Posts deleted by mod? Under what circumstances?

in the Have You accepted Jesus thread, I saw something that I have not seen before. Two Posts (39 1/2 and 40 1/2) were deleted. I suspect they have been deleted so that people can’t read them, but it got me wondering what goes into a post to get it totally deleted, instead of a warning? Does it have to be something that could actually legally harm SDMB, or is over-the-top offensive enough?

just idle curiosity…

IANAMod, so I can only go by what I’ve seen. I’ve noticed that mods will sometimes delete insulting posts in forums outside the pit, so they could have been something like that. Possibly, since it was a religious thread, someone could have posted some of the religious glurge that’s been popping up recently in that thread, which I’m sure would have also been deleted (I’m thinking the most recent ones, “Want to know how to not go to Hell?!” ones by kittykate or whatever her name is).

Probably, it was just something that was inappropriate for the forum.

Or (adding my original reply) it could have just been something posted in the wrong thread, that the poster requested be removed. It happens. :slight_smile:

When we delete a post, it’s generally a duplicate post, a post in the wrong thread, or spam/really illegal/really really offensive/troll post. Whether a mod deletes a post is up to the mod, we sometimes leave offensive posts up to serve as a warnings to others. In the Jesus thread, it was a post in the wrong thread.

cool. DaddyTimesTwo never struck me as a troublemaker, so I was a bit surprised.

Since there are a variety of reasons why something could be deleted, would it be possible for the mod doing so to indicate why?

I was glad to see this thread, as I was wondering the same thing. I’d have preferred to have the information on why something was deleted in context of the thread, rather than wondering if **DaddyTimesTwo ** was in imminent danger of banning.

Reasonable request or no?

Sort of depends on the circs, I think, but it’s a reasonable request.

We’d have to ask the moderator who performed the action as to his justifications, but it does look to me like the post was a hijack to the thread that was deemed inappropriate.

That happens sometimes too; someone chimes in with a question or a comment that is tangentially related to the original topic, but does not always fit or is completely appropriate for the circumstances. Sometimes the way the question or comment is framed, it’s not appropriate for the thread or the forum.

You’re not in trouble if you do that kind of thing. . . unless that’s all you do. (Yes, we’ve had people be annoying like that, just because they could. They didn’t last very long.)

We generally ask the poster of the (removed) post in question to reframe and/or repost their question or comment in a more appropriate thread, start a thread of their own, etc.

your humble TubaDiva
Administrator