Closing threads?

I have noticed that alot of threads posted are being closed, because the moderator feels it falls under general chat, where there is no general forum.

Now Mod, Im not saying its wrong, but the one of the last ones closed did sound like a genuine question. Is there a list of forbidden topics that we should know about? I mean I have seen Slamfests go unabated for weeks, but a simple politics question is shut down within 24 hours of posting.

Have you been directed to watch out for certian subjects and close them immediately?

You must remember, Strife cherry picks certain topics to shut down. No matter the complaints, the Lindens refuse to do anything.

From the resmod's mouth:

in all fairness to Strife.. the thread in question (which I posted) had devolved into a debate on whether morality is an absolute across all cultures, or whether it varies from culture to culture.

While I am a little bit frustrated (in that I was in the middle of posting a response when the thread was locked) it's a fair enough call that the thread had clearly wandered into "general discussion".

You will notice that other threads along similar lines, have to now, been allowed to continue.

I suspect the closing action was due to someone reporting one or another post therein as inappropriate. We shall never know.

hehe, if its the thread I'm thinking of my next post included an apology for taking things off topic. But Strife is a faster typer than I.

Still the question is a big vioid, thanks for posting the desicision to close forums, but the question was about threads and what can and cannot be said in a thread.

The thread in particular Im talking about was the "Should there be a Constitution" I didnt see any hint of abuse happening, and it was a genuine question. So I was wondering if there where certain subjects that are explicitly banned from discussion?

Just for qualification, I was not the OP nor a participant in that thread

/327/fc/183012/1.html

I think on a (recent) normal day that thread wouldnt have been closed -

I think today awareness is high. And with the Blog Post ...

Concerns are high.

And most assuredly the German Reporters have access to these forums ..

My bad. the thread "When did I become subject to German or Dutch Law" was also closed within a few hours of being opened.

/327/04/183002/1.html

Yeah, "bunker mentality" is so deep I wouldn't be surprised if a concrete mixer was pulling up in front of Linden Lab's offices at this very moment to strengthen the pillboxes.

Come In Strife............Over........

LOL reinforcement, well honestly LL only provides the world and shouldnt be held responsible, that would be like holding IBM responsible for crap that happens on the internet..

Again my question was, is there a certain set of topics that will be closed almost immediately , and if so what are those topics?

Go here first to the sticky that appears near the top of this forum:
About This Forum <--- please read me first!
(Note that it's not at the TOP, even though they encourage you to read it FIRST)
then read the guidelines
Forum Guidelines

I suppose a moderator is a bit like a cleaner really. Even if there wasn't anything dirty, then they'd still go through the motions.

So think of your thread as an ashtray with a little bit of ash in the bottom of it. Hardly anything to worry about. But hey, he's gotta clean something.

Im really sorry, but I read those before I posted my first ever post. But they dont really answer the question im asking

its kinda what happens when you post 79768997 threads that dont actually classify as "resident answers" eventually if you scream loud enough they get shut. So maybe post 1 on a topic it might just stay open hehe instead of filling an entier forum on the hot topic of the minute so that all you can see is that a linden or a moderator can't help but notice . This last weekend everyone went overboard so now well for the moment at least the threads are gonna get closed realy fast. At least that is my wild out of the blue guess here. Some dont care either that this is the last forum that anything can be said they get angry if you beg them to tone it down so this forum doesn't get canned as well. In the end its possible that the consumer base of second life will be in this position of not having an official forum to post to because people dont want to listen to the rules pinned at the top of the forums.

If there are no official forums then I guess my forum life goes to an end. ONe thing I find about third party forums is that they dont work very well and are fashioned for a specific type or group of people and if you show up to them and dont fit in your always a source of irritation for someone or a source of mockery for others.

Anyhow those that feel they can post the forums into oblivion on issues which dont belong and worry about the consequences after just kinda shows what type of person they are. I dont think anyone is gonna mind a few "off topic" threads as long as they dont result into shouting matches of abuse and residents can still ask their questions.

ah well such is life last week got overdone in the off topic thread department so can you blame them for actually "sticking to the rules" I certainly cant again when people are given an inch they take a mile that's life and this is the result of that abuse of privildges.

Too bad, I was starting to really get into the Constitution thread. I'd LIKE to see most of these ageplay threads limited to 1 or 2... like someone said earlier, think of the poor newbie who comes in to ask a general question and sees us all talking about child pornography.

I do agree that threads like the ageplay issue that spawn 2000 different threads on the same issue should atleast be combined, dont need to see so many threads on the same subject. As for the Constitution thread, I rather liked seeing it and discussion on it is constructive for the SL community at large. Closing the thread was I think a injustice to the betterment of Second Life itself. Call it a judgement call or pre-emptive closure to avoid a possible flame topic, but censorship of a topic that is trying to get a evaluation of the SL public at large ment to benefit the community, is hardly a flame, I was just thinking maybe that it might be a topic that has been flagged as violatal and doomed for closure no matter how civil the discussion should be.

As for the proper forum to discuss that topic, the official SL forum is the only correct place to discuss it as 3rd party forums are not represenative of the greater SL community like the Official Forum is

In all fairness, this forum is a resident answer forum. Now, here's the catch..many questions may go into policies and regulations, for which many new residents may questions on and catch a glimmer of what goes on in SL. There should be a "Technical Resident Answers". Just because a subject is a hot topic is no reason to censor anything in a forum to the tune of a company chior. There are those that sing off-key to that tune.

It's always been my experience that when the questions get tough to answer, LL has a policy of burying thier heads in the sand, and will enforce that policy on others i.e. deleting posts and editing blog posts to thier liking. The mere fact that many of the Forums were shut down like the General Discussion (dispite the excuses given by LL) means to me that LL doesn't want to hear what we really think or say.

Also, in my experience is that when they have thier head is in the sand, thier butts are exposed..open to be blind-sided...for which they do a knee-jerk reaction...i.e. Copybot, Inventory losses, and the current situation.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

I've found that people are happier if this forum is a bit off topic but I have to draw a line somewhere. SL politics is one of them, I don't particular like the news threads either but I see their importance and give them a pass as long as they don't get out of hand. The more off-topic/politically-charged a thread is, the more it looks like trolling/troll baiting, the less it is tolerated.

The mechanics of a thread are the main factors, how it was posted and the types of responses. LR has a low tolerance for rants for example. Half the time, it's not what is being said that gets a thread in trouble, but how it is said and how often it is said. It can appear random because it isn't obvious to the onlooker what tipped the scales and causes a thread to be locked (providing accounting on this isn't something that I am good at). One of these days I'm going to make a wiki article explaining this more; a short description like this just doesn't do it justice.

If you ever think I've closed a thread in error, please PM me here on the forums; I may not be on the forums when you PM, so don't expect an immediate response but I will respond. Sometimes I make mistakes and if you can convince that reopening the thread is warranted, I'll reopen the thread.

EDIT:
In most cases, it's not just a single line that has to be cross, multiple lines have to be crossed. I'll try to do better on the transparency and getting those lines visible.

*shrugs* All depends when I'm reading the forums.

Your thread was off-topic ranting for the forum (sorry). In retrospect closing the threads wasn't the only option, your thread could have been moved to Current Version Feedback and the other thread to Feature Suggestions. I was tired and it didn't occur to me to stretch the rules in that direction ^^;

I'm going to move this to the Resmod public forum.


The climate is a factor considered when moderating, it can have a positive effect or a negative effect.

I haven't really given much consideration to LL's political situation with regards to the Press. LL hasn't asked me to change my moderation style or to make exceptions. I don't always carry the party line, and most of the time I'm not told what the party line is (right now I'm kinda annoyed that a couple exploits I found aren't eligible for the 10kL$ reward, they don't qualify because they don't do lasting damage *sigh*).

Never meant to imply you were a LL goose-stepper, Strife!

I think you do a good job with these forums - as Ive said in the past.

I just meant tension was so thick when this stuff broke you coulda cut it with a knife.

Wouldnt have been a good idea not to vote in the favor of cuation considering.

Several threads were closed in this manner which did not erupt into a war, generate "general discussion, or contain personal attacks. LOL.
One might feel as iff they are being personally targeted by "The Resmod" in question due to the fact that "The Resmod" seems to close threads sporadically and for no reason.

I recall a certain thread where the OP posted the F*** word numerous times and nothing was done about this.

One resident persisted in starting several Age Verification threads over the weekend which were very annoying and somehow,

"The Resmod" found time to lock "certain threads" but failed to address those although there WERE reports filed via the "Report this Post" feature.

I know that I personally contacted the Lindens regarding these events and received NO REPLY. The Lindens selected Resmods and just left. When things like this happen, it becomes more of a dictatorship than anything. It is time to select new resmods because the current ones (not all of them) have worn out their welcome repeatedly.

I believe that there ARE resmods who have personal issues with residents who post here and use their resmod powers to carry out their personal vendettas against them. This is why there needs to be a turnover - and fast. If these resmods who may be doing this know somehow that they will continue to be resmods regardless of their actions, they will continue to do these things just because they can.

1. There aren't any concequences for locking a thread for no reason
   
2. There aren't any concequences for giving a false reason for locking a thread.
   
3. There aren't any concequences for targetting specific individuals by locking their threads and looking over other threads that are obviously out of control.
   

Turnover.
Now.

How is one to PM or IM someone who has told them that they have been BLOCKED AND MUTED due to differences in opinion?


I imagine that this thread will be locked due to General Discussion or some other reason since I posted this question, but I thought I would give it a try since you are claiming you have an open door policy (so to speak) and that you will reply to all inquiries presented to you. If someone is a ResMod it seems to me that they have a responsibility to respond to those who post here without prejudice. This is something that I am not observing.

If a resmod cannot respond and moderate without prejudice, then he/she should step down and allow someone else who feels that they can do the job indiscriminately.

I personally feel that a certain resmod is consistently using their resmod powers to silence me and other residents because of differences.

Alot of topics these days have been closed, weather from being offtopic, in the wrong forum, or "being too long" (see New Forum Rule). However, do note that alot of the threads locked (Specifically in the ResMod Forum) are personal attacks on Strife Onizuka, and even those were closed by lindens. Some of the threads flat-out needed to be locked, some were locked for what we feel are innapropriate decisions, and some were locked by the people who make secondlife happen.
The Lindens created the ResMod program as a beta solution to out-of-control forums. Doing this they gave the ResMods specific guidlines to follow, and even then -- all threads locked moved, or deleted are reviewed by lindens. If you have issues with the guidlines I suggest you contact [email]Support@SecondLife.com[/email].