Quote:
Originally Posted by _____V_____
If a topic has been discussed enough and then there are arguments which lead to derailment, locking the thread is the better option. But for a new topic, this is a pretty tough decision.
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This is the dilemma, isn't it.
I mean, locking a thread ends up in the discussion stopping dead - both constructive and destructive additions.
It is a shame for someone's thread to be shut down when there might be more constructive input out there, that subsequently does not get to be voiced.
Deleting posts "cleans up" a thread, but allows further discussion to continue. In a lot of instances, this is preferable.
With regards to the censorship vs freedom argument, I can sympathise. However, there is a difference between censoring (or deleting) on-topic posts and totally off-topic posts. Like lots of things, which is the lesser evil? Censoring some posts or allowing threads to become totally derailed, leaving people who start threads possibly in the position where they can't achieve what they had set out to do by starting the topic?
If posts have to be deleted, I like the way they do it on another forum that I am a participant on. The posts don't totally "disappear" but they remain, with the body of the text deleted and replaced with a reason for deletion (e.g." Deleted: personal attack" or "Deleted: off-topic"). This seems a bit more transparent in that it demonstrates to those viewing (and those who were deleted) that there was indeed a post in that place, but that it was removed in accordance with forum rules.
I am glad that horror.com forums are not too heavily moderated with regards to deleting posts. The character of this place is that it is a bit irreverent, a bit unforgiving. And that is OK, all forums have a cetain character, and that character tends to select the sort of members that stick around. And those that stick around this place for any reasonable period of time tend to be people who have an interest in the genre and a passion for discussing it (for the most part, anyway). Sure, some people who are passionate about horror are probably turned away, but that would happen no matter what sort of environment this forum had. Can't be all things to all people ...
Naturally, there are also dickheads who turn up here from time to time. Some are more persistent than others. But they mostly get bored after a while and leave.
Now, to take this post off-topic :D I didn't realise you were a rev-head too, V. Nice to know.