Hi All,
Recently there have been a number of posts on the forums that put me in a difficult position as moderator. Some were in the main forum which everyone sees, others were in the iaoc discussion forum.
Both of these posts turned ugly with lots of mud slinging. It was difficult to tell fact from fiction. The end result was that some of the participating parties then asked, in some cases almost demanded, that I remove the threads.
I am still not certain I did the right thing but, after confering with some former iaoc presidents and board members, I deleted one of the message threads in the iaoc area earlier today. I have since had some tell me I did the right thing for the sake of the Amphi community, others are peeved at me for doing so and feel I caved in to pressure from the existing iaoc board.
I am not going to beat myself up over it, I am not sure what the right answer is or was. I am however, going to lay out some very specific guidelines for future posts.
1) In the future I will NOT delete any threads or messages unless they are completely off topic, if they are spam, if they are filled with racist or other drivel, etc.
2) Message authors have the ability to delete their own individual messages. Likewise, if an author requests that I delete one of his/her messages I will do so. However, I will not delete other messages or replies that make up the thread unless those authors request it.
3) I may elect to close a thread to future posts if it is going way off topic or turning into personal attacks. I will not however delete the messages unless requested by the authors of those messages.
3) Keep in mind that messages to the main forum are received by many members via e-mail. They generally go out no more than 10 minutes after they are posted. They are also scanned by Google and other search engines constantly. Thus, if you put something out there, even if you later delete it, it may have grown legs and be out there forever. Think before you post. If you crap in your own bed, or your neighbors, expect others to see it. It is like a letter to the editor. Once published you can not make it go away nor can you demand the paper rescind it because you do not like what it says.
4) If individuals want to comment positively or negatively on the parts, services, practices, etc. of any vendor that is fine so long as it is kept to the facts or the individual's experience. A public forum is not the place to mediate a dispute. If that vendor in turn decides to sue you, stop doing business with you, etc. that is their right just as it is your right to post your experience.
What happened this week was my reaction to a situation I would not have anticipated. Moving forward, I have stated my policy on removing posts and so it shall be. This list does welcome contributions but will remain independent and is not beholden to, nor will it take direction from IAOC, contributors, advertisers, etc.
Best Regards,
Mike I.
Recently there have been a number of posts on the forums that put me in a difficult position as moderator. Some were in the main forum which everyone sees, others were in the iaoc discussion forum.
Both of these posts turned ugly with lots of mud slinging. It was difficult to tell fact from fiction. The end result was that some of the participating parties then asked, in some cases almost demanded, that I remove the threads.
I am still not certain I did the right thing but, after confering with some former iaoc presidents and board members, I deleted one of the message threads in the iaoc area earlier today. I have since had some tell me I did the right thing for the sake of the Amphi community, others are peeved at me for doing so and feel I caved in to pressure from the existing iaoc board.
I am not going to beat myself up over it, I am not sure what the right answer is or was. I am however, going to lay out some very specific guidelines for future posts.
1) In the future I will NOT delete any threads or messages unless they are completely off topic, if they are spam, if they are filled with racist or other drivel, etc.
2) Message authors have the ability to delete their own individual messages. Likewise, if an author requests that I delete one of his/her messages I will do so. However, I will not delete other messages or replies that make up the thread unless those authors request it.
3) I may elect to close a thread to future posts if it is going way off topic or turning into personal attacks. I will not however delete the messages unless requested by the authors of those messages.
3) Keep in mind that messages to the main forum are received by many members via e-mail. They generally go out no more than 10 minutes after they are posted. They are also scanned by Google and other search engines constantly. Thus, if you put something out there, even if you later delete it, it may have grown legs and be out there forever. Think before you post. If you crap in your own bed, or your neighbors, expect others to see it. It is like a letter to the editor. Once published you can not make it go away nor can you demand the paper rescind it because you do not like what it says.
4) If individuals want to comment positively or negatively on the parts, services, practices, etc. of any vendor that is fine so long as it is kept to the facts or the individual's experience. A public forum is not the place to mediate a dispute. If that vendor in turn decides to sue you, stop doing business with you, etc. that is their right just as it is your right to post your experience.
What happened this week was my reaction to a situation I would not have anticipated. Moving forward, I have stated my policy on removing posts and so it shall be. This list does welcome contributions but will remain independent and is not beholden to, nor will it take direction from IAOC, contributors, advertisers, etc.
Best Regards,
Mike I.
