Unecessary censorship by moderators?

[sid guttridge]

A recent thread was closed and all except the first page was deleted.

Without addressing the rights and wrongs of the thread concerned, I would suggest that this policy is wrong on several grounds.

1) It makes the last poster on the only page left look like the culprit.

2) It wastes the well intentioned and time consuming contributions of many other people without good reason.

3) It obscures the real culprits and reasons for the closure of the thread. As a result we can learn nothing about the boundaries Feldgrau sets from it.

4) Indiscriminate censorship is wrong in principle. Feldgrau is not "Feldpost" and should be subject to arbitrary censorship.

I appreciate that threads must sometimes be closed, but I would submit that they should not be censored in this way so that we can learn who and what is responsible for the closure and why.

Cheers,

Sid.

[Troy Tempest]

Hi Sid! I agree completely with you on your view about why it's important to know why threads have been closed or deleted. However, I am confused somewhat by your point #4 though, are you suggesting that a policy of deletion or closure of threads without suitable explanation exists on Feldpost? If so, please direct me to those threads in question, as that flies against everything that I believe in re thread moderating. Thanks mate!

[Paddy Keating]

For the benefit of those whose curiosity is whetted by Sid's protest post, the thread in question featured some neo-Bolsheviks peddling their agendas and some normal people challenging them.

As a deputy administrator on Feldpost, Sid, I would like to reinforce Troy's assurances that no "arbitrary censorship" takes place there. Things are deleted every once in a while but only when there is really no choice or no benefit to anyone in keeping them.

This is never a "solo" decision. Feldpost moderators tend to consult in order to preserve impartiality. If you go there, you will even find unpleasant attacks on management by people. We don't censor. I'm sorry you feel otherwise. Of course, we don't allow the place to be used as a political platform either, which has upset a few people.

Come to think of it, we haven't seen you there for a while.

Regards,

PK

[Troy Tempest]

Kunikov is here? I didn't know that, I shall have a look! Is his champion Beppo Schmidt here as well? And Sid, I do miss you mate!

[Paddy Keating]

Oh, sorry, I was confusing it with another forum. Still...Bosheviks...Molsheviks...Bullsheviks... They're all interchangeable. Don't know why Sid was unpleasant about our little website! Hey, Sid, we miss you. C'mon back and play...

P

[Commissar D, the Evil]

Ah, forgive me guys, but I don't know what Thread was closed. Truth is that we poor moderators have been wrung from pillar to post to close spam and pornography threads. Only to say that any closure might have been a mistake.

I, myself, receive nearly a dozen PMs a day to close objectionable Threads, so all of us are being run ragged to ensure the viability of every Thread.

This is no small objective and I beg your consideration that an honest Thread might accidentally be closed by mistake. If so, please contact either myself or another Moderator, but don't fool yourself into believing that anyone is being censored aside from the BAD GUYS who flood us with porn and spam!!!

Sorry my friends, but you really don't know what a moderator on Feldgrau has to fight against or the scope of the fight!!

Very Best Regards To All,
David

[Paddy Keating]

Some of us do, Dave! Troy, Erik, myself and various others have had to deal with some of these people in our capacity as moderators or referees on other forums. The worst aspect of it is that they are not even funny...

PK

[Commissar D, the Evil]

Paddy, I think that you will appreciate that we on Feldgrau are dealing with a mass of spammers that are not only, not funny, but presents us with a factor that threatens our very existence as a viable Forum. God knows that, if all I had to deal with were simply idiots, as opposed to an organized assault on this Forum, I would easily breath better each morning!

Very Best,
David

[Commissar D, the Evil]

Porn, pharmaceuticals and more Porn! I'd rather fight some Nazi idiot than deal with anonymous spam!!!

Life sucks and then you die!--that's the Commissar's motto, but even it must be put aside to deal with spam!!!

Paddy, I know you understand me. To the others, please, please report any Spam to me or the other moderators, so that we can destroy the M.F.'s and keep Feldgrau clean of such filth!!

Very Best,
David

[Troy Tempest]

Hi Dave, can't you do what we have to do now, and manually activate any new members, or would that be impractical with your membership numbers? Or do you do that anyway? I remember reporting some porn links here once, couldn't find any mods online at the time, so contacted sniper1shot somewhere else. He told me that he has to spend a lot of time deleting them, as does Tom. If you manually screened new members, could that help stem your spam tide? Do you have access to any screening software that may help?

[phylo_roadking]

Dave - if you would STOP using the word Po*n, *harmaceuticals, and *uck on a history forum then the automated worms wouldn't be searching the site out and hitting it so hard!!! At least when the automated spam uses them you get to delete them....but do you ever go back and delete your OWN use of them in a thread???

[Richard Hargreaves]

Hi Sid! I agree completely with you on your view about why it's important to know why threads have been closed or deleted. However, I am confused somewhat by your point #4 though, are you suggesting that a policy of deletion or closure of threads without suitable explanation exists on Feldpost? If so, please direct me to those threads in question, as that flies against everything that I believe in re thread moderating. Thanks mate!

I think Sid's talking about real Feldpost from landsers which, of course, was heavily censored, rather than your forum, Troy. I may, of course, be wrong... and frequently am.

I've been watching a right ding-dong on AHF ostensibly about the History Channel being sh*te which has turned into a barney over the Soviet justice system. If I'd been a mod I'd have pulled the plug on that one a long time ago...

Still, the level of debate here is way above many fora out there. Just read the comments on the Daily Express and Daily Mail websites. Now their contributors are real muppets...

[Cott Tiger]

Hi Sid! I agree completely with you on your view about why it's important to know why threads have been closed or deleted. However, I am confused somewhat by your point #4 though, are you suggesting that a policy of deletion or closure of threads without suitable explanation exists on Feldpost? If so, please direct me to those threads in question, as that flies against everything that I believe in re thread moderating. Thanks mate!

I think Sid's talking about real Feldpost from landsers which, of course, was heavily censored, rather than your forum, Troy. I may, of course, be wrong... and frequently am.

That's how I read it also Halder.

Apparently, the Feldpost.tv forum has had a few bumps recently and they are perhaps a little bit jittery and defensive.

Regards,

Andre

[Troy Tempest]

Hi Halder and cott Tiger! I admit I didn't consider that possibility! I would hope that that is indeed the case gentlemen! With Sid's unexplained departure though, it led me to believe that it was directed at us! By the way cott Tiger, nice name! Are you a ladies man by chance? A real 'Tiger in the cot'?

[Commissar D, the Evil]

Jason's put new measures into effect. I hope that will help us.

In the meantime, my apologies to those of you who have seen real posts deleted.

Best,
David