Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[1995hoo]

.... For example, if someone were to make a thread titled "webny99 sucks!" filled with insults, there is really no good reason to leave it public, since it serves no purpose other than to try to make you upset, and if it succeeds it could cause you to escalate the matter when you encounter that user in another thread. ....

Marf may be banned, but he lives on in memory!

And I made about US71 becoming a mod again and I didn't get in trouble

I was referring more to Marf starting various threads that opened with flat-out attacks on webny99. Far more overt and nasty attacks than the thread that was deleted from the Urban Planning board earlier this week–while that thread probably had to go, all the comments there were exceptionally civilized by comparison (although, given just how nasty Marf got, I suppose that's not necessarily saying much!).

[kphoger]

one thing I think might be valuable is a post or notification of some sort from the moderator when part of a discussion is removed.

This has been the case on two other forums I've participated in.  You'd get a PM from the mod.

[webny99]

one thing I think might be valuable is a post or notification of some sort from the moderator when part of a discussion is removed.

This has been the case on two other forums I've participated in.  You'd get a PM from the mod.

I could see that working as well, but unless it's somehow automated it could get a bit cumbersome. It's really relevant to everyone following thread, not just those who had post(s) removed.

[kphoger]

one thing I think might be valuable is a post or notification of some sort from the moderator when part of a discussion is removed.

This has been the case on two other forums I've participated in.  You'd get a PM from the mod.

I could see that working as well, but unless it's somehow automated it could get a bit cumbersome. It's really relevant to everyone following thread, not just those who had post(s) removed.

I don't think it's necessarily relevant to others.

If someone's post was removed or edited, then it must be because it violated forum rules.  And if that's the case, then you've already read the reason why when you read the forum rules.  Only the person who wrote the post needs to have specific guidance.

On the other hand, if someone's else's post was removed or edited for some less-legitimate reason, then that's not your battle to fight.  It's the other person's battle.

[1]

one thing I think might be valuable is a post or notification of some sort from the moderator when part of a discussion is removed.

This has been the case on two other forums I've participated in.  You'd get a PM from the mod.

I could see that working as well, but unless it's somehow automated it could get a bit cumbersome. It's really relevant to everyone following thread, not just those who had post(s) removed.

I don't think it's necessarily relevant to others.

If someone's post was removed or edited, then it must be because it violated forum rules.  And if that's the case, then you've already read the reason why when you read the forum rules.  Only the person who wrote the post needs to have specific guidance.

On the other hand, if someone's else's post was removed or edited for some less-legitimate reason, then that's not your battle to fight.  It's the other person's battle.

I've had several of my posts removed when the entire subdiscussion was problematic, but I was clearly not at fault (sometimes a heated argument between A and B where I do a fact check or make a joke one-liner, or sometimes it's a single person who is the problem).

[kphoger]

I've had several of my posts removed when the entire subdiscussion was problematic, but I was clearly not at fault (sometimes a heated argument between A and B where I do a fact check or make a joke one-liner, or sometimes it's a single person who is the problem).

And that's a fight you could have taken up with the moderators.  It's not a fight that I should take up with them, so I don't need to know what went on.

[Scott5114]

Usually, we only send a message upon removing a post as part of a formal warning through the board's warning system. This warning system allows us to issue up to 100 points to a user. When a user reaches 31 or more points, a moderator must approve each of the user's posts before it is displayed to the public. At 90 or more points, the user is muted and cannot post at all. One point expires per day, so a user's warning level will degrade naturally.

Basically, if a post is removed without a message being sent, the matter is more or less considered settled by the removal, and we didn't feel  additional admonishment through PM was warranted. I can appreciate that this may sometimes be baffling, though, so I can definitely start providing a PM to the members in question whenever I remove posts.

I've had several of my posts removed when the entire subdiscussion was problematic, but I was clearly not at fault (sometimes a heated argument between A and B where I do a fact check or make a joke one-liner, or sometimes it's a single person who is the problem).

We do check context when deciding when to remove posts. A post will still be removed even if it doesn't violate the rules, if removal of other posts results in the context of the given post being missing. The idea is that we don't want a straggler post clearly referring to something that is missing causing a side discussion about what was there before, which returns the conversation to the topic that caused the posts to be removed anyway.

[webny99]

I don't think it's necessarily relevant to others.

If someone's post was removed or edited, then it must be because it violated forum rules.  And if that's the case, then you've already read the reason why when you read the forum rules.  Only the person who wrote the post needs to have specific guidance.

I've had several of my posts removed when the entire subdiscussion was problematic, but I was clearly not at fault (sometimes a heated argument between A and B where I do a fact check or make a joke one-liner, or sometimes it's a single person who is the problem).

And that's a fight you could have taken up with the moderators.  It's not a fight that I should take up with them, so I don't need to know what went on.

I don't think the removal of the posts themselves is the issue. I'm not thinking of it as a matter of "guidance" or "taking up a fight" so much as a matter of general interest to forum users, so they don't think they're going crazy in "now you see it, now you don't" post removal scenarios. Especially if they posted to a thread and then later can't find the post/discussion.

Basically, if a post is removed without a message being sent, the matter is more or less considered settled by the removal, and we didn't feel  additional admonishment through PM was warranted. I can appreciate that this may sometimes be baffling, though, so I can definitely start providing a PM to the members in question whenever I remove posts.

I can't speak for others, but I would appreciate that as long as it's not too cumbersome from your standpoint. Even a single message to everyone affected using BCC would probably work.

[kphoger]

I don't think the removal of the posts themselves is the issue. I'm not thinking of it as a matter of "guidance" or "taking up a fight" so much as a matter of general interest to forum users, so they don't think they're going crazy in "now you see it, now you don't" post removal scenarios. Especially if they posted to a thread and then later can't find the post/discussion.

Well, if I were a moderator, then I wouldn't consider "general interest" a very good reason to make corrective action publicly visible.

If a user had his or her own post removed and can't find it later, then yeah, that person should have received notification about what happened.  But it isn't like it's my right to know what happened to one of your posts.

(I've had posts removed with no PM from a mod.  Maybe some purple text, maybe not.  But I also knew I had it coming.)

[kphoger]

Really, the best course of action when multiple posts are removed should be a single line of purple text from the mod:

Removed posts discussing religion.
Personal attacks removed from thread.
Edited posts to remove gratuitous profanity.
Etc.

[1995hoo]

....

(I've had posts removed with no PM from a mod.  Maybe some purple text, maybe not.  But I also knew I had it coming.)

As have I, as recently as this week, and I had a pretty good sense the most recent one would be deleted when I made my comment, although I was careful to try to word it as neutrally as possible.

[webny99]

Well, if I were a moderator, then I wouldn't consider "general interest" a very good reason to make corrective action publicly visible.

If a user had his or her own post removed and can't find it later, then yeah, that person should have received notification about what happened.  But it isn't like it's my right to know what happened to one of your posts.

That's fair. When I originally suggested a post to the thread rather than a PM, my thought was that someone following the thread could say "Hey, weren't we talking about [topic X]?" or "What happened to [discussion Y]?" or something similar, and that would re-open the can of worms (no, not this one  ).

Really, the best course of action when multiple posts are removed should be a single line of purple text from the mod:
...

Well, that was what I was thinking all along. How often does a single post get removed? Not very often, if ever?

[webny99]

(I've had posts removed with no PM from a mod.  Maybe some purple text, maybe not.  But I also knew I had it coming.)

As have I, as recently as this week. ...

Same here, and probably a different thread than you were referring to judging from my memory and the context.

[1995hoo]

(I've had posts removed with no PM from a mod.  Maybe some purple text, maybe not.  But I also knew I had it coming.)

As have I, as recently as this week. ...

Same here, and probably a different thread than you were referring to judging from my memory and the context.

I don't recall you posting in the thread I reference. It's on the Urban Planning subforum and the thread is an obvious parody of one particular poster, but Alps modified it (and deleted a bunch of posts) to make it less blatantly obvious which poster that is. I assume I need not, and probably should not, say who it is.

[kphoger]

Well, at least you possess a grain of wisdom.  Or even a dozen grains of wisdom.

[webny99]

Well, at least you possess a grain of wisdom.  Or even a dozen grains of wisdom.

Ooh... I think I see what you did there. Very clever.

[renegade]

Usually, we only send a message upon removing a post as part of a formal warning through the board's warning system. This warning system allows us to issue up to 100 points to a user. When a user reaches 31 or more points, a moderator must approve each of the user's posts before it is displayed to the public. At 90 or more points, the user is muted and cannot post at all. One point expires per day, so a user's warning level will degrade naturally.

Is there a way for the average user to know how many points they have, or is this something that's internal and only shared between the administrators?  Asking for a friend.   

[1]

Usually, we only send a message upon removing a post as part of a formal warning through the board's warning system. This warning system allows us to issue up to 100 points to a user. When a user reaches 31 or more points, a moderator must approve each of the user's posts before it is displayed to the public. At 90 or more points, the user is muted and cannot post at all. One point expires per day, so a user's warning level will degrade naturally.

Is there a way for the average user to know how many points they have, or is this something that's internal and only shared between the administrators?  Asking for a friend.   

If you don't see any number for yourself, you're at 0.

[kphoger]

That's actually a feature, not a bug -- and what I miss most about misc.transport.road. You had the ability to silence anyone you wanted in your own feed through the use of killfiles. Others were free to engage or not if they wished.

Bear with me, as I've never been on misc.transport.road.  But wouldn't that also prevent you from seeing valuable posts by that user as well?  I mean, if I had "silenced" NE2 years ago, then I wouldn't get to reap the benefits of his encyclopedic knowledge about 80-year-old highway routings.

[1]

That's actually a feature, not a bug -- and what I miss most about misc.transport.road. You had the ability to silence anyone you wanted in your own feed through the use of killfiles. Others were free to engage or not if they wished.

Bear with me, as I've never been on misc.transport.road.  But wouldn't that also prevent you from seeing valuable posts by that user as well?  I mean, if I had "silenced" NE2 years ago, then I wouldn't get to reap the benefits of his encyclopedic knowledge about 80-year-old highway routings.

dzlsabe, on the other hand...

[webny99]

Usually, we only send a message upon removing a post as part of a formal warning through the board's warning system. This warning system allows us to issue up to 100 points to a user. When a user reaches 31 or more points, a moderator must approve each of the user's posts before it is displayed to the public. At 90 or more points, the user is muted and cannot post at all. One point expires per day, so a user's warning level will degrade naturally.

Is there a way for the average user to know how many points they have, or is this something that's internal and only shared between the administrators?  Asking for a friend.   

If you don't see any number for yourself, you're at 0.

Yes, this is correct. I learned this the hard way once. You would know if you had points, not only because you'd get a PM from a mod, but also because your warning level displays (IIRC) right near the online/offline icon.

[1995hoo]

Well, at least you possess a grain of wisdom.  Or even a dozen grains of wisdom.

 

Usually, we only send a message upon removing a post as part of a formal warning through the board's warning system. This warning system allows us to issue up to 100 points to a user. When a user reaches 31 or more points, a moderator must approve each of the user's posts before it is displayed to the public. At 90 or more points, the user is muted and cannot post at all. One point expires per day, so a user's warning level will degrade naturally.

Is there a way for the average user to know how many points they have, or is this something that's internal and only shared between the administrators?  Asking for a friend.   

If you don't see any number for yourself, you're at 0.

Yes, this is correct. I learned this the hard way once. You would know if you had points, not only because you'd get a PM from a mod, but also because your warning level displays (IIRC) right near the online/offline icon.

Yup, I learned the same through experience once (I was given a warning for baiting NE2, of all people). You receive a PM that says "You have received a warning" and is from user "AARoads Forum," and your point total is visible to you in your profile.

[kphoger]

That's actually a feature, not a bug -- and what I miss most about misc.transport.road. You had the ability to silence anyone you wanted in your own feed through the use of killfiles. Others were free to engage or not if they wished.

Bear with me, as I've never been on misc.transport.road.  But wouldn't that also prevent you from seeing valuable posts by that user as well?  I mean, if I had "silenced" NE2 years ago, then I wouldn't get to reap the benefits of his encyclopedic knowledge about 80-year-old highway routings.

dzlsabe, on the other hand...

Be careful what you wish for.

[rickmastfan67]

I personally don't modify posts unless I'm fixing URLs for people, turning images into links (if is a 20+ MB GIF image), fixing quotes, or moving threads to the correct section.  I mostly just deal with stuff on the backend.  So, if you see me doing MOD duty in a thread, please take it to heart, as it must be pretty bad for me to step in, as I prefer to let the other Admins/Mods do their thing.

[tolbs17]

Really, the best course of action when multiple posts are removed should be a single line of purple text from the mod:

Removed posts discussing religion.
Personal attacks removed from thread.
Edited posts to remove gratuitous profanity.
Etc.

I got warned after there was an offensive post from me (they were removed), on the Pork thread in the Off-topic board. I wasn't thinking straight, so I'll learn.