Forum Suggestions & User Assistance - Forum Police. Look What They do here:

I've been to a number of forums in my time and everyone polices them in vague and inconsistant ways. Here is a forum that seems to have found a very definitive way of handling threads that break rules.

They post the rules somewhere and number them. (http://forum.digital-digest.com/faq.php?faq=vb_faq#faq_forum_rules) (scroll down)

Then they site the infraction. IOW, thread close-------> see rule #10. (http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?t=58896) (they link to rule #10)

Seems very clean, neat and tidy!

http://www.digital-digest.com/~blutach/closed_mobster.jpg

Come again?

Come again?

What did you not understand? Thought it was pretty straightforward...

Well I was not sure if you what you were adressing other than showing that some sites are not as enforcing with their rules. I wasn't sure if there was like a question involved or something.

hi565.... what Ranger's getting at is...

When a thread is closed on BF, is it possible to cite why the post was closed based on the agreements that members agreed to when they signed up for BF? And maybe a link to the agreements?

This might be more instructional than a picture of a package of Lock-Tite Glue or whatever.

That might eliminate some of the additional "Why was my post locked and/or deleted?" threads....

Straightforward, I think that's a good assessment.

hi565.... what Ranger's getting at is...

When a thread is closed on BF, is it possible to cite why the post was closed based on the agreements that members agreed to when they signed up for BF? And maybe a link to the agreements?

This might be more instructional than a picture of a package of Lock-Tite Glue or whatever.

That might eliminate some of the additional "Why was my post locked and/or deleted?" threads....

Ohhhhhhh ok, that makes sense! :D (Some of us here are slow sometimes ;) )

Ohhhhhhh ok, that makes sense! :D (Some of us here are slow sometimes ;) )

That's why the good lord saw fit to grow tequila bottles on trees. :D

hi565.... what Ranger's getting at is...

When a thread is closed on BF, is it possible to cite why the post was closed based on the agreements that members agreed to when they signed up for BF? And maybe a link to the agreements?

This might be more instructional than a picture of a package of Lock-Tite Glue or whatever.

That might eliminate some of the additional "Why was my post locked and/or deleted?" threads....

Thanks, thought i was losing it there for a minute. ;) If you look at the links i provided, you will see that when a mod closes a thread he doesn't just close it and say, "thread closed!" When this happens here at BF there is often another thread started where the OP questions why his thread was locked or closed. From there everyone argues back and forth.

The smarter way is the way they are doing it in the examples i provided.

Mod locks thread.

Links to the exact rule that was violated. End of story.

Sure some will try and argue the gray areas but at least the forum community understands what the violation was. It's sort of like comparing the officiating of NASCAR to the NFL.

In NASCAR, they sort of make rules up as they go along. They often never point to a "rule" that was violated. They just say, "because we said so."

Whereas in the NFL there are more often rules that were clearly violated and can be cited.

You're not trying to imply that BF is the NASCAR of bicycling boards, are you???

:eek:


:roflmao:

Here is another example of a closed thread that links to the infraction. (http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?t=59148)


http://img321.imageshack.us/img321/8665/mobster5ug.jpg

I like Koffee's style. She will warn you with an explanation, she may PM you with a warning, then if she does lock the thread, she will explain why. When I see those locked threads on the forum you linked us to, it just feels like someone started swinging the hatchet. Just kind of cuts you off with a cookie cutter link. Done. Over. Too Bad. La tee dah. *sigh*

In all fairness folks, i think a lot of the time members KNOW why a thread was closed. We dont just go closing them for the fun of it. When a thread starts going out of control, and forum guidelines are being broken (often with pictures), we close it.
Ontop of that, often enough members themselves bring these threads to our attention using the SPAM feature. It should not be a mystery...

It should not be a mystery...

No. It shouldn't. That is why my idea would be good. It would eliminate any potential mystery. Whereas now, it still exists. If it didn't, there wouldn't be so much debate when a thread gets locked.

Thanks, thought i was losing it there for a minute. ;) If you look at the links i provided, you will see that when a mod closes a thread he doesn't just close it and say, "thread closed!" When this happens here at BF there is often another thread started where the OP questions why his thread was locked or closed. From there everyone argues back and forth.

The smarter way is the way they are doing it in the examples i provided.

Mod locks thread.

Links to the exact rule that was violated. End of story.

Sure some will try and argue the gray areas but at least the forum community understands what the violation was. It's sort of like comparing the officiating of NASCAR to the NFL.

In NASCAR, they sort of make rules up as they go along. They often never point to a "rule" that was violated. They just say, "because we said so."

Whereas in the NFL there are more often rules that were clearly violated and can be cited.


I don't think linking to a rule is required. Sometimes threads aren't always breaking the rules explicitly but become unmanageable. When they get to that point they will be closed.

But I do agree, a real explanation works. I know I try to leave a detailed note as to why the thread was closed. To be honest, I thought most of us did this.

No. It shouldn't. That is why my idea would be good. It would eliminate any potential mystery. Whereas now, it still exists. If it didn't, there wouldn't be so much debate when a thread gets locked.

Well I don't know if you are refering to a specific thread, but the last big thread that was locked there were MANY MANY MANY explanations. Some people are just ignorant towards certain mods. It took 2 other mods coming in a posting to get the explanation across. Other threads I am unsure of but I saw 3 other posts asking "why was this thread closed" when there was enough explanation in the original thread.

Do you realize how frustrating that is for us?

I think this thread should be locked. Do I just hit the SPAM button?

(just kidding!)

You mods do a bang-up job. Cheers!

i really cannot for the life of me understand what the constant confusion is regarding deleted or moved threads and posts. the sheer amount of energy required to keep hammering at this topic is astonishing. it's truly a drag on the good people of this forum to weed through countless threads titled "gee golly, what happened to my dang post?".

i really cannot for the life of me understand what the constant confusion is regarding deleted or moved threads and posts. the sheer amount of energy required to keep hammering at this topic is astonishing. it's truly a drag on the good people of this forum to weed through countless threads titled "gee golly, what happened to my dang post?".
agreed.

i really cannot for the life of me understand what the constant confusion is regarding deleted or moved threads and posts. the sheer amount of energy required to keep hammering at this topic is astonishing. it's truly a drag on the good people of this forum to weed through countless threads titled "gee golly, what happened to my dang post?".

So what is your point? Do you agree with my idea or not?

why did my MERTON thread get closed? I posted it and then came back 12hrs later and it was gone

just curious, and I stated in the original post that if it got negative or anyone dissed MERTON then I wanted it deleted--maybe that's what happened

but three other mods saw it before it was closed, so the thread itself was not offensive, someone must've got out of line? no?

why did my MERTON thread get closed? I posted it and then came back 12hrs later and it was gone

This cuts to the heart of the Original Post in this thread.... if something gets closed/locked/deleted, why, oh why, is it happening without a clear explanation?

The MERTON quote thread was cool! Even MERTON was posting in it. That's the kind of thread that makes Foo a cool sub-forum.

We sound whiny here, but it ain't like we were outing anyone in that thread.