if it is an issue of something being non productive or such? I understand that you are all volunteers and cannot go through deleting every little thing that may be offensive, but it seems to happen after multiple post(s) (pages) before it happens?

Why has this seemed to change around here? Or I am I making it up!

Gives me the heebie jeebies. I remember before that people were sortof held responsible for what they posted as they could not request that it just get deleted?

Thanks for your hard work mods, admins and such. Understand it must be hard work.

[gsdraven]

Mods can't read every thread so we rely on the members of this site to notify us why a thread is getting out of control or rules are being broken.

When no one notifies us until 3-4 pages later, it becomes too much to try and edit out all the rule breaking and so a thread may just be deleted. It isn't our preference but we can't sit there and pick through the thread for what should/shouldn't stay.

If you see a thread starting to go in a bad direction, notify the mods by clicking the yellow exclamation point () next to the offending post. The sooner we catch things going off course, the more likely we can edit and leave the thread or just lock it if things continue to spiral downward.

[JeanKBBMMMAAN]

Yes, thanks, Jamie!

I went looking in the deleted files. I deleted the critique thread yesterday because there was too much to edit and the notifications were streaming in.

There is a repeat thread that someone re-posted that had no replies to it.

Other than that, I do not see any recent threads that were deleted or sent for edits. Were there others?

ETA - there was one other - again - the notifications make a huge difference.

[onyx'girl]

thread that was most popular yesterday, deleted today?
Awhile back....

[Castlemaid]

Usually the threads that get deleted are veering off onto some odd and inappropriate political tangent. Not only are politics against the rules, but it seems that some members are just about incapable to discuss politics without resorting to either blatant or implied name calling and other offensive accusations.
I agree that there seems to have been a few out-of-control threads lately that have been removed - and it is unfair to those people that have taken the time and effort to post appropriately and respecfully on the subject to have it removed. But often by just deleting certain posts, the rest of the thread makes no sense at all, and then that is an issue too, as in "who is this person replying to?" when only certain posts are removed.

Some people have recently received warnings about their on-line behaviour and posts so let's hope that people will start moderating themselves and abiding by board rules and thread deletions will not be necessary.

[Castlemaid]

I know that a little while ago a couple of people had posts disappear without a trace out of nowhere. That seemed to have been some kind of software/forum issue, but don't think it has happened recently.

I don't think this has happened to an entire thread - but if you remember which thread(s) you are thinking about, we can check if the thread was deleted/removed by a mod, or if it was abducted by aliens without leaving a trace.

[arycrest]

First I want to say I think the mods do an awesome job on the forum. I'm no genius but have always tried to report messages I "think" may violate forum rules ... sometimes the message in question is edited or removed, sometimes not.

I know mods can only remove/edit posts in their own assigned areas, BUT what confuses me is when I see messages in a "heated" thread which appear to violate the rules ... yet I see mods posting to the thread, the questionable messages remain, and suddenly the entire thread dissappears or (if we're lucky), is locked. I know I seldom report messages I "think" violate the rules when mods are posting to the same thread because I've always assumed they were reporting them.

[Castlemaid]

It's always a judgement call. Sometimes the violation is borderline, and we try to be fair to everyone and allow people to post their thoughts and opinions without making people feel that they are being ganged up on. Sometimes, as you pointed out Gayle, it is not our forum, so we cannot do anything about editing, but we are still participating members on the board, and can post and add to the discussion, or try to smooth things out or get a thread back on track. Doesn't always work, so other measures are taken.

Also, most of the time, iffy threads are discussed by the moderators first, before they are locked or removed. So we sit back and watch to see wich direction the thread is taking. Another issue is that notifications are automatically sent to our emails. I may read and post on the board during the day when I'm at work, but I don't see my notifications until I get home. Take the time difference between the East Coast and the West Coast, for example, and it may be a while before the notification gets actioned.

And I like this board because it is so busy, always something going on, but that is what makes trying to keep on top of all the posts and threads so challenging.

[Good_Karma]

I have a question on the pseudo-swearing, but I don't know how to ask it without possibly violating the rules. So here goes anyway...

What's the policy on using abbreviations like WTF or POS? We all know what they mean, and I've seen lots of people use them without seeing them get deleted.

[Castlemaid]

Using such acronyms are against the rules. If you see any, please notify. It might be a while before someone can go and edit the posts, but if a person gets edited enough, they will get a rules reminder and/or a warning about it.

I've edited worse, and people have come back saying "that wasn't swearing" when it was really offensive stuff!