[Paul]

Hi XNemesisX,

Originally posted by XNemesisX
I don't understand why some posts are deleted to be honest but I guess to some people they might seem offensive. I am a hard person to offend though, I really don't take much offense to anything so maybe I am not the person to be saying this.

Please see our Community Guidelines, which outline the framework for how we decide what is and what is not appropriate for the forums. If a message, comment, or thread fails to meet the criteria in those guidelines, we will likely delete it. See a bit further down for more on this....

I have personally never reported a post. I don't see how some people can be so hurt/offended just by someone's opinion on a message board.

Posts should be reported to us to make sure we see them--the idea that the report post mechanism should be used as a retaliatory measure is a concept we're trying to better understand and debunk. We just discussed this in a previous thread. Rather than reiterate, I'll point you to my comments therein.

I also do not understand why posts complimenting people or telling them they are good looking are deleted. I have noticed this and I was thinking -

Are we also not allowed to flirt with other members or comment about their appearance in a good way? I was just wondering....sometimes these kinds of posts are deleted and sometimes they aren't.

Our site is meant to be as inclusive as possible and invite all who may come upon it to participate in the discussion. Comments related to a person's appearance as depicted in the member's avatar would be considered a personal message to the member and should be sent privately. It is wholly inappropriate in this community to comment on or rate an individual's avatar anywhere on the public forums.

Avatars are meant to be a form of personal expression and identification and were not intended as a means to share photographs. We highly discourage the use of photographs in avatars and have had numerous instances where individuals posting with a photograph in their avatar have contacted us in a state of panic because a friend, colleague, neighbor, etc. recognized them while viewing the site. There are far, far more people viewing our site then there are posting and posting a picture, in my opinion, is an unnecessary risk that may place members in a position where their privacy and identity might be compromised. It's happened before and will likely happen again.

Any sort of flirtatious messages or other exchanges between a small, select group of people should be conducted in private and have no place on our forums, as highlighted in Community participation and inclusion.

Now you bring up another key point--why do some of the messages stay and some get deleted? The simple fact is that at the present time, there are hundreds of posts made each day and a very small group of moderators attempting to ensure we're maintaining an appropriate environment for collaborative peer-to-peer exchanges. It's not that we feel some personal messages are okay while others aren't--rather it's just that we haven't actually seen the posts that appear to have been left behind. Simply put: We need more moderators and more people reporting posts!

Right now, we're working with a group of individuals who have expressed an interest in taking on the challenge of becoming a moderator and we're developing a new approach to better ensure that we're not only acting consistently and fairly, but that our moderators are not so overwhelmed by the sheer volume of posts that appear here each day (not to mention the e-mails we receive and other tasks). I encourage anyone that may be interested in having a hand in that effort to Contact Us for more information and to let us know of your interest. LoveShack.org is constantly evolving and relies heavily on the input of all the people who have committed themselves to volunteering behind-the-scenes. We're particularly interested in hearing from those of you that have been around for a while and have actively participated in the community to ensure that you have an opportunity to express your opinions during those discussions and help steer us toward the future of the community.

Best wishes,
Paul

[whichwayisup]

I guess say what you're gonna say advice/thoughts wise, but add in either at the start of the reply or near the end, "Please don't take this personally, I'm not attacking you, I just totally disagree with what you're saying..." That way the original poster can actually read that...And hopefully understand too.

Just my thoughts on this...

[Fester Lungblood]

You know, all of this "reporting crap" is truly childlike and smacks of emotional insecurity to me. If I say something that others think is stupid and they tell me so, that's their right in my opinion. All of this policing of language, tone, attitudes, and so on is just more proof of how our society is heading toward some candy-coated fascist destination where evryone has to follow the rules of the state. And the trouble is, people are really trying to avoid that sort of thing but with every measure of control, aimed at making sure everyone plays nicely, the framework of is being built.


I understand that LS has rules and the founders want it that way. And I can even see how some rules realy do help out like preventing some idiot from posting 99 FuG You's just to bug people. But complaining because, someone says they hate you, or thinks your opinions aren't worth squat just displays insecurity, defensiveness, and ultimately...weakness.

[Paul]

Hi Fester Lungblood,

Originally posted by Fester Lungblood
You know, all of this "reporting crap" is truly childlike and smacks of emotional insecurity to me. If I say something that others think is stupid and they tell me so, that's their right in my opinion. All of this policing of language, tone, attitudes, and so on is just more proof of how our society is heading toward some candy-coated fascist destination where evryone has to follow the rules of the state. And the trouble is, people are really trying to avoid that sort of thing but with every measure of control, aimed at making sure everyone plays nicely, the framework of is being built.

LoveShack.org is not a state-run organization. We're a private organization founded by individuals with a goal of providing a framework best suited to productive collaboration and self-discovery. Our guidelines are not intended as a means of oppression, but rather to prevent the opinions of a less vocal minority from being repressed and encouraging scholarly debate. While the site is open to anyone who would like to participate, when doing so you're guests in our private home and are subject to the boundaries we set. Posting here is a privilege, not a right.

The report post feature is very useful as we deal with an ever increasing number of posts. You touch upon our current concern--that the report tool has been conceptualized as a means of tattling or retaliation. It's really just a flagging system that identifies posts others feel may jeopardize our standards and the environment we hope to maintain.

I understand that LS has rules and the founders want it that way. And I can even see how some rules realy do help out like preventing some idiot from posting 99 FuG You's just to bug people. But complaining because, someone says they hate you, or thinks your opinions aren't worth squat just displays insecurity, defensiveness, and ultimately...weakness.

The overwhelming majority of reported posts we receive are valid concerns. We have not had a problem with people reporting posts because they disagree with the viewpoint expressed. Those instances can probably be counted on one hand and were almost always made by individuals that were otherwise abusive while using the site. This may be a feature that we'll rename in the future as the term "report" has a certain connotation which we're trying to avoid. While the developers of this forum software chose that particular name, we don't feel it accurately reflects how we use it and we have significantly modified the reporting system to address our particular needs.

Reporting posts can't be used to squelch the opinions of others as we manually review each report we receive. Posts are not removed or edited automatically. Rather, they're put in a queue for review by the moderation team.

I hope this helps clarify some misconceptions and allay any concerns over the use of the report post feature as a means of censorship.

Best wishes,
Paul