More and more threads removed?

robatwork

Any ideas why so many seemingly innocuous threads are getting completely removed? This is definitely getting worse recently, and the way the forum works, contributors are left with no idea why the thread was removed. 

For example in the last 2 days, on the Banking forum the "Kroo bank accounts" thread was removed. On the House buying forum, the "Mortgage time bomb" thread was removed.

It's disheartening as a contributor to a sometimes informative discussion that it's just gone to be replaced with a 

Permission Problem

You don't have permission to do that

message. To the uninitiated, this message doesn't make sense anyway. It means "thread removed".

Surely better to either leave a closed thread in place, or replace it with a link that explains briefly why it's been removed. 

p00hsticks

robatwork said:

It's disheartening as a contributor to a sometimes informative discussion that it's just gone to be replaced with a 

Permission Problem

You don't have permission to do that

I don't know but I suspect that the key word here is 'discussion'. Pre-Covid there were several boards on the forum that were foccussed on broad ranging general discussions - including one on 'the housing market and the economy' and an even more general 'Discussion Time'. These apparently required a lot of moderating, and were closed down.

The House buying,renting and selling includes the following notice at the top of the board. 

'While we understand that mentioning house prices may sometimes be relevant to a user's specific MoneySaving situation, we ask that you please avoid veering into broad, general debates about the market, the economy and politics, as these can unfortunately lead to abusive or hateful behaviour. Threads that are found to have derailed into wider discussions may be removed. Users who repeatedly disregard this may have their Forum account banned.'

I'm pretty sure that this is what will have happened to the Mortgage Time Bomb' thread- indeed, I believe that someone actually  pointed the OP of that thread to the now closed discussion board. I can't comment on the Kroo Bank one as I didn;t see it ....    

swingaloo

I think its a blip as the threads are still there. If its one of your bookmarked threads, when you click on the notification bell at the top of the page and then on the most recent comment you get that message. However, if you scroll down to a previous reply on the same thread and click on that the thread will still be there. 

robatwork

swingaloo said:

I think its a blip as the threads are still there. If its one of your bookmarked threads, when you click on the notification bell at the top of the page and then on the most recent comment you get that message. However, if you scroll down to a previous reply on the same thread and click on that the thread will still be there. 

I can't see the threads that I referred to in my OP. Neither from a link to my previous comments, nor in the list of forum topics. Also can't see them by doing a search.

If you can see for example the Kroo bank one, please post a link to it that I can click

p00hsticks

swingaloo said:

I think its a blip as the threads are still there. If its one of your bookmarked threads, when you click on the notification bell at the top of the page and then on the most recent comment you get that message. However, if you scroll down to a previous reply on the same thread and click on that the thread will still be there. 

I'm pretty sure that the 'Mortgage Time Bomb' one has completely disappeared, as I posted a comment on it to point out that the 'House Prices and Economy' board that someone mentioned on the thread was closed to new posts, and I can no longer see that post when I look under 'my replies'. 

MSE_JC

Hi @robatwork

Thanks for the feedback. We'd like to reassure you that there's been no change to the rules or the degree to which they're enforced. However, on occasion there may be a spate of threads that need removal which can make it seem like we're suddenly being heavy handed.

In some situations, simply closing the thread is not the most appropriate response. For one, if a thread is against the rules but is still visible, then it might encourage other users to post similar content. Or boards may become clogged with closed rule-breaking threads and so it becomes more difficult for Forumites to see useful discussions.

We don't relish having to remove discussions, but may be obliged to because the central topic of the thread is in breach of our rules, or the topic might be fine but the opening post is inappropriate, or a thread has derailed to the point where it is no longer salvageable (even by removing individual posts).

We appreciate that not knowing why a thread has suddenly been removed may sometimes be confusing, but our stance on not discussing individual moderation decisions stems from both a user privacy and a resource perspective. There are many circumstances in which it would be inappropriate to publicly announce the reason why a thread has been taken down, and given the sheer scope of a Forum this size it wouldn't practical for the team to upload an explanation each time a thread is removed.

However, we are always happy to clarify any rules that people are unsure about.

Thanks,

MSE JC