[wp-forums] Forum moderation

[Lara at Anubis Marketing]

Okay - so while it's clear that when there are a lot of insulting posts that
it takes some deleting to make things coherent enough, and it's not really a
great idea to go opening up closed threads - this brings me back to the
original point that whooami made, which was that simply closing a thread and
leaving it at that might not be the best way to handle things.

In the case of whoo's thread, when HS came upon it, wouldn't the better
choice have been to delete the useless post, the reply to that post, his
reply, and the final reply, and then, if warranted, close it? I know that
"one person comes out of it looking intelligent and constructive. The other
does not." makes sense, but in the future when someone goes to read the
thread, they're going to hit the "what!?" moment, and probably, like I did,
ignore the constructive parts afterward... 

In the case of the thread where I was insulted - again, closing it without
deleting the flames and insults does nothing but show people that the rules
and statements of "section B" in the forum rules post about deleting them
AREN'T followed. In that case, since there were so many back and forths
between 3 or 4 people, wouldn't the rule about deleting the whole thing come
into play? Why leave it sitting out there like that? (We all know I feel
this same way about a thread that erupted a few months ago... and still goes
undeleted.) I think it drags down the morale of the people involved more
than anything else... as well as that of those who view it.

Take a look at this: http://wordpress.org/support/topic/78030 - this person
STARTED their post expecting to get flamed and insulted for "not searching"
or "not reading" - now, where would they get that idea from? Probably from
another thread they saw on the WP forum where that exact thing happened. Do
we want to show the world that insults result in nothing more than a closed
thread?? It's likely to make people afraid to ask a question, or as in this
case, will lead them to fill the first half of their question with a
"disclaimer" so they don't get insulted.

I can see the point you've made, Podz - I really can. I just can't agree
with it. I don't think that leaving anything like this in place is good. I
know that I for one, will either refuse to post anywhere deko's had a say,
for fear I'll get hit with a fat joke again, or the next time I see him
insulting someone or something (which he's already done), I'll not be able
to hold my tongue. 

And by leaving Yosemite's inane comments, someone new might think it's okay
to add non-necessary commentary to someone's thread where they're working
out a problem.

See how the whole thing snowballs if things are left undeleted? If threads
are closed without removing the offending posts, and stating so? No one
learns anything, and those insulted are left sitting there with no recourse,
only to have everyone who sees that thread laugh at their expense. Believe
me, I've been laughed at my whole life for being overweight... I don't need
some asshole in a support forum to bully me. But to go there and see that
there's no protection for people... and a lack of professionalism on behalf
of the users AND the mods (professionalism is more than clicking a button to
close a thread - it's a matter of HANDLING the problem properly)... it's
pretty disheartening to both long-term users as well as newer ones.


Thanks,
Lara