Closing vs. Deleting Certain Threads

[BowtieBelle]

Hey mods. So I had posted a thread about CAFE, and it got deleted. It had hundreds of posts, and some GREAT discussion, but it wasn't just closed-- it was deleted.

As have been every other CAFE thread on this site. Now, I know a couple of posts did get political, but why not just delete them and warn the people who did it? Why delete the entire thread? Does someone here have something against those who are CAFE?

Please don't lynch me. I'm just curious why threads are deleted instead of just closed. Especially that one, which had some great dialogue.

[Brettzel]

Stupid, isnt it.

[strych9]

'Belle, I am curious about this as well. I see some inconsistencies in the policing in these forums, as well as over-policing. I don't get the point of that.

Granted, some crap is bad and should go, but it does seem like certain topics are almost off-limits.

[motorhead]

If I were a mod I would do the same thing. It's much easier to hit the delete key once than to sift through 200 post. I would also warn key offenders at the same time.

But what the heck do I know.

Now if CAFE threads are getting closed that don't have political undertones then I would say that something strange is going on.

[GTAHVIT]

Some topics just can't be discussed reasonably.

yes we do take the baby out with the bath water sometimes. But, we make no excuses that we are an over moderated site compared to others. It's more important to us to keep the peace and make this as much of a drama/argument/fight/troll/spam free site that we are deliberately over cautious. Especially with topics that have been long standing blood baths.

And on top of that we aren't ever going to be able to be consistent... Each moderator has his own boundary for certain topics.

A lot of it depends on who sees it first.

But here's as good of an example I can give...

Vendor bashing: we typically don't delete those threads. but we do close them. We do have to protect vendors from relentless bashing but we need to allow members the ability to voice a complaint or concern.

Politics. Just always causes a fight. So no need to even let it be seen, as it just reignites the flame.

I know those are over generalized an don't really answer the question.

But, the bottom line is we do over moderate this site and we do so on purpose.

It's good and bad. We know that. But Tran has asked us to keep doing it that way so we will.

I hope that makes sense.

Now...

I'm gonna close this thread and delete it...