Deletion of threads without notice?

[dice1998]

I noticed I had a thread of mine deleted very quietly.

Said thread was in the cars in general sub forum and was a question of which car was "better car made" between two cars.

I apologize if it was the wrong place to ask, but just deleting the thread without notification to the topic maker is a little..harsh is the word I guess..

What i'm trying to ask is does it variate between moderator or is some sort of general thing? (or something like that)

Sorry if this doesn't somewhat make sense..i swear it makes sense in my head

 

[arora]

I'm surprised there is no response to this.

Most threads along the lines as you describe would only be locked if deemed redundant or silly or whatever, I've only seen a very small few inappropriate threads deleted(as they should have been).

 

[prisonermonkeys]

I noticed I had a thread of mine deleted very quietly.

Said thread was in the cars in general sub forum and was a question of which car was "better car made" between two cars.

I apologize if it was the wrong place to ask, but just deleting the thread without notification to the topic maker is a little..harsh is the word I guess..

What i'm trying to ask is does it variate between moderator or is some sort of general thing? (or something like that)

Sorry if this doesn't somewhat make sense..i swear it makes sense in my head

What, exactly, do you expect in the way of notification? A post in the thread? If the thread is deemed inappropriate or the situation within the thread - ie a flamewar - is out of control, a moderator will delete your thread straight away. They reserve the right to; they're under no obligation to inform you that your thread has been deleted.

 

[boiltheocean]

It wasn't exactly a flame war though, if anything I'd just expect a post at the end and a lock. That's what's usually done, well, outside the GT5 forum at least.

 

[Owen.C93]

They should inform the OP in my opinion.

 

[Famine]

They should inform the OP in my opinion.

We don't always get the opportunity to.

To put it another way, when I first log in at 8am, there'll be between 6 and 10 "GTP Forums - Reported Post" e-mails in my inbox. Anything before about 5.30am will have been dealt with, which usually leaves about two to four. By the time I've dealt with those, uncovered a few more of my own (in the Marketplace, naturally) and browsed the forums for what I actually want - we're members first, remember - it's 10am and the dogs are going nuts because they want to go out.

Usually when a thread is locked, we stick a note at the end to say why (unless it's patently obvious, and sometimes we do it then too). Usually when a post is deleted, we stick a note in to the person whose post was deleted (and generally this note is titled "You have received an Infraction at GTP Forums") to say why. But it's not always possible.

 

[Owen.C93]

We don't always get the opportunity to.

To put it another way, when I first log in at 8am, there'll be between 6 and 10 "GTP Forums - Reported Post" e-mails in my inbox. Anything before about 5.30am will have been dealt with, which usually leaves about two to four. By the time I've dealt with those, uncovered a few more of my own (in the Marketplace, naturally) and browsed the forums for what I actually want - we're members first, remember - it's 10am and the dogs are going nuts because they want to go out.

Usually when a thread is locked, we stick a note at the end to say why (unless it's patently obvious, and sometimes we do it then too). Usually when a post is deleted, we stick a note in to the person whose post was deleted (and generally this note is titled "You have received an Infraction at GTP Forums") to say why. But it's not always possible.

Fair enough, interludes made it sound like he didn't have to, therefore didn't bother.

 

[Pupik]

Admittedly, I delete posts because they are either essential duplicates, the poster requests it, the post contributes nothing (posting off-topic for example), or it is in response to another deleted post. I do this sometimes because it's not always necessary to give warnings for truly minor offences.

If it's violating the AUP, then of course there will be a response from me or the staff. All deleted posts are visible to other staff members, so we have checks and balances.

It's not always terribly practical to warn every member about every little thing, especially in the case of clean-up after a series of multi-post responses to an AUP violation...there's no real fault by the member, so there's no need to warn/send an infraction, save but those which cross the line.

We rarely delete threads, except for gross AUP transgressions, but even then we try to leave a note, as a warning of "how not to post" (although we'll edit out anything really bad).

Bear in mind, Jordan has banned a GTP moderator who deleted other members' posts, because the mod merely disagreed with them. That's not acceptable, naturally. So we toe the line within reason...

 

[dice1998]

Ah, that makes much more sense than what I was thinking


If you guys don't mind me going into more detail a little..

I didn't think that the thread in question could've been a double one being that it was a pretty specific question (thus, I didn't think of doing a search) between two cars..also I was a little unsure between where it was posted but decided to post it in the general cars section since it was a question pertaining to cars.

Also, I didn't think the thread would violate any AUP rules, honestly since it was a honest curiosity question.


Other than just the stuff posted above that's more of a slight (very slight ) rant, I didn't know that there would be mods on GTP that would actually go along the lines to delete posts to prove a point

Anyways, thanks for the slight insight into a moderator's day

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Fair enough, interludes made it sound like he didn't have to, therefore didn't bother.

There is nothing in the moderator rule book that says notification has to be made. If a thread is locked, the moderators will always say why. But if a thread is completely deleted, it gets removed from public view altogether.

 

[BobK]

There is nothing in the moderator rule book that says notification has to be made.

Unless the reason is obvious, I'd think it would be common courtesy to let the poster know why; there's a good chance the poster would have thought it was okay (original OP in this thread being a case in point).

If a thread is locked, the moderators will always say why.

This is in direct contradiction to what Pupik said above.

 

[Pupik]

This is in direct contradiction to what Pupik said above.

Not really...I don't notify spammers or those who made duplicate threads, unless there's an ongoing issue, or with merged threads (I always try to drop a note on thread merges, but I'm sure I've forgotten before).

I've had threads of mine deleted in the past with no warning, although they dealt with site issues that had (possibly) already been mentioned, or are no longer necessary for archiving purposes.

Basically, I treat others on our site the way I've been treated for nearly 10 years...fairly and justly, and treat others in kind and see how other moderators have dealt with similar issues in the past (that's what the search feature does, after all).

Sometimes it's patently obvious why a thread gets locked, so we don't bother with a message.

 

[Owen.C93]

There is nothing in the moderator rule book that says notification has to be made.

I wasn't saying a mod was going against rules (I've never read them), I was suggesting there should be come correspondence whenever possible.