Over moderating

[Wookie]

None. There shouldn’t be any warnings about impending censorship, because there shouldn’t be any censorship.

You might prefer twitter, or Facebook, or Parler. But if you want to participate here, you are subject to the same ToS everyone else is. If you want to consider that Censorship, so be it.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Did the OP object or any member report it? Why should the moderator interfere other than him not liking other member's choice of song and music and censoring it?

I interfered as you put it, because it was off topic and as moderator had already requested 2 or 3 times that member love be expressed in another more appropriate thread.

A real thread cleanup would have deleted at least a dozen more posts.

 

[NAM001]

wow after reading this I have to wonder why other threads do not have posts removed for being grossly off topic, perhaps the OP should have the power to make those decisions also and a statistic generated who has had how many off topic posts removed. It sure would keep the pot stirrers and posters for the sake of arguing held at bay. I cant count how many times I have started to read a thread and then it goes some place weird or the spelling police gets called in top take things further off topic. We have all seen it participated in it as well as contributed to it. I think this should happen more often. I have periodically considered leaving SB because of all the hijacking. As it is I just dont come here that much any more.

 

[OTF]

So to get back on topic... and hopefully to the core of this issue... in my and @Zef 's posts which were removed from this discussion we brought up people/threads in which the OPs got argumentative with other users and mashed on the report button, prompting moderator intervention leading to lots of deleted posts. Zef without naming names, and in my case without even mentioning a specific thread.

I suppose invoking these OPs was enough to count as "being mean to other members". This doesn't seem overly mean to me.

So my question is where's the line? What's the bar? Is it really that low? How should we handle posting criticism when it's warranted? Criticism is a necessary part of learning, betterment, analysis, and open democratic discourse. I understand and accept not being allowed to call someone an a-hole here (even though I think we should be able to) but not being allowed to say anything negative at all seems a bit tough to navigate.

As for threads going off-topic, yeah, I get that. But threads going off-topic can be fun, funny, or fascinating. At that point it seems better to lock the thread, warn, or temporarily ban users rather than delete posts. At least preserve what was said. Deleting messages from the record is the kind of drastic measure that (in my opinion) should be reserved for illegal stuff or spam.

 

[MaxE]

wow after reading this I have to wonder why other threads do not have posts removed for being grossly off topic, perhaps the OP should have the power to make those decisions also and a statistic generated who has had how many off topic posts removed. It sure would keep the pot stirrers and posters for the sake of arguing held at bay. I cant count how many times I have started to read a thread and then it goes some place weird or the spelling police gets called in top take things further off topic. We have all seen it participated in it as well as contributed to it. I think this should happen more often. I have periodically considered leaving SB because of all the hijacking. As it is I just dont come here that much any more.

Well if you feel that way please stay on topic and limmit your posts to complaining about the moderators.

 

[Centrals]

I have no problem with the moderators even though I did not agree with some of their moderation.
We all have different ideas on everything.
I have posts removed even in PUB!

 

[uncfnp]

At the risk of staying on topic is it not true that the degree to which off topic posts are tolerated is largely at the discretion of the original poster?

 

[letterboy]

At the risk of staying on topic is it not true that the degree to which off topic posts are tolerated is largely at the preference of the original poster?

I can say that's not true.

Any post that offends anyone can be moderated, if reported. Ask me how I know that's true...

 

[Bob DBF]

wow after reading this I have to wonder why other threads do not have posts removed for being grossly off topic...

Usually it's because someone reports the post and a mod cleans it up. I've had posts deleted for being off topic, and others further off topic left alone. It really depends on the members in the discussion.

 

[OTF]

What or where is the pub?