To the DM that is deleting my posts

[Jskee]

Please follow Hala's protocol and send me a PM stating what I have done wrong and the reason you're deleting my post. It would be nice if you followed the rules too.

Thanks


and no I don't mean you Dune.

[Arkon]

There is no protocol for deleting posts. If we think a post is not relevant to the topic, we reserve the right to delete it as we see fit. We don't have to email you, we don't have to tell you why, and we don't have to feel bad about it.

I've told you all before, I don't want to have to play forum police, but when people start hijacking threads that are meant for useful discussion and filling them with a bunch of senseless crap that doesn't need to be there, or pathetic bickering, then expect the posts to get deleted. It's that simple.

If it's an OOC post in an IC forum, expect it to get deleted.

Think before you post. If you reread your post and see that it could easily be misconstrued as being destructive rather than constructive, perhaps you should consider rewriting it. Am I talking to just Jskee here? No. I'm talking to everyone, in general.

[T'Holoth Shadowborn]

We don't have to email you, we don't have to tell you why, and we don't have to feel bad about it.

From personal experience, and something that bugs me as a player and moderator:
PMing someone will save you and the staff a lot of headaches, believe me.

When you PM a player who just had a post deleted you take away a lot of their ammunition-ie now they can't ask and make a stink over why their post was deleted.
DMs don't have to argue or anything.

"Your post about turtles was deleted. It was deleted because the picture you posted was inappropiate, thank you."

Telling a player why their post was deleted goes a long way to cooling them down whether they agree with why it was removed or not. It's like a form of closure.
Personally I'm more often pissed off that I'm not told why a post was taken down instead of the fact that it's actually being removed (not only on hala but on all sites bla bla).

If anything it's respect between players and DMs. A player stepped out of their lanes and it's the DMs duty to bring them back.
By telling someone WHY what they did was improper your setting a precedence so that they will know (or should no) not to do it in the future.

If I post a stupid joke and it keeps getting deleted I might not learn my lesson and keep posting. That makes the situation worse.

Leaders, which DMs are, should always be able to explain their actions.

[Days Awake]

Doesnt always take a genius to figure out sometimes why posts were deleted,and if a player doesnt know why ranting about it pubicly wont solve a thing.I know because I've been there and it solved nothing.So that goes for both players and DM's.Have a problem with someone PM them if you dont understand something.As Arkon said DM's dont have to do anything.And I for one am grateful for the DM's keeping the board's in check and clean.Thanks guy's!

[Arkon]

From personal experience, and something that bugs me as a player and moderator:
PMing someone will save you and the staff a lot of headaches, believe me.

More headaches for who? Us or the players... I delete something and forget about it. Players should do the same in my opinion.

Telling a player why their post was deleted goes a long way to cooling them down whether they agree with why it was removed or not. It's like a form of closure.

I'm not here to babysit people or make people feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

When you PM a player who just had a post deleted you take away a lot of their ammunition-ie now they can't ask and make a stink over why their post was deleted.
DMs don't have to argue or anything.

They make a stink over it anyway... I've seen it before.

If anything it's respect between players and DMs. A player stepped out of their lanes and it's the DMs duty to bring them back.
By telling someone WHY what they did was improper your setting a precedence so that they will know (or should no) not to do it in the future.

Why not have the respect to consider what you are posting prior to posting it.

Leaders, which DMs are, should always be able to explain their actions.

K, I'll tell you what... How bout I just stop DMing all together and start playing forum police and wiping the noses of the people who get their feelings hurt because their precious little post was deleted when it was an obvious flame, had nothing to do with the topic, brought no constructive ideas to the bargaining table, hijacked a useful thread with useless crap.. would that make you all feel better? Mine, and my DMs' time is limited. We do not have time to play forum police, build on the world, add in new scripts and quests, fix broken stuff in the game, and deal with trying to teach people the fundamental social skills that they should have learned in kindergarten. But if that is what you all want me to do, then fine, i'll do that.

Consider this post harsh or not as you see fit... But I'm growing a little bit tired of having myself undermined and questioned everytime I make a statement or a decision here. It's been happening in the Rules Forums, it's been happening in the game, it's been happening quite often.

[T'Holoth Shadowborn]

Arkon, there is telling players to shut up and do what you tell them because you say so and there is telling players to do what you tell them and explaining why. Doesn't seem like a big difference but as a leader in real life as well as on the server i KNOW you know there is a big difference.
Nobody likes to be told to STFU and deal with it, atleast if it's explained to someone there is a reason, whether they agree or not. like i said, closure.

I'll reply to your quotes.

More headaches for who? Us or the players... I delete something and forget about it. Players should do the same in my opinion.

More headaches for the staff because they get PMs asking whats going on and why a post was deleted. They post follow up threads on the board asking why something was deleted. Some players honestly don't know why a post gets deleted and I think it's atleast fair to them if they are explained why they are in the wrong. In a perfect world people might say ya ok and forget it but we know that doesnt happen.

I'm not here to babysit people or make people feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

No your not of course. And you put in 500% more work into the server than us players. I think it's possible to be firm friendly and fair without using a "suck it up, dont like it? quit" attitude.

They make a stink over it anyway... I've seen it before.

Agreed. But why not just explain it to them the first time and if they continute to cry over it simply say look it's been explained to you, accept it or take a break from the server.

Why not have the respect to consider what you are posting prior to posting it.

Easier said than done. People should always consider what they post but sometimes they don't realise it's inappropiate. Thats why we (or you) should point out to them WHY it's inappropiate so that they learn from their mistake.

K, I'll tell you what... How bout I just stop DMing all together and start playing forum police and wiping the noses of the people who get their feelings hurt because their precious little post was deleted when it was an obvious flame, had nothing to do with the topic, brought no constructive ideas to the bargaining table, hijacked a useful thread with useless crap.. would that make you all feel better? Mine, and my DMs' time is limited. We do not have time to play forum police, build on the world, add in new scripts and quests, fix broken stuff in the game, and deal with trying to teach people the fundamental social skills that they should have learned in kindergarten. But if that is what you all want me to do, then fine, i'll do that.

Consider this post harsh or not as you see fit... But I'm growing a little bit tired of having myself undermined and questioned everytime I make a statement or a decision here. It's been happening in the Rules Forums, it's been happening in the game, it's been happening quite often.

Well what can I say to that?
What can you do to start cleaning up the forums giving you more time to play the game for yourself and build the world?
Easy.
Be stricter. If someone posts a stupid thread or flame delete it and explain to them why it was deleted and then warn them. Do it again and your taking a vacation. If said player does it again give them a little vacation, block them from the message forums for a day, week or two weeks. If someone continues to be ignorant than simple impose in game penalties or remove their access to the forums.
Put your foot down and stop giving people so many chances. Use a 3 strike rule or something.

Players DO harass DMs and Dms shouldnt accept that shit. That causes Dms to quit which effects the whole server. if any DM is having a problem with a player they should just give them a big time out. If they continue to cause trouble well then that probably is easy to fix.

[Arkon]

You want me to go by the protocol posted in the forum rules? I was VERY explicit in those rules. I've been lenient... I can end that. I can start hitting everyone on on every enfraction.

If your post gets deleted, think about why it might have gotten deleted.

Few very simple questions you can ask yourself

#1 Did it sound overly harsh, IE a flame? No (left alone) Yes (Deleted)
#2 Did it pertain to the topic at hand? Yes (left alone) No (Deleted)
#3 Did it add constructive ideas to the Topic? Yes (left alone) No (Deleted)
#4 Was it in a thread that likely needed no comment? No (left alone) Yes (deleted)

If I just delete your post, then obviously there was something that pertained to one of those 4 questions. If ANY of the questions above come out with an answer that leads to deletion, the post gets deleted.

If I end up having to take the time to send you a PM about it explaining to you that you were an ass, then the 3 strike protocol comes into play.

If people would just take the time to read the freaking rules posted about this stuff, and use some bloody common sense, and think of someone other than just themselves... then there wouldn't be an issue now would there?

[LadyPhoenix77]

I was going to keep my head out of this thread but since it has a great deal to do with my actions and Tholoth won't let it die with Arkon's comments, I'm going to toss in my two cents and hope that it ends the topic. Out of all the forum "policing" that I have done as of late I have deleted a few posts or put an end, or tried to on a few threads. Most of them have involved Jskee's posting, but not limited to his. First thread I talked to Jskee in a tell about it IG when I deleted it. Second time I deleted all the posts in the thread with the exception of the original post and stated my reasons very clearly in a post on that thread as to why. Third time I couldn't delete the posts or lock the thread I just made it very clear in my post to cut the BS then later the thread was cleared up by Dune. The last occassion an OOC ranting comment was made in an IC tavern thread, not one single bit of IC content contained in the post and I deleted it. The poster, in the case Jskee should have known that it would get deleted for exactly those reasons. And I wasn't the first to see it as the post was brought to my attention by a non team member.

So as you can see when I do delete threads, posts, or whatever notification has been given in some form to the offending posters, and the one time that it wasn't, it was clear to even others who saw the offending post why it should be deleted, therefore the poster knew, or should have known why it was, which was why no notification was given.

My sugestion is for all to go back and re-read what Arkon stated in this thread and think about it for a bit, and keep that in mind so we can try to keep the boards cleaner and myself and the other DM's don't have to sit here coming off as a bunch of bitchy, asshole DM's and Moderators. I'm here to play this game for fun, and to Dm for everyone here for fun, I enjoy doing it and I haven't heard any complaints degarding my DMing, and outside of a select few, very little complaints about my playing. But me sitting here policing the boards, even with multiple computers, is a hassle and takes away from me being able to DM better events for the players, and can sometimes put me in a bad mood which makes me not want to DM, because I can't get into it and bring the real feel into the events if I'm in that type of mood, the same with my playing.

LP77

[T'Holoth Shadowborn]

and Tholoth won't let it die with Arkon's comments

Arkon posted a reply to my comments so I addressed some of those comments in turn.

I guess this constitutes not letting something die?
After Arkons last comment i was more than happy to accept what was said and shut up. Whats with singleing out me LP77?
This IS general Discussion isn't it? Is their a guideline on when to post and when not to i'm missing or something?

if someone is honestly confused why a post should be deleted then its respectful to tell them why. If someone is just being an asshole on purpose and its obvious why their posts are deleted then yes i agree Dms shouldnt bother to PM them.

[Arkon]

Discussion over sighs