Transparent Moderation Log & Site Topics - Part I

Originally Posted by iammatt

Click to expand...

Nah, that one wasn't so exciting. I just miss the epic tale of the Mexicans storming the Asparagus Castle.

Me too. I wonder if Princess SoCal was spirited away to the tower for safe-keeping?

Originally Posted by Connemara

Click to expand...

Me too. I wonder if Princess SoCal was spirited away to the tower for safe-keeping?

IIRC, he was hurried into a monster truck and driven away along secret paths known only to Elven kind.

Originally Posted by Connemara

Click to expand...

Me too. I wonder if Princess SoCal was spirited away to the tower for safe-keeping?

Originally Posted by Saucemaster

Click to expand...

IIRC, he was hurried into a monster truck and driven away along secret paths known only to Elven kind.

Originally Posted by Led Zeppelin

Click to expand...

Queen of Light took her bow, And then she turned to go,
The Prince of Peace embraced the gloom, And walked the night alone.

Originally Posted by matadorpoeta

Click to expand...

i agree. and why not simply delete individual posts that are objectionable rather than lock/delete the thread?

Meh, probably because that would be a great deal more work -- not only would every post have to be read in a given thread, but then you'd have to weigh who's on the line, who's over the line, and which of those deserve deletion, then there's all the posts that refer to that post to deal with, then there will be a whole bunch of people who got deleted complaining why they didn't deserve it. This way the whole thing thing goes <poof> without fingers being pointed.

Regards,
Huntsman

Originally Posted by matadorpoeta

Click to expand...

i agree. and why not simply delete individual posts that are objectionable rather than lock/delete the thread?

500 years from now a student at harvard will be doing a research paper on "early 21st century dandies and their attitudes toward the social issues of their day", and this student is going to be hard pressed to find anything on the internets because anything remotely controversial was squirreled away.

They will have to buy the rights to the Squirrelled threads from the Styleforum Inc.

Originally Posted by Huntsman

Click to expand...

Meh, probably because that would be a great deal more work -- not only would every post have to be read in a given thread, but then you'd have to weigh who's on the line, who's over the line, and which of those deserve deletion, then there's all the posts that refer to that post to deal with, then there will be a whole bunch of people who got deleted complaining why they didn't deserve it. This way the whole thing thing goes <poof> without fingers being pointed.

Regards,
Huntsman

Yup, I used to do that, and it's a pain **********. And, everyone gets their panties in a bunch anyway. This is much easier. Me, I'm for self-policing. If one kid is going to ruin the game for everyone, the others should make sure he knows where the line is. That way, mommy (j, Steve, Matt, Brian, and Brad) and Daddy (me) do not have to do anything.

Originally Posted by Huntsman

Click to expand...

Meh, probably because that would be a great deal more work -- not only would every post have to be read in a given thread, but then you'd have to weigh who's on the line, who's over the line, and which of those deserve deletion, then there's all the posts that refer to that post to deal with, then there will be a whole bunch of people who got deleted complaining why they didn't deserve it. This way the whole thing thing goes <poof> without fingers being pointed.

Regards,
Huntsman

wouldn't you have to weigh these things anyway in order to determine that a whole thread should be deleted?

and if someone really has crossed the line in such a way as to delete a thread, shouldn't they be in time out or something? if the offense is not so bad as to deserve a time out, how is it bad enough to deserve being censored?

Meh, I don't think so. Say the thread is getting really vitriloic on the last page, and a mod Squirrels it. He doesn't have to read pages 1-15 to find the culprit(s), delete their posts/timeout them, figure out what to do with all the interpost references. It's done.

It doesn't (IMHE of merely watching) seem like a poster was the problem in a thread -- mainly a bunch of people are pushing 90% or better of the line and the sum crossed the thread into the Badlands. But I'm not a mod, obviously.

~ Huntsman

Originally Posted by Huntsman

Click to expand...

Meh, I don't think so. Say the thread is getting really vitriloic on the last page, and a mod Squirrels it. He doesn't have to read pages 1-15 to find the culprit(s), delete their posts/timeout them, figure out what to do with all the interpost references. It's done.

It doesn't (IMHE of merely watching) seem like a poster was the problem in a thread -- mainly a bunch of people are pushing 90% or better of the line and the sum crossed the thread into the Badlands. But I'm not a mod, obviously.

~ Huntsman

exactly, if a thread has 12 pages of good conversation, and the 13th page starts to cross the line, why delete the whole thread?

Because of the effort involved to find out where it strayed -- maybe page 10, or 8, or 2. But this is merely how I see things, I am not a mod, and I am going to shut up about it.

~ Huntsman

I am sorry I didn't see the end of the thread...

I too am sorry that I missed the rest of the thread. Only a few of the posters engaged in ad homs, everyone else was fairly civil.

Originally Posted by matadorpoeta

Click to expand...

wouldn't you have to weigh these things anyway in order to determine that a whole thread should be deleted?

and if someone really has crossed the line in such a way as to delete a thread, shouldn't they be in time out or something? if the offense is not so bad as to deserve a time out, how is it bad enough to deserve being censored?

We like to use time outs and bans as a last resort. That may change.

Huntsman already hit the nail on the head re. your first question. We don't have the time nor inclination to vet threads. It's up to the members involved in a thread to self police. Don't let a bad apple ruin the batch, so to speak. If someone says something really stupid, something offensive, ignore it. Yes, ignore it. That way, that poster will be left holding the ball.

This point is now clear. Move on.

Can someone fill me in briefly on the &quot;Mexicans storming the Asparagus Castle&quot; episode?

Originally Posted by LA Guy

Click to expand...

We like to use time outs and bans as a last resort. That may change.

Huntsman already hit the nail on the head re. your first question. We don't have the time nor inclination to vet threads. It's up to the members involved in a thread to self police. Don't let a bad apple ruin the batch, so to speak. If someone says something really stupid, something offensive, ignore it. Yes, ignore it. That way, that poster will be left holding the ball.

what i'm getting at is essentially this. this forum has a search function. j has also added the ability to add tags to threads in order to facilitate searches. these two things tell me that j, to some degree, must value old threads, otherwise all threads would be deleted as soon as people stopped posting in them. so to some degree, the moderators should consider that a thread with many pages, with 20 or 30 guys participating, has some value, and the moderator should not be so quick to delete an entire thread because it is more convenient than rooting out the evil-doers who derail it.

bear in mind that some of the threads being squirreled are popular ones. that means many on this board find them interesting enough to participate, and that is the reason for this board's existence; because enough people find interesting conversation here.

Originally Posted by LA Guy

Click to expand...

This point is now clear. Move on.
i don't appreciate your condescending tone. i have not said anything inappropriate and you are no one to tell me not to voice my opinion. that is, after all, the point of this thread.

Originally Posted by matadorpoeta

Click to expand...

...
So... basically you want to give VOLUNTEER moderators the autonomy to delete specific posts at a whim. And then you sit here and argue with a moderator about it when he tells you that its neither time efficient or for the good of the forum? We'd need half a dozen or so more mods to do what you want done, and the chances of one of them getting irritated and getting delete/ban happy algorithmically increase. So what happens when your post is deleted? I bet you'd get upset. At least with the situation as it is now, there is always the opportunity for J to decide to bring back all or part of a thread later if he thinks it merits it. You can't squirrel specific posts, as far as I know, and asking him (or anyone) to babysit thousands of posts a day is unreasonable, considering the circumstances.