Why did my post disappear?

Hello

 

Can anyone tell me why my thread, which had gone to five pages of reasonable discussion among long-time members suddenly disappeared from the "Casual" forum? Title was "I'm calm enough now..." Why don't admins at least notify people when this happens?

there was some good stuff in that thread, deleting it was definitely unnecessary.

Something very weird seems to be happening. This post doesn't show up for me in the forum!

I'd like to know, too. It "went away" somewhere around 6:30 this morning Eastern Time. I think Uhooru was the last to post, and he wrote nothing inflammatory that I could see. Nor in my post before his. I've been guessing that maybe a mod was moving it to Philosophy and made a typo?

@wogears, i can see it, it's below all the sticky threads in the Photo.net help forum.

Maybe that thread didn't get enough LIKES to make it worth keep around. After all, challenge and disagreement is not always as pleasing as a pat on the back.

 

Too bad, really, but unfortunately not all that surprising . . .

there was some good stuff in that thread, deleting it was definitely unnecessary.

I was thinking same thing. Hmmm

Maybe that thread didn't get enough LIKES to make it worth keep around. After all, challenge and disagreement is not always as pleasing as a pat on the back.

 

Too bad, really, but unfortunately not all that surprising . . .

 

Wait. Is this actually a Thing? Post has to get a certain number of "likes"? Seriously.

No! I was being facetious.

 

And, to make sure it's clear, I agree it shouldn't have been removed.

Edited April 29, 2017 by Norma Desmond

Yeah, I checked "My Content" in the drop down menu under my name and there's no remnants of that thread anywhere down the list of over 100 postings.

 

Maybe it was censured or is this censored? Whata' you think, Fred? ;)

I think it was deleted, and I have no bloody idea why.

Hello, Can anyone tell me why my thread. . . suddenly disappeared from the "Casual" forum? Title was "I'm calm enough now..." . . . I think it was deleted, and I have no bloody idea why.

 

Les, I was following/reading that conversation. I do not know what happened to it. Sorry that that is not much assistance.

 

*

 

I have just searched more deeply:

 

I'd like to know, too. It "went away" somewhere around 6:30 this morning Eastern Time. I think Uhooru was the last to post, and he wrote nothing inflammatory that I could see. Nor in my post before his. I've been guessing that maybe a mod was moving it to Philosophy and made a typo?

 

I too am only guessing: yours is not the most plausible guess. It is more plausible, as a mistake, that the thread was checked within a cluster of spam messages that came onto the site just prior to that time you noted and was deleted with that bundle of spam messages.

 

WW

Edited May 1, 2017 by William Michael

Here's a letter I wrote to the "censors":

 

RE: You're wasting our time...

So you removed the "I'm calm enough now--" thread from the CPC forum. Many people spent time articulating very thoughtful contributions to the subject at hand (Photographer's Rights), and just because a couple of people (Not me) mention a certain character from WWII censoring/censuring images, you guys pull the entire thread down !

In this particular case the mention was in fact very informative & on topic. This erasure of peoples contributions has a chilling effect on thoughtful & time consuming participation (Which frankly happens to make your website more interesting & valuable). Speaking for my input in this particular thread, I invested research, typing, proofreading and valuable time to what I thought was going to be part of the record/archive. I for one was NEVER offended by anybodies questions or responses; voiding this discussion is unprincipled and a disgusting display of pure censorship...

 

Like my multiple concerns addressing the course of this site, I have never received so much as even an 'auto reply'...

I repeat my initial query. "Why was I not informed of this, or the reason for it?" That would have allowed me to at least copy the thread, and possibly understand why it was pulled. I don't want to leave this site, but it seems as though I am being forced to do just that.

I was thinking the same as William Michael pointed out about potential automated spam prevention mechanisms in place when certain "Hot" words pop up.

 

I'm reminded from similar discussions using contentious words were closed in the old site with the explanation that it creates too much work for mods and IT site maintenance seeing they're short handed in this department. I'm guessing the new site most likely has this done automatically through software set to a sensitivity level that automatically flagged the thread in question and happened to get axed as part of a bundle.

 

Maybe site maintenance personnel can explain. Not sure.

 

I mean whose to know maybe this entire site is set to run on auto-pilot.

potential automated spam prevention mechanisms in place when certain "Hot" words pop up" Tim L.

This is doubtful.

The reason I say this, prior to this full fledged thread deletion, one of my responses in the thread was first deleted.

In particular, remember my question to Les B. about why he didn't also admonish Fred G. & Julie H.?

Immediately followed by another member openly asking the thread to be closed down; just figured somebody in that group complained...

No, I don't recall that exchange, Gus. But now that you've pointed out how it turned personal I'm now not surprised the thread was removed. I thought the thread had run its course anyway and didn't return to read the rest after my last post. I don't think it needed removing, but then I didn't stick around to see if it got bad enough to remove.

 

I don't focus on personality differences in a discussion. I just try to find interesting, tangential information and POV's on the thread topic and overlook I'm assuming what you call admonishing behavior. If someone wants to belabor the definition of a word I'll let them know that isn't useful information to me. I don't call that admonishing, just expressing my opinion.

I was thinking the same as William Michael pointed out about potential automated spam prevention mechanisms in place when certain "Hot" words pop up.

 

I'm reminded from similar discussions using contentious words were closed in the old site with the explanation that it creates too much work for mods and IT site maintenance seeing they're short handed in this department. I'm guessing the new site most likely has this done automatically through software set to a sensitivity level that automatically flagged the thread in question and happened to get axed as part of a bundle.

 

Maybe site maintenance personnel can explain. Not sure.

 

I mean whose to know maybe this entire site is set to run on auto-pilot.

Fine. Now can we classify "bokeh" as a nasty word?

I was thinking the same as William Michael pointed out about potential automated spam prevention mechanisms in place when certain "Hot" words pop up. I mean whose to know maybe this entire site is set to run on auto-pilot.

 

For clarity:

 

I neither said, nor was it implicit that I thought the thread could have been "automatically" deleted.

 

The site does not run on auto-pilot.

 

***

 

I repeat my initial query. "Why was I not informed of this, or the reason for it?" That would have allowed me to at least copy the thread, and possibly understand why it was pulled. I don't want to leave this site, but it seems as though I am being forced to do just that.

 

Again I don't know, BUT - logically I thought it was implicit in my response to Julie H's supposition of what could have happened:

 

IF the thread in question were deleted as part of a cluster of threads, i.e. part the large batch of spam which came into various forums just prior to the time that Julie mentioned, then there would be no record of the deletion, moreover, if this were the case, then whomever deleted that batch of spam would not have any record. Accordingly they would never have informed you, because they did not know that it happened.

 

It is worth mentioning that dealing with NEW MEMBERS who sign up to Photo.net only to make SPAM THREADS and deleting those MEMBERS and that SPAM (especially late at night over the weekend, USA time) is a very time consuming, stressful, tedious, and thankless labour.

 

***

 

In the context of your questions being posted in "Site Help" - as far as I can determine the thread is gone and there is no residue of it. These things happen. Your questions posted here have been addressed as best they can be. It serves little purpose to continue to speculate on all the nuances of possibilities nor is it useful repeating the same question, over and over.

 

In the other case which is being implied: then this is a gentle reminder that discussion of Moderation and Editorial Aegis is not permitted in threads.

 

WW

William Michael, I believe you could soften your rather authoritarian tone which tends to turn people off. This along with the cavalier attitude of management towards membership is one reason so many members have left and are continuing to leave the site. PN.v2 is already a mess and many people are upset with the constant problems and glitches (if you'd like I can go into chapter and verse) that they encounter on a daily basis with little in the way of explanation or improvement. You may not agree but that's my opinion for what it's worth.

For clarity:

 

I neither said, nor was it implicit that I thought the thread could have been "automatically" deleted.

 

The site does not run on auto-pilot.

 

Sorry for misinterpreting your guess on how the thread got deleted, William. I was going on what you said here...

 

I too am only guessing: yours is not the most plausible guess. It is more plausible, as a mistake, that the thread was checked within a cluster of spam messages that came onto the site just prior to that time you noted and was deleted with that bundle of spam messages.

 

...where I assumed there was some kind of automation involved since the above quote doesn't mention a person checking clusters of spam messages. The auto-pilot remark was my guessing that these kinds of time consuming tasks could be done automatically. I don't know how sophisticated this new site design is and so I was just guessing that it must have better technology for chasing down/flagging spam activity automatically.

 

I mean if there are already marketing bots engineered to write comments so human like and run up views/hits numbers on social media sites, it would stand to reason the same could be implemented to fight spam using an automated system.

Understood.

 

No apology is necessary Tim, but my clarification was: the written word can be misinterpreted - so can be the tone of the written word, even when there is no intended tone, at all.

Tim, if you're curious, this is the sequence of what I got on that fateful morning. The "New" threads are only those from Philosophy. I don't know how many went into other forums. They were pouring in. I've circled in red a "?" that seems to have been added by photo.net — maybe a spam marker? But I can't find any trigger in Wogears thread that matches something in the spam.

 

. . . this is the sequence of what I got on that fateful morning. . . The "New" threads are only those from Philosophy. I don't know how many went into other forums. . . But I can't find any trigger in Wogears thread that matches something in the spam . . . etc.

 

Maybe my previous comments were not clear enough.

 

Firstly there was much more SPAM than that.

 

If you like, for want of a better term, there was "Blitz Spam".

 

The possibility that I outlined, was that the spam was remove manually, but it was removed in batches.

 

It is not a matter of a "trigger".

 

If this was the case, then it is quite possible that "Wogears thread" was mistakenly (manually) ticked for deletion in one of the many batches of SPAM which were deleted.

 

WW

(snip)

 

If this was the case, then it is quite possible that "Wogears thread" was mistakenly (manually) ticked for deletion in one of the many batches of SPAM which were deleted.

 

WW

 

Is there a way to "untick" and restore deleted threads that the moderation might consider? I'm not sure if that is a possibility or not.