Notification for posts altered/deleted by a mod?

[Imber Ranae]

I've realized for a while now that the mods occasionally alter or delete our posts in complete stealth. That isn't generally a problem, especially when they're just joining two posts together that have been made in succession or something along similar lines, but at other times I've noticed posts of mine altered for seemingly inexplicable or silly reasons, and a few even deleted. I understand there's a need for cleanup in certain threads when things go all awry from rule-breaking, but it would be nice regardless to have some kind of notification when our posts are altered or deleted.

For a recent example, I just noticed that a post I made in the rolling quiz thread, which PP quoted in this post, was mysteriously deleted*. I'm not bristling at it or anything, seeing as it was pretty much a throw-away post to begin with, but it's an odd deletion to make when it was quoted right afterward and broke no rules in the first place. It just seems strange to me in general to have that level of anal moderation in the freewheeling sort of threads common to the Games sub-forum.


ETA: *I suppose I should also mention the possibility that the mods didn't delete the post in question and it was some sort of glitch or mistaken action on my own part that caused its disappearance. I know malleolus has complained in the past of posts of hers going mysteriously missing, but that never seemed to happen to me. My apologies if this is the case.

 

[Laurentius]

It just seems strange to me in general to have that level of anal moderation in the freewheeling sort of threads common to the Games sub-forum.

Lol never heard that expression.

 

[Imber Ranae]

I meant it in the sense of anal-retentiveness, not anything obscene.

 

[Pacifica]

Weird, I can see no reason why they would have wanted to delete that post. Did many other posts of yours get deleted? I haven't noticed any post of mine being deleted or modified recently (now I don't really check)...

 

[cinefactus]

I can truthfully say I don't even look at the games fora
Sometimes I have to delete content which becomes irrelevant after I have removed some inappropriate post.
Trying to notify everyone after I do a cleanup following a spam attack from Thomas Vulpius though would be a major job. I wonder if it could be done programatically.

 

[Aurifex]

For a recent example, I just noticed that a post I made in the rolling quiz thread, which PP quoted in this post, was mysteriously deleted*.

ETA: *I suppose I should also mention the possibility that the mods didn't delete the post in question and it was some sort of glitch or mistaken action on my own part that caused its disappearance. I know malleolus has complained in the past of posts of hers going mysteriously missing, but that never seemed to happen to me. My apologies if this is the case.

Is it your post number 48 that you're saying has been deleted? It's fully visible to me, with no indication it's been removed from public view. Pacis's post, which quotes post 48, is no longer publicly viewable, but it says it was deleted by her.

 

[Imber Ranae]

Weird, I can see no reason why they would have wanted to delete that post. Did many other posts of yours get deleted? I haven't noticed any post of mine being deleted or modified recently (now I don't really check)...

The only others that I'm aware of were deleted in the course of thread cleanups and such. So far this is the weirdest instance I've noticed.

I can truthfully say I don't even look at the games fora
Sometimes I have to delete content which becomes irrelevant after I have removed some inappropriate post.
Trying to notify everyone after I do a cleanup following a spam attack from Thomas Vulpius though would be a major job. I wonder if it could be done programatically.

I know that some forums have an automated system that will automatically send you a PM when a moderator has altered or otherwise moderated one of your posts. (Of course those tend to be larger and more popular sites, often with an elaborate system of different kinds of warnings for breaking different rules). In fact it was that sort of thing that I had in mind for notification, but I'm entirely ignorant of the limitations of the forum software.

 

[Imber Ranae]

Is it your post number 48 that you're saying has been deleted? It's fully visible to me, with no indication it's been removed from public view. Pacis's post, which quotes post 48, is no longer publicly viewable, but it says it was deleted by her.

#48 for me is the one with my question in it, which is still visible to me. It's the quote in post #49 that PP made which is missing: "Ugh. Give me a bit..." I know it's a pretty worthless post, but I still wonder where it went.


ETA: The missing post's forum-wide number appears to be #237292, which originally came right after #237291 (PP's thread post #47), but before my #237294 (thread post #48). I imagine #237293 was made in another thread (or perhaps one that PP deleted in that thread?).

[merged posts]

 

[Aurifex]

#48 for me is the one with my question in it, which is still visible to me. It's the quote in post #49 that PP made which is missing: "Ugh. Give me a bit..." I know it's a pretty worthless post, but I still wonder where it went.

Are you saying that the words "Ugh. Give me a bit..." that are still visible quoted in Pacis's post were originally part of your post 48, or perhaps a separate post entirely? And do the three dots at the end mean something has first been deleted from this sentence by someone other than you? I can't see any indication of a moderator's intervention in post 48 or Pacis's, and I can't see any indication of a deleted post (other than Pacis's) or of a moderator-edited one. If the words "Ugh. Give me a bit..." originally belonged to a post other than 48 can you say approximately on what page of the thread the post was made?
ETA? I see your edit giving the forum-wide number of the post. This is the crucial identifier, I suppose.

 

[Pacifica]

Yes, I deleted a post there. It was an answer to your question on the circle polymath, which I realized probably couldn't be right.

 

[Imber Ranae]

Are you saying that the words "Ugh. Give me a bit..." that are still visible quoted in Pacis's post were originally part of your post 48, or perhaps a separate post entirely?

A separate post, and I'm pretty sure those word were the whole post, including the ellipsis at the end.

 

[Aurifex]

I'm afraid I can't shed any more light on it at this stage. Hopefully Iohannes Aurum will be along soon and be able to get to the bottom of it.

 

[Imber Ranae]

I'm afraid I can't shed any more light on it at this stage. Hopefully Iohannes Aurum will be along soon and be able to get to the bottom of it.

Strange. Maybe it is the same thing malleolus encountered where her posts would sometimes mysteriously vanish after a time. You're normally able to see all posts that have been deleted, right? Or is it only if they've been deleted by the author?

 

[Aurifex]

You're normally able to see all posts that have been deleted, right? Or is it only if they've been deleted by the author?

A moderator can see all posts that have been deleted, even if it was another moderator who deleted them. The only circumstances in which this would not be possible, as far as I know, would be if the option to permanently delete a post was chosen rather than the soft delete option, which entails only removing it from public view. Mods generally never permanently delete a post, as there is nothing to be gained by it compared with deleting it from public view, and you lose something in having no record that the post was ever made in the first place.

 

[Iohannes Aurum]

Well, it is rather strange that some posts just disappear mysteriously.

I have no idea how that happened, despite having moderating many posts.

The good thing is that nothing major has been lost.

 

[cinefactus]

I know that some forums have an automated system that will automatically send you a PM when a moderator has altered or otherwise moderated one of your posts.

It sounds like a good idea, although I don't know how to implement it personally. Nick would know.

 

[Imber Ranae]

A moderator can see all posts that have been deleted, even if it was another moderator who deleted them. The only circumstances in which this would not be possible, as far as I know, would be if the option to permanently delete a post was chosen rather than the soft delete option, which entails only removing it from public view. Mods generally never permanently delete a post, as there is nothing to be gained by it compared with deleting it from public view, and you lose something in having no record that the post was ever made in the first place.

So it is a glitch then. Good to know.

 

[Pacifica]

How can you take it so casually? There's a breach in the Matrix; it may be on the point of collapsing, that's terrible!

 

[Imber Ranae]

I figured a collapse of the matrix would be a good thing, with us breaking free from our robot overlords and all that.

 

[Laurentius]

I figured a collapse of the matrix would be a good thing, with us breaking free from our robot overlords and all that.

I thought you lived in Michigan, not California.