A small discussion among the moderators this afternoon brought to light a rather disturbing trend here on the SDMB that I think posters need to be aware of and take steps themselves to correct. I’m posting this message here because it seems to happen among the MPSIMS-happy posters more than others.
More than a few times in the past few months, either I, Coldfire or UncleBeer have been contacted, sometimes with breathless urgency, to delete a post or a link that one wishes they had not posted because it revelaed too much personal information, or information that one wishes they had not revealed. The writer usually confides in us that they’ve found out that someone they did not realize was indeed reading the board and may have the unique human ability to put two and two together.
We cannot always be there to do this for you, and we are not always going to be there to cover your collective asses if things in your life get out of hand. Nor should we. We have a difficult enough job to do here. For one thing, every time we have to delete a thread or a post, it puts more of a strain on the server and slows things down a bit more. Secondly, it takes our attention away from the types of things that we really need to pay attention to : trollers, spammers, sock-puppets, and etc.
Coldy put it nicely in an e-mail to us when he said that this is like asking your bartender : “I’m sorry bartender, I got a little carried away last night. Think you could erase the collective memories of 300 people who watched me sing ‘Copacabana’, nekkid on top of the bar?”
In short, this is a public message board. Don’t post anything that you wouldn’t want to see plastered on the side of a bus somewhere. Think before you post. We cannot control it if something you thought you had posted on the sly blows up in your face because we were unable, or at this point frankly, unwilling, to delete it or edit it for you in time.
MEBuckner, lest we forget the real threads like “hey, guess what your phone number spells?”
I’m not embarrassed by pretty much anything I write on this board. I don’t actually know anyone on these boards that I know in real life outside the context of this board. So if I tell people that I shove 3.5" disks up my rectum to test just how floppy they are, I’m not going to turn around and see my parents shaking their heads and cringing.
Good grief, for such an intelligent bunch of folks, it shouldn’t have to be explained that this is the Internet, readable by anyone on the planet with a connection. Sheesh.
It occurs to me that the people that actually need this kind of reminder are pretty far beyond ever being helped by it. I’m not sure what you mods do in response, but I think I’d keep a form letter on hand, that consisted simply of “No. Deal with it.”
So that’s how you’re paying for a new server and bribing the tech guy for all his extra time… the Straight Dope is starting bus service!
Fer chrissakes, don’t you guys read anything? Public transportation is a black hole when it comes to money, folks. And if we get government subsidies, how will we endure all the damned SDMB libertarians squawking their heads off?
I just wish you’d asked before hatching such an ill-conceived plan. I already told you guys about the money possibilities in selling the unlaundered thong underwear of Doper babes to pervs over the internet. Remember how I told you that’s how I raised the cash for the down payment on the Cranky Homestead?
[sub]Wait, who is reading this? [/sub] I told you that in strictest confidence so let’s keep that quiet. Just like I promised not to tell anyone about that Uncle Beer’s little rash problem.