I just visited a thread in which I had recently responded to two individuals in a single post, Sireric and someone else (whose handle I cannot recall.) I prefaced my responses with a direct quote of the appropriate passages from each individual. Today I see that both the original post from the second individual and my own post in response have been censored from the thread (deleted) although I was not granted even the courtesy of a PM from the censoring moderator to inform me of the action.
In that my post contained neither threats, name-calling, profanity, or calumny, and in that I simply had responded to the comments of other individuals in the thread, and in that no deletions of posts within the thread including both of those posts I had responded to occurred before I had made my own post in response to theirs, I find it strange that my post should be the catalyst motivating the moderator to delete not only my own post, but also the post of another individual which originally had escaped censorship completely (else it would have been impossible for me to respond to it.)
Generally, B3d is a very tolerant environment and respects not only the concept of the uncensored flow of discussion (within the bounds of propriety), but also B3d characteristically has had high regard for the personal time and energy its forum members expend in forum participation, and in the entire time I've been posting here I believe the total number of my posts deleted to be less than the number of fingers I have on one hand (and that's counting fingers after the hand-grenade accident--j/k...
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Nevertheless, I really think it pertinent to distinguish between "moderation" and "censorship" as I understand them:
Forum moderation: the guiding and shaping of thread discussion by way of beneficial commentary within a thread to those ends; with wholesale post deletion occurring only in cases of posts including threats, name-calling, profanity, or calumny.
(Example: say that a forum moderator sees a couple of posts which in his opinion are ranging off topic. IMO, the proper way to moderate that situation within a thread would be to add a post to the thread which says something like:
"OK, you guys have stated your respective pros and cons about "x", and as I feel this leads into areas off-topic to the thread discussion, let's have no more discussion of topic "X" here, OK? I know you guys take time to write these posts so please don't force me to delete them--which I will do if you write more of them here.")
Censorship: The ad-hoc deletion of any post not including threats, name-calling, profanity, or calumny, which expresses an opinion with which the moderator does not agree. The problem with simple post deletion is that the poster is left wondering why his post was deleted--was it egregiously off topic, or was it deleted simply because the mod doesn't share the same opinion, or because the mod wishes to whitewash the present by way of ignoring recent history, etc.? The B3d forum member whose post is deleted without comment by a mod has no way of knowing what his "offense" was, does he?
Also, I think it only proper courtesy extended (to people who have taken the time to join the forums) that should a moderator choose to delete a post within a thread that at the very least the mod PM the poster, even with something as simple as a rote response like:
"Just a note to let you know that I deleted your post in "x" thread because I thought it was ranging off topic. Nothing personal! Take care, mod x."
...or whatever the mod might otherwise choose to write, of course. It's just common courtesy to your forum members and is also, imo, part of the "moderation" job itself. I certainly cannot believe that a mod can have the time to read and delete posts but not have the time to send a short PM to the posters whose posts get the ax. At the very least those of us who suffer the slings and arrows of deleted posts will not have to ask the question: "Did I post to this thread already, or did I dream it?"....
In that my post contained neither threats, name-calling, profanity, or calumny, and in that I simply had responded to the comments of other individuals in the thread, and in that no deletions of posts within the thread including both of those posts I had responded to occurred before I had made my own post in response to theirs, I find it strange that my post should be the catalyst motivating the moderator to delete not only my own post, but also the post of another individual which originally had escaped censorship completely (else it would have been impossible for me to respond to it.)
Generally, B3d is a very tolerant environment and respects not only the concept of the uncensored flow of discussion (within the bounds of propriety), but also B3d characteristically has had high regard for the personal time and energy its forum members expend in forum participation, and in the entire time I've been posting here I believe the total number of my posts deleted to be less than the number of fingers I have on one hand (and that's counting fingers after the hand-grenade accident--j/k...
)Nevertheless, I really think it pertinent to distinguish between "moderation" and "censorship" as I understand them:
Forum moderation: the guiding and shaping of thread discussion by way of beneficial commentary within a thread to those ends; with wholesale post deletion occurring only in cases of posts including threats, name-calling, profanity, or calumny.
(Example: say that a forum moderator sees a couple of posts which in his opinion are ranging off topic. IMO, the proper way to moderate that situation within a thread would be to add a post to the thread which says something like:
"OK, you guys have stated your respective pros and cons about "x", and as I feel this leads into areas off-topic to the thread discussion, let's have no more discussion of topic "X" here, OK? I know you guys take time to write these posts so please don't force me to delete them--which I will do if you write more of them here.")
Censorship: The ad-hoc deletion of any post not including threats, name-calling, profanity, or calumny, which expresses an opinion with which the moderator does not agree. The problem with simple post deletion is that the poster is left wondering why his post was deleted--was it egregiously off topic, or was it deleted simply because the mod doesn't share the same opinion, or because the mod wishes to whitewash the present by way of ignoring recent history, etc.? The B3d forum member whose post is deleted without comment by a mod has no way of knowing what his "offense" was, does he?
Also, I think it only proper courtesy extended (to people who have taken the time to join the forums) that should a moderator choose to delete a post within a thread that at the very least the mod PM the poster, even with something as simple as a rote response like:
"Just a note to let you know that I deleted your post in "x" thread because I thought it was ranging off topic. Nothing personal! Take care, mod x."
...or whatever the mod might otherwise choose to write, of course. It's just common courtesy to your forum members and is also, imo, part of the "moderation" job itself. I certainly cannot believe that a mod can have the time to read and delete posts but not have the time to send a short PM to the posters whose posts get the ax. At the very least those of us who suffer the slings and arrows of deleted posts will not have to ask the question: "Did I post to this thread already, or did I dream it?"....
