Deletions

[Arborbridge]

I find the deletion system really insulting and annoying on here. Yesterday evening I wrote something on another board (doesn't matter much what it was) and received a thank for it from dspp. I couldn't remember what it was I wrote, so I clicked on the "thank" notification to go to the post. This link ended up in nomans land somewhere, so I did it again thinking I must have done something wrong. Same thing happened, and then it dawned on me that my post must have been deleted.

There is no notification, no feedback, no record, no possibility of posting the text to a different board which might be more suitable. One is just airbrushed out of history without any regard for the effort which went into the contribution - in this case trivial, but I know other cases where considerable time has been spent on a message.

I suspect it may have been OT (that has to be a guess, without feedback), but it wouldn't have been noticed if someone hadn't objected to it because it didn't suit his or her political agenda. It was probably considered OT as it was on "Does anybody know". The problem is that if one makes a comment rather than giving information to the OP question, one is by definition off topic so that can become a excuse for a deletion.

I deduce that whoever reported me did so out of a desire to censor a viewpoint and for no other reason. It shows that some have intolerant minds that cannot stand other people having a different view and use a mechanism like this to bolster themselves.
Arb.

[Dod101]

I sympathise with your comments Arb. It has not happened to me very often but when it does it is strangely disturbing.

The trouble is that the Mod system of volunteers does not allow for a pm to be sent very often when it does happen although I find some mods are very helpful in that regard.

Dod

[idpickering]

I feel your pain Arb. I get that our mods are volunteers, and they mostly do a great job imho, but a quick pm regarding one's deleted post, and maybe the reasons for that deletion would be welcome. It'd be more polite too, rather than the just the draconian, unexplained, deletion of posts.

Maybe a mod might like to offer their thoughts on this overall matter?

Ian.

[tjh290633]

It is possible that the post or thread got moved to another forum, so the link in the notification did not work. The mods can see deleted posts, and the reason for deletion.

TJH

[swill453]

I suspect it may have been OT (that has to be a guess, without feedback), but it wouldn't have been noticed if someone hadn't objected to it because it didn't suit his or her political agenda. It was probably considered OT as it was on "Does anybody know". The problem is that if one makes a comment rather than giving information to the OP question, one is by definition off topic so that can become a excuse for a deletion.

So you knew the thread was on DAK, and you made an off-topic political comment? Maybe whoever deleted it thought the reasoning was too obvious to warrant a notification.

Scott.

[Clariman]

Arb

I can see from the logs that your post was deleted byba mod at 10.51 for the reason "Political reply unsuited to board".

Having read the text of it (the post was soft deleted so admin can read it) that was a fair decision.

In an ideal world I agree that it would be nice to receive a message with such an explanation. However the system does not prompt the mod to do it, so it is something they have to do after taking action and closing off any problem reports. So yes it would be nice but I cannot make mods do it.

Clariman

[Arborbridge]

Arb

I can see from the logs that your post was deleted byba mod at 10.51 for the reason "Political reply unsuited to board".

Having read the text of it (the post was soft deleted so admin can read it) that was a fair decision.

In an ideal world I agree that it would be nice to receive a message with such an explanation. However the system does not prompt the mod to do it, so it is something they have to do after taking action and closing off any problem reports. So yes it would be nice but I cannot make mods do it.

Clariman

Thanks for the explanation.
I wanted to make the point that I did, but there seemed no other conversation going around which seemed appropriate - so I slotted it in where it seemed most at home. I guessed it was OT, but didn't know why and indeed conversational comments are often tolerated without being deleted. This is why I deduced that someone just had the hump about what I said and reported out of spite. Whether it was political is a matter of opinion - I was quoting the words of a retired top judge, not a politician.

As Dod commented it is "strangely disturbing" when things are deleted, if only because the text has vanished and there is not opportunity to post elsewhere more accceptable. And you also wonder if you dreamt it !

[Itsallaguess]

I suspect it may have been OT (that has to be a guess, without feedback), but it wouldn't have been noticed if someone hadn't objected to it because it didn't suit his or her political agenda.

It was probably considered OT as it was on "Does anybody know". The problem is that if one makes a comment rather than giving information to the OP question, one is by definition off topic so that can become a excuse for a deletion.

I wasn't involved in this issue Arb, but I feel able to comment because I've been involved with similar mod-related issues.

I try to PM posters who have had a post deleted so long as the posters don't fall into one of the following two camps -

1. Repeat offenders who have already been PM'd regarding similar issues in the past.

2. Regular posters who really should know better related to the acceptability of potentially troublesome issues being discussed on an inappropriate board.

From your own description, it looks like you admit yourself that your post might have fallen into that second group, and you will be quite aware that overly-political opinions or posts have no place on the 'Does Anyone Know' board.

You knew that, but still felt compelled to post, and as such, you're clearly running the risk of these types of things happening. Your choice...

I strongly believe that volunteer moderation is very much a two-way street Arb, and that involves efforts from posters as well, to help avoid creating situations that are likely to escalate into problems requiring mod-involvement, and posting overly-political opinions on the DAK board, that you will be quite aware are likely to lead to equally strong political views being expressed, is not, in my opinion, playing a helpful part in that process...

To be fair to you, the premise of the original DAK question, given that it was related to Brexit and the Internal Market Bill, was a very difficult one to get involved with at all on the DAK board without leading into clearly 'dangerous waters', but as I'm not a moderator on that board I don't feel qualified to go into that particular area of discussion here, other than to mention it as a mitigating factor related to anyone's involvement in the thread, really...

Sometimes it's best to simply stay clear in those situations...

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

[Gengulphus]

I wanted to make the point that I did, but there seemed no other conversation going around which seemed appropriate - so I slotted it in where it seemed most at home. I guessed it was OT, ...

That sounds like a clear case for starting a new conversation somewhere where it will be on-topic (at a guess, probably Polite Discussions, on the basis of the reason "Political reply unsuited to board" quoted by Clariman).

Gengulphus

[XFool]

I couldn't possibly comment...