Are The Forum Team being "Heavy-handed" in removing posts?

The_Last_Username

Over the past few months I have noted many threads where individual posts have been removed.
Not the whole thread, but posts within these threads.
Indeed, I have noted some of my own posts removed.

SOMETIMES there is obvious reason for a post to be removed.
I'm sure we would all agree that there are times when a post SHOULD be deleted.

However, this is SUPPOSEDLY an "open" forum where (although there are guidelines) there are no moderators.
There is a little "Report" triangle under each post, which (it is said) once reported goes directly to the forum team and they will investigate; then if they consider intervention is necessary they will take appropriate action.
It is also said within these forums that The Forum Team do not have time to go through the forums checking every thread.

So why are innocuous posts being deleted? :mad:
Posts which are not offensive.
Posts which do not denigrate.
Posts which are not racist, religious, or political.
Posts which are WHOLLY within "Forum Guidelines".

I would post links but - obviously - I cannot since these posts have been removed. In fact in a recent post I made, I explained that any reply of mine was likely to be removed DESPITE that replybeing totally innocuous - and indeed it was.

This is not paranoia either; there are a number of other posters to whom I note that similar has happened.
Are YOU one of these?

So, will a Forum Team member be "open" enough to explain here?
Or will THIS post also magically disappear?

vlad

My own opinion is that if a post or even a thread is reported it is no longer "investigated" but simply removed as the easier option.

Mandelbrot

vlad wrote: »

My own opinion is that if a post or even a thread is reported it is no longer "investigated" but simply removed as the easier option.

With the proviso that the cliques and their AEs have to report it a significant amount of times?
Perhaps any post with a lot of reports gets automatically deleted "because if it has been reported that many times it MUST BE BAD", allowing the Team to concentrate on looking at those posts that are just reported by one or two others.

Well, that's my interpretation of events.
But what do I know?

And since there is absolutely NO CHANCE of MSE Towers clearing this all up, we will just be left to wonder ... :think:

So I no longer worry about it.

If MSE want to see their forum infected by trolls, so be it.

MothballsWallet

Mandelbrot wrote: »

With the proviso that the cliques and their AEs have to report it a significant amount of times?
Perhaps any post with a lot of reports gets automatically deleted "because if it has been reported that many times it MUST BE BAD", allowing the Team to concentrate on looking at those posts that are just reported by one or two others.

Well, that's my interpretation of events.
But what do I know?

And since there is absolutely NO CHANCE of MSE Towers clearing this all up, we will just be left to wonder ... :think:

So I no longer worry about it.

If MSE want to see their forum infected by trolls, so be it.

It repeatedly gets infected by spammers, so I wouldn't be surprised if a troll invasion isn't far off...

Plus, has MSE recently hired someone who used to work for Warner Media Group (WMG)? They're another firm that lodges copyright claims on YouTube without even trying to work with the video creator/uploader.

whitegoods_engineer

The forums have become ridiculously 'Nannied' in recent times with forthright yet fair posts being removed for touchy feely reasons.

I had one deleted, and received a message from the forum people stating something along the lines of the post being 'unkind'!!

I'm sorry but I reserve the right to challenge robustly any post I see which I feel is deserving of challenge.

If somebody is too feeble to receive criticism and feels 'hurt' by posts, then they should respond to criticism in a similarly robust way and not go running to the mods.

Looking at the photo on the forum page, the mods appear to consist entirely of fairly young girls who probably have little life experience and don't understand the concept of free speech and robust discussion!

elsien

I've had a post removed which I'm fairly sure only one person reported. IMO it was the person being hugely over-sensitive, as it was a mild joke about a particular city which did not reference anything personal.

Other posts that have gone have generally been the result of someone throwing their toys out of their pram, so all posts relating to the particular bit if the conversation have been deleted, however inoffensive.

I do think there are times when there's a bit of a mob culture where one person starts, many others follow and it does become a bit of a Roman circus and is unfair on the original poster. Other times I just think "that post? Really?"

Peter333

whitegoods_engineer wrote: »

The forums have become ridiculously 'Nannied' in recent times with forthright yet fair posts being removed for touchy feely reasons.

I had one deleted, and received a message from the forum people stating something along the lines of the post being 'unkind'!!

I'm sorry but I reserve the right to challenge robustly any post I see which I feel is deserving of challenge.

If somebody is too feeble to receive criticism and feels 'hurt' by posts, then they should respond to criticism in a similarly robust way and not go running to the mods.

Looking at the photo on the forum page, the mods appear to consist entirely of fairly young girls who probably have little life experience and don't understand the concept of free speech and robust discussion!

That last paragraph ALONE proves conclusively why you keep getting posts removed. If that is the opinion you have about (probably) intelligent young women, then I would imagine your opinions about other members of society are as obnoxious as this.

My young adult daughter and her friends - and my young adult nieces and their friends have to tolerate crap like this week in, week out, from people like you; assuming because they are young, that they know nothing.

How narrow minded and ignorant and sexist your views are. (Mind you, I am sure it's giving the four ladies at the top of the page a good laugh!)

And as for saying 'respond in a similarly robust way!!!' Well many people have done that, and then THEY get warned for being rude, and get THEIR posts removed!!!

What's more, people get told (by admin,) to report posts, and not engage with someone who they deem as being rude! So no, people are NOT going to respond to posts that are rude, because then they will get a warning.

Maybe you should think before you post, and then you wouldn't get people 'running to the mods!'

It always makes me laugh when people start griping about their posts being removed, like they are so innocent, and butter wouldn't melt in their mouth and all that; yet, the vast majority of posts that I have seen removed, definitely deserved to have been removed.

The_Last_Username

Peter333 wrote: »

Maybe you should think before you post, and then you wouldn't get people 'running to the mods!'

It always makes me laugh when people start griping about their posts being removed, like they are so innocent, and butter wouldn't melt in their mouth and all that; yet, the vast majority of posts that I have seen removed, definitely deserved to have been removed.

Are you suggesting that MY posts which HAVE been deleted were in some way not "so innocent" as you put it, and "definitely deserved to have been removed"?
Because I assure you that that is categorically NOT the case.
So the reason for MY posts being removed is . . . . ? ? ? :think:

Now if someone were to use the statement you make together with the quotation you use and press "Report" under your post, your post would disappear? (Your post does seem to fall under "unkind", after all. )

I will say again, I have had NO contact from anyone as to why my posts have been deleted AND I have gone to great pains to ensure that nothing in my post could cause ANY offence - yet these posts HAVE been removed.

As I clearly state in my OP there are clearly (and even perhaps frequently) times when threads and/or individual posts SHOULD be removed.

I remain unconvinced that posts are being deleted because someone is reporting them.
UNLESS some sad soul is actively seeking out a selection of innocuous posts and reporting them?

Peter333

My post wasn't aimed at you 'the last username.'

And I am sure your posts have been fine. I am not saying yours deserved to be deleted. In fact I have never seen anything offensive by you.

I was referring to people who act all innocent when their post is deleted when it WAS rude! They say 'there was nothing wrong with MY post!' when they know damn well why it was deleted; because it was rude or obnoxious or baiting or trollish! (Or all of the above!!!)

I have literally seen people say 'you sound special; did your mama drop you on your head when you were a baby?' And 'do you have autism or aspergers?' And I think you're jealous because this person is educated and middle class...' (implying that the poster they are aiming the comment at is uneducated and lower class, but without actually saying it ...) Snide, underhand attacks...

And most days, someone accuses people of having multiple pseudonyms with comments like 'it's amazing how you know all this about the forum from a year ago, when you have only been here 8 months!'

I have also seen a number of occasions where 5 or 6 different usernames gang up on one poster and mock them, and berate them, and laugh at them with thinly veiled attacks and underhand snide comments. It makes for a very unpleasant experience for the poster it's aimed at.

Then when the posts are removed, they act all shocked and huffy, and start making nasty remarks about how vile people are for reporting posts, when we all know damn well that THEY report posts when it suits them!

I reckon that the posters who claim they never report any posts; ever, are the ones who actually report posts the most. They can't bear it when it's done to them though.

Remember; none of this is aimed at you by the way.

Mandelbrot

The_Last_Username wrote: »

I remain unconvinced that posts are being deleted because someone is reporting them.
UNLESS some sad soul is actively seeking out a selection of innocuous posts and reporting them?

Yep. That seems to be happening from time to time.
People who follow a particular poster (how they select them I do not know) from thread to thread, and try to rile them into writing an offensive post that they can then get them PPRd for.
And if that doesn't work, they (presumably) just keep reporting random posts by that user via lots of AEs (probably to raise the user's general irritation level).
At least, innocuous posts by that user go 'missing' ...

You see it sometimes too on other open forums.
Usually there, though, the kind of 'hands-on' moderation they use can pick up on it and deal with it.

torbrex

:silenced::silenced::silenced: