Topic Deletion Query and Feedback

[Pavel]

@IoleRae said in Topic Deletion Query and Feedback:

There’s no record retention law that covers this stuff

Sure there is. The Pavel Wants It That Way Act of 1995.

ETA: That said, people can just ask for a thread to be deleted. As I said to another who raised a similar point, privately, I’d rather delete one thread than undelete ten.

[junipersky]

I’m against it. I would rather it be locked so no one can be a dickhole further, but I want the evidence of dickishness to remain.

[Roadspike]

My feeling is similar to @IoleRae – but I voted ‘no,’ because of the caveat that she suggested. I don’t have a problem with posters being able to delete their own posts (we all say stupid shit sometimes), and I don’t care if the original post in a thread is blank because it’s been deleted by the original poster, but I think that once a post has been responded to, the thread belongs to the community (as much as it belongs to anyone) even if the individual posts belong to those who posted them.

[Pavel]

@Roadspike As far as I can tell, the system doesn’t do caveats. It’s either/or. Either we let anyone delete their topics, or we allow no one to delete them.

I’m sure the other admin will agree to delete a thread containing only one deleted post.

[Faraday]

It would irritate me to be having a discussion with other people in a thread and then have the OP just nuke it all.

They can always ask admin to split off responses to a separate thread so they’re not getting pinged with notifications, or lock the thread if it’s gone off the rails. But squelching the discussion altogether feels like knocking over someone else’s toys in the sandbox. The OP is just the first poster, not the only or most important one.

[Pavel]

@Faraday If notifications are the irritant, they can do what all YouTubers ask them to do and click the bell button.

Perhaps I should write up a forum functionality FAQ to reference. Or find one Node did already.

[Faraday]

@Pavel said in Topic Deletion Query and Feedback:

@Faraday If notifications are the irritant, they can do what all YouTubers ask them to do and click the bell button.

I didn’t know if you could unsubcribe notifications from your own post or whether they baked in. At any rate, I was just wracking my brain for some legitimate reason why the OP might be different from anyone else in the thread (who can delete what they said, but not what everyone else said too). It was hard to find one.

[Prospero]

FYI, since it hasn’t been mentioned so far in the thread, a deleted thread can be restored by either the OP or users with the “Topic Management” power. It is not lost forever if deleted, it is in fact just archived where only the OP and Topic Management users can view it.

In case that reframes anyone’s thoughts on the topic - If the admin feel that a topic should not be allowed to be deleted (to hide dickery, or because there was robust and useful discussion that followed it) they can restore it without much problem or loss to the community.

At least in my mind, with those risks negated, I don’t see the harm in allowing an OP to delete a thread which was either put in the wrong place or is having dramatically different results than what they intended (but not deleting it maliciously or to hide any wrong-doing).

[Faraday]

@Prospero said in Topic Deletion Query and Feedback:

If the admin feel that a topic should not be allowed to be deleted (to hide dickery, or because there was robust and useful discussion that followed it) they can restore it without much problem or loss to the community.

What would prompt this, though? Are they notified if it happens and will routinely review such threads? I think it’s a less-viable fallback if we have to just hope that someone is like: “Hey, where did that thread go… huh I wonder if the OP deleted it… maybe I should ask the admin”.

[Pavel]

@Prospero said in Topic Deletion Query and Feedback:

If the admin feel that a topic should not be allowed to be deleted

That’s not our call, though. Folks 'round here want light moderation/administration, so we opt to make fewer decisions requiring our opinion.

Secondly, we generally don’t operate as individuals, with most decisions (I think all of them, but I’ll weasel just in case I’m wrong) requiring two of the three of us to agree. So in the time it takes for someone to notice a thread/topic is deleted, tell us, and for us to then meet to discuss whether it should be restored… that’s enough time for a conversation to die, or other threads to pop up talking about why it was deleted.

[Roz]

I voted No, mostly because I think people should be able to delete their own posts, including the starting post of a thread, but shouldn’t have the sole authority to delete the entire thread that follows it, as that is also, in essence, deleting the posts of other users on the board.

[KarmaBum]

what @Roz said

[helvetica]

I think that a topic being deleted is a reasonable outcome for us being little assholes to its original poster, and protecting those who responded to the thread by preserving their conversation is not where our energy should be going.

ETA: I have no idea what went on in the conversation for the Magicians mu ad, I didn’t read it.

[Pavel]

@helvetica said in Topic Deletion Query and Feedback:

I think that a topic being deleted is a reasonable outcome for us being little assholes to its original poster, and protecting those who responded to the thread by preserving their conversation is not where our energy should be going.

ETA: I have no idea what went on in the conversation for the Magicians mu ad, I didn’t read it.

Once again, this is a general question about policy, not strictly about that one single thread in particular.

[helvetica]

@Pavel Good, I didn’t read that thread so my response is a general one.

[Pavel]

@helvetica said in Topic Deletion Query and Feedback:

@Pavel Good, I didn’t read that thread so my response is a general one.

So if I don’t get the answers I want here, I should feel empowered to just delete the thread and pretend it never happened? Hypothetically.

[helvetica]

@Pavel Well, now speaking specifically about any one thread in particular seems like a trap, but yes, I think you should be able to delete it even if you do receive the answers you want. So long as in doing so you are not concealing evidence of your own harmful or bad behavior, I don’t think it matters.

[Pavel]

@helvetica said in Topic Deletion Query and Feedback:

@Pavel Well, now speaking specifically about any one thread in particular seems like a trap, but yes, I think you should be able to delete it even if you do receive the answers you want. So long as in doing so you are not concealing evidence of your own harmful or bad behavior, I don’t think it matters.

Not intended as a trap, I was just trying to split what you said from the other situation - since it seemed related even if you hadn’t intended it to be.

While I definitely disagree with your view, I’m glad you expressed it.

[helvetica]

@Pavel If I wanted to delete the pets thread because I decide hate pets now especially cute foster cats, I should be allowed to do that. And you all should be free to remember that I am the awful person who did that, and it can become part of my mythology.

[Roz]

@helvetica Disagree, those pets now belong to the COMMUNE, they are now COMMUNAL PETS