Bitcoin Forum

Other => Meta => Topic started by: alani123 on July 13, 2020, 07:54:36 AM



Title: Notification on deleted threads
Post by: alani123 on July 13, 2020, 07:54:36 AM
The forum currently lacks one feature the absence of which causes a lot of confusion.
The moving of threads into the trashcan is very confusing to thread authors.

Firs of all, the trashcan is a locked board. So anything moved there, will always be inaccessible to anyone but forum staff.
Unless the mod that moved the thread decides to notify the OP, then the thread OP will have no idea of the thread being moved to the trashcan. Attempting to load up the URL simply leads to an error page without any explanation.

I can use myself as an example here, I had made a thread called Max profit in crypto sites, biggest in industry? (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5261118.0) which seems to have been deleted from the Gambling Discussion board. The only mod of the board (hilariousandco) seems to have been off the forum for a week. So it's even not obvious who moved the thread as it must have been a staff member other than the person listed as the board's mod.

I'm only using myself as an example here, I am not making this thread just so I can get an explanation for my thread. But by using a recent example I want to bring something to light.
It is very confusing to have your thread deleted and I believe the following should be addressed:
  • Receiving no notification when the thread is trashcanned.
  • No reason or explanation given.
  • Having no redirection notice (also would be helpful for those that had responded or had the thread saved).
  • Losing the contents of your thread forever.


I think the forum already has a mechanism it could utilize to fix the aforementioned issues.
When a response gets deleted (for example from a self-moderated thread, or by a mod), then immediately the response author gets his response quoted as a PM, saying that it was removed. 
Doing the same for trashcanned threads would save a lot of confusion.


Title: Re: Notification on deleted threads
Post by: hilariousandco on July 13, 2020, 08:29:24 AM
I can use myself as an example here, I had made a thread called Max profit in crypto sites, biggest in industry? (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5261118.0) which seems to have been deleted from the Gambling Discussion board. The only mod of the board (hilariousandco) seems to have been off the forum for a week. So it's even not obvious who moved the thread as it must have been a staff member other than the person listed as the board's mod.

I'm on the board practically every day. Any Global or Admin could have moved it, but I don't see any report in the queue on it either so I don't know what it was removed for.


Title: Re: Notification on deleted threads
Post by: dkbit98 on July 13, 2020, 08:48:43 AM
Sure I think this would be a good thing to add, and it happened to me several times before.
In general, notification system needs to be changed and improved.

I guess some people report posts or topics and moderator moves them to other section.
Sometimes this is good, but not always.


Title: Re: Notification on deleted threads
Post by: LoyceV on July 13, 2020, 10:21:28 AM
I only recently learned there is a difference between trashcan and deletion (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5248878.msg54711111#msg54711111). I think (but I'm not sure) that deleted topics do give a PM-notification.

This can definitely be improved :)


Title: Re: Notification on deleted threads
Post by: jademaxsuy on July 13, 2020, 11:29:10 AM

I'm on the board practically every day. Any Global or Admin could have moved it, but I don't see any report in the queue on it either so I don't know what it was removed for.
Probably a clerical error? Deleting posts or replies that are not meant to be be removing posts mistakenly from the staff or MOD. It is clearly a hard job for them knowing a lot of posts had been made especially in bitcoin and altcoin discussion section. In my case, whenever I get posts deleted I will just leave it for I know how hard to maintain a section if you are a mod or staff. Just leave it to them how they handle the job and then let them also discover what approach should be done to maintain a good section or the forum.


Title: Re: Notification on deleted threads
Post by: alani123 on July 13, 2020, 11:39:42 AM
I only recently learned there is a difference between trashcan and deletion (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5248878.msg54711111#msg54711111). I think (but I'm not sure) that deleted topics do give a PM-notification.

This can definitely be improved :)
Looking at the post you've linked, I must say that based on what I have noticed, in most cases there will not actually be a redirection notice.
AFAIK SMF gives you the option to skip posting one by un-ticking a box. So having no redirection notice can't be but a deliberate choice of the staff member that has deleted each post.

Maybe forum staff, and more especially global forum mods, could should consider leaving a redirection notice up as part of their best practices for deleting topics.
I don't know why, but lately (and by lately I mean in the last few years) I've stopped seeing all that many redirection notices altogether. At least not as many as before. Is there some reason behind of that? Did redirection noticed become uncool suddenly for some reason? (Or is it just me?)


Edit: I also realize I could have just written "trashcanned" in the OP title instead of "deleted". I think the body of OP still explains what I meant well though so I'll probably leave it.


Title: Re: Notification on deleted threads
Post by: hilariousandco on July 13, 2020, 12:24:51 PM

I'm on the board practically every day. Any Global or Admin could have moved it, but I don't see any report in the queue on it either so I don't know what it was removed for.
Probably a clerical error? Deleting posts or replies that are not meant to be be removing posts mistakenly from the staff or MOD. It is clearly a hard job for them knowing a lot of posts had been made especially in bitcoin and altcoin discussion section. In my case, whenever I get posts deleted I will just leave it for I know how hard to maintain a section if you are a mod or staff. Just leave it to them how they handle the job and then let them also discover what approach should be done to maintain a good section or the forum.

Sure, it can happen. I've removed a thread by accident before. Also, mods have different opinions. Sometimes a mod may think a thread is spam/low quality/a dupe and another won't.


Title: Re: Notification on deleted threads
Post by: tbct_mt2 on July 13, 2020, 01:14:36 PM
I only recently learned there is a difference between trashcan and deletion (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5248878.msg54711111#msg54711111). I think (but I'm not sure) that deleted topics do give a PM-notification.

This can definitely be improved :)
I guess that reasons are:
- Topics are moved to trashcan probably considered as trash ones.
- From that point of view, there is no need to give reasons/ notifications (I do not know but I guess it is like that).

Creators who have topics are moved to trashcan can open a topic in Meta to appeal its recoveries.

Anyway, I agree with OP's request to have a notification when it happens.