This isn’t complaining. I have a question / topic which might help debate around here.
Without adding too much (any) work for the mod’s, is there any way we could see what comments we have made that were deleted? It -could- give a good sense, in hindisight, of where any crossed lines were.
e.g. I made a comment last night in which I indicated that I would be glad to see a commenter step down off a soapbox and engage with the questions being asked of him/her, and that I would be making some popcorn during the apparently long wait. It was not meant as an insult, and it was approximately as condescending as the comment it replied to, which wasn’t a lot. It is true that i find that user to be a single-topic poster who applies what I perceive as mendacity to do what I perceive as derailing all conversation back to a personal favorite topic while crying victim, but I could be wrong.
It could be useful to give users our own garbage bins, so we can see what was judged as garbage. Could be educational. Might raise the debate.
I could support this suggestion, with the important caveat that our personal garbage bin should be “read only” (which may be exactly what you intend also).
There should purposefully be no way to generate extra work for the mods by appealing deleted comments.
I think generally if a comment is eaten by the luck dragon for being off topic, the answers to it are also deleted; it doesn’t necessarily mean that your comment was considered extreme.
I think what it comes down to is effort vs. benefit. It is a lot of effort for the mods to indicate why something was deleted – the reasons can be complex, obscure, not even your fault and every time you interact on deletions it is an invitation to a discussion that involves Loss Aversion.
It’s a recipe for disaster from the moderator’s perspective.
I’ve only had one comment eaten I know of, and I blame the doctor for giving me vicodin, the shop for selling me wine, and the guy being an asshole. I was quite rude though (but still right, dammit!).
Agreed. I believe zero additional effort on the part of the mods would be a critical part.
But if a comment is deleted for cause (not all the children comments that also disappear, those were off topic) it could be informative to have the one button the mod pushes be -(send to purgatory where user could review it)- instead of -(delete forever)-. I imagine a couple lines of code would do it, but I admit to not being at all programmery.
I really agree that feedback about deleted comments, unless you have moderators who are actively shaping the discussion, is absolutely pointless. A rabbit hole. But the ability to passively review things that were decided to be unpalatable might actually help people see what tone they used that was just too much. I think it could help people identify when maybe they needed a breather yesterday, and maybe they take one next time. I include myself, but I also include a lot of other folks.
The only problem I see with this turd garden idea is that the poster may be inclined to cut-n-paste the comment back in to then original thread, maybe removing some of the offensive content and maybe not. Then it becomes a back-n-forth for the mods.
I think generally you know what you said that got you clipped. I say just take another Vicodin and move on.
Lighten up, Francis. Notice how that wasn’t a reply to you or anyone in particular, just a reply to the thread? I meant ONE generally knows why they get clipped.
Your post was immediately after my post in which I stated that I don’t always remember what I posted and can even be confused sometimes about whether or not I posted something that might have gotten eaten.
I really think you can count on people to respond to the word -you- as though you meant that one individual to whom you have chosen to reply to specifically and actively, and not that you meant “people in general”, to whom you can more readily address general comments on the human condition by -not- replying to an individual and pointing at them with -your- word choices.
That’s why they’re different words, right? The choice of words you use exists, IT IS YOURS AND IS NOT MINE, and I really want you to take home the message that ‘one’ and ‘you’ are not interchangeable, nor are they synonyms. When used in person there are body language cues that people can read to know the difference.
Those cues do not exist online, and rather than being perturbed when others don’t read you correctly, maybe you could speak more carefully… first. Be the change.
You said something to me, and i responded, Francis.
It’s really not my job to do extra work beyond reading your chosen words so that you can sound as smart as you -probably- are but failed to be, just there.
And maybe just admit mistakes without taking a shot, eh?
I apologize for my inexact use of language. And I’m sorry you took it so personally. But you did fly off the handle a bit and lash out - maybe that’s one reason your comments get deleted.
