Topic Deletion Query and Feedback

[Third Eye]

I voted no due to the potential for abuse by bad actors but get why the Magicians guy deleted his post and think the kind of reception is worth reflecting upon.

[Roz]

@Pavel said in Topic Deletion Query and Feedback:

@Aria said in Topic Deletion Query and Feedback:

Can people still do that if it’s the post that kicked off a thread, though?

I’m not entirely sure.

I think so, but I don’t know for certain.

I just went to a thread I started and checked the deletion options, and there was only the one delete option, which I presume would delete the entire topic as we’ve seen before.

[Pavel]

@Third-Eye said in Topic Deletion Query and Feedback:

I voted no due to the potential for abuse by bad actors but get why the Magicians guy deleted his post and think the kind of reception is worth reflecting upon.

Agreed. This conversation is only related to that situation in that it made me realise anyone could do it, thus prompting brief admin chat.

[Pavel]

@Roz said in Topic Deletion Query and Feedback:

@Pavel said in Topic Deletion Query and Feedback:

@Aria said in Topic Deletion Query and Feedback:

Can people still do that if it’s the post that kicked off a thread, though?

I’m not entirely sure.

I think so, but I don’t know for certain.

I just went to a thread I started and checked the deletion options, and there was only the one delete option, which I presume would delete the entire topic as we’ve seen before.

There’s topic tools and post tools, in different sections (topic tools at the top, next to the reply button, post tools on the bottom right corner of the post itself). At least for admin, I don’t know if it’s the same for regular folks though.

[Roz]

@Pavel said in Topic Deletion Query and Feedback:

@Roz said in Topic Deletion Query and Feedback:

@Pavel said in Topic Deletion Query and Feedback:

@Aria said in Topic Deletion Query and Feedback:

Can people still do that if it’s the post that kicked off a thread, though?

I’m not entirely sure.

I think so, but I don’t know for certain.

I just went to a thread I started and checked the deletion options, and there was only the one delete option, which I presume would delete the entire topic as we’ve seen before.

There’s topic tools and post tools, in different sections (topic tools at the top, next to the reply button, post tools on the bottom right corner of the post itself). At least for admin, I don’t know if it’s the same for regular folks though.

Oh! You’re right, I do have a Delete Topic option up top. I missed that.

[Tez]

You can delete all posts in a thread and the thread remains. I TESTED IT. Delete post and delete thread are separate.

[Aria]

@Tez said in Topic Deletion Query and Feedback:

You can delete all posts in a thread and the thread remains. I TESTED IT. Delete post and delete thread are separate.

Thank you! That makes it easier to vote. Blah blah blah, well-informed electorate or something.

[Herja]

My logical side agrees with the idea that threads should remain up as archives and should only be deleted if there is a very good reason to do so (dropping slurs or doxing mostly).

My petty side gets annoyed when I miss the drama because it’s all deleted.

[Pavel]

@Herja said in Topic Deletion Query and Feedback:

My petty side gets annoyed when I miss the drama because it’s all deleted.

As admin I am not allowed to have a petty side.

But yes.

[IoleRae]

I voted yes, but I’d be fine with a “if there’s no other posts in it” caveat. Idk, I say stupid ass shit sometimes, so does everyone else. If somebody doesn’t want their thread any more, that should be fine. There’s no record retention law that covers this stuff, no audits will be had. If somebody really wants to discuss a deleted thing they can make a new thread.

Spiteful deletes of huge threads is something else (OP deleting the mu peeves or something), but I think it’s worth having that as a risk for the trade off of people being able to realize they made a mistake in starting a thread and shutting it down themselves.

It’s the default option.

[Pavel]

@IoleRae said in Topic Deletion Query and Feedback:

There’s no record retention law that covers this stuff

Sure there is. The Pavel Wants It That Way Act of 1995.

ETA: That said, people can just ask for a thread to be deleted. As I said to another who raised a similar point, privately, I’d rather delete one thread than undelete ten.

[junipersky]

I’m against it. I would rather it be locked so no one can be a dickhole further, but I want the evidence of dickishness to remain.

[Roadspike]

My feeling is similar to @IoleRae – but I voted ‘no,’ because of the caveat that she suggested. I don’t have a problem with posters being able to delete their own posts (we all say stupid shit sometimes), and I don’t care if the original post in a thread is blank because it’s been deleted by the original poster, but I think that once a post has been responded to, the thread belongs to the community (as much as it belongs to anyone) even if the individual posts belong to those who posted them.

[Pavel]

@Roadspike As far as I can tell, the system doesn’t do caveats. It’s either/or. Either we let anyone delete their topics, or we allow no one to delete them.

I’m sure the other admin will agree to delete a thread containing only one deleted post.

[Faraday]

It would irritate me to be having a discussion with other people in a thread and then have the OP just nuke it all.

They can always ask admin to split off responses to a separate thread so they’re not getting pinged with notifications, or lock the thread if it’s gone off the rails. But squelching the discussion altogether feels like knocking over someone else’s toys in the sandbox. The OP is just the first poster, not the only or most important one.

[Pavel]

@Faraday If notifications are the irritant, they can do what all YouTubers ask them to do and click the bell button.

Perhaps I should write up a forum functionality FAQ to reference. Or find one Node did already.

[Faraday]

@Pavel said in Topic Deletion Query and Feedback:

@Faraday If notifications are the irritant, they can do what all YouTubers ask them to do and click the bell button.

I didn’t know if you could unsubcribe notifications from your own post or whether they baked in. At any rate, I was just wracking my brain for some legitimate reason why the OP might be different from anyone else in the thread (who can delete what they said, but not what everyone else said too). It was hard to find one.

[Prospero]

FYI, since it hasn’t been mentioned so far in the thread, a deleted thread can be restored by either the OP or users with the “Topic Management” power. It is not lost forever if deleted, it is in fact just archived where only the OP and Topic Management users can view it.

In case that reframes anyone’s thoughts on the topic - If the admin feel that a topic should not be allowed to be deleted (to hide dickery, or because there was robust and useful discussion that followed it) they can restore it without much problem or loss to the community.

At least in my mind, with those risks negated, I don’t see the harm in allowing an OP to delete a thread which was either put in the wrong place or is having dramatically different results than what they intended (but not deleting it maliciously or to hide any wrong-doing).

[Faraday]

@Prospero said in Topic Deletion Query and Feedback:

If the admin feel that a topic should not be allowed to be deleted (to hide dickery, or because there was robust and useful discussion that followed it) they can restore it without much problem or loss to the community.

What would prompt this, though? Are they notified if it happens and will routinely review such threads? I think it’s a less-viable fallback if we have to just hope that someone is like: “Hey, where did that thread go… huh I wonder if the OP deleted it… maybe I should ask the admin”.

[Pavel]

@Prospero said in Topic Deletion Query and Feedback:

If the admin feel that a topic should not be allowed to be deleted

That’s not our call, though. Folks 'round here want light moderation/administration, so we opt to make fewer decisions requiring our opinion.

Secondly, we generally don’t operate as individuals, with most decisions (I think all of them, but I’ll weasel just in case I’m wrong) requiring two of the three of us to agree. So in the time it takes for someone to notice a thread/topic is deleted, tell us, and for us to then meet to discuss whether it should be restored… that’s enough time for a conversation to die, or other threads to pop up talking about why it was deleted.