No need to move this thread

[ScubaSteve]

Thanks for your involvement Robert.

 

[Rick Murchison]

... the point being made is that there is often no notification of an action being taken. Sometimes it's obvious what the action is and why, but often times not.

When the action is an edit, the reason for the edit is (usually - ought to be always) in the edit notification in the post. When one's deleted, it should fall into one of two categories - if it's deleted as part of a "general cleanup" then there should be a post in the thread that there has been a cleanup; if it's deleted all by itself then there should be PMs to those involved. Bear in mind that entire trains-of-thought that began with a TOS violation can be removed in a cleanup, and that individual posts may be just fine except that without the TOS violating initial post they are now irrelevant and so fall prey to the editing ax. Sometimes the poster whose "perfectly ok" post gets axed may not even be aware that the discussion they're in is descended from one that requires removal, and so feels mistreated. I feel your pain...
What we try to do is either preserve the useful stuff or start another spin-off thread with a brief explanation on the subject and a link left behind in the original.
It ain't perfect, but there is considerable effort in the attempt to retain max value and min garbage.
Rick

 

[Cave Diver]

Diver0001 just as a clarification, why is someone addressing those with opposing views as "all the other idiots on the board" not considered a TOS violation of name calling or removed as a potential "springboard" for escalating conflicts?

I seldom tend to take such comments like that personally, but it sure seems to stir up a lot of others and this is one of the inconsistencies that I've seen towards moderation.

For the most part I think mods do fairly well keeping things in line, but as with almost anything else, it's that 5% of issues that cause 95% of the problems and a discussion board where everyone agreed would get boring pretty quickly.

 

[letterboy]

Not entirely. I'm just the point guy who tried to draw people out. I'm not trying to defuse it, I'm trying to get the issues out in the open. I'm sure most of the mods are following this discussion, even if most are not posting.

I have to go. If someone feels so inclined I would appreciate it if someone could make a summary of the main points. That summary will get copied into the back room where the mods can discuss it.

R..

Why not let us have access to the back room just for this one discussion

and by us I mean Steve, CD and the others making valid points. . .

 

[ONESPEED]

Diver0001 just as a clarification, why is someone addressing those with opposing views as "all the other idiots on the board" not considered a TOS violation of name calling or removed as a potential "springboard" for escalating conflicts?

This is an excellent point as I have recently witnessed it and wondered why the poster who called one member an idiot and another a fool was not given a vacation for violating ToS. I think it's safe to say that certain individuals here would have been given an instant vacation for such behavior while others are let off w/ a slap on the wrist. I think it's this double standard that stirs up much of the controversy we're discussing now.

 

[letterboy]

This is an excellent point as I have recently witnessed it and wondered why the poster who called one member an idiot and another a fool was not given a vacation for violating ToS. I think it's safe to say that certain individuals here would have been given an instant vacation for such behavior while others are let off w/ a slap on the wrist. I think it's this double standard that stirs up much of the controversy we're discussing now.

I do have to say though that some posters have a history with SB where others do not. sort of like the kid in school that got detention for cussing and the kid who got suspended for cussing. the one who got suspended had already gotten detention several times, and the administration thought they needed a bigger "time out". . .

just my little opinion.

 

[ScubaSteve]

Why not let us have access to the back room just for this one discussion

and by us I mean Steve, CD and the others making valid points. . .

While I doubt that will happen, I think that is exactly why things never change (or rarely). I understand that SB is essentially a business and thus has staff and management etc. who make decisions which they believe are "best for the business as a whole", but when that business loses sight of the employees (in this case the 100,000+ members) and what they would like to see, the business starts to falter. This thread was actually not initiated in order to SLAM SB STAFF. I stated clearly in a PM to Pete that the SB staff for the most part do a great job at a job which is very tough to do great at. But, just because it is difficult, or because one does not get paid or whatever the reason that a given person thinks of, it should still be done with all the grace and professionalism that should be expected of any Management member.

I only hope that this issue will NOT be shelved because of the people that are fighting on behalf of it.

 

[Rick Murchison]

Is there a feature in VB that allows a PM to be sent to a poster when the report button is hit on their post...

Frankly I wouldn't want to do that... a report is as likely to be "no action" as not. Now if there could be automatic notification of action, that'd be worthwhile
Rick

 

[Cave Diver]

When the action is an edit, the reason for the edit is (usually - ought to be always) in the edit notification in the post. When one's deleted, it should fall into one of two categories - if it's deleted as part of a "general cleanup" then there should be a post in the thread that there has been a cleanup; if it's deleted all by itself then there should be PMs to those involved.

I totally agree, I'm just saying it doesn't always work that way, as evidenced by the OP:

Too often posts are getting deleted with absolutely ZERO notification and posts that did not in any way cross ANY TOS line.

On the other side of the coin, I've been notified of my individual deleted posts by a few staff members even though there was a general cleanup notification in the thread as well.

 

[ONESPEED]

I do have to say though that some posters have a history with SB where others do not. sort of like the kid in school that got detention for cussing and the kid who got suspended for cussing. the one who got suspended had already gotten detention several times, and the administration thought they needed a bigger "time out". . .

just my little opinion.

Perhaps, but it still sets a poor example when one gets a kneejerk insta ban and nobody knows if the other even got a slap on the wrist for the same action. My point was the perception of onesided moderation and favoritism, or in some cases persecution are what cause many of these issues.