Locking Vasek/Honza video topic

Jeremy · Post by **Jeremy** » 01 Apr 2009 18:20

It would be great if Mods in general could provide explanations as to why they've locked topics. The forum rules state that;

Where threads degenerate into ongoing abusive personal attacks they may be locked. Users who post such attacks may have their posts deleted and repeated attacks will result in a ban.

I'm guessing that's why the topic was locked - I'd point out that both the majority of posts in that topic are not "abusive personal attacks" and that none of the last 6 posts had any personal attacks in them. Therefore it does not appear to be "ongoing" at all. While there clearly are some abusive personal attacks in the topic, there is also legitimate discussion and it would seem much better to remove or censor the posts that breech the forum rules rather than locking the entire topic. If that's what the mods are intending and locked the topic while they do that then you can see the advantage of a an explanation, rather than keeping forum users in the dark.

King Monkey · Post by **King Monkey** » 03 Apr 2009 08:15

For the record, the mod responsible has been asked to provide an explanation.

Jeremy · Post by **Jeremy** » 09 Apr 2009 19:38

Thanks for keeping me in the loop Ian.

So any chance of us finding out what the explanation is and there to be an outcome from this? While I'm not sure unlocking the topic now would be very meaningful (since the exact same conversation has moved to other topics which are unlocked - thus demonstrating how meaningless it was to lock the topic), I am concerned that it appears a mod or mods don't know the forum rules or are not following them. At the very least the forum rules should be removed if they are not what decisions are made on.

I also think it should be added to the forum rules that when mods lock, edit, delete or otherwise interfere with people's posts or topics in a manner that could be viewed as censorship, they have to provide an explanation. I think there is something in there already about editing posts, but this should definitely be extended to locking topics at all.

It made absolutely no sense to lock that topic. Not only did it not break the forum rules, but the discussion merely moved over to other topics, including the personal abuse and insults. Whatever reasons there were for locking that topic surely applied just as equally to the topics where the conversation continued.

Cheers,

Jeremy · Post by **Jeremy** » 29 Apr 2009 17:01

So any chance of this issue being resolved? 4 weeks is a fairly long time to wait for an explanation, let alone any action...

King Monkey · Post by **King Monkey** » 01 May 2009 20:32

Yeh sorry for leaving this so long, had alot going on and noone else seems willing to pick up the few pieces on this issue.

Erik made this decision and I asked him to explain himself, however he retired his moderation position whilst i was in that process and I guess now doesnt feel he needs to explain anything.

It would seem he closed the topic in the belief it had descended into personal attacks; it had to a degree, however i would agree that the core of the debate is still valid, regardless of how controversial the topic may be. All users are entitled to their opinions and the personal attacks and retaliations (on both sides) were uncalled for and clouded the discussion.

I dont believe re-opening the topic would serve any purpose now, despite my belief that closing the topic was not the best action. That the best response i can give considering i had nothing to do with its closure (although i didnt like the way the topic was unfolding and SOMETHING had to be done).

A good question to come from this is what to do in this situation. Do you warn the users who are flying off the handle to take a step back, or do you remove the posts that are unneccessarily personal and derailing the topic, or do you let it all continue because the debate is at its core, a valid one? I think editing posts is not the right way to go as it is flagrant censorship, but its definitely not right to see valid (despite whether you think it is useful) debates destroyed by childishness.

Opinions?

Jeremy · Post by **Jeremy** » 02 May 2009 00:00

Thanks Ian.

I think editing out silly personal attacks and putting in a little comment like [mod edit - personal attacks are not permitted, this is your first warning, failure to follow the rules will result in a suspension of your forum account] would be a fine response (doesn't necessarily have to be a warning, that's just what I'd do). I have no problem seeing worthless comments censored. You obviously have to be careful not to remove the actual content of the post, if there is any, but usually there isn't so it's probably not a large concern.

If mods are on the ball and quick to respond, you never see a flame war continue after the first comments are removed.

Locking topics clearly doesn't work, as we saw the exact same debate continue, including the same childish insults, and I thought Milan really should have got at least a warning for his comment about bashing Kyle's face in or whatever he said. Even if you continue to lock the topics as they're created, you don't deal with the issue, so the animosity between the people lingers. If you let them discuss the issue without allowing them to insult each other then they'll be forced to understand each other (assuming they're capable of understanding things).

Editing out the comments, even if it's the entirety of the post is good because it lets everybody else know that person doesn't know how to behave like an adult as well.

Whenever mods lock a topic they *need* to post the reasons why in the topic. Otherwise they shouldn't be mods.