Forums

Jerzy, you're right!
Hmmmm......

Hi Jerzy

It is quite common that a mod can DELETE or BLOCK a thread at Internet.

BUT a mod can not suppress any opinion, individual 'time out' - or whatever a member may feel for.

Of course DELETING or BLOCKING a member is also a way to to do a little site CLEANSING, especially if your foremost wish is to make a Disneyland lookalike - but IMO not very wise.

...ehh.. just a general regard to how to organize forums at Internet. Nothing to do with TE of course.

Ref this article (also mentioned in another thread):

"When to step in and moderate your forum?
OK so that discussion has gone way out of hand so it's better to delete it and make it go away, right?

Nope, sorry no such luck.

As mentioned in the article, Dealing with Forum Spammers people visit your forums because they want to, not because they have to. And as such, the second you start imposing rules and in particular, censorship, people will not be happy!

So it's important to maintain a viable community that you and your moderators show a degree of subtlety when moderating posts. Generally, if a discussion requires noticeable moderation, then chances are that it's pretty heated. People comment because they want to have their say and if you take that away from them....well....it won't be pleasant!

When to lock a thread
When it degenerates into mud slinging
When the same arguments are made over and over
When people are getting offended
When the subject is completely off topic from the original subject
When all new posts are nonsense (applicable to threads that were initially informative)

It is advisable that when you lock a topic, you make the final post in the thread giving your reasons for doing so. It's really not a good idea to simply lock a thread with no reason given - it will leave the participants feeling uncertain about their own actions, even if they haven't done anything wrong.

In the same respect, if you or your moderators make changes to a post (ie you remove a brand name or URL), then you should add a comment to the end of it saying why.

Basically, whenever moderating a forum you have to be able to justify you actions in the interests of the entire community - it may still leave people angry or annoyed, but it will avoid major drama and flames! But keep in mind, it is still your baby, so feel free to lay down the law as you please - just remember if you are too tyrannical your peasants will rebel!"

ref. http://www.sellthosewidgets.com/articles/when_to_moderate_a_forum.htm

The thread was delated but I still strike !

i'll be there on 25, jack!
merry xmas to you and yours!

Yes... Why the photos are not back?

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Moderator

We have experienced data corruption on the suspended accounts of Scott Hale and Polonaise causing the photos of their accounts to be inaccessible. The tech. department is working to try to recover the data. Administrator have contacted Scott and George personally and let them know that this is in NO way punitive. This is a tech problem and nothing more. Please be patients.

Alex

Thank you.

Waiting for George's photos with great anticipation...

In the meantime : best wishes to all of you,
Hope that this saga will never happen again and that there won't be such destructive arguments in the future,

Peace and love,
Merry Christmas
Cath.

It is indeed rather frightening Claire...I hope this is going to be solved, and also that it's not going to happen again !!! We are waiting...

Now, to all of TE, from the child in me to the child in you (I hope everybody:-) :

Merry Christmas !>

Special for cat lovers :-)

Love,

Michèle

Still waiting for George as a whole package! >:P...

Merry Christmas to everyone :)...

les 7 jours sont passés, j'espère que polonaise reviendra cette nuit... il a écrit sur le forum
Bon noel Cath
francine

je reviens de l'église et qu'est ce que je constate... la photo que j'ai postée ce soir est supprimée.... j avais par erreur, écrit dessus/ merry Christmas.. donc merci administrateurs pour ce joyeux noel.... et pourtant je m'étais excusée sur le forum...
Bon Noel tout de même..