Include deleted post in moderation message.

Lethe said:

Credit where it's due, that's a good line.

I've had posts deleted without warning or notice before. It's frustrating, I get it. But here's the thing... it's not all about you, or me.

Moderating a place like this is work, and there are only a handful of volunteers doing that work in their spare time. The trade-off for maintaining a reasonable level of quality and scope of discussion without creating an overwhelming workload is that there is a degree of expediency and individual whim in how the moderators conduct themselves. Considering the alternatives of either a complete breakdown in standards, or having many popular discussion topics banned outright, I think that's something most are prepared to accept. Nobody likes being shut down, but there are evidently reasons why you wanted to post here, and those qualities are the product of the system that is in place.

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As I wrote before, I think a practical way of modifying the forum's system is to enable users to see their own deleted posts (but have no way of quoting or replying to them etc of course).

In general, most of us mods try to put in a separate mod post in red or blue text, explaining that various posts have been deleted with either a rationale after (or sometimes before) a post is deleted.
But if we're deleting multiple posts especially if it's over multiple pages, it just isn't practical to write a unique explanation why each post is deleted, even if it is just a few words.



For people who feel offended by having their posts deleted seemingly without a clear reason, take comfort in that it isn't personal (unless you are specifically called out in the thread by a moderator for being a non-productive contributor).

Blitzo said:

As I wrote before, I think a practical way of modifying the forum's system is to enable users to see their own deleted posts (but have no way of quoting or replying to them etc of course).

In general, most of us mods try to put in a separate mod post in red or blue text, explaining that various posts have been deleted with either a rationale after (or sometimes before) a post is deleted.
But if we're deleting multiple posts especially if it's over multiple pages, it just isn't practical to write a unique explanation why each post is deleted, even if it is just a few words.



For people who feel offended by having their posts deleted seemingly without a clear reason, take comfort in that it isn't personal (unless you are specifically called out in the thread by a moderator for being a non-productive contributor).

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We need some shepherd to herd us anyway, the suggestion was interesting but if it's not feasible no need to argue about it. Thank you for your hard work moderators even if you make us angry sometimes, lol !

Blitzo said:

As I wrote before, I think a practical way of modifying the forum's system is to enable users to see their own deleted posts (but have no way of quoting or replying to them etc of course).

In general, most of us mods try to put in a separate mod post in red or blue text, explaining that various posts have been deleted with either a rationale after (or sometimes before) a post is deleted.
But if we're deleting multiple posts especially if it's over multiple pages, it just isn't practical to write a unique explanation why each post is deleted, even if it is just a few words.



For people who feel offended by having their posts deleted seemingly without a clear reason, take comfort in that it isn't personal (unless you are specifically called out in the thread by a moderator for being a non-productive contributor).

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Now my thread was more aimed at @Webmaster as a feature suggestion, but I would also like to ask moderators to kindly copy-paste the deleted content in the moderation message. An explanation is always appreciated, but for myself at least, including the deleted post without any explanation would be more useful than having an explanation without the deleted message.

solarz said:

Now my thread was more aimed at @Webmaster as a feature suggestion, but I would also like to ask moderators to kindly copy-paste the deleted content in the moderation message. An explanation is always appreciated, but for myself at least, including the deleted post without any explanation would be more useful than having an explanation without the deleted message.

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That is really way too complex.

Think about how many posts we have to delete sometimes and how much time would have to be spent copying a post and putting it into a moderation message.

Putting it into a publicly available moderation message also defeats the point of deleting posts, because it allows *everyone* to see what was written and risk further arguments/thread derailment etc.
The point of deleting posts is so people can not see what was written before and move on.


I agree that if there was a way to automatically convey the deleted post to the person that posted it, that would be useful.
But in absence of such a way, and having to do so manually, it is simply far too time consuming.


The way that the current method for deleting posts and conveying them to users exists for a reason, it's because anything else is just too impractical and we don't have the time for it.


In other words, this is as good as it's going to get with the current system of the forum's moderation function.

Blitzo said:

That is really way too complex.

Think about how many posts we have to delete sometimes and how much time would have to be spent copying a post and putting it into a moderation message.

Putting it into a publicly available moderation message also defeats the point of deleting posts, because it allows *everyone* to see what was written and risk further arguments/thread derailment etc.
The point of deleting posts is so people can not see what was written before and move on.


I agree that if there was a way to automatically convey the deleted post to the person that posted it, that would be useful.
But in absence of such a way, and having to do so manually, it is simply far too time consuming.


The way that the current method for deleting posts and conveying them to users exists for a reason, it's because anything else is just too impractical and we don't have the time for it.


In other words, this is as good as it's going to get with the current system of the forum's moderation function.

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I don't mean the publicly available moderation message, I mean the private notification that you get when one of your posts get deleted.

solarz said:

I don't mean the publicly available moderation message, I mean the private notification that you get when one of your posts get deleted.

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That's even more difficult then.

The way we delete posts is by clicking "select post," and then "delete". And in the "delete" option there is the ability to put a short message.
However, the message part is very small, only allowing very short messages.


And more often than not, when we do delete posts it's more than just one -- it can be a whole page of ten posts, or sometimes multiple pages of dozens of posts, and the way we delete those is by clicking "select post" for multiple posts and then clicking "delete" which will collectively delete all of the highlighted posts.

To do what you suggested, we would have to individually click "select post"->"delete"->write message for each individual single post, for perhaps up to 30 posts at a time when things get very hairy.


Perhaps some of the moderators have the time to do what you suggested, but speaking for myself I definitely do not and don't consider that a valuable use of my time.


The best way of solving this issue, would be if the person who wrote a deleted post can still see what they wrote in a "hidden" manner but not viewable to others, but that would need the forum's system to change.

But otherwise, people will have to accept this inconvenience, and accept that the public moderator's message is the most that will be present for now, and to trust the judgement and common sense of the moderators.

I like to second solarz request but with a slight change.

Is there a way to have the deleted post show up only under your Profile page?

This is assuming that the deleted post can still be accessed. I know you can review all your posts under "Your Profile" -> "Postings" but currently deleted posts are not shown.

Blitzo said:

The best way of solving this issue, would be if the person who wrote a deleted post can still see what they wrote in a "hidden" manner but not viewable to others, but that would need the forum's system to change.

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Does anyone in the web administration team know if Blitzo's comment above is possible with changing a few settings in the current software? Or, does it require switching over to a new forum software (i.e. moving away from XenForo)?

H2O said:

I like to second solarz request but with a slight change.

Is there a way to have the deleted post show up only under your Profile page?

This is assuming that the deleted post can still be accessed. I know you can review all your posts under "Your Profile" -> "Postings" but currently deleted posts are not shown.

Does anyone in the web administration team know if Blitzo's comment above is possible with changing a few settings in the current software? Or, does it require switching over to a new forum software (i.e. moving away from XenForo)?

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Any kind of information about what was deleted would be very helpful. I just got another delete notification from the Ukraine War thread with the message of "refrain from dragging in hypotheticals", and I honestly can't recall anything I've posted that would have fit that criteria. It really makes me feel like I have no idea what I'm allowed to post in that thread.

solarz said:

Any kind of information about what was deleted would be very helpful. I just got another delete notification from the Ukraine War thread with the message of "refrain from dragging in hypotheticals", and I honestly can't recall anything I've posted that would have fit that criteria. It really makes me feel like I have no idea what I'm allowed to post in that thread.

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At least your message was more insightful than "Stop This."

This is something which is on my todo list. So as soon as I find a way to add, it will be done.