Why do some people posting to a particular forum make this explicit request to the mods to “feel free to move the thread to the proper forum”?
Wouldn’t the mods do it even without that being mentioned? It is not as if the mods are expected to come by and ask the poster for permission to move his thread. They needn’t and they don’t.
I guess it is one of their responsibilities to use their judgement and make that call.
I am guilty of it too and I confess that I did it because I saw others doing it. So why do we give this silly permission that has no meaning?
It’s just a way of pointing out that you think the thread might be in the wrong place… kind of an apology in advance. It also prevents the inevitable, annoying ‘‘this thread should be in X Forum’’ responses.
I think the mods tend to appreciate it. We know they can move posts at their discretion, but I think they like acknowledgement like everyone else, and it isn’t harming anyone to do it. You might say it’s just part of the social contract. It’s an act of politeness on my part and it can go quite far.
This is a banana that looks suspiciously to me like an apple. If I put it in the apple bin someone is sure to come along and say, “Hey! Why did somebody put a banana in the apple bin?”
I’m going to feel stoopid.
But. If I put it in with the other bananas and someone else who thinks like me says, “Wait a minute, that banana looks like it could be an apple,” I’m still going to feel stoopid.
Solution? Announce, “This is a banana which looks sufficiently like an apple that I’m not sure exactly where to place it. I think I’ll let Mr. Greencrocer, who gets paid for these sorts of things, decide where it should go.”
See? I have absolutely no emotional investment where my ambiguous tidbit ends up.
A few years ago, as a remedy for the above, I proposed that people add TSOPDA (The Standard OP Disclaimers Apply) to each OP
For those too lazy to click, adding TSOPDA would be like saying:
1) If this was posted in the wrong forum, feel free to move it to the correct forum.
2) I know there have been previous discussions on this and
a) I think that they did not cover the issues I want to discuss, or
b) I simply want to hear peoples’ current opinions on the matter, or
c) The thread was too old to resurrect in order to add my views on the topic.
3) I know that I can search this on Google, but I think it is easier and/or more interesting if I discuss this with our local experts.
I think this is a good way to look at it. Of course we can move threads based on our best judgement, nevertheless some people do get annoyed when their thread is moved. If you’ve got some doubts where a thread should go, then stating it doesn’t hurt. It’s just courtesy.
I started a thread last week in MPSIMS that could have qualified as a GQ; the failure was mine to provide enough info in the OP to get a real factual answer. It wasn’t the wisest time to start a thread because I was heading out of town but I figured if I got something/anything up I could drive myself more to get the best info to all the Dope first thing this week. I put the standard kind of “Mods may move if you want” the same way I would say IRL “let me know if you need me to move my chair or step out of the way”. Basically just trying to be polite.
This does bring up a follow-up question through; again in the sense of good manners. If my thread doesn’t get any response where it is and I want to make it a GQ, is the polite thing to just start a new thread in GQ or ask a Mod to have it moved?
We don’t allow cross-posting, that is, posting what is basically the same thing in more than one forum, so you shouldn’t just post a new one. The best thing would be to ask to have it moved. Although it seems fine in MPSIMS, since you do have some factual questions in the second post I could move it if you prefer.
