impala post deletion Options

[Oasis]

Just for the record, I don't give a shit if Chuck or anyone else says something rude to me. I found his comment more humorous than rude

[cupcake]

when did everyone on here get such thin-skin?

[chook]

There is a difference between saying someone is a slut and saying their personal beliefs are bs.

[Jim]

A tongue-in-cheek comment isn't a true personal attack.

[Spectatrix]

If you'd like to know how things are handled on bigger boards where I have moderated, we have a set of rules, they are somewhat broad (comparable to rules here) and they are enforced across the board on a case by case basis.

In the moderator forums posts, threads, etc. are discussed and handled accordingly. If there is more than one moderator per section of the board then things get discussed before action is taken. If a post is blatantly against the rules, then it gets moved to a forum specifically for posts that are against the rules as a record.

Could you give some examples of broad rules? I can't speak for the other mods, but I personally am open to revamping our rules structure.

You can't see what goes on behind the scenes here, obviously, but we act similarly in our moderator forum. "Deleted" threads and posts actually get moved to a hidden forum called /dev/null, so that they can be reviewed and, if necessary, restored. In our main moderator forum, we record (almost) every moderating action that we take, whether it's editing a post, splitting/merging threads, deleting stuff, etc. That way Lance and all of the mods can review what everyone is doing and comment accordingly. If a mod is unsure on how to handle an issue, they start a thread in the mod forum first to discuss it with the rest of us.

We are currently discussing the couple of Impala's posts that have been deleted, to see if either Pebkac or I acted inappropriately. They might get restored, though I doubt it. *shrugs*

[Jim]

Again, how is a tongue-in-cheek comment a personal attack?

[Spectatrix]

He was essentially accusing anyone upset with the current state of the government as being a extremist democrat and a hater of America. The comment was inflammatory, polarizing, and did not contribute anything of substance to the discussion.

[TetraGrammaton C...]

cats and kittens, if we pulled off every inane, over-generalizing, stereotyping, unsupported comment, then we would not have much left to read.
i am not saying we should condone attacks on groups, but we cannot let just one mod determine the response of some silent marginalized group.

as far as i am concerned with post deletion (outside of NSFW stuff), i think it should be done on a request only basis, where a particular person feels unfairly insulted or slighted.

otherwise, the board is going to become super-facist and no one will want to say anything controversial.

[cupcake]

cats and kittens, if we pulled off every inane, over-generalizing, stereotyping, unsupported comment, then we would not have much left to read.
i am not saying we should condone attacks on groups, but we cannot let just one mod determine the response of some silent marginalized group.

as far as i am concerned with post deletion (outside of NSFW stuff), i think it should be done on a request only basis, where a particular person feels unfairly insulted or slighted.

otherwise, the board is going to become super-facist and no one will want to say anything controversial.

best post yet on the subject...

you will dilute the board if you smother the autonomous style of the forum.

arguably the most polarizing and offensive things I have read on forums were on techsans...and now there's some new 'high-road' movement? c'mon now...

[Epic]

maybe they are hoping to run everyone off so they don't have to purge us off the board systematically.

so that they can have new exciting members all over again!

its like the compromise in the matrix, everyone else is purged except for a few so that they can restart the system.

[theIncredibleEdi...]

Whose dick do I have to suck to become a mod?

[Hartmann]

The broad rules I spoke about were things like:

1) Stay on topic
2) Don't spam
3) Contribute, don't bash (relates to personal attacks)

The number of posts deleted was actually very low. I just ran a report on the things I delete and the majority of them are spam. There are some threads and posts that went out of their way to attack another member or the site itself but they are rare.

When people go off topic and the thread starts to go that way, it gets split and the conversation continues.

If a thread doesn't fit a forum, it gets moved with a link in the old spot.

We are a pretty polarized group which leads to some of the discourse, but that's to be expected. If a post doesn't add anything to a thread, it usually gets ignored. Now, if tons of people reported it, then something should probably be done.

[Mommy]

cats and kittens, if we pulled off every inane, over-generalizing, stereotyping, unsupported comment, then we would not have much left to read.
i am not saying we should condone attacks on groups, but we cannot let just one mod determine the response of some silent marginalized group.

as far as i am concerned with post deletion (outside of NSFW stuff), i think it should be done on a request only basis, where a particular person feels unfairly insulted or slighted.

otherwise, the board is going to become super-facist and no one will want to say anything controversial.

exactly

[Spectatrix]

Oh, let me suggest a compromise.

1) If an individual post gets reported, it is subject to deletion at a mod's discretion.
2) If a post isn't reported, but it is extremely inappropriate (this one was only borderline questionable, admittedly), a mod may delete it.
3) If a post spawns a long series of personal attacks and off-topic spammy crap, the whole line of it is subject to deletion, even if some of the posts are not terribly bad taken in and of themselves.
(If it just spawns a valid off-topic discussion, the thread will simply get split as appropriate).

So, basically, only flame wars and very over-the-top individual posts will get automatically deleted.

It's up to Lance whether this specific post of Impala's will get restored, seeing as how he's the only one with permissions to take care of it, but I think we'll try to follow the guidelines above from now on. Sound good?

This post has been edited by Spectatrix: Oct 16 2007, 11:14 AM

[Mommy]

That does sound better to me