I Have a Request for Admin

[tjmiller]

I wasn't sure where to post this, so I thought the off-topic forum would be the way to go.

I have a request for the Admin here. I have had a couple of posts completely deleted in the last couple of days, and am at a loss.

I am generally a nice person, I don't blast people in the forums, I try to help when I can and I always thank those who help me.

I honestly have no idea why my posts were deleted. I would like to request that when admin chooses to delete a post that is not a blatant disregard for the rules, that they pm the poster so we know what we have done wrong.

I don't break rules as a rule (haha) but if I don't know what caused me to be deleted, how can I avoid the same infraction in the future?

Now, I may get up in the morning and find that this post has been deleted as well, but I really hope not. I love the Warrior Forum, and want to be a productive member, but if I am being censored, I would like to know the reason why.

Thank you,

[Reco Davis]

Well I figured I'd use your post to vent a bit as well. I just logged in trying to reply to a private message but could not since I don't yet have 50 posts. Seriously? I can't reply to someone to whom I'm already talking? "C'mon Son!"

[Patrician]

Yo, Reco.

That is another thing you can thank spammers for ruining along with email.

That's the way it is because the stupid dweebs spam through private messages - but not for long because they will get busted and banned.

HI Theresa - do you know there are usually a few thousand people here 24 hours a day? Do you have any idea how much work would be added if the few Mods per thousand members had to explain why they deleted posts for everyone?

I don't blame you for being miffed and agree it would be better if you know why so you don't do it again, but it just isn't feasible.

I have had threads deleted and figure it must have been a 'glitch' or by accident - stuff like that can happen. Sometimes I believe there are technical glitches as well where your post didn't actually get executed even if your cache may have made it look like it had.

Then again you could have said something if not flaming or bashing toward someone (you really don't seem like you would) could it have been 'self-promotional', 'religious', or 'political'?

I don't know those are all just wild guesses...

I wouldn't worry about it too much though because if you had done something serious, you would receive an infraction in your private messages (at least that would explain though) .

It's funny now that everyone can report a post or give an infraction - you never know who is going to misconstrue something you said or become offended and report it...

We've all been there, so don't take it too hard.

[tjmiller]

Thanks, Patrician for replying to me. I do understand how many people there are here, it is one of the things that I really appreciate. I am absolutely not a "flamer" or a "basher", it is not my style.

As far as religion and politics, I barely discuss those issues with people I know well, much less on a public forum. (I am not a debater, I just believe what I believe, and follow my heart.)

I know that I shouldn't take it personally, but I REALLY, REALLY like to know reasons for things. One of my personal flaws, I guess. I grew up a "pleaser" and I don't like when I make people unhappy. (Unless I know the reason for it, and am ok with that reason!)

I know that this sounds a little whiny and selfish, so I will stop now, and just get over it.

I will carry on and keep trying to do the right things, and hope that I don't do the things that for some reason get me deleted.

[broker12]

Good idea. The mods should be more open about these things. Also, when someone is banned a reason should be given. It is hard to tell if the banning is a reason to not to business or trust someone.

[Tina Golden]

Good idea. The mods should be more open about these things. Also, when someone is banned a reason should be given. It is hard to tell if the banning is a reason to not to business or trust someone.

The reason someone gets banned is none of your business unless they choose to tell you. If the banning is for a serious offense that would make them untrustworthy, it would be a permanent ban not a temporary one. Temporary bans are issued more for repeated breaking of signature rules or for starting a fight or being insulting. The ban is hopefully enough to get that person to straighten up and fly right.

Either way, you should be using your own judgement and making up your own mind not relying on the administration to do it for you.

Tina

[Michael Oksa]

Hi Teresa,

I spotted what may be the problem.

You are selling an affiliate product in your link. I beleive members have been banned from the forum for doing that, and I don't want to see that happen to you. That's against one of the rules. Even it it goes to your own domain.

Which leads me to ask, with all due respect, did you read all of the rules to see if you could other potential reasons for post deletion?

All the best,
Michael

[Pat Jackson]

I once had a thread I started get deleted for no reason. It wasn't in breach of any rules and I was simply asking for help with something.

I submitted a support ticket asking the reason why it was deleted and that ticket also got deleted without any contact.

If there is a lot of spam that comes through here then that is probably why they don't let you know what happens in each case as it would be too time consuming but I guess we just have to live with it, even if we didn't do anything wrong.

[Paul Myers]

Pat,

I once had a thread I started get deleted for no reason.

No, you didn't. You weren't aware of the reason, but one existed. It may be true that your post didn't break any rules, though. Some posts get deleted because the mods know they'll lead to problem discussions that DO break the rules.

Yes, that sucks. Yes, it can be confusing when you're new. The alternative is to let things get started that always end badly, and then deal with the fights and the BS when they do.

An example is the tendency of many news-related topics to degenerate into political bashing. I'd much rather delete those and have people torqued at me for what they see as over-moderating than allow the alternatives. The primary problem with that stuff is that a lot of folks who see it will tend to avoid the place like the plague.

You'd probably be surprised at how much of that I hear. Allen probably hears a great deal more of it.

broker12,

Tina summed it up nicely.

You should not read anything at all into a ban unless someone in a position to explain chooses to do so. That won't happen often.

Here's one example of how someone could get banned for reasons that are completely irrelevant to anyone outside the moderation team: Someone posts a WSO, which draws questions. After explaining, it's demonstrated that the WSO is completely legit, and within the forum rules. However, in the process of responding to the questions, the poster becomes aggressively abusive to the person handling the help desk.

Whack! Banned, at a minimum. Probably deleted entirely.

There are very few ways to get a ticket out of here that are faster or more certain than abusing someone through the help desk.

However, that has nothing to do with how anyone else should view the person. It might have been a one-time thing. And it's a factor that doesn't need to be discussed with anyone else.


Paul

[tjmiller]

Originally Posted by Michael Oksa

Hi Teresa,

I spotted what may be the problem.

You are selling an affiliate product in your link. I beleive members have been banned from the forum for doing that, and I don't want to see that happen to you. That's against one of the rules. Even it it goes to your own domain.

Which leads me to ask, with all due respect, did you read all of the rules to see if you could other potential reasons for post deletion?

All the best,
Michael

Are you referring to my signature? Those are not affiliate links. Those are both websites owned by me. I am an authorized reseller, not an affiliate.

[tjmiller]

Originally Posted by Michael Oksa

Hi Teresa,

I spotted what may be the problem.

You are selling an affiliate product in your link. I beleive members have been banned from the forum for doing that, and I don't want to see that happen to you. That's against one of the rules. Even it it goes to your own domain.

Which leads me to ask, with all due respect, did you read all of the rules to see if you could other potential reasons for post deletion?

All the best,
Michael

Oh, and as to you other question (sorry, I didn't answer that part.) I try to always read all of the rules. If I inadvertently broke a rule, due to my misunderstanding, it was purely an error.

The only thing that I can think of that I did (that may have come across as self-promotional, now that I think about it) was to link to a couple of other posts that I had made where I was giving something away.

I did not mean to break a rule, I was responding to a post about warriors asking each other for opt-ins. I was pointing out that although I didn't ask for opt-ins on my giveaways, I don't have a problem with warriors who do.

So maybe it was those links that got me deleted? I don't know, but if so, it is not a big deal. I didn't mean to be overly self-promotional. I will just be more careful in the future.

[Michael Oksa]

Originally Posted by tjmiller

Are you referring to my signature? Those are not affiliate links. Those are both websites owned by me. I am an authorized reseller, not an affiliate.

Hi Teresa,

I was referring to the last link in your signature.

You raise an interesting point. The rules only mention affiliate products, but I understood it to mean things where you buy the resale rights, too. That doesn't mean I am right, that was only my understanding.

I thought it meant that you have to be the creator, or main seller of the product. In other words if you allow others to sell something you created (for commission or not) then you could post it in your sig, but they could not.

I freely admit that I could be wrong, but I can also see where there might be a bit of a confusing grey area.

All the best,
Michael

[Frank Donovan]

Hi Michael

Originally Posted by Michael Oksa

You raise an interesting point. The rules only mention affiliate products, but I understood it to mean things where you buy the resale rights, too. That doesn't mean I am right, that was only my understanding.
I thought it meant that you have to be the creator, or main seller of the product. In other words if you allow others to sell something you created (for commission or not) then you could post it in your sig, but they could not.
I freely admit that I could be wrong, but I can also see where there might be a bit of a confusing grey area.

The signature rules seem pretty clear to me. This excerpt from the Forum Rules clarifies the point:

"If you want to promote an affiliate program do it on your own domain. Your own web site. Not a "pre-made" web site. Your own web site, a real one. Then put THAT web site in your sig file."

So it appears to be fine to promote affiliate products from your own domain, but not okay to use an affiliate template or a redirect to an affiliate program.



Frank

[tjmiller]

Originally Posted by Michael Oksa

Hi Teresa,

I was referring to the last link in your signature.

You raise an interesting point. The rules only mention affiliate products, but I understood it to mean things where you buy the resale rights, too. That doesn't mean I am right, that was only my understanding.

I thought it meant that you have to be the creator, or main seller of the product. In other words if you allow others to sell something you created (for commission or not) then you could post it in your sig, but they could not.

I freely admit that I could be wrong, but I can also see where there might be a bit of a confusing grey area.

All the best,
Michael

Yes, I figured that was the one that you were talking about. I am a paid member of Dennis Becker's Earn1KaDay forum and as such am an authorized reseller of the product in question. The domain is mine, the website is mine, the autoresponder attached to the site creates my list, and the emails that I send out from that auto responder are all created by me.

See Frank's excerpt above about the signature rules. Believe me, I read and reread that before putting that link in my signature, because I wanted to be sure.

And it must be ok, because no one has flagged it or removed it. I even created a paid post in the Warrior Products and Services section that was approved by admin. My signature was there when I did that, so I assume it was ok with them.

I am thinking now that it must have been the other links in my post that caused it to be deleted.

I really appreciate everyone's input about this question I had. I still am not 100% sure why the post was deleted, but I don't feel as worried and frustrated as I did at first. Apparently, it is not that uncommon, and it doesn't mean that I committed some horrible crime.

[Pat Jackson]

Originally Posted by Paul Myers

Pat,No, you didn't. You weren't aware of the reason, but one existed. It may be true that your post didn't break any rules, though. Some posts get deleted because the mods know they'll lead to problem discussions that DO break the rules.

Hey Paul,

I completely understand that. However, the topic of my thread was related to list building. There was nothing in it that was even close to breaking the rules or leading in that direction, which is the whole reason I submitted a support ticket.

If I thought it was a topic that might lead to the rules being broken, then I wouldn't have worried about it getting deleted, nor would I have started it in the first place. I understand that the support staff probably get bombarded with similar questions, however, it still left me with a bit of a sour taste in my mouth that a paying member could submit a support ticket with a genuine question and have it deleted without any contact.

If I did break a rule that I was unaware of, as you suggested, it would have been nice to have some kind of clarification in order to prevent it from happening again in the future.

But that's how the game goes, I suppose.

[Kay King]

Folks - It's also possible something posted by others in thread caused it to be deleted.

Nothing posted is so earth shattering that anyone bleeds if it disappears. We all have it happen on occasion - just say "oh well" and move on.

kay

[Paul Myers]

Pat,

If I did break a rule that I was unaware of, as you suggested, it would have been nice to have some kind of clarification in order to prevent it from happening again in the future.

It would be nice, but it would render moderating impossible. There are too many posts that get deleted every day to even consider doing the process right and also notifying every person about the reasons for them. There's also the fact that many, many people argue about it, which turns into even more problems.

The time it would consume is huge. That's nothing, though, next to the bad blood that is created when people get into debates about things they have ego invested in. They make it personal when it's not.

I couldn't comment on your post in specific, since I don't recall seeing it. None of this is anything but generic at this point.


Paul