inconsistency in applying site rules?

j.e.j.

Not sure if this is the right place for this, but thought I'd ask.

Can anyone explain why when someone suggests honey and lemon might be good for a cold the thread gets promptly closed after just one reply (NO MEDICAL ADVICE!!):
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3494229

While this one (just to take a random one, there are many more) stays open:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3869261

Does it depend on which board the question is asked, or are the rules just applied a bit inconsistently..Any thoughts?

j.e.j.

The second thread now seems to have 'mysteriously' disappeared..

DCFC79

The first thread wasnt even asking for medical advice, the question was " Do the old style remadies really work? or is it placebo?" which to me is a perfectly geune question to ask and wasnt asking fo medical advice.

j.e.j.

That's what I thought, and yet it got closed almost immediately. The second one was asking about the efficacy of an antibiotic that a relative had taken for a specified illness. Someone (a healthcare worker) then came along and gave advice about that. And yet that thread was up and running for days. This happens a lot, - I'm not meaning to pick on one person/thread.

It just seems a bit random the way the rules are applied.

Maestro.

j.e.j. wrote: »

It just seems a bit random the way the rules are applied.

it's generally the same on every forum, and as a get-out clause most forums I know of have a rule that is basically "do not question the decision of thy moderators". I haven't read the MSE rules since I joined, but I'm pretty sure there will be one in there to that effect.

A forum isn't a democracy though.

j.e.j.

Yes, and they normally get round it by saying 'we don't look at every post'.. But in some cases I'm sure the post or thread has been reported many times over, so they can't just have 'blinked and missed it'!

MSE_Martin

Im not going to refer to the specifics of this (I havent clicked the links) but I wanted to give a quick answer on inconsistencies.

1. Why did one link get taken down and the other not?

The usual reason is because the first was reported and the second wasn't. This forum is 'post-moderated' ie anyone can post, but if a thread is reported to break the site rules we then look at it.

There are over 30 paperback books worth of info written here every day. It is not possible (nor legally advisable for us) to read them

2. When inconsistencies occur after reporting

Even if both posts are reported there may sometimes be differences. In exactly the same way that two judges may decide differenly over one case - or even we see split decisions based on the same facts and the same law.

We do not have 1 forum team member, we have a few. They try and co-ordinate, yet facts are never identical and at different times different views are taken.

In summary, we do our best, this is a free forum and the team try to get it right - sadly though King Solomon has never applied for the forum help team job so occassionally some human imperfection happens. Sorry about that.

Martin

steve1980

Martin, although I understand where you're coming from (forum too busy for the team in place) there are countless threads where self advertising are happening, mostly in the Small Business & Charity board and the Techy board, which never get picked up despite being reported.

How do people apply to become part of the forum help team? I have asked previously but never received a reply.

Maestro.

I don't understand this whole "legal issue" to do with moderating either.

I've never heard of any other forum state, in the manner that MSE does, that by moderating forums it becomes a legal thing.

I've volunteered as well to help clean up this place but as you say no one ever bites.

steve1980

Maestro. wrote: »

I don't understand this whole "legal issue" to do with moderating either.

I've never heard of any other forum state, in the manner that MSE does, that by moderating forums it becomes a legal thing.

I've volunteered as well to help clean up this place but as you say no one ever bites.

Agree, I run forums and never has moderation been a "legal" issue.

j.e.j.

Yes, it is interesting that it is not legally advisable for the MSE team to read everything.

I must say here that I am not against people posting anything and nor am I about to start 'policing' the forums or making trouble for people. I just thought it would be good if we all knew where we stand. At the moment (and this is still going on, big time) the official line is no medical advice, and yet on a certain board people are posting and answering stuff of this nature, all the time. Think I'll I just draw the conclusion that it's tacitly tolerated and leave it at that