Editing/deletion of posts

[alexd]

I was wondering, why the deletion/editing of posts by moderators is not documented.

I often spend hours looking for a particular thread and cannot locate it.

Many of the threads I am referring to didn't break or even impose on the AUP.

I know that you have the right and choice to delete whichever threads you want, and I'm fine with that, but something like "deleted" placed over the thread would be nice so people don't spend hours on end looking for something that was pulled from the server in the first place.

Astral Pulse is one of the more open minded communities that I visit, and I don't see why threads need such heavy moderation. But still, I am merely wondering whether the moderation can be documented if only to save people from going crazy hopelessly searching through the whole database over and over...


Thanks
Alex

[Nick]

Hi folks,

There have been some recent unfortunate events that may have resulted in the actions you write about. I'm not sure what has been deleted or edited since I've been off the boards a bit lately.

However, in the spirit of dialogue, perhaps your question can be answered by another moderator. My suggestion would be to do this by way of a PM. As you may be aware, the Astral Pulse started an Acceptable Use Policy a while back because the forum has grown so large and we needed some guidelines.

One of the points that were adopted, and which all members agreed to when signing on, is the following: "Respect the authority of the moderators.
Public discussions of moderator actions are not allowed on the forum. It is also prohibited to protest moderator actions in titles, avatars, and signatures. If you don't like something that a moderator did, PM or email the moderator and try your best to resolve the problem or difference in private. If it's not resolved or if you don't receive a reply from the moderator after 24 hours, you can then PM or email the administrator."

While I can appreciate the reason for this thread, please consider a PM to one or all of the moderators in the future. Believe me, by doing so we'll try to get the answer to you if we can.

All the best,
Nick

[alexd]

Ok. I respect the actual decisions and I am not discussing the actions. I think it would be ok to suggest that Astral Pulse add a certain feature to the forums like a new image, forum or whatever... I wasn't scrutinizing the actions, just making a suggestion that threads that are deleted are labelled deleted. The suggestion, like any doesn't have to be considered, but as runlola said many members would find it useful, and imo it would increase the overall usability of the forums.


Alex

[Nick]

Hi Alex,

Thanks, and your suggestions are indeed appreciated! Right now, we have a method of leaving a "shadow" topic when we move a post. However when either a post or a topic is deleted, there is no similar built in mechanism.

Thus, when a topic is either edited or deleted it's up to the individual moderator to decide whether or not to post a remark or a notice. Your point has merit, in my view, and I'll alert the other moderators to this thread. We should be able to fashion something so that members aren't left searching for a missing topic.

Thanks again,
Nick

[alexd]

Thanks for your understanding.


Alex

[Frank]

Alexd:

I'm surprised to hear you say that. The only member I ever came across going crazy searching for a post PM'd me yesterday, as it happened. He was searching all over for my Focus 10 rundown and it was in the Sticky section all the time.

If you have any problems then all you need to do is PM one of the moderators. Recent events aside, we hardly ever delete a post here and hardly ever have to edit a post either. Deletions are not documented on the general forum but anything we delete is usually logged in the moderator's forum. The auto swearword checker handles most edits automatically, which is fortunate as the moderators here have far better things to do with their time than checking every word on every post and placing little "naughty notices" when someone has been "bad".

We'd rather just let people get on with it, to be honest. That's why we decided to publish a formal AUP so everyone knows the rules and we trust that everyone will stick to them. This isn't hard when you think about it and 99% of members have no problems whatsoever.

The only hassle we get here is from the occasional Troll. But we are getting good at recognising them now and we stamp on them pretty quick. We like a good party here but anyone who comes and tries to gatecrash we take swift action. Unless it happens to be something spectacular where we call all have a good laugh like the Oazaki thread recently. But they are one-offs.

We never delete posts here just because we don't like them. It is against our rules that we work to. Our rules are perfectly clear and state absolutely that a moderator must not take action against a member for personal reasons. The only action that can be taken is for a significant breach of the published AUP. In fact the rules that we work to are a LOT stricter than the AUP that's for sure.

Yours,
Frank

[alexd]

Hmm maybe I'm just not searching hard enough and the threads I am looking for are there, but I cannot find them. Although there was one specific thing that I will send you a PM about...


Thanks
Alex