Spiffy, Vin & Other TBN members,
Bird doesn’t need to take the time to respond, but I will.
The moderation function occurs much differently from what some members seem to imagine. No moderators are "out to get" anyone. It is an amazingly unemotional process, with considerable discussion before any specific post or thread is pulled.
In the past 30 days, there were about 110 posts moderated. It may have been a post within a thread, or the whole thread -- I don’t have time right now to look it all up and analyze.
There were a total of 20,676 posts in the past 30 days. So.... that means 110 deletes equals about .532% (about a half of one percent) of pests (ooops! I meant "posts" /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif were deleted.
That includes perhaps half that were posted to the wrong forum, were dupes, or whatever. So, in actuality, less than two tenths of one percent (.2%) of all posts actually get tossed out.
The main thing is, the moderators use a very LIGHT TOUCH on all of your posts, despite what you may imagine.
Also in this same period of time, to decide that those measly little 110 posts should be deleted, moderators posted 247 posts that were "discussion" -- in some manner -- of the moderated threads. Bear in mind that many removed posts, dupes, inline pic errors and the like, get no discussion.
So, for every moderated post, there is around 4-6 exchanges among moderators per deleted post. Obviously some get more discussion than others.
But, you may REST ASSURED that there has NEVER been a post removed or otherwise moderated on TBN, simply due to the distaste of a moderator for a poster or the topic.
Believe me, there are PLENTY of posts that I personally do not think "deserve" to be posted. But hey, we're very open-minded.
Moderators are human, just like you. Yes, out of a half million posts, maybe four or five times, a moderator got "carried away” and perhaps acted hastily. If their own post was out of line, it was removed (EVEN MINE!!! /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif). If they acted too quickly, after reflection with other moderators, posts get put back. Sometimes parts of threads get clipped accidentally. Etc. etc.
It is not my intent or purpose to justify or explain -- beyond what is in our operational statements and TOS, how and why we do things here -- it should be obvious enough.
To Summarize and hopefully close this topic...
1) The current "problem" started because someone posted a "joke." He admitted here that he KNEW JOKES ARE NOT PERMITTED --- yet he chose to post anyway. He has been around long enough to know better. He continues to argue that jokes OUGHT to be permitted, because he sees nothing really wrong with it. Too bad. This will not end well with such an attitude. We don’t give much leeway to people who think it is their job to argue with and change our rules. They not only create the wrong atmosphere in TBN, but also waste time of moderators and other staff. At the least, they are being inconsiderate.
2) The past two weeks has been an extraordinarily emotional and sad time for all Americans. Hurricane Katrina is an event that has no comparable scale of destruction in my own lifetime (I'm an "old timer"). It is especially difficult to watch all of this unfold, and want so badly to help, yet be forced to sit by helplessly as people perish before our eyes. We allowed some posts to continue more as a “safety value” and because it is not realistic to expect people not to care about or want to express about this topic.
It was MY DECISION to pull the "10,000 Deaths” thread, because it was inevitably running into an accusatory "political" thread. It had nothing whatsoever as to who had posted to the thread. I didn't even look.
Everyone had their say, and the topic was skidding off the road and starting to fishtail. When that happens, we delete threads, and, we do not expect people to start them up again under similar or identical topics.
Dear and Beloved TBN members, new and old alike --- go back to your postings. Fall is neigh upon us. Leaves to rake, pumpkins to harvest, wood to cut, and all kinds of directly relevant COMPACT TRACTOR stuff --- has been ignored. Let's get back to what we truly love -- doing our CUT business as only WE CAN DO!
Everyone is forgiven and all are welcome in this sandbox … Just don’t forget to Play By The Rules. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
All the best,
