Mandatory thread closure/deletion comments by mods/staff

[third-times-a-charm]

A best practice for large forum networks, is for the moderation/staff team to make the last comment in the thread about why its being closed/moved/locked/deleted/whatever.

For some reason, this forum does not do it.

Its important for the membership to know why the action was taken so that they know 'not to do it again' if it was against the rules, or to learn something from the thread move/closure, etc.

Too many threads on this forum get locked/deleted/whatever and no one knows what is going on or what rule was broken or why it happened.

Being more transparent and informative is better....than whatever the reasoning is for not doing it, currently.

Examples; Nike Shoes 2020 thread was closed. No one knows - assumed to be a BST post someone made in it? The Players 2020 threads. Assumed to be because the topic has ran its course? Or is it because its getting political?

If there's no 'comments' section for this forum software available (which shows up as the last posting) - whomever the mod/staff is that locked it making the last posting and explaining why, before they lock it, would be awesome.

[Yanki01]

they just closed the "Masters 2020 postponed" thread after 2 pages - no notes.

"2020 Players championship" thread is closed.

"Players Cancelled" thread closed.

"PGA championship may move due to coronavirus" thread closed.

"Will coronavirus affect the tour schedule? Have any events been canceled or modified?" thread closed.

"Europe ban and the masters" thread closed.

 

I'm waiting for this thread to be closed with no comments from mods/admin.

[GwrxMod]

Because we simply do not have time to most of the time. There are hundreds of new threads a day and due to recent changes we are left with only 3 or 4 of us moderating the threads.

Or in the case of the Players threads, we arent going to take the time. We're going to - usually - post one warning and thats it. No apology and closure after that. No hand holding. And look, reading your post leads me to think you know EXACTLY why these threads are being closed.

And frankly, then we come in here and find that people with a page full of warnings or suspensions are throwing up their hands going "WOAH, wah happened, we have no idea why XYZ"

Short answer - we dont always have time.

Thank you for being a member.

[third-times-a-charm]

Sooo...

GolfWRX should have more mods. I admin a 20,000 member FB group, I've modded on several other forums, and I'm online a minimum of 8 hours a day. Where do I sign up?

Also, it takes 60 seconds to submit a post saying "Locking this thread because politics arent allowed". Or "This is being locked due to BST outside the BST". 'Time' isnt a good answer.

It's actually a good practice for the health of GolfWRX, as a company - as a money making entity - in the long run, to have best practices like this in place to keep the membership in line and informed. We all saw first hand what happens/happened during the software switch and I'm sure the company itself felt it.

This has nothing to do with hand holding, being internet tough, or being an adult, or whatever. It's just proper forum moderation practice and in the end will help the member base. But hey, what do I know, I'm only a member of several dozen forum networks across the web over the last two decades and it's only my day job to know about best web company practices.

If anyone from WRX wants to contact me to help with anything ya'll are 'too busy' with, please do.

[Yanki01]

And frankly, then we come in here and find that people with a page full of warnings or suspensions are throwing up their hands going "WOAH, wah happened, we have no idea why XYZ"

 

i don't believe i'm on that list and not about to read through the OP's post history but to close threads that many of us see no reason why doesn't warrant some type of quick explanation in the OP? prior there was a quick post at the end of the topic saying why. we don't need paragraphs but there's been an influx of topics being closed recently.

[jpdx]

I’m my humble opinion, it would be nice if it were simply locked vs deleted. Then at least people can see why, without speculation why the thread was locked. Perhaps locking them and when you (mods) do have the time, go back and place a simple sentence. I do agree with @third-times-a-charm that it would help the base. In reality, how many really do read the “rules”?

[third-times-a-charm]

Maybe he means me? I've been warned twice on WRX, and I know why. I also have thousands of posts, and help many people in the technical forums and answer questions and have hundreds of likes - not to mention hundreds more on the old software. So when it comes to hand-slapping members, I hope the 'moderation' takes these things into account. But thats a separate issue.

[dcmidnight]

If anyone from WRX wants to contact me to help with anything ya'll are 'too busy' with, please do.

And see, I try to be pretty level headed on here. I'm not perfect but at least I try. But its the attitude like this - and in every post you've made here - that makes me never want to help people, period.

Its also a really good example of why we dont just pick self proclaimed "experts" to help out too.

[third-times-a-charm]

Whats wrong with what I said? I didnt type it out to offend anyone - nor any of my posts.

I feel the same way you do about my reply, as I do about GwrxMods reply - it would seem.

Go re-read my posts but add a smiley face or 'lol' at the end of each sentence. I've been known to come across as an asshole over text :)

[QuigleyDU]

Just some feedback.

being a mod is a thankless task and I get that. No forum member is really ever going to thank you for doing it. I do feel that saying you "do not have time" is a terrible excuse. If you are going to close threads. Do so, it is better to close a thread then let it go too far.

I simple one line, "Getting too political so I am shutting it down" is all that is needed.

 

That being said, that last thing I want is my little picture to say "banned user". haha.

[Z1ggy16]

Agree with others, "don't have time" is a bad excuse. If my boss or customers expect a certain behavior or output from me and my reason is "sorry, too busy, no time", how do you think that's going to go over?

It's certainly not easy to read hundreds of threads a day and judge them for content, but if you have enough time to read each one then you have enough time to write in the last comment as to why it's closed. Theoretically, this will benefit both members and mods as the members will see why certain topics or behaviors is not acceptable and should stop making such threads, saving your time as a mod down the road.

IMO, when threads are locked/deleted with no explanation it seems very "authoritative" and perhaps makes some members feel threatened. I'm sure it's not meant to be that way per your explanation but that's the perception I could see some folks like OP might be having.

[grm24]

Some interesting replies by WRX management in this thread and the closed thread below on the flagging of posts. None of it good. We are nearly a year into this "improvement" of forum software. It appears very little has actually improved in the software function with few if any beneficial enhancements. When legitimate issues arise it appears many times the reply is the new Vanilla software won't let us fix or improve anything.

[Gxgolfer]

Moderation in vanilla software is based on community flagging and points. The concept is the community flags spammers and abuse and when a threshold is reached for a person or posts then an adverse action occurs. So you don’t need to be a mod to help the community. Just use the board functions.

As for mods commenting in posts, it has been this way for over 15 years. The moderators don’t won’t to place notes for various reasons, mostly because of the abuse they take in PMs and then everything spirals down hill. We would like to have them place an explanation but it is really up to them. The software improvements have been mostly based on usability. To say little has happened would be a misinformed statement.

I am going to close this thread as nothing productive will come from it as I doubt mods will change they way they handle thread closures. Instead of people asking why a thread was closed, it would be more helpful to help keep topics on topic and within the rules of the board, which the vast majority of people have given feedback that the moderation is much better than most.