Post deletion without explanation

The posts in question were mass-deleted because they were severely off-topic and one of them was posted by the dupe account of a banned member and was hostile in nature. I'd say that's enough reason to delete a few posts. Often, incase of a single deleted post, we notify the poster. If posts are mass-deleted, we don't, but you'll always be free to ask for a reason. No need to complain about it.

 

Rarit E.

You're an awful moderator.

That post was not 'hostile' in nature, it was critical.

Now, stop being a moderator until you've learnt to stop raging at absolutely everyone who disagrees with you.

 

I witnessed the whole incident, Mig's post being deleted was uncalled for. What he was saying about deviantArt was true, and just wanted you to understand to make it clear in the future as to what the rules are and how they are enforced.

I'm sure you'll agree that with the way Mig's responded sometimes in the past, the response given in that thread was much more mature and conversational, rather than a one-sided shot at the mods like usual.

The only reason I can see why that post was deleted was because it either:

A - Made the mods look a little bad (which would be stupid considering how it was trying to help the mods actually improve in the future and explaining the problem Mig seriously has in a sensible way)

or

B - As a result of how Mig's responded with certain attitudes in the past (Again, this would be a stupid reason as the post didn't demonstrate any of the snark and one-sided shot at the mods)

There was no justified reason to delete Mig's post without explanation. And you don't often see me defending Mig's point of view now do you?

Godmod's post, yeah, I can see why you deleted that, but Mig's? I'm calling out on that.

 

Miggy's post was intended to inform about a rule we have in regards to advertising. These things should either be done in private with a staff member, or in Site Discussion.

 

Still didn't explain this to anyone when you deleted the post. Just *pop* gone, let's never speak of it ever again. Maybe if it wasn't Mig it might have been explained, who knows.

But the issue is, is that it's a forum. You can never purify conversations in real life to get rid of the stuff you don't want people to see. Once something's said, it's said, and if you're going to disregard or just try to plain erase it, the least you can do is explain why.

If everyone was a robot maybe that would work, but not for humans who will have conversations wherever and whenever the hell they want.

It was actually related to the thread, it was replying to a post you made, a response. Not something like "hurr durr, I like cheese."

Going by that logic, if all people in the thread were only allowed to speak about the commissions and just the information given in the OP, what you and FizzyWog said should be deleted as well.

Where's the line?

 

Members do have the right to criticize staff. And you do bring up a few good valid points, and i'll try to improve. On the other hand, members blowing their lids at the slightest error and calling out staff members (rudely, i might add) in a thread that isn't intended for it isn't exactly examplatory behaviour either. I want to keep these threads clean so others can enjoy their time on the forums.

If you have complaints, put them in the right section and complain with a sense of maturity. That's all we ask.

 

I'm sorry, maybe I'm reading this wrong, but since when is it a problem for normal members to inform other members about the rules?

 

This is so entirely true that it isn't even funny. If a member is informing a user about the rules, we should not delete their messages; I personally saw the message before it was deleted and I have to say that Miggy's reply was not out of the question.

I have to say that Rarit is in the wrong here. Almost everybody here knows the history between Miggmeister and Rarit, and it's not necessarily the brightest of pasts; Whether this played a part, or whether it was just natural protocol, both issues need to be remedied.


It should be simple to let users know why their posts were deleted, so please do so from now on.

You guys said you wanted to improve; let's make this the first step.

 

Miggy was asking about the advertising rule and how we treat such cases, in an art thread of someone who offered to draw for money. The thing is that on this forum he was offering to draw in return for DA points, which you have to pay money for on DA. Technically, the actual financial transactions wouldn't occur on Everypony.com, but since at the time i didn't know the meaning of those DA points, i made mention of the rules we have in place regarding financial transactions on the forums, just in case.

I usually do contact members if i delete their posts. Miggy posted this complaint thread before i had a decent chance to. Before contacting members, i review the post, or in this case multiple posts. I've been busy all day with other more urgent things. Eight and Tyro have been offline and you might not realize that at this point i'm the only forum moderator on staff. :I

 

There's this thing called the infraction/report system(s)... Do you guys still use that? I really think you should.

I can't remember the exact details but I'm pretty sure it was set up so you could infract someone and send them a PM explaining why that infraction was given and what you've done in addition (e.g. deleting posts).

I refuse to take sides in this particular situation, but you should - in my opinion - refrain from deleting posts without an explanation, unless they're blatant one-post trolls or spam bots. The infraction reports give the user a chance to challenge your decision and since mods (and admins) are human, they do make mistakes, being able to challenge them thus, is very important.

If you send a report to a user, they can forward it to another mod and say "I disagree" - the staff can then sort that out (decide whether it was just or not), without fanning flames between the two parties.
Mods and users shouldn't have this confrontational line drawn between them.

 

I think you're forgetting Harley.

In any case, the fact is that you didn't, and it needs to start happening with 100% success rate if you really want to improve on yourself and the site's overall feel.

We don't use this any more because we decided it was too flawed/manipulable to really be effective.

 

We've actually stopped using the infraction system months ago, shortly before or after Foxy stepped down i believe.

And as i said, I usually always inform members of their deleted posts. If you're not informed about it, it means i forgot, or the reason for deletion was painfully obvious (spam and such). In such cases you're free to ask a moderator. I honestly don't see how it's such a big problem worthy of all this drama. Ok, so you weren't informed about a deleted post, i understand that's annoying. But why didn't you just ASK about it instead of moving to the complaints section almost instantly after the posts had been deleted?

I'm sorry guys, but you're seriously overreacting about such a minor issue...

Harley is more of a "behind the scenes" staff member at this point. And besides, she hasn't been online all day.

 

@Mateus
Yeah, because I see how deleting posts with no explanation whatsoever is so much less abusable...

@Trance
I'm not suggesting you use the points = ban system, but you need some sort of disciplinary action tracking, for both the staff's and user's sake.

 

A minor issue that has been prevalent over the course of a year or so is not a minor issue, it is a major one.

We're not tired of the fact that it happened, we're tired of the fact that it's happened so much with little effort to change things.

Saying that shows that you're saying 'Hey it's not my fault!', when in fact it is. You're supposed to uphold the rules and protect us; so do that while being flexible with other people, and showing that you're willing to compromise and negotiate with others... which many of staff, both present and past, have not done effectively.

 

Ok, what? This is the first i've ever heard of members not being informed about their deleted posts. This is the first anyone on staff has ever heard about it as far as i know. And this is coming from someone who's been on staff for a year until a week ago, so what are you even talking about? You're claiming this has been a problem for over a year but you've never tried to solve it. You never informed anyone about it if it is indeed true.

And for the third time now, i'm saying i always do inform them. Once or twice i've forgotten, i admit that. Again, what's the problem in just asking about it?

 

I've said all that needs to be said on my end, so I don't really see a point in arguing this further since I'd be going in circles.

Back to my break.

 

No you haven't. I asked you a question you still need to answer. Where on earth did you get the idea that no one on staff ever informs members of their deleted posts?

 

My post was deleted too. I wasn't informed. I don't really care, not like that post contained anything that useful.


That's all I really have to say. Honestly I don't what you're all up in arms about, but what would I know.