Content Disappearance and Search Errors

[eidos]

ZippityDooDah said:

Sid the SeaGull said:

Thanks zip, that clears things up. It was a solid doc with a ton of research behind it, and it helped me verify vendors. If the newer folks don't get it, then I suppose that's just a consequence we have to accept.

Looking further ahead, maybe having extra sections that only open up privately after you reach a higher rank could address this. Of course, that's much simpler to suggest than to actually do, and it's likely not feasible or realistic to pull off. The forum works well the way it is

Setting up private sections isn't something I'm eager to do. That said, if the thread had originally gone into the Research Lab section rather than the Public Square section, this probably wouldn't have happened.

Far too many users just throw their threads into the Public Square by default (which is irritating on its own), and that raises the odds of trouble considerably whenever sources come up for discussion. Being a bit more deliberate about picking the right section for a thread would likely prevent most thread deletions.

Got it. Thanks

 

[IronCircuit]

@ZippityDooDah

After getting those links because I raised the same question, I get it: going through each person one by one to teach them when the forum rules are already up would eat up time, and you don't see it as something you have to do.

Still, when posts packed with useful information vanish like this, the members end up losing out. That particular one had a ton of information. What I had posted and lost was along the same lines.

A short boilerplate notice attached to posts as a heads-up might not be a terrible idea. Or being able to relocate a post somewhere else (no clue whether that can be done). Figuring out where a given piece of content belongs isn't always obvious. That could have been what tripped me up as well.

 

[ZippityDooDah]

IronCircuit said:

@ZippityDooDah

After getting those links because I raised the same question, I get it: going through each person one by one to teach them when the forum rules are already up would eat up time, and you don't see it as something you have to do.

Still, when posts packed with useful information vanish like this, the members end up losing out. That particular one had a ton of information. What I had posted and lost was along the same lines.

A short boilerplate notice attached to posts as a heads-up might not be a terrible idea. Or being able to relocate a post somewhere else (no clue whether that can be done). Figuring out where a given piece of content belongs isn't always obvious. That could have been what tripped me up as well.

With close to 60,000 members and roughly 1000 new posts coming in every day, the plain fact is that the mods and I lack both the time and the desire to supervise each individual post and thread by hand, or to send out notices whenever a post or thread gets edited, moved, or removed.

If a post or thread has vanished, you can reasonably figure that something brought that about, and unless you received a warning about particular content, the cause is probably other members breaking forum rules or policies rather than any judgment on how worthwhile the topic was or on whoever began the discussion.

For the most part we count on members working together to police content themselves, so when inappropriate or problematic posts appear, such as newbies discussion sourcing, it falls to established members to decline to engage, call out the violations, and report that content. Without that sort of 'group moderation', once a thread accumulates too many problem posts, it will just be deleted.

 

[eidos]

ZippityDooDah said:


We rely on members to act cooperatively to self-police most content, and when inappropriate or problem posts such as newbies discussion sourcing are made it's up to established members to refuse to engage them, point out violations, and report such content.

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I held back at first, but since you've now approved, I'll begin my new career as a sycophant. ;-)

Thanks for building this forum and for keeping it running. A few years back I started a forum for a nonprofit group of roughly a hundred professionals, then dropped it soon after, so I know from experience how much effort it demands.

Typically, new subreddits go bad within 3 to 4 weeks. Here that doesn't appear to occur, and I hope it continues that way.

This is the one spot where a dependable, unbiased list of CN sources can be found. I'd gladly pay just for that alone (please don't shoot!).

 

[Vriende]

ZippityDooDah said:


We rely on members to act cooperatively to self-police most content, and when inappropriate or problem posts such as newbies discussion sourcing are made it's up to established members to refuse to engage them, point out violations, and report such content.

Click to expand...

eidos said:


I was hesitant, but now you've given your green light, I'm going to start a career as a sycophant. ;-)

Click to expand...

Yeah, that's reassuring to hear; I had doubts too.