Dont you hate it when...

[magicman710]

... When threads get deleted? Not that I am saying that a thread shouldnt be locked, because of course when one gets out of hand it shouldnt continue, but when it gets deleted you can no longer view it.

For example, I was following the "Why buffys get a bad name" thread last night, and when I check back on today at 5PM, its gone and I cannot find it. So now, I cant go back to see what was said, and why the thread was deleted.

When threads used to be deleted, you could find it with a search or in your post history, if you posted in it. Recently, deleted threads just dissapear.

Sometimes I would really like to go back and see what the thread contained. You never know that something important might have been said that you were really interested in.

I guess I am more of a pro-lock, anti-delete kind of person...

 

Just my opinion, you know. 

 

Quick question to Crandell, Tom, and Bergie... What exactly justifies a thread-lock to a thread-deletion? Is there a fine line between the two?

[Anonymous]

 

 

Quick question to Crandell, Tom, and Bergie... What exactly justifies a thread-lock to a thread-deletion? Is there a fine line between the two?

I was just going to send an inquiry to the moderators to ask why that buffy thread was deleted, but since you post the question here, I will join you in asking why that thread was deleted.

I have also wondered what criteria controls whether threads are locked or deleted.

[tree68]

I'm guessing here it's that the thread included a story that couldn't (or wouldn't) be corrobrated, seemed to change on a frequent basis, and had apparently appeared elsewhere under different circumstances besides.

I have it on good authority that this deletion came from on high, and after due deliberation.

In the past we've had several threads that were locked, only to be restarted in new threads by the combatants.   Now there's nothing for those who like to dredge through old posts to resurrect to find.

 

[Anonymous]

Well there must have been some overarching sinister aspect to it, but it escaped me.  Certainly it was one of the oddest start posts that I have seen here.  But odder yet was the deletion of it. 

[CShaveRR]

It used to be that we'd get an e-mail explaining why our post was deleted.  It was probably a one-shot response, broadcast to everyone on the thread.

Without arguing on whether or not the thread should have been deleted, I wouldn't have minded getting one of those e-mails.  I did have a response on this thread; it didn't do me any favors (may have shown my gullibility once again).

[Soo 6604]

maybe somebody waved?

maybe it was true and they didnt want the person who called, outed?

space aliens?

George W. Bush?

Man-Bear-Pig?

we may never know.

Paul

[Murphy Siding]

     One man's opinion:  Start with a contetious thread title.  Include a non-substantiated story that hits a hot button (railfans verses railroad employees).  Present it in troll-like fashion, on a Friday, going into a long weekend.  Sounds like a recipe for a problem.  Perhaps the mods wanted to take it easy over the Labor Day weekend?

       The other possibility......I put it over the top, by comparing the story to the urban legend about the guy with the hook?   Oops!  better check my E-mail!

[zugmann]

It was a dark and stormy night, armed with only a lantern and brakestick...

[Ted Marshall]

Please refresh my memory... Who was the original poster? Was it one of the 'usual suspects' ?

[magicman710]

Please refresh my memory... Who was the original poster? Was it one of the 'usual suspects' ?

Good question. Since the thread is deleted, we cant go back and see who started it.

[zugmann]

This time it wasn't me!

[edblysard]

How about the unusual suspects?

Being odd isn't a handicap, its a lifestyle choice!

[Modelcar]

.....Ed, batten down the hatches.....Best of luck to you and family if it happens to swing your way.

[edblysard]

Big Q,

Thanks, we got the Jeep all gased up for travel to and from work, the Durango all gassed up also...but besides a weeks supply of bottled water, lots of canned goods, and the Coleman lanterns and cook stove handy, not much else is really worth getting panicked over...

This time of year, there is always a big storm out in the Gulf somewhere...come Sunday, we will know better on its track.

[selector]

Long story short....Bergie looked in, Bergie asked himself, "What the.....?!", Bergie pointed thread to the Dungeon.   As in, never-to-be-seen-again-by-other-than-interested-staff-members Dungeon.  We have a deleted threads list, reads just like this forum page, and we have a dungeon.  It's in the dungeon.

Criteria for locking threads...have gotten increasingly off topic, political, personal, pointless, repetitive, libelous..you get the idea.  Nothing positive after five/six/seven/eight consecutive posts, and it has already generated complaints and/or is under watch by the mods....click.

Criteria for deleting threads...see just above, but they would require too much work to "sanitize" them so that readers in the future don't wonder about participants' collective sanity, or that of the moderators;

- moderators notice too late that a thread is way out of line in some fashion (see above again) and that the thread doesn't appear to have sufficient redeeming value to warrant storage space on the archiving server; and

- a successor/copycat/complaining thread to one already locked for one or more of the reasons stated above (most of you would freely admit that this happens).

It is always a judgement call, but we do confer often to keep quality control as high as possible, and Bergie gets the final say often enough to keep the quality high.  He would ask any of you who finds the actions of any of the moderators objectionable to send him a PM or an email, or simply post your objection in the report abuse link at lower right of every post.  He'll see it.  It is most often how we learn of threads that sometimes get locked or deleted; users reading the thread submit complaints.

-Crandell

[SW 1200]

I frequent several aviation related forums, and they seldom get so out of hand that a thread is locked or outright deleted.  And those nitpickers love to argue too.  In some instances, the moderator asks the offender to edit the post if it gets personal or insulting.  The culprit is warned and threatened with banishment.  Threads are deleted on some forums, but it does not happen with a whole lot of frequency.  Some forums have a sub forum for politics for those who just can't control themselves. 

I am surprised that the "Graffiti Vandal" thread I posted last week didn't get locked out or deleted.  I didn't intend to be hit and run on that thread.  I had posted on previous threads my thoughts on graffiti and the vandals.  Well, when I came back to look at the thread it was apparent that a lot of people were piling on.  And I had nothing new to add, so no additional posts were neccesary.  The underlying motive of the thread was to post the story about the arrest of a pair of vandals and not to try to flame bait on a certain member.  That's not why I am here either.  I am here to learn from the incredibly knowledgeable people who post on these forums. 

One thing that surprised me about this/these forum(s) when I first started visiting is the volume of threads and posts.  A thread can be posted at 8AM and be buried on page three by 6PM.  With that kind of volume of threads and posts, it is inevtiable that some are going to get the axe for the variety of reasons listed by the moderators.

TonyM.

[gardendance]

I frequent several aviation related forums, and they seldom get so out of hand that a thread is locked or outright deleted. 

uh gosh, duz this meen them fly boys is nicer than us choochoo guys?

And now back to regular English. Don't mix up cause and effect. It's a combination of quality of posting and quality of moderating, or lack thereof, that determine what stays and what goes. "Seldom get out of hand" might instead be moderators seldom DECIDE to lock.

A movie The Favor, the Watch, and the Very Big Fish, has one of my favorite lines. The fellow gives Bob Hoskins a movie ticket. "If you like it, tell your friends. If you don't like it, remember it was free."

And now I need some time to compose a proper post on that graffiti thread.

[Anonymous]

The thread, although odd, had not broken any rules.  So with regard to the issued of forum quality, I would have thought the highest quality would have been to let that thread play out until it actually crossed the line.  The thread starter had laid down a so-called true story, and several of us pressed back challenging its veracity.  I would like to have heard the response to our challenges by the one who started the thread.  He or she did not seem to fit the troll profile, being a forum member with several hundred posts, so it was reasonable to expect the thread starter respond to us.   

The criteria for locking seems consistently defined and well explained.  How it differs from the criteria for deleting remains a complete mystery to me.  Both standards have been linked to quality control, but in this case, it seems that the only characteristic of quality was the assurance that controversy would not ensue at some point in the future.  In any case, I don't see how that thread qualified for either locking or deletion. 

I would hope that the pursuit of quality would include the tolerance to allow members to discuss these issues in threads such as this one.

[Anonymous]

The thread, although odd, had not broken any rules.  So with regard to the issued of forum quality, I would have thought the highest quality would have been to let that thread play out until it actually crossed the line. 

I think the reason it was deleted is that, if let play out, it might cross the line in the weekend, when all the moderetors are "off duty" and having to keep things under control would cut into their weekend. If I were a moderator, I probably would've  deleted it too so I wouldn't have to watch it all weekend.

Just my

[eolafan]

"The British are coming, the British are coming"....or is it "The Russians are coming, the Russians are coming"?  Do I hear the ghost of "Tail-gunner Joe" McCarthy roaming the halls?

[zugmann]

"The foamers are waving! The foamers are waving!"