Deleting Threads (and Posts)
Last night I heard something that troubles me. In addition to moving threads between categories, our SuperModerator is deleting threads.
He's written me a polite note, explaining what he's doing and, briefly, why.
From a completely empirical standpoint, I can agree that there are posts I would like to see deleted. I also share his frustration when the third thread on the exact same topic is started. I believe he hopes that if there are fewer threads to wade through, responsible posters will be more likely to check to see if something similar (or identical) already exists. My faith in human nature is not so great. (Tourguide, if I'm mis-representing you here, please set the record straight.) He may also be trying to make it easier for newbies and people who vanish from the Forum for months at a time to get up to speed.
My problem with this arises from the arbitrary nature of any deletion of threads. The things I would like to see deleted, Mobius or Faibhar would like to keep. Some of the things that Tourguide is deleting, I would probably want to keep.
I may be alone in this, but I view this Forum as a valuable (I wouldn't say 'important') historical record. If (and I'm not saying that these have been targeted) Brenda's, Whipit's, Kostly's, or that damn rabbit's posts are deleted, an essential part of the Forum's history will disappear. I find their posts to be very instructive examples of how NOT to post, and I keep them firmly in mind when I am criticizing fellow Forumites. What will new members use for their bad examples (don't say, "Curtis"!)? I'm not being sarcastic, here. A Code Of Conduct is a very good thing, but seeing how ugly things get when the Code isn't followed is worth its weight in gold.
In the "Moving Threads" thread, I said that these threads exist and suggested that a ghetto be created to segregate them, so that the people who want to avoid them easily can.
The response seems to be, make the threads not exist.
And this troubles me.
You deleted the my favorite pictures
Quote:
Originally posted by GaryWilcox
One of the most popular threads in this forum-- Favorite Pictures-- might be gone forever. But it's not TourGuide who's responsible, it's... :: sigh :: little ol' me.
I slipped, and deleted Favorite Pictures. Managed to save Kostly's initial post and about 12% of the pictures, but that's not a lot.
I think you need to go back to moderator school and learn how to use your great power before you bring down the house.
please do not make the same mistake with the hentie thread. Althought it is not that big a deal most can be replaced and the one's that cant can always find better ones :)
And Curtis please do not bring me into a ruckus with tourguide.
He is a dictator but he is our dictator:)
Comparisons ARE Odious...
Curtis, I wa certainly not offended, though a bit bemused being lumped together with someone who I really do not know in your previous post. I know, I know, one should not take these things "personally".
But, still.
Anyway, on the subject of your avatar, I went through all of the preamble in my post only to neglect saying that I was not attracted to it because of a sexual preference that is not mine. I find your avatar attractive for reasons unconnected with what another earlier had posted, and that was what I responded to in my post.
I would not bother Jinn He is
getting over his illness and should not be botherd with some thing as trivial as the deletion of a bunch of jpgs that can be replaced. If the esteemed moderators want the thread to continue post what you have and we will continue from there.
If they do not then. I will continue to post Pics in threads to punctiate a coment and call it a day.
It is not like we posed the model set the lighting tied the tittys.
These are pics that we have acuired from news groups websites and other users. They can be replaced no biggy.
Gary goofed he says he will not make the mistake again. Good enough for me put up what you have and well start over.
And I'm not finished yet.
I moved over 60 threads in the General Talk area to more appropriate areas in an effort to clean up the forums and to make them a little easier to view.
I chose now to do it because the General Talk forum was seven pages long and had over 180 individual threads. It was a mess and no one ever even looked on pages 4-7 anyway. I also chose to do it now, because the Community forum has its own moderator and the upkeep on threads will be easier now.
So, what I did was to go through and eliminate "dated" threads, like last year's Thanksgiving thread, various peoples' birthdays from last year, etc. I also seleted threads that had been sitting around for months without any replies or with no real bearing on anything timely with less than three replies. In all, I only deleted about 30 threads in these areas.
I also removed threads that had degenerated into flaming and had lost any real discussion-worthy merit. I think Curtis might have been somewhat right in that I should have kept some of them around as examples of what not to post, but I didn't think of it at the time, so they're gone. Some, I am not at all unhappy to see gone, too.
So, that was just the General Talk area. I haven't even moved into the BDSM Library areas yet or the Community areas. Updates to those areas will be coming soon.
I appreciate everyone's criticism
However, I would like to point out that I do more here than just keep the forums free of illegal activities and flame wars. I help people upload avatars and fill out their profile. I help people to locate stories on the story site. I point people in the right directions when they have questions concerning topics that might have been addressed on these forums before. I do quite a bit here, because I care about this site and want it to be a good, well-run place for the members and the guests as well.
That being said, my decision to delete or move certain posts has already been explained. Threads such as those about who will win the world series or happy birthday threads from months before, I don't consider to be a huge loss, as the sentiment can be reiterated when the event rolls around again this year or the next or the next.
As for my moving threads about to areas of the forums that they better belong, what's the problem there? I'm organizing things. My articles on BDSM, for instance, are now all in Knowledge Base, because they are designed to aid peoples' knowledge. Picture threads have gone into Sexual Fantasy, because they are pictures of peoples' fantasies. Someone mentioned earlier that Personal Pictures could have gone into My BDSM Life and they are right, but for the essense of continuity, I left all the picture threads together.
I'm not just arbitrarily deleting things, either. Topics concerning BDSM, sexual fantasies, relationships or advice, I have left alone, just relocated to other areas. In some cases, I have left redirects in the forums to show that they have been moved to make it less confusing for people looking for their favorite threads.
Although, I must ask, in all honesty, when is the last time any of you have taken a look at page seven of the Generalk Talk forum? What was on there? Would you miss it?
Well, I'll tell you what was there. For the most part, every thread there was from more than a year ago. Some were from 2001. None of them had replies with the last several (and by several, I mean at least six) months. A great deal of them had zero replies or only one reply. The loss in these cases was minimal. To label it as censorship is a bit over the top, too. In most cases, there wasn't even anything to censor, just a rambling idea.
Someone before has mentioned about multiple threads on the same topic. I have not encountered any of these so far in my cleaning of General Talk, but when I do, I will not just delete the older threads. I will instead join the threads so all the ideas are maintained. I don't want to take anything out of these forums, except the barest of necessity. And to be honest, I don't see the need for seven, ten or eleven month old happy birthday messages, except to just add another dead thread to the mix and to cause more clutter.
Perhaps I should have kept the flaming threads, locked them and stuck them into a dungeon area where all the bad threads are kept, but I didn't think to do this until after the idea was brought up ealier by Curtis. In any case, threads containing personal insults and derrogatory remarks will eventually disappear in most cases at any rate, because when we ban members, we also tend to delete all their posts at the same time. (Seen anything from Whipit lately?) By the way, I used "we" in that last sentence, because this is what I have been told by Jinn to do when a member is to be banned. Although, normally, Jinn does it himself.
The moderators are not just here to make sure all the kids play nice and that people only post good humored things. We're here to make sure people know where things are, to make sure people know what's allowed and what's not and to enforce the Code of Conduct.
Maintenance is also important. Like anything else, things that are not properly maintained tend to break down. If left for another year or two without some maintenance, the two or three threads that we have that repeat questions and idea previously posted will quickly turn into twelve or fifteen threads. It's just confusing. All I'm doing is a little winter spring cleaning.
Trust me when I say that these changes are not meant to offend and they're not meant to imply that some peoples' ideas are less important than those of other people. If I really thought that way, I would not have deleted 149 of my own posts. Yeah, I kept track. All I want to do is to make sure this place remains organized and easy for new members to find what they're looking for and to make sure the older posters can look in a forum area and find topics relating specifically to that area. It's not about censorship and it's not about beggering things up. It's just about making things more easily accessible.
Re-vamping some good old (on-topic) threads
Not to long ago i responded to a thread by that title...
i went to the suggested threads and after reading them, i even brought some of them from the dark recess of the boards back into the light... as did others....
The point for me is they were there to be brought back.... in deleting threads the history of this place is also being deleted... If Gary, Curtis, Finding Fantasy, Lady Amanda...or any of a dozen others, even for that matter Jinn, had writen that thread would they have chosen the same ones to re-vamp? Maybe... and maybe not... but what is happening is that their choice to do so is being taken away....once the history is gone... it can't be brought back... it can only be rewritten..
*grin* my first post here was under another name... in a thread that was neither important nor particulary earth shattering...but for me it is important because i was made to feel welcome...*grin* by GW....and it kept me coming back... and late at night i occassionally revisit the memory of the welcome i was given here....
anyone else reading, well they would see it as little more than chatter and banter...for me it was a turning point in my world....it holds a special place in my heart... and i would hate to see it lost....
I made a suggestion to Jinn
I proposed an archive section where old and inactive threads can be stored. That way, if someone (as ~d~ has pointed out) wants to revisit the past then they are certainly able to.
This way, the thread will not be deleted, just simply put in a palce where they won't clutter everything up. If the thread is re-vamped or revitalized, then they can simply be moved back to their origanal place until such time as they become unused again.
It may not be the perfect solution for everyone and I know it has upset some people that threads have been moved, but it is not a perfect world and compromises need to be made on everyone's part.
However, just because I have suggested it to Jinn does not mean it will happen. He may (and I do not confess to know what he does or does not want) just decide that deleting these old threads is better. I don't know. It's his site and he has the ultimate choice.
What I do ask is that you don't get upset if you like this idea and it doesn't happen. *sighs* I like being the peace maker but I see the potential for this blowing up in my face. If it does turn into a big arguement (my suggestion that is) I take full responsibility for it.
Anyway, I pm'ed Jinn to give him my idea and I await his answer.
Re: Re-vamping some good old (on-topic) threads
Quote:
Originally posted by ~d~
Not to long ago i responded to a thread by that title...
I remember that thread. I was the one that wrote it. I wrote it because I want people to re-read some of the good, old on-topic stuff. If you notice, that thread did not have any threads sanctioned for birthdays, flame wars or holiday greetings. They were on topic for BDSM discussions.
The re-vamping thread is now gone, but all of the threads that it contained still exist and if they are gone, I didn't do it. I deleted no on-topic discussion material. I only moved them. And the reason the re-vamping thread is gone is because it only had two replies, one of which was from me to you. The other reason it's gone is because I plan to do another one very soon. I want to highlight some of Gary Wilcox's contributions, some from Lord Thomas and some from some of the older members that don't post here any longer, because these older members might like to see that their threads are being read and come back to the forums for some more discussions.
I'm not singling any members out. I just have noticed some contributions by some members that I would like to see revisited. I don't expect replies to be made to the re-vamping thread. I expect replies to be made within the re-vampoed threads. Eventually, when I do make a new re-vamping thread, it will probably be scheduled for deletion, too, unless that thread receives multiple replies. Which it should not. The targetted threads should.
I appreciate your concerns and your willingness to help out, but really, I'm not deleting anything of significant loss, in my opinion.
Re: Re: Re-vamping some good old (on-topic) threads
Quote:
Originally posted by BDSM_Tourguide
but really, I'm not deleting anything of significant loss, in my opinion.
I have one really simple request. The posts I have been talking about, well they were actually only three very little simple posts…under a nickname i don't use here any longer...Would it be possible for you to please leave those alone? They honestly don’t take up much space at all and they really and truly do mean a lot to me.
* soft smile *
I know you won’t have any trouble spotting them…
I really and truly am not trying to stir any trouble… but what I do hope is that before anything else is lost that everyone can step back and see that while someone’s birthday thread may have no real meaning to me… to someone else it may have been a moment of significance…it may have been the beginning of a friendship… or the end of one… it may be a moment of bravery for another... and for someone else it may simply be like an old photo… the capturing of a moment in their life that they can take out and just enjoy because it was a moment of light heartedness in a otherwise hard hearted world…and for two people the very same moment can mean two very differnt things....
