Moderation: post pulled no notification

[vrdiver]

A polite request to the mods and site owners.

I've recently had a post deleted, but no indication of why. In fact, if I hadn't been browsing that particular thread, I'd never have known.

I know the mods perform their role on a voluntary basis, and I know that sometimes life is just too short, but please, could you have a think about an auto-notification or some such, just so us posters get kept in the loop?

The specific post isn't particularly important, nor long enough for me to bewail the effort lost, but one day it might be...

Best regards
VRD

[Dod101]

Ha Ha Ha! I know the feeling well but basically it is too bad! Sorry for your hurt feelings.

Dod

[csearle]

I try to PM posters whose posts I've deleted but, for example, this evening I deleted a volley of posts, one abusive and the remainder referring back to both that post and it's follow-ups. I could have spent quite a lot of time on my tiny phone trying to message everyone concerned but, frankly, I was more interested in Belgium versus Japan.

If I'm at home on my computer then it is much easier and I will almost always PM the deletee but if I'm at large then I'll probably not. This is nothing personal.

Chris
PS I didn't delete your post vrdiver but that's not the point.

[vrdiver]

I try to PM posters whose posts I've deleted but, for example, this evening I deleted a volley of posts, one abusive and the remainder referring back to both that post and it's follow-ups. I could have spent quite a lot of time on my tiny phone trying to message everyone concerned but, frankly, I was more interested in Belgium versus Japan.

If I'm at home on my computer then it is much easier and I will almost always PM the deletee but if I'm at large then I'll probably not. This is nothing personal.

Chris
PS I didn't delete your post vrdiver but that's not the point.

Thanks for the response Chris. I guess we need an extension that triggers a message to posters when their posts are changed/deleted, rather than expect the mods to fire off PMs every time.

I know the feeling well but basically it is too bad!

Yes, I was reading your thread on this recently - whilst grateful for the site and fora, I'd prefer not to have to rely on the generosity of mods giving "extra" to alert us when we transgress, but rather have a systemised procedure. Better for them, better for us.

As the pointy-haired boss* would say: "OK, I've done the creative leadership bit; when will you finish your part?"

VRD


*Dilbert

[redsturgeon]

It may have been I that deleted your post, if it was one of 4 that I deleted following a request from one poster to change his typo. The following three posts then made no sense at all since they referred to that typo and were always off topic anyway. This was on Polite Discussions. If that was the post you are referring to then I make no apology for deleting it and the others with no PMs. I'm afraid I have better things to do with my time.

If I delete something of substance for a less than obvious reason then I will PM the poster and explain why. When I delete posts on Polite Discussions then I rarely PM the poster unless I feel that an explanation is necessary and IMHO a deletion for an off topic post of little substance requires no such explanation.

Polite Discussions is one of those areas that requires regular trimming for it to function within its eponymous role, it takes enough time already to keep things sane there without PMing every poster when their posts are deleted.

John

[Gengulphus]

I guess we need an extension that triggers a message to posters when their posts are changed/deleted, rather than expect the mods to fire off PMs every time.

Agreed, but how do we get it?

One possibility is to find an existing extension that does that. I did have a poke around https://www.phpbb.com/extensions/ a week or two ago to see whether I could spot anything suitable. Without success, which doesn't mean that it isn't there - with over 300 extensions in their database, it will take a lot more than a 'poke around' to be reasonably certain it isn't there. But it does mean that further looking is going to be a search in a haystack for a needle that may well not even be there.

The other main possibility is to get someone to develop such an extension for us. A skim of the "Extension development for 3.2.x" link from the above page was enough to tell me that (a) it would more than a trivial task even for someone experienced at phpBB extension development; (b) it would involve a massive learning curve for anyone without experience in phpBB and the tools used to develop it. For instance, I was in the computing industry for my entire working career, but in a very different area of it, and I only needed to go a page into its tutorial to encounter a phrase "JSON format" which I'd never to my knowledge encountered before. I'm sure I could look it up, but I'm equally sure that my progress through the tutorial would be very slow!

So basically, at least one of the questions "where is an existing extension of the type we want to be found?" and "who is willing and able to develop a new extension of the type we want?" needs answering, and I don't have an answer to either. :-(

Gengulphus

[JamesMuenchen]

I also had a post deleted yesterday with no reason given.

I was replyinig to this
viewtopic.php?p=149488#p149488

I have no idea why my post was deleted, and find it hard to see any reason the wouldn't also apply to Anticrank's post that I was clearly replying to and quoted. So I'm assuming it's favouratism

The thread is now locked, again with no reason given.

I also understand the limitations of the mods, mobile devices and the site software but would suggest that maybe such circumstances argue for no moderation rather than bad moderation. I really don't think there was anything wrong with my post and certainly not so bad that "something must be done immediately". And without follow-up from the mod who deleted it, I'l never know what was so unacceptable about it.

[redsturgeon]

I also had a post deleted yesterday with no reason given.

I was replyinig to this
viewtopic.php?p=149488#p149488

I have no idea why my post was deleted, and find it hard to see any reason the wouldn't also apply to Anticrank's post that I was clearly replying to and quoted. So I'm assuming it's favouratism

The thread is now locked, again with no reason given.

I also understand the limitations of the mods, mobile devices and the site software but would suggest that maybe such circumstances argue for no moderation rather than bad moderation. I really don't think there was anything wrong with my post and certainly not so bad that "something must be done immediately". And without follow-up from the mod who deleted it, I'l never know what was so unacceptable about it.

Your post was deleted for being off topic. If you have a problem with another post then the correct course of action is to report it.

John

[JamesMuenchen]

Your post was deleted for being off topic. If you have a problem with another post then the correct course of action is to report it.

John

Thanks for the explanation.

I didn't have a problem with another post, so need to report it. I simply disagreed.

I still don't see why would you leave the original post there and remove my reply. It was not on topic and arguably less civil.

No matter.

[PinkDalek]

…

I didn't have a problem with another post, so [no] need to report it. I simply disagreed.

I still don't see why would you leave the original post there and remove my reply. It was not on topic and arguably less civil. ...

If the other post was not on topic and arguably less civil, then an option would have been to report it (as redsturgeon has said) and let the Mods decide. That option remains, even if the Topic is locked, but not if someone else has already reported it.

[Ashfordian]

Your post was deleted for being off topic. If you have a problem with another post then the correct course of action is to report it.

John

Thanks for the explanation.

I didn't have a problem with another post, so need to report it. I simply disagreed.

I still don't see why would you leave the original post there and remove my reply. It was not on topic and arguably less civil.

Biased Moderation.

The MOD was looking for a reason to close the topic as it went against his views. Had the topic been supportive of his views, the topic would still be open.

[redsturgeon]

Your post was deleted for being off topic. If you have a problem with another post then the correct course of action is to report it.

John

Thanks for the explanation.

I didn't have a problem with another post, so need to report it. I simply disagreed.

I still don't see why would you leave the original post there and remove my reply. It was not on topic and arguably less civil.

No matter.

I was not the one who removed it. I only looked at it now to see what was the issue.

I also was not the person who locked the topic so I can't comment on why it was done.

John

[PinkDalek]

Biased Moderation.

The MOD was looking for a reason to close the topic as it went against his views. Had the topic been supportive of his views, the topic would still be open.

As no-one seems to know who locked this thread viewtopic.php?f=63&t=12412 (other than the Mod concerned or perhaps the other Mods, if they are able to look in the logs), how can you know it went against his views?

Maybe, just maybe, they are trying to keep things Polite over there, if that were ever possible.

[redsturgeon]

Your post was deleted for being off topic. If you have a problem with another post then the correct course of action is to report it.

John

Thanks for the explanation.

I didn't have a problem with another post, so need to report it. I simply disagreed.

I still don't see why would you leave the original post there and remove my reply. It was not on topic and arguably less civil.

Biased Moderation.

The MOD was looking for a reason to close the topic as it went against his views. Had the topic been supportive of his views, the topic would still be open.

Of the moderators who are regularly active in moderating the Polite Discussions board I believe more are pro Brexit than pro Remain. I did not follow this thread but if it is typical of most Brexit threads on PD then I would find it difficult to see how it went against any moderator's views since it would probably have consisted of arguments on both sides.

I have looked at the moderator logs and can tell you that the topic was locked by a pro Brexit moderator.

John

[melonfool]

I deleted JM's post because it was discussing moderation - and was also off topic.

No favouritism, I didn't even look at who the poster was (it's quite hard to see who a post is by when it has a report on it as the report adds a header that moves the name somewhere else). I didn't read the other posts really (nor look at who they were written by), I looked at the one that was reported and acted on it.

As RS says, we have to deal with a LOT of posts on PD so, when I am on the phone, and on holiday, I tend not to send a PM for that board.

With regard to the thread closure - I happen to know who locked that thread, because I picked up the reports around the same time as them and could see they were in the process of dealing with a long-running unpleasant spat, I helped out by closing off some of the reports. As I know this mod, I suggested (by Facebook messenger) they lock the thread as there were way too many bad posts to deal with.

I can also tell you that as well as the two of us get on we have diametrically opposing views re Brexit.

So, it's impossoible that there was bias regards the Brexit issue in the thread locking.

Mel

[csearle]

Biased Moderation.

The MOD was looking for a reason to close the topic as it went against his views. Had the topic been supportive of his views, the topic would still be open.

I can confirm that I locked the thread. It had descended into abuse. I started deleting posts and closed off at least one report. I had not read the entire discussion because it was fairly huge, but I read enough to realise that it was no longer edifying. Because Mel and I were overlapping on the deletions we were communicating anyway and decided to simply lock off the topic to bring an end to the posts/deletions.

There was really no bias regarding the leave/remain opinions of the moderators. As Mel has pointed out we have opposing views on this anyway.

I was not in a good position to add the mod comment explaining my action. If I can I will try and make amends by belatedly adding one.

Regards,
Chris

[XFool]

May I butt in here?

What is the rule about quoting (presumably elsewhere) from a post on a locked thread?

I actually wanted to respond to the last post, by csearle - who turns out to be the moderator who locked the thread! - on the (assumed) board.

In particular to the last line of that post:

"You should be democratic and stop undermining the outcome by supporting anyone that tries to implement the will of the people."

TIA

[redsturgeon]

May I butt in here?

What is the rule about quoting (presumably elsewhere) from a post on a locked thread?

I actually wanted to respond to the last post, by csearle - who turns out to be the moderator who locked the thread! - on the (assumed) board.

In particular to the last line of that post:

"You should be democratic and stop undermining the outcome by supporting anyone that tries to implement the will of the people."

TIA

There is no rule specifically to prevent it.

Presumably a thread is locked for a particular reason, if your quoting from it elsewhere merely perpetuates the reasons that resulted in the original thread getting locked then that would not be allowed.

If not then it should be OK.

John

[XFool]

There is no rule specifically to prevent it.

Presumably a thread is locked for a particular reason, if your quoting from it elsewhere merely perpetuates the reasons that resulted in the original thread getting locked then that would not be allowed.

The trouble is, wrt the overall topic, that seems a given even though, IMO, my response in itself would in no way be disrespectful or offensive.

[vrdiver]

Well, another day, another post deleted without comment or explanation.

In response to

I am myself not sure that Jacob Rees Mogg, who I know reasonably well, wants to stand to be leader of the Conservative Party today. (or in the near future).

I posted something along the lines of:

I always knew he was a smart chap!

which has been deleted. Apologies if it's not the exact phrase used in the post - I think it is, or as near as makes no difference, but as I mention, the original has gone so I can't be 100% sure.

A bit of light humour (or so I thought) that has apparently offended somebody or crossed a discussion line.

Since I can't see the offence, nor why such a post would cross "the line" I'm puzzled why it was deleted.

I'm not really bothered about the deletion itself, more wanting to point out that such seemingly spurious decisions to delete posts without explanation is demotivating as regards joining in any discussions.

VRD