Moderators, please can you give some guidance?

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jfm

jfm

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You have pulled 4 threads on the recent Cannes topic. Please can you give some guidance on where you are drawing the line? In this evening's threads (now pulled) I positively agreed that you were right to pull threads 1+2 yesterday - no problem with that. I'm more asking mainly about your pulling this evening's threads 3+4. Was it because of the French law aspect?

Where poster A (me, in this instance) says 2 things being (1) that poster B wrote that he (poster B) did something (what he wrote is indisputable fact - you have the record and I have it screenshotted), and (2) an observation about French law (also not subject to any debate), has A crossed the line such that you will remove it?

Genuine question, because reporting something non private that happened in public, and what the law says, must amount to free speech and is not libel in any civilised legal system. I realise it is inconvenient for one party, but that cannot override free speech/reportage. Let me be candid about what I'm thinking: are you giving a poster special treatment/doing him a favour because he used to work on ybw team?
 
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jfm said:
Let me be candid about what I'm thinking: are you giving a poster special treatment/doing him a favour because he used to work on ybw team?
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That was my take this morning when I noticed the posts had been deleted with no reasoning. Quick phone call and all that! :rolleyes:
 
Mr B posted his comment above 20 minutes ago and he is now on shore leave, with no other comments posted since this one - is this the reason why he is on shore leave? It seems to me to be very polite, same as his other posts..... what has he done wrong?
 
TBH, I will not lose my sleep over the real reasons why these threads (or others in the past) were pulled.
In this case I did expect the whole querelle to be pulled btw, as I even wrote in one post.
Besides, I can live with the fact that whoever is in charge of moderating a forum has the right of pulling threads.
Democracy is overrated, after all (as Brexit proves beyond any reasonable doubts :D :p).

But what I find very annoying is the total lack of evidence of what was done.
I mean, couldn't you please leave just the original thread title, flagged as "pulled" or whatever, and not accessible anymore?
That would save us all the time to look for a thread and not find it anymore, till someone mentions elsewhere that it was pulled.

Don't be ashamed of your job, moderators: if you want to pull anything without disclosing the reasons, so be it.
But pulling it and hoping that nobody remembers anything, that's unfair to say the least.
I'd dare saying coward rather than unfair, if it weren't that I fear seeing also this thread pulled... :rolleyes:

PS for jfm: for keeping threads you're interested to save, it's much easier and faster to cut and paste the content in a Word file, rather than making several screenshots.
I can email them to you in this format, if you wish. :D
 
Hi MM
Yup, agreed ,and modding certainly isn't a life or death matter. I agree Mods have the right to pull and I'm not advocating democracy here (especially since Brexit vote, as you say :D), but I'm curious as to where they draw the line. In this case it looks like they are doing an ex colleague a favour, which as you say they are free to do, but it has an impact on the attractiveness of this place.

Thanks for the offer of Word file, which I'll bank if I may. I prefer the screenshots in this case because they make for better evidence. In France anyone who thinks he is victim of a "mid" or "petty" level misdemeanour (those are my descriptions not the official French labels) has a right (subject obvs to the court having discretion not to hear unwinnable cases) to bring a private prosecution at his own behest, and the process is quite efficient. Illicit telephone recording is punishable (in France) by fine or prison so it ranks as a "mid". All this is different from the UK where it is hard to prosecute privately, because the state prosecutor controls most decisions on commencing prosecutions. Obviously one needs evidence for the prosecution, and to get the French Court to agree to try the case, but an admission on social media by the accused is well established as good evidence in French courts, just as it very much is nowadays in UK civil and criminal courts.
 
JFM. I suspect the reason for them being pulled is because you used actual names both of the person and the company he works for.

I'm not claiming that's illegal but forums generally take a path of least resistance approach pulling threads if in any doubt.

I gave up posting in motor related threads because of my frustration. On a platform that theoretically gave power to the people the real bad guys were getting away with it due to naming and shaming rules.

Someone like me who was genuinely passionate about trying to do the right thing ended up taking the flak for other people's activities when they not only got away with it but were even praised by either innocent or complicit posters.

I think you have to see forums like this as a very conservative, middle England bowls club :)

Henry :)
 
Bajansailor said:
Mr B posted his comment above 20 minutes ago and he is now on shore leave, with no other comments posted since this one - is this the reason why he is on shore leave? It seems to me to be very polite, same as his other posts..... what has he done wrong?
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The FB thread went downhill rapidly - he was helicoptered off the ship after attempting to defeat a troll.
 
jfm said:
In this case it looks like they are doing an ex colleague a favour, which as you say they are free to do, but it has an impact on the attractiveness of this place.
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A very marginal impact, imho.
I've yet to find a forum which is intesting because properly moderated.
More often than not, forums are (or aren't) interesting in spite of moderation.
This is no exception. :)
 
john_morris_uk said:
Moderation isn’t discussed (as you all know).
However, it’s interested that none of you have recalled the bit in T’s and C’s
Enough from me I think and I’m probably going to regret trying to be helpful.
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Maybe the T&C’s should be amended to include “Personal Disputes” - although they do make for fascinating late-night reading.

Something to think about - if someone makes a comment such as “I was treated really badly on the FloatingSheepLine stand at the Puddlehampton Boat Show” and someone has first hand knowledge that would put a different spin on things, then NOT posting anything is allowing something to stand that is one-sided, and would not give the reader the full picture. At least having read all the threads before they were deleted, I can form a view as to what might have actually happened.

Alternatively ... another rule ... “You may only post about positive experiences. Sunny days, boats that don’t go wrong, vendors that always get it right, and pictures of kittens or puppies”,

.
 
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john_morris_uk said:
Moderation isn’t discussed (as you all know).

However, it’s interested that none of you have recalled the bit in T’s and C’s

Enough from me I think and I’m probably going to regret trying to be helpful.
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Thanks jmuk for the reply. Did you take the view that my posts were “personal attack” on RS, or “rude or abusive”, or all of those, or some then (which?)? I won’t drag you into an argument or debate on the topic if you answer that, and feel free to answer just yes/no-ishly, obvs.

I totally understand and support your heavy and timely deletions on the FB thread. I would have edited it even more heavily in your shoes. But I can’t see why in the RS threads you deleted the whole threads rather than editing the “bad” posts.
 
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MapisM said:
A very marginal impact, imho.
I've yet to find a forum which is intesting because properly moderated.
More often than not, forums are (or aren't) interesting in spite of moderation.
This is no exception. :)
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I agree all that mm, but I was trying to make a slightly different point but in reflection I should have been clearer. I meant attractiveness just in the eyes of the poster (in this case me!) who is “offended” personally by the deletions when they are done (I’m suspecting believing) dig a bad guy out of a deep hole he dug personally (and was forewarned) because he is ex-ybw. I agree with you that there is t much impact on viewers in general. No big deal I guess.
 
henryf said:
JFM. I suspect the reason for them being pulled is because you used actual names both of the person and the company he works for.
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Yep maybe, but actually moderator jmuk hints above at a different reason.

Naming is of course very much an exception to general practice. I did it in this case because (i) RS himself has made public on here that the handle TO = RS; (ii) he said the company name in the thread before I did; (iii) the incident was in a public place and he was wearing a tag with his and company name in distinctive company colours.

Item (iii) is perhaps worth some thought. If say hypothetically I saw a random guy being rude in a public place wearing a corporate ID tag, I would be free to report the event and names on here. At least I think I so- say if you disagree. Now if it then turned out the guy happened to be a poster on here, he wouldn’t suddenly get a right to anonymity by virtue of that. That I think is the right principle, and I applied it here.

(Only I applied it more softly because I phoned -not expecting to be bugged- and invited an apology with a promise then to say nothing)
 
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Bouba said:
It does look a bit like protecting someone from a Gerald Ratner moment
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I don’t get that .GR ridiculed his own products in public , hurt was self inflicted.

Moving on .

Interesting to find out if RS ,s Priny 40 M actually hooked a serious prospect .
After all nice subtle plug is how this all started , RS surfacing on here iirc ?

That’s another grey area , floating about on here plugging / advertising stuff for sale .Another area with in definable boundaries made up as the mods feel fit .
They did not react to the initial plugging of the P40 M , in fact I suspect JFM would have been “qualified “ to go on board it .
More irony :)
 
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