Hi! I dont mean to be an annoying pest, but I have a problem with some topics being deleted/locked. My main problems with these is that when they get locked or deleted, it would be helpful to at least know if this was caused because of a moderator, or the creator of the topic. This problem is due to not knowing why the elimination of the thread was due to the decision of a user, or due to some breakage of rules, eliminated by a moderator. My other problem is in specific with the popular random topic. It got locked, but no one left a comment due to why it was locked in the first place. How are we supposed to know whether this was due to what was being said in the thread, or because of the thread itself. So all I want is to kow why threads get locked or deleted, that way we do not continue making the mistakes. Because Im sure there was no intention in breaking the rules, and we would all be respectful and not make the same mistake, if we knew what the mistake was. And again, I dont mean to be an annoying ranter. These are just suggestions and small complaints.

Duly noted!

We're getting far too many complaints about the random topics to let them go on. We do have work to do here, and it's difficult to get it done when a flood of moderation notices keep pouring in regarding a certain topic. We'll try to make sure we give notice of who and why a topic is locked/deleted in the future to give readers a better idea of the situation. Thanks for bringing it up.

Thanks for clearing things out for me Corbs! Id also like a email for why you get banned when you do. Cause earlier this week I was clueless why I got banned, and then saw the Dazza's post. Well anyways, its understandable, but Im still not sure why people complained. Anyways thanks a lot!

Just a quick question, prompted by the recent locking of another thread.

So all people have to do is complain about a thread, and once you get enough complaints, you lock/delete it?!

We check it over and see if it's warranted and then we lock it if necessary. We normally don't start considering locking or deleting a topic unless an unusually large number of mod notices start coming in regularly.

Cool, so long as it's not black and white. Was worried some might take offence or a disliking, and just spam the button with the aim of being spiteful. ty

No, we'd just ban their account and remove the posts. Lockage is the solution when people start fighting; surprisingly this tends to happen in threads regarding controversial topics!

For example, earlier we had a number of requests coming in to lock/delete a certain topic, but when I read the topic in question I didn't think it was worth it: the debate was engaging and varied without being personal or hateful, so I left it open.

Every report that lands in our inbox has the member name attached, so it'd be easy to see if one person had a vested interest in getting a topic locked/comments deleted.

We do try to exercise common sense but it isn't a science, and sometimes we (read: I) get it wrong.

You talking about the log there?!?!? Only joking, I know American's don't do toilet jokes where as Britain loves 'em.

Maybe we need to start tidying up the useless pile of old threads, before deleting the ones people are using.

I still think some kind of middle ground should've been reached on the "random threads" issue. Locking them ALL, including that one big, popular one, was too much. You should've dumped most of them, leaving that one open, with an announcement made to not complain about that ONE or something. I still miss that thread.

I'm surprised that the admins didn't make an announcement about the random threads.

preach on brother Machu. I love toilet jokes and I loathe useless months-old threads.

The "log" thing was nothing to do with me - I don't even think I was around at the time, but from what I understand, I would have done exactly the same thing (only with more moaning!)

One question though: what would be the positive outcome of deleting old threads if it's the new ones that are attracting complaints and reports?

@Pro: Yeah I know. I guess that I was just disappointed that a little harmless fun, that had no swear words but oodles of double-entendre got deleted due to complaints, but then it's an international site so I shouldn't expect everyone to put up with such humour (though it was the funniest two pages ever, ahahahah). That, combined with searching through endless pages of unused threads and seeing carbon copies of threads i responded to a month ago spawning, led me to make the comment that's up there somewhere. I'm sorry! Huuuuugs!

Get off me you drunken fool!

The problem with deleting old threads is exactly what you raise - people will search for their old threads, find they've been deleted and then make a new thread saying "where's my old thread?" Perhaps we need to look into some sort of archiving feature?

LOL. You know me too well. bows head in shame

It'll all be cool when there's a search function, which I gather is being worked on. And why the hell are you responding to me anyway, just tell me to go away!

Because I wuv you.

OMG, the countless hours of lonely net time have finally paid off. I've found someone! I wuv you too!

Well, I'm the one that deleted the poopie thread; I suppose I could just have locked it, but it seemed the cleaner option!

If we ever get a usable search function I predict more duplicate thread lockage; in the meantime I think it's fine if there's a thread that's a few pages back, but multiples on the same page needs action to stop topic spammage.