Bitcoin Forum

A while ago (don't remember exactly when), in the "Off Topic" board, I posted on this thread https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5224912.0 (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5224912.0). Now I found this message:


I'm posting here because I replied to the message asking for clarification, and my reply was "blocked by Bitcoin Forum".

So, my question was (and still is) how could a reply citing two movies on a thread asking for movie suggestions be considered "off topic", or what in that reply could be a reason for its removal?

I don't know, maybe I will get lucky here, and somebody will answer my question, instead of deleting the thread.

I don't know how to say it nice.. Well.. you simply should not be so much sensitive. I've seen much more rude behaviors than just getting a post reported/removed. It's allowed, it's a free world.
And about getting your answer blocked, ... you don't want to reply to a "mailbox" that actually doesn't exist, right?
All in all, asking here is the best approach (!). This is Meta for.

Now about your post being removed, my take is that since both those movies were already suggested, your post didn't add any value to the topic.

Don't worry, I'm not that sensitive anyway.  ;D
My point is, I don't know, maybe I'm weird, but I believe with authority comes responsibility. If somebody deletes a post (or otherwise does something to modify somebody else's work), the least they should do is keep a channel open, should that person have any doubts about it, right?
Instead of saying "please avoid posting things that need to be deleted", and offering no real explanation as to which criteria was used for the deletion in the first place.
Maybe I'm wrong. I've been a forum moderator years ago, on another forum. I've also participated in more than 20 or so forums, from soapmaking to cars, to Linux, and I gotta say the general lack of moderation quality in this forum is quite surprising, especially considering it's not such a big forum (the Ubuntu Forum must have over a million users by now), and the mods are getting paid, while in most other forums they're volunteers.

About the post, the thread is 24 pages long. You mean to tell me I should've read through 24 pages of movie suggestions before posting, to decide if my post "added value to the thread"? It's an "Off-Topic" thread, it's not about crypto. If  that's the case (I'm asking, I know it wasn't you  ;)) how is that supposed to make any sense?

I don't think that you imagine how many posts are deleted on a daily basis and how many would ask for explanations. No.
If one has doubts, he can ask in Meta, he will get answers - most probably from other users - understand and move on. It's just a post.


Interestingly it took me less than one minute to find that out. And (pun intended :D) I was never a mod in ~20 forums.
Really, the topic is not even "too" long, it allows you click the "All" view and then use your browser's search...

I think I do. In fact, I had to quit as a mod on that forum because of the sheer number of spam posts I was deleting.


I wasn't a mod in 20 forums.  ;D I was a user in more than 20 forums, and a mod in one.
Anyway, I'll drop it now. I don't agree with the deletion, and I don't agree with the mods' general attitude on this forum. I've seen worse (ClubProtege and the Biodiesel Infopop forums are prime examples of that), and I've seen much, much better.
But, whatever. At least now I know not to reply to long threads, or at least what might happen if I do so.

I think that this is not the best attitude. I think that you should simply not mind if you get - now and then - a post removed.
Of course, it's up to you.

Keeping in mind your experience with spam, you should understand that they're human (and they can even make mistakes).
You can rely on Meta, you get forum related answers here.

I will just say that since the idea came up that maybe one day the admin will introduce badges for best reporters and since we have the Bitcointalk Community Awards which among other things has an award for best spam buster, many are actually looking for "bad" posts to increase their report statistics. If you want to make rapid progress in that way, the best boards for that are Off-topic and altcoins boards.

As for the deleted post, you should know that it happens to everyone sometimes, and it is best to avoid such mega threads because there is a good chance that someone will report the post taking into account all the unofficial rules (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=703657.0) of the forum.

I understand, but making a post takes time and work. This time, the post was just a few lines long, and it wasn't important at all (it was just a couple of movies), but I've had other posts/threads deleted before.
In any case, when something produces any kind of discomfort to me, I just move to eliminate it. It may not be the best attitude, but it sure works.

About the mods being human, yes, they are. So they are at a gazillion other forums. Check the Ubuntu Forum https://ubuntuforums.org/ (https://ubuntuforums.org/). I made a mistake: they don't have a million users, they have 2,157,000. And the mods are also human, and they work for free.



Thank you, I didn't know such way to progress really existed. Talk about stepping on other people's heads.
In any case, I come to this forum to learn and to help others if I can. I don't have the stomach to be preying on other members' work like that.

Thank you both for taking the time to explain.  8)

You know, if I went to that thread now and looked at all the posts, I believe I would find at least 20-30% of those that I could report and that would be deleted - but I'm not active in that board because I don't consider it too important since this forum is mostly focused on Bitcoin. Someone reported your post because it was in front of his eyes, the moderator agreed and deleted it - so always think twice before making a post, especially if there are 24 pages of posts before yours ;)

I think the secret sauce here is to avoid replying with a 10-page thread, especially if it's opinionated or the issue/topic has been resolved. Although I understand the need to respond to a thread that interests you, there are instances when responding to a thread can result in an old thread being resurrected, which spambuster will flag unless the reply is thoughtfully constructed.

But hey! It's just me and this tip actually works for me.

Thank you, I will now.  :)


Yep, that's exactly what I'm gonna do. It kinda sucks to know you have a flock of vultures circling every time you make a post, but, whatever, knowledge is power.  8)

I have got a couple of my posts deleted, especially during my newbie days. When I recieve PMs of the deletion of my post, I'll always want to know the reason(s) my posts were deleted but will not get that. I think I am in agreement with this your statement
Again, I do not buy the idea of not replying to 10pages posts, though I hardly post on threads longer than 5pages. But if it was because of 10pages long thread that the post was deleted, the moderator would have simply scrolled down and lock the thread instead.

In other words, grow a thicker skin if you want to stay sane whilst being a member of bitcointalk.  There, I said it in a semi-polite manner--and heed that advice, OP, because it's valid.  The title of this thread alludes to some sort of disrespect on the part of the mods and directed toward you, but I'm 99.99% sure that isn't the case.  Nor is it even disrespectful for them to delete posts in general; it just happens, and it happens to the best posters from time to time.

Since your post wasn't exactly so valuable that its absence deprives other members of valuable information, just let it go.  Why are you so concerned about a post on movies in the Off-Topic section of such concern to you anyway?  I did read what you wrote, but in the end it's really no big deal--so just move on.

BernyJB, don't worry because based on the statistics of the number of deleted posts in bpip it looks like you are not a spammer or some spam reporters are ignoring you and so far only your 2 posts have been deleted. So I don't think this is a big deal to you because this has happened to anyone.

Previously quite a lot of my posts were deleted by moderators because of low quality or spam, but I never complained to ask the moderators for clarification because I realized I was not a good poster so it was natural for them to report it for removal. Just change your posting habits to be better on interesting topics and stay constructive on topics so the chances of your posts being deleted are getting smaller.

Follow The Pharmacist's advice even though sometimes mods can also be wrong in making decisions because they are also humans in handling tens of thousands of reports.

I'm a bit surprised that anyone cares what is posted in the off topic section.  I figured it was just there for people who have lost the ability to bring themselves to post anything currently being discussed in the community and want to keep their activity up.  I don't believe signature campaigns pay for posts in this section, so it seems like for a majority of the posters on this forum that section would be worthless. 

I wouldn't say to adjust your posting habits at all.  Just post on topic responses and if you have a problem with the moderation do what you did here and ask questions.  Who knows how many other people have your same opinion on the matter but don't speak up. 

As far as the circling vultures...   :-\

Well, in a "normal" forum, if I was the mod, I would've disregarded the report altogether, especially considering it's an off-topic thread, but considering this forum has that policy of members preying on members, it kinda makes sense. It still sucks though...


It's not disrespectful towards me personally, but it is disrespectful towards the time a member (any member) puts on replying to a thread. Since the post wasn't spam, nor was it rude toward others or in any way unacceptable, the deletion was uncalled for in the best of cases.


I'm not really that concerned about the post (other than it was arbitrarily deleted) but about  the fact that they did send me a PM with no way to reply to it, and stated I should "avoid posting things to be deleted" without specifying what the problem was.
But I did move on. This thread gave me information I didn't have. I don't agree with it, but I do understand it.


Oh, yeah, you got that right, I'm not a spammer. ;D ;D
I don't know. I wish I had the knowledge to make higher quality posts. Then when I relax and post a quick reply about movies, I get deleted. I can show you probably dozens of posts I made (especially in the beginning) that could've been rightfully deleted. I'm happy this was a short one...


Well, personally I posted because I was bored, there was nothing I could find to read or help with, and it's a relaxing subject (and I do like those movies a lot). I don't really care much about my post count, as I haven't joined a signature campaign yet (you're right, they don't pay for off-topic posts). Either way, I don't really like to post garbage. Sometimes I may loose it a bit, but I think my time is valuable, so as to not having to read through tons of crap to get to a useful answer, and so is other people's time.

I don't think it sucks at all. Spam in general is a huge problem on almost any forum online, and bitcointalk is no exception. You may be unaware (or forgot) that this is one of the few forums with a pay-to-post feature, and the amount of spam this attracts is staggering. Having a slightly stricter moderation policy and numerous reporters doing policing are necessary to keep the forum in balance and, in turn, maintain a quality experience.

Lately I've been seeing my own posts being removed as well, including those from the yesteryears. From time to time, one or two might be trashed but there's some mod that's either having NBTD or need to fulfil his weekly quota.

One guy was simply asking on a thread on some withdraw issues and I told him to ask the campaign manager since signature campaign participants are exempted from KYC or fulfilments, then this happened:


On another thread, all because I replied to someone asking what game he should play after losing all on Dice.

Check out the thread where you posted it says some format and if it is not followed then it will be reported to mods so its kind of local rule and also allowed if I am not wrong so probably that is the reason for the deletion.

The wrong format could be a reason for deletion if OP or someone active in the thread noticed the post and reported it.

Something else I found is the 'cat and mouse' phrase that OP used. Maybe admins found that a little problematic and thought it could be seen as partially plagiarized. If you do a search on "Anthony Hopkins playing cat and mouse with the system", you can find similar reviews to what OP wrote in his post.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0488120/reviews

https://www.amazon.de/Fracture-Widescreen-Anthony-Hopkins/dp/B000R4SMCW

https://www.amazon.de/faille-FR-Anthony-Hopkins/dp/B000ZMAISM

@Berny: the explanation is very simple -- you did not follow topic's posting rules. To be more, precise:


That topic is maintained in good condition by peter and me. All posts breaking posting rules are reported and deleted. peter initiated the topic and I liked the idea but, to avoid spam and for having some coherence in the posts made by others I suggested him this posting rule, which was very efficient so far, otherwise we could not get rid of thousands of newbies writing one liners there. Of course, we had to be objective towards all, thus all posts in other formats were reported.