First, I recognize that the Minnesota ICE thread has become a real challenge for the moderators.
I’m generally in favor of the mods taking a series of posts which become a hijack (though maybe an interesting one), and calving those posts off into a separate thread.
Doing so with one single post is odd to me, especially when that post is spun off by a moderator into a new thread, and in a way in which that new post/thread now looks like the poster intentionally started it. I don’t think that that is fair.
Because as he explained to you, we don’t delete posts.
Don’t post things you don’t want to exist. Our rules are that we don’t delete posts.
Spinning it off was his only option, irrespective of your feelings about being a thread starter. Unless you wanted a warning instead. You did hijack the thread, and that’s what we’re tasked with moderating. You ignored all the mod notes in the thread to not do that.
I saw lots of mod notes about hijacks. Whether the contributors to that thread were getting worse on the issue or the moderators for that thread were getting sensitive to that issue … we had ample notice.
It was time to err to the conservative regarding staying on-topic.
As did I. I still believe that spinning off one post, and not making it extremely clear in the new thread that that is what the mods have done, is bad form.
I’m going to say one last thing and walk away for a while.
You’re correct, that “No” post was too abrupt and I apologize and think I explained my reasoning much better with the next post.
But you must know we don’t delete posts.
You had to have seen all the please don’t hijack notes.
I feel like your response to my not warning you is a bit much.
Yes: the mods should have put a note at the top of that new thread, and/or in the title, stating that it was spun off from the ICE thread.
I am not arguing that it wasn’t a hijack. The way that the spin-off was done, made it appear that SenorBeef had intentionally created a new thread on his own.
Sometimes we overlook doing things that may seem obvious in hindsight, but in the moment, we’re just trying to deal with the situation at hand. I’m sure such a title would have been added had it been requested.
I may well have missed it, but I don’t see a distinction drawn between a mod having spun off the post and the poster having spun off the post. I can understand somebody valuing that distinction.
Which, to me, also seems a viable option, though I also noted that the thread got traction right out of the box.
This has happened to me once or twice. (In my defense, as best as I recall they came from posts in the Pit, where there are fewer hijack rules.) At first I was confused, then upset, then I realized it was okay because…
The OP of the new thread is an actual post I made, with nothing altered. This is something I voluntarily contributed of my own free will to the board, and it isn’t misrepresenting anything, because it is what I posted.
There isn’t that much of a difference between people replying to me in a new thread or replying to me in the old thread. Either way it’s a discussion about the things I posted. So no harm done.
It is a bit weird after the fact to have a thread or two that “I created” that I didn’t actually create, but I don’t think it reflects poorly on me, and I have no lingering resentment.
From the standpoint of an outside observer, what I see is that you made a good, informative post. It just didn’t belong in the original thread where you made it, so it was moved to its own thread. I can’t quite understand why you’re so keen to have it deleted. You seem really overwrought about nothing.
That doesn’t really stop us from closing it. If one of the participants really wants to follow up on the topic, they can open their own thread that they’re the OP of.
I’m going to say I don’t think there was any ideal way to moderate the post, and going to agree with my fellow P&E mods that we’ve given a huge amount of slack to posters in the thread considering that the three of us posting in thread have each, on multiple occasions noted the thread about hijacks.
We’ve pretty much tried all the pleasant options, and we’re getting into the “Well that doesn’t seem to be working” realization.
I think @What_Exit was trying for a best solution - moving it out while preserving @SenorBeef’s points. I’m also pretty sure that most posters (and SenorBeef is free to disagree, of course!) would be happier with a spinoff than a hidden post plus a justified warning. Again the second leans into certain streams of thought that we’re silencing people or perspectives. The solution, sure, may frustrate you SB, but I think it was a good faith effort at keeping your opinions visible while stopping the further hijack of the thread.
