posted
O_o There was a second page on this thread a second ago... and now it's gone. Unless this post starts the second page again.
But, I agree with Dag. I think of threads as conversations, and you can't delete something you say IRL, so why should you be able to here? I really, really don't like it when someone deletes a thread. The posts did happen, so what's the point of hiding it? I also don't like deleting individual posts, but I can tolerate that much than deleting threads.
Posts: 1658 | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
I'm with you rivka. I loved Icarus' reserved, yet oh so funny responding post....oh, and kat's unending patience. Impressive.
Just for the record, I'm in the "you shouldn't delete threads" camp. If stuff is really making you unhappy, you can always petition the mods to lock it so that no one else can post... but deleting it really does wipe out a lot of other people's thoughts. It takes a lot for me to write my thoughts down in a post, whether they're serious or fluffy. It tries my patience and really takes concentration and effort, so I understand the deleted thread frustration.
How long has it been since we've flamed T for deleting the hug thread? (I'm KIDDING, I promise.)
Posts: 6415 | Registered: Jul 2000
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posted
Let's all remember that this is a forum where everything is deleted after a few months...
Nevertheless, deleting an active thread is a terrible privilege to give users. Especially topic starters, who are not exactly impartial. Online forums have an implicit sign at the top of the page saying "you may not like what you get;" discussions taking on meaning above and beyond their explicit intentions is normal and frankly, encouraged. If the notion truly offends you, ask a moderator to lock it instead of pretending it never existed.
Posts: 1839 | Registered: May 1999
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posted
I think thread deletion is better than post deletion. Very seldom do you then leave an opponent looking foolish or crazy.
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
You know, in a thread. I.e., if pooka deleted that post, yours would look really stupid since nobody would know where the "opponents" reference came from.
Posts: 1839 | Registered: May 1999
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quote:O_o There was a second page on this thread a second ago... and now it's gone. Unless this post starts the second page again.
quote:RRR, You are right, there was a post here a bit ago.
Just to clear up the confusion, I accidentally triple posted, starting at the bottom of page 1, then deleted my 2 superfluous posts, which is why you saw 2 pages, then 1 page.
You may resume your regularly scheduled thread.
Posts: 5771 | Registered: Nov 2000
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posted
The only time I got really annoyed about something like this was when I posted something that I thought was extremely funny on OSC-fan's thread, right before he/she/it deleted it. I was only mad at myself for even bothering.
Posts: 6367 | Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
Back to the original (sort of) question. I've been thinking about it some more.
KarlEd, I agree with you that it would be rude to post anti-Homosexuality statements in your Field Guide thread but I (obviously) don't agree about the cigar thread. And I'm trying to figure out why, and this is what I'm coming up with:
Your thread is not really about homosexuality. And you haven't really made any statements about homosexuality one way or the other, either. So posting to say you oppose homosexuality is either a non-sequitur or a character attack, but not part of an existing discussion.
But I feel like it's pretty much okay to post to dissent with any opinion being expressed. The alternative is that one point of view gets its say while another is muted, and that doesn't seem right to me.
What I am having here is a failure to put myself in another's shoes. What I am hearing is that occasionally people start threads to just sit around and talk about how much you agree with each other. And I'm trying, because I've always considered empathy a strong point of mine, but I just can't wrap my brain around it. I don't believe I've ever started such a thread. And I can't see that it damages anybody to have someone come into their cigar-love thread and say "I don't like it when people smoke cigars within 100 feet of me because they smell unbelievably strongly and badly." Explain why they don't, or ignore the person, but why waste time getting angry?
posted
Here's my thoughts. If I were having some beers with a bunch of friends, and someone started talking about "My So Called Life" (or any TV show), it wouldn't take long before someone said they didn't like it. That's how I think about threads here.
posted
Well, I agree with you, Icarus. It would be OK in a conversation. As long as your comments are respectful, it should be OK to have a dissenting view point.
So much does NOT come through in writing, though. You might be joking around, and thinking of yourself kind of gently slapping the person on the back as you said something. The person reading it might be sensitive, and without your physical presence, does not interpret your words the way you mean them.
In that case, I think it is the person who is hurt's place to say they are hurt, or to ask if the person is kidding. If that is the case, they apologize, explain what they meant, or whatever it takes to get the discussion back to being productive.
Posts: 10890 | Registered: May 2003
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posted
I have thought about it, and while I basically agree with what has been said so far (you can disagree, just don't be a jerk about it), I want to add something that I haven't seen yet. I want to point out that if you make it a point to be mr. devil's advocate on every. freaking. thread, and the only time that you have anything to say in someone's thread basically comes down to 'that's not that great' or 'here's where I disagree with you', this is going to be irritating. At least it is to me. Yeah, it's a free country. We all cherish individualism and such, but that doesn't mean you have to rain on people's parade at every opportunity. Sometimes it's nice to say 'You know what, you're right. That (subject of discussion) is pretty cool.'
Posts: 13123 | Registered: Feb 2002
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Gosh, I hope that's not what I do. Actually, I guess it's not . . . I know I've posted in praise of a lot of things too.
I post disagreement on threads where I feel out of sync with culture (most of the times I do this), because, deep down, I think, I want to understand those who are so much like me and yet hold an opinion I disagree with so thoroughly. Kind of the same reason I started this thread. Wanting to understand other viewpoints is, I think, kind of a common theme with me, and I think the result is that for the most part I'm good at it. But there are nevertheless times when I don't get something.
posted
*tiptoeing carefully and late into the thread*
Ick, I remember when you posted on my "so many apples" thread - just to say you didn't like them. As I recall, it did not derail the thread, result in wounded feelings, or anything else that was even remotely stressful.
I dunno - I just work at not getting offended or angry easily here. With rare exceptions, this place is pretty free of people going out of their way to annoy and offend.
posted
Scott- maybe "opponents" is too strong a word. There isn't anyone I never agree with. But surely you recognize that in most threads there is are those who are pro and those who are con. The good thing is that hopefully I can jump into a different thread and the team I find myself on does not line up perfectly with the same team on every thread. Otherwise this would be a pretty dang boring place.
That's only in most threads, though. Sometimes turning a thread that wasn't intended to be a debate into a debate is just trolling. Not that I've never done it. But I think the right to delete a thread is the same as the right to troll. We don't like it when someone does it to us, but we always have a good reason for doing it ourselves. We = me. Don't mean to be declaring the mind and will of Hatrack or nothing.
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
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quote:Here's my thoughts. If I were having some beers with a bunch of friends, and someone started talking about "My So Called Life" (or any TV show), it wouldn't take long before someone said they didn't like it. That's how I think about threads here.
Me, too, Dag.
Like Stephen, I work hard on the charitable interpretation part. That being said, were I truly offended, I would certainly say so. As my friends, I would expect that you would want to know. Posts: 14017 | Registered: May 2000
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posted
They used to, Telperion, but the mechanism got pretty unwieldy for this fast-paced site. Plus, newbies were routinely encouraged to read up on all the prior conversations on a topic before posting. That can get pretty daunting when you are talking about 5+ years of Hatrack.
I think the main reason for the decision not to archive indefinitely was that this would make it too much unlike a natural conversation. (I remember something of that sort posted by kacard, but I could be wrong. That thread has disappeared! )
posted
Well, didn't I hear a rumor that CEDRIOS was copying and archiving all threads? So he could complete his indepth psychological research on Hatrackers?
posted
Of course, he'll only be successful if he can archive faster than kat/AJ/Tom can delete others' threads...
Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
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posted
I remember that thread, sndrake. I don't like them because they hurt my teeth. We ended up an an interesting discussion of what might cause that effect, and also other food allergies. (In addition to the continuing discussion of everyone else's favorite type of apple that most other people engaged in). See, that's what I mean. I didn't post in there because I'm passionate about apples, but because most people seem to like them and I don't, and that was interesting to me. I'm most interested, I guess, by the places where I don't intersect with normal. (Don't even say it.)
posted
Ic, Apples make my teeth hurt, my eyes itch, my throat close up a little, and also cause sneezing. I still eat them, though, so I think that makes me even weirder than you. (or just dumb)
Posts: 10890 | Registered: May 2003
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quote:Well, didn't I hear a rumor that CEDRIOS was copying and archiving all threads? So he could complete his indepth psychological research on Hatrackers?
You trying to stir up trouble, sndrake? Posts: 5771 | Registered: Nov 2000
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Usually, when I stir up trouble nobody has to ask if that is what I was doing. (I get good marks in my annual review on this - "stirring up trouble" is in my job description.)
quote:Hey, sndrake, you'd be what my Canadian husband calls a "professional s**t-disturber."
He's one, too. Cool.
That is VERY cool, as I am under the impression that there are fewer of those in Canada than in the U.S. Talking with my colleagues in Canada, they tend to use different tactics - rarely being able to generate street protests. Doesn't mean they aren't creative or effective, though. Posts: 4344 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
I largely or completely missed the threads being specifically discussed here. On thread deletion, it's annoying because of its arrogance to me. It's arrogant because it exercises power that is given really because of the mechanics of the forum, which permit one person to delete the posts of other people.
That's irritating and insulting. It's a strange definition of individuality, that one person has the right to delete another person's remarks, but the remarker does not have the right to have their statements remain.
'No specific person' indeed.
Posts: 17164 | Registered: Jun 2001
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