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A little more Member Power


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Well, I have been getting into a few situations recently, ones that seem very small in significance, but are getting more in number. Let me just share 'em with ya'll:-

 

1- I can't edit or change the title of any topic I post. I need to ask a moderator to do it for me.

2- I can't remove/delete posts I've made. This one pisses me of the most. If I make a simple mistake like multi-posting, or just happened to click the "post" button too early by accident I have to go asking a mod for help.

3- I can't remove/delete a Topic I've started. This is a lot more understandable, but I still think a member should have the power to do this (without asking a mod)

4- When mods move threads around, they don't explain why. (sometimes)

(If anything here can be done without asking a mod, please enlighten me)

 

To be honest, I don't find any of these to be major problems worth mentioning on there own, but the fact that they all (except 4) seem to be coming from the same cause is alerting, this community seems to rely a little too much on mods to do stuff. Things as basic as editing a topics title or removing my own posts sound like basic stuff a member should do by himself, not have to waste a mods time for.

 

While I can let 3 slide (and 4 can be easily fixed), 1 and 2 just make me raise an eyebrow :huh:

 

(I apologize if the stuff I mentioned here are normal forums stuff, I'm not that use to 'em)

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1- If you edit the first post in thread, you can edit title and such.

2- They have to keep the embarrassing stuff in there, that was what I was answered when I complained a while back.

3- too much freedom here could cause confusion.

4- If they move the thread is because it doesn't belong in that subforum to begin with. Pretty much just because of that.

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Some of this has to do with the forum software. Again (not to sound like a broken record), they tell us the upcoming upgrade will bring lots of changes and increased user control.

 

1- If you edit the first post in thread, you can edit title and such.

2- They have to keep the embarrassing stuff in there, that was what I was answered when I complained a while back.

3- too much freedom here could cause confusion.

4- If they move the thread is because it doesn't belong in that subforum to begin with. Pretty much just because of that.

#1 -- Yukiru nailed it: clicking "edit" on the top post will give you a lot of options, including title changes and (in some forums) polls, etc.

 

 #2-3 -- Practical answer: It's a blend of software limitations and preventing confusion from disappearing topics. Philosophical answer upon which to ponder: Posting a topic is kind of like giving it to the community -- you surrender some control so others can participate.

 

#4 -- In theory staff should let you know when they move threads. Lately I've been really bad at doing so, however, so I may be the one at fault. Sorry about that.

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If members are given the power to delete any post, what are moderators for?

Members don't have that ability to delete posts so the staff is able to actually moderate the forum.

Just imagine topics/posts disappearing at random all the time, doesn't sound pleasant. If you really posted on accident then ask a moderator to delete your post, we don't bite.

 

Regarding number 4, if your thread is moved it's because it didn't belong in that section, that much should be enough of an explanation. There's no other reason for a thread to be moved other than "It doesn't belong in that forum".

 

If your thread/post was deleted/hidden it's likely because it violated the rules in some form and in that case you should be warned.

I've never once deleted a post/thread without telling the user why. (Unless it's a double post).

 

Don't be afraid to use the report button. Moderators are here for that reason.

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If members are given the power to delete any post, what are moderators for?

Well, I know deleting double-posts might look like most of what we do sometimes, but that's not supposed to be our main job.

 

About members having the ability to delete their posts, we're talking worst-case scenarios here. In reality, giving the ability to delete your posts doesn't induce any kind of anarchy at all (topics are a different matter of course) and most forums do it, without the users going crazy with it.

AFAIK the main reason was that giving the possibility created security loopholes in the system.

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Well I never said it's the moderators only job.

But as a nolifer that refreshes the front page every 5 minutes i appreciate when i'm relied on by members to do tasks like these.

Now that I think about it this is kind of depressing.

 

Well I still think it's good that not everyone is able to delete their posts anytime they want, mainly for security reasons.

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Members should be able to delete their own posts, as software limitations permit.  Deleting a post is no different than editing out all content, which is already possible--except the latter leaves a gaping wound in the thread, while the former doesn't.  Some forums go the opposite direction--they either don't let you edit posts at all (this leads to really sloppy writing), or they don't let you edit posts after a fixed period of time passes.  We're not negotiating financial transactions here so an inviolable record of all communication isn't exactly necessary.

 

Users shouldn't have the power to delete threads.  As soon as it displays in the forums someone could be writing a response to it, which belongs to them.  It's no longer "your" thread once it's publically posted.

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Wouldn't really care if members were able to delete their own posts. In fact, I'd probably browse all of my content and delete half of my early posts since it wouldn't be authority abuse anymore, lol.

It isn't much of a big deal to begin with. I don't remember the last time I deleted a post for non-serious reasons (save for double posting), must have been several months ago.

 

I'm against deleting threads, though. For reasons already mentioned above.

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A little off-topic but I just want to know if deleted posts are really deleted in the database or they are just transfered/hidden.

We can do either of them.

If we delete a post, it'll stick around in a place you can find in the mod control panel, so you can reestore it for a certain amount of hours before it is completely deleted (or you can just permanently delete it from there).

 

If it's hidden, it'll still be in the thread, but normal members can't see it.

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I disagree with allowing members to delete their posts. Having years of experience on another IPB forum, it seems like implementing such a thing would lead to more harm than good on a net scale. It simply causes confusion, and there's also the classic Facebook trick of making a controversial comment, waiting for the next person to write a directly critical reply, and then deleting your comment to make it appear that that person aimed it toward somebody else. Of course, such a specific situation would rarely occur, but I'm saying that it's possible to abuse this. If somebody has a truly good reason for which to have a post deleted, it seems like moderators are always available.

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It simply causes confusion, and there's also the classic Facebook trick of making a controversial comment, waiting for the next person to write a directly critical reply, and then deleting your comment to make it appear that that person aimed it toward somebody else.

People interested in debating a point will typically quote the relevant part of the post, which obviously can't be erased from the conversation anymore.  And assuming the reply is at all constructive and relevant, it should be specific enough that the topic would be clear even if the original post disappeared.  Such a "misdirection trick" only works if the reply was lazily written to begin with--and on well moderated forums like this such abusers would be quickly identified and slapped on the wrist.

 

Notice that if you deleted your post right now, the arguments in this post would stand alone--even if the quote was removed.  It might be unclear why I wrote it, but the information content wouldn't change.

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