Provide reasoning for post deletion

[shinny]

But it makes reviewing the situation a nightmare. If you'd deleted the posts, shinny, I'd be able to see what happened. You are removing accountability of yourself. Now it's "his word against yours" for both /0 and TrueTears that you were justified in deleting their posts. If you are going to post reasons for deleting people's posts (something you're more than entitled to do shinny), you are NOT to edit the posts to remove content. It prevents me from ensuring that the situation was handled appropriately. If either of them has a complaint or query about it, I have no way of verifying anything.

Next time, delete the posts and post "posts deleted for being off-topic" if you absolutely MUST provide a reason.

Oh there's no records of edits? Guess that complicates things =\ The only problem with that is (which I've stated) is that it gets messy if there's multiple posts I need to delete in multiple places, which aren't the last few posts made. Makes it hard to see what I've deleted and why.

[enwiabe]

So suddenly the idea dos not seem so crash hot, does it? There is no edit log whatsoever.

Perhaps next time you'd be better suited to bite your tongue before launching into vehement support for a half-baked idea, the consequences of which I have foreseen.

[shinny]

So suddenly the idea dos not seem so crash hot, doesn't it? There is no edit log whatsoever.

Perhaps next time you'd be better suited to bite your tongue before launching into vehement support for a half-baked idea, the consequences of which I have foreseen.

Well it's a half-baked idea at the moment due to technical constraints I was unaware of. I still think, and it seems many others too, that it is an idea we should implement if possible for the reasons already given. Don't get angry at me just because I wasn't aware of such constraints =\

[NE2000]

Then just delete the posts and say

4 posts deleted

Reason: off-topic

I don't think the editing idea was pivotal to the discussion anyway so if there are technical issues with it then we can just dismiss it...

[enwiabe]

So suddenly the idea dos not seem so crash hot, doesn't it? There is no edit log whatsoever.

Perhaps next time you'd be better suited to bite your tongue before launching into vehement support for a half-baked idea, the consequences of which I have foreseen.

Well it's a half-baked idea at the moment due to technical constraints I was unaware of. I still think, and it seems many others too, that it is an idea we should implement if possible for the reasons already given. Don't get angry at me just because I wasn't aware of such constraints =\

I was not angry. I was pointing out errors in judgment.

[shinny]

Then just delete the posts and say

4 posts deleted

Reason: off-topic

I don't think the editing idea was pivotal to the discussion anyway so if there are technical issues with it then we can just dismiss it...

Yeh I'll probably just stick with doing a log sort of thing with whose post was deleted and why, if the other mods agree given that we're kind of divided right now. The editing thing just seemed a bit neater to me but I guess it's out of the question now.

I was not angry. I was pointing out errors in judgment.

Misinterpretation of language then, whoever's fault that is.

[Glockmeister]

Of course, like any open-source software, modifications can be installed onto SMF to make this possible.

For example
Edit logs:
http://custom.simplemachines.org/mods/index.php?mod=445

[ninwa]

I don't see what the big argument is about anyway. It's obvious we're not going to reach a conclusion everyone is happy with. And anyway we don't often delete posts so it's not some massive issue. Mods like me and shinny who support this idea will start putting reasons after deleting per NE2000's idea:

Then just delete the posts and say

4 posts deleted

Reason: off-topic

and the others can keep doing their thing, and people will just have to go to the one avenue of appeal open to them atm (asking admin to review the deleted post).

It's either (a TINY TINY bit) more work for us, or for admin.

[Mao]

Ahh I love the good 'ol fights on VN, haven't seen them around for a while.

In the meanwhile, I would like to re-express my point: it's a post on an Internet forum, how important can it possibly be? If a sensible person chose to delete it, there must be some reason (and from personal experience, the 'remove' button is not used unless absolutely necessary). If abuse is such a huge problem, someone would have noticed, reported it to admin, and the problem would be rectified pretty quickly.

IMO, the system currently is fine. If a reason/warning/explanation begs to be given, then the mod will post. I think everyone on the team has enough integrity to be accountable for his/her own actions. [again this is based on personal judgements, break that down into its basic elements and argue about possible abuse if you must]

Though one interesting thing is the irony when someone decided to commit a pointless necromancy, a mod goes on to delete it then posts 'previous post deleted for necromancy'. But then again it's only a post on the Internet, who am I to say that will be an actual problem?

[excal]

Or, why don't we implement a post hiding facility (and thread hiding) similar to what's on Whirlpool at the moment. It means that we remain accountable, not just to the administration, but to the public as they will see a post / thread once existed there.

It also means that posts can easily be restored if there's been an overstepping of mod power. Best of both worlds I say.

[shinny]

Or, why don't we implement a post hiding facility (and thread hiding) similar to what's on Whirlpool at the moment. It means that we remain accountable, not just to the administration, but to the public as they will see a post / thread once existed there.

It also means that posts can easily be restored if there's been an overstepping of mod power. Best of both worlds I say.

Was hoping for something like that too, but is there an SMF plugin for that kinda stuff?

[excal]

You'll have to write it yourself. It's do-able, you know.

Won't be that difficult either. You'd add two three fields to the Posts table (hidden_ind, hidden_userid [foreign key constraint to Users], hidden_reason) and then wrap the piece of PHP code that prints Posts in the DB to HTML with a conditional:

Code: [Select]

IF hidden_ind = TRUE THEN
       PRINT posts       // existing code
ELSE
       PRINT "This post has been hidden by " + moderatorName + " with reason: " + hidden_reason "."  // moderatorName from join with Users table on hidden_userid
END IF