Deleting posts

[Discordian 6,015]

Just a little while ago I made a post I wanted to delete but there's no way to do so without mod action. I am aware this has been brought up before...four years ago when the site was still young.

 

I am well aware of the fact that it can be easily abused in some way but is it worth the hassle if someone just wants to erase a post that was made in bad taste? Maybe put a time limit on how long before the post is permanent so it doesn't screw up the flow of the conversation too much.

 

I had to edit the post, then report it to request it get deleted. Seems kind of a roundabout way of doing things to me.

[Discordian 6,015]

I apologize for asking this, but I just want to make sure that I understand..

Are you recommending that users should be able to delete posts without consulting a moderator first? 

(I just want to be clear that I understand)

Deleting your own posts, yes. Not other people's obviously.

[Vulcan 3,254]

This is just be my own opinion but I think that subscribers with a rank of pony or higher should be allowed to delete their post provided noone has yet to post after them and the post is fairly recent.

 

I'm pretty sure they won't abuse it since they've likely been around for quite a while.

Edited January 16, 2016 by DefinitelyNot Vulcan

[Jeric 46,850]

Just a point of clarification - Even Mods don't delete posts. We hide them from view from the community. Due to the nature of several incidents where law enforcement may be involved, deleting is not ever going to be an option.

 

And there have been situations were abuse was noticed and acted on. Currently members will post something so another member sees it, then goes in and edits the post to try and hide it from staff. I've caught this a number of times myself.

 

Because of that happening, we won't be applying a feature to hide your own posts for members.

[Discordian 6,015]

Wouldn't you keep a copy of all edited and hidden posts regardless of whether the members see it or not if you were so worried about law enforcement being involved in...anything on this site? I don't see why one shouldn't be able to hide their own posts. That seems like basic forum function to me.

[Jeric 46,850]

Wouldn't you keep a copy of all edited and hidden posts regardless of whether the members see it or not if you were so worried about law enforcement being involved in...anything on this site? I don't see why one shouldn't be able to hide their own posts. That seems like basic forum function to me.

If at some point in time we have the ability to create a reporting function allowing hidden posts to be pulled by staff using specific queries like date range and member name, it may be something we would be more receptive too. That isn't something that exists now, and at the moment we lack a deep pool of developers to properly implement the changes. Hopefully our recruiting drive proves fruitful so we can start knocking out the current bug list and eventually moving on to wish list element such as this.

 

Until such time, this is simply not something we are prepared to do. But I commend you on your enthusiasm for the idea, and I can see a use case for it.

 

 

Also, there would have to be some form of control or configuration built it to prevent the hiding of any post that is already quoted, and similar protection to prenent OP's from doing the same to a topic with replies, etc. One member should never have power over removing or otherwise modifying the content of another member.

[Discordian 6,015]

I understand that there would be a lot of work put into the development of a system. Especially knowing how complex MLPForums' system can be and how easy it messes up at times. (I was on the staff for a little while a few years ago and got a glimpse of it.)

 

It just came across as really strange that a site as well-made as MLPForums didn't have such a function. Especially since it's nearly four and a half years old.