Chris Hurd |
August 29th, 2007 07:40 AM |
As a matter of policy, we don't delete posts. Instead we remove them from public view and then only under certain conditions.
If you want one of your posts deleted, it requires the assistance of one of the top moderators (Boyd Ostroff, Greg Boston, Pete Bauer, myself etc.). Just use the "report bad post" button (to the left of every post in a thread). This automatically sends an alert to the moderators about the post in question.
Be sure to state the reason why you want your post removed from public view. If you don't give a reason, we won't remove it. If the post is the only one in a thread, or if it's the *last* post in a thread (meaning in either case that it has received zero replies), then chances are high that we'll go ahead and withdraw the post for you.
If your post *has* received replies, then that creates a problem because we don't want to interrupt the continuity of a thread. A discussion thread represents a dialog between two or more people, and if part of that thread is taken away, it can ruin the value of the discussion. Plus it's disrespectful to the other folks who have taken the time to participate in that discussion.
However it may be possible to withdraw certain kinds of posts from public view while maintaining (or actually improving) the continuity of the discussion. Examples of these kinds of posts are off-topic remarks, comments that are out of context, or one-liners that don't add anything relevant to the discussion (such as "I agree" or "me too" etc.). In fact we usually try to take care of those meta-discursive elements ourselves when we find them.
Some other valid reasons for requesting a post deletion include the realization that you may have said something that was inaccurate, misleading or flat-out wrong; or, maybe just something that you wish you had not have said in the first place. Just report it using the "report bad post" function. We'll work with you to fix whatever the problem was.
Usually the best way to prevent that kind of trouble is to *think* before you post to a popular, widely read internet message board. And usually you can fix the trouble by simply making a follow-up post, stating "what I meant to say was... etc."
Hope this helps,
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