Topic: Qualms on thread closing (Page 1 of 2)

Of late we're seeing more and more closed threads due to lamer invasion.

This concerns me. I'm good with the four basic rules of 'porn, mp3s, warez, and spam' and the threads closed for wrong forums or post overflow- but I think it's in bad form to close threads simply because of the lamers inside.

I think it's better to leave the threads open to rot away or to maybe steer then in a usefull direction, but it sets dangerous precedents to shut it down because, "I don't like what you said".

Make sense, or should I just go soak my head?


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well, personally im against closing threads. i'm more for DELETING that thread!

also if we move a thread, we should delete (and not close) the original one to avoid redundancy.

Petskull - while I see the validity of your concern as far as setting a precedant, I don't think we really have to worry.

There are a lot of threads lately that just degenerate far below any usefulness and I personally feel it's better on some occasions to kill it off before it ends up mutating into something uglier.

Silliness is onething, the types of threads in question are quite another.

And of course, there is always that beautiful built in checks and balances system whereby if one person closes a thread that didn't need to be closed, someone else can always politely open it back up =)

Just my take on it...

GRUMBLE:

quote:

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also if we move a thread, we should delete (and not close) the original one to avoid redundancy.

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I'm going to stick with leaving the closed on behind as I have had enough people hassle me about it before hand. Hopefully with the new Asylum these things will melt away anyway

___________________
Emps

FAQs: Emperor

I agree with DL. It`s not so much a matter of * I don`t like what you said* as it is a matter of stopping it from getting worse, or even more pointless than it started, or a Flame session, or whatever.

That`s sort of our job as Mods, yes ? ( hence the term *moderator* )

Not to censor , but keep things on an even keel. Keep them from degenerating into.....bad things. Help keep the focus.

Personally, I don`t close alot of threads, but I haven`t seen one closed lately that I wouldn`t have, if I gotten there first.

Yep, I haven't had much of an issue with anything that's been closed lately.
DL and DB pretty much broke it down how I see it.... (however..... we all know the word "focus" has to be taken lightly around here.)
Threads go sour in a hurry... and they'll just get worse and worse if something isn't done.
Will that always happen?... nope.... That's why it's a judgement call.
Considering the parties that are involved, and what's been said, we all have to make the decision.
We all have common sense, so I'm going to stop there.

Grumble... I disagree with you as well.
If I move a thread... I'm not going to delete it. The instance of a newcomer possibly coming to the PS forum and asking a question.... then me moving it to another forum without leaving the thread behind will have them coming back to the PS forum looking..... being confused... and then just leaving.
I see the thread left behind as something very useful... and it can save a big headache.


FAQs n' Bits: Michael

Leaving the thread behind isn't ideal but, at the moment, it is the only system we have. However, boards like vB have the ability to leave a redirect behind so that the thread link takes people through to the other forum. I think that is worth looking into.

___________________
Emps

FAQs: Emperor

quote:

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Hopefully with the new Asylum these things will melt away anyway

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Hmm... well, I suppose that all depends on whether or not I will be allowed to have a portable shock therapy machine in the new Asylum so I can go around surreptitiously electrocuting people, rather than having to wait for some poor soul to wander into the shock therapy room in the basement.

quote:

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That`s sort of our job as Mods, yes ? ( hence the term *moderator* )

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Is that what mod stands for?

I thought we just called you guys that because you were cool and wore really spiffy clothes.

OK, my work here is done. I'll be down in the basement if anyone needs me.

(Sigh. My conscious prevents me from leaving without saying something of worth. As a non-mod, I must admit that I have occasionally wondered why a thread was closed down so early, and there has been the rare occasion where I have been disappointed to see a thread closed (although I must admit that probably stems from my disappointment in not being able to leave behind an extremely unhelpful wisecrack). However, I agree with DL about the checks and balances. I have seen this system in action more than once, and I think it works. In the very few cases where I disagreed with a thread closing (none of them recently, by the way), another mod has reopened the thread. So, yeah, to make a long story short, I don't see a serious problem with the recent spate (yes, I finally got to use that word!) of thread closings.)

I understand what you're concern is Petskull but yuh go soak your head :P

DL & DB took the words outta my mouth. I agree. nuff said.

*sigh*

This Yannah person is really being a...pain. I've wrned her repeatedly...and tried to guide her in how we do things here...when is it acceptable to delete someones post?

According to the Doc (I asked him this self-same question many moons ago), only when that person says defamatory things, racists remarks, posts porn or warez on the board. At itmes like that it should dissapear as soon as a Mad Sci sees it. Other than that, we do have a freedom of speech policy here, so you have to use your discretion, and, if possible, try to get a consensus of some other Mad Sci's...but be very, very careful when you do delete a thread or a post...what has been taken away cannot be put back by any of us, except maybe the Doc from a backup.

Yeah...*sigh*...I know...it's just that she is not heeding the advice...and Mahjqa has started deleting her 'replies' in the PS area...because most of them are not relevant to the topics...or anything else. 111 posts, and only 2 of them are anywhere near...relevant.

Well, we will see...I will continue to close her threads, when they don't contain anything...or just nonsense.

I do think it is unwise deleting messages under any circumstance and doing it because Yannah is annoying doesn't seem wise although things could get so disruptive threads spin out of control.

I know I boobed a while back when someone was posting racist messages and I removed them as we might have needed evidence at a later date.

Possibly we need an 'Isolation Cell' where we can dispatch the nastier posts which can be accessed by mods.

___________________
Emps

FAQs: Emperor

The poster has demanded we remove all his contributions, less he takes legal action.
We have done so.
Now Tyberius Prime expects him to start complaining that we removed his 'free speech' since this message will replace all of his posts, past and future.
Don't follow his example - seek real life help first.

Personally, I like the idea of an area we can send threads with racist comments for later evidence.

We could call the area 'Solitary Confinement' and have it apssworded so only mods can access or view it

why not have it available to all?

the only thing being that the only way to post there would be for a mod to move the thread into that forum..

then all it would need is disclaimer that these kinds of posts will not be tolerated in the Asylum...

...obviously obscuring warez links...



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ICQ: 67751342

didn't we already try that?

Not that I can recall, but we may have before I joined.

the unregistered forums....

I'm not sure if that was exactly what we were going on about. I was thinking more of a highly restricted area where only Mad Sci's or Psychotics could post, an area where we could send threads (or individual posts, not sure we can do that) that contain racist comments, or things that aren't allowed by the rules to be posted here (they have been warned after all), an area where we can keep them as evidence for later reference. It could be an area where anyone can view, but not everyone can post, so we can use it as a very direct example of what we won't allow on the board.

ok. noted down - 'solitary confinment area'.

Should a thread, when it is moved, leave a message for a couple of days?
like
"This thread was moved to solitary confinment because it was just plain inappropriate for the weaker-minded inmates to see?"?

now, get your rear ends over to the grail wiki ;-)
Y'all should have gotten an email with the access codes. -
If not, complain to me via icq or email.

so long,
TP

I think that that would be a good idea TP...but only for a few days.

sure. just like the 'moved' notices... they should only show up for like 48 hours as well.

the whole thing seems silly anyway.

If a post warrants being moved to somewhere noone can visit it, then it should just be done away with.

If it warrants being saved for "evidence" then someone can screen-cap or copy the text.

No need to go through such effort just to have a holding bin for 'bad threads'. It seems to lean to far towards that whole "police" thing that got all the mods onto trouble last time



[This message has been edited by DL-44 (edited 12-22-2002).]

I must admit, I'm a bit with DL here...
It's not happening very often that we'd need something as 'evidence' and if so, a screencap surly should serve the purpose. Otherwise, the trash will get deleted sooner or later anyhow.

Yup, I`m with DL and TP here. We don`t get alot of stuff here that needs to be deleted, IMHO, so a holding area would be a lot of wasted effort. If you find objectional posts, cap `em and delete `em.

Done deal.

As far as deleting posts that seem irrelevant or stupid, well, if I did that I`d spend lots of time deleting posts, so I don`t go there. I try and let people be ignorant in their own way, and describe my objections as they arise.
Besides, if someone deleted all the post that are irrelevant or stupid, most of you wouldn`t know me vrey well.

only thing I got to add to docilebob:

For doc's sake: Don't achive the stupid stuff... I even found a question without an answer in the archive(!) (ie. a thread, consisting of one post, no replies and zero information).

Well...this Yannah person is really bothering me...I have nothing against being playful, or having fun...but using someone's b-day thread to post nonsense, without even so much as a happy b-day...that just takes the cake! Deleted!

And the constant whining 'Will someone make me a sig?'...even after a flood of replies to the contrary, advice, etc...

I have mailed her enough times, tried to reason, given advice that is ignored...and have come to the conclusion, that she is not interested, even in the slightest, of learning how to do anything here...

So I ignore most of her dribble...and delete that which is entirely inappropriate.

I will say that I have deleted posts that are such complete nonsense as heres are - and I see no problem with it.

being silly or un-useful is one thing. Clogging up a thread that has a purpose with somehting so completely inane as some of hers are is simply a waste of bandwidth, and I see no problem in deleting some of those.

I also opt to delete many threads rather than archive when I hit that process, simply because we don't need each and every topic that ever gets posted to be saved.

The poster has demanded we remove all his contributions, less he takes legal action.
We have done so.
Now Tyberius Prime expects him to start complaining that we removed his 'free speech' since this message will replace all of his posts, past and future.
Don't follow his example - seek real life help first.

Ok...after receiving some very sound advice (thanks, you know who you are), I have decided to stop any and all deleting...with the exception of warez/porn/racists remarks...

Though it may be bothersome sometimes...and some replies are...well, other than that, which one would expect, I have been reminded, that we do have freedom of speech here...

Sorry about my outbursts...

What's up with this 'other' Doc Ozone fellow? Is it a joke?

[This message has been edited by WebShaman (edited 01-05-2003).]

Hope it is. I closed that thread cause it wasn't going to go anywhere.

god that was pointless.

Well I've closed the Ripper Report threads in this forum twice now and some of them keep reopening (and after the first time I made sure I had a witness on this). Equally the two hiding source threads keep floating back from the archive and reopening themselves (although no one has yet posted in them) so 3 possibilities:

1. A Mad Sci is dicking around - events here today have left me rather drained and I'm really not in the mood for this kind of thing.

2. Someone is somehow getting access to the admin controls.

3. The OzoneAsylum code is really screwed.

If it is option 2 or 3 then we really need to know asap so if it is option 1 then could someone let me know (they needn't reply in this thread if they don't want to) as options 2 and 3 are pretty serious.

___________________
Emps

FAQs: Emperor

Ok...I'vej ust closed most of the RR threads again.

Silly shit.

about as childish as it gets quite frankly...

I whole-heartedly agree DL

Skaarjj: Thanks - I wasn't having trouble closing them just keeping them closed I am actually concerned that it might be a technical problem as the 3 RR threads which reopened themselves twice (so far) were the same both times. I've dropped TP a line to see if there is anything wrong with the files so we'll see. Anyway something to keep an eye open for.

___________________
Emps

FAQs: Emperor

OK it was option 1. I've spoken to the person concerned and I don't believe it'll happen again.

___________________
Emps

FAQs: Emperor

The poster has demanded we remove all his contributions, less he takes legal action.
We have done so.
Now Tyberius Prime expects him to start complaining that we removed his 'free speech' since this message will replace all of his posts, past and future.
Don't follow his example - seek real life help first.

Oh, this again.

Well, come on back when your wounded inner child heals ok?