If you're one of the 2600+ users who have a blog on GBAtemp, you may like to hear that we have decided to add an extra option to the blogging system.



We are now allowing blog owners to delete comments on their own blog entries. Everyone is now a moderator of their own blog. This has been requested by a lot of blog owners, and after a long discussion with the staff we decided to enable it. Of course, this comes with a few ground rules:

• You are only allowed to delete comments that directly infringe forum rules, such as comments you deem insulting, offensive, etc.
• Please do not delete posts that merely contradict your opinion, you must allow people to express themselves even if you don't agree with them - as long as they do it in a reasonable and civilized manner.
• For users who comment on blog entries: if you feel that your comment has been unfairly deleted, please 'report' the blog entry and explain what happened. The staff may restore the comment if they deem it necessary.
• Users who abuse the comment deletion functionality will receive warns, and may end up having their blog suspended.
• Be aware that comments are never actually deleted, they are only hidden from view.
• Please note that the "delete" function is only open to users who are in the "Members" user group, i.e. users who have a post count equal to or greater than 100.

The second new functionality is that you can "customize your blog" - by giving your blog a title and description. - seems like this was already possible, even though the permission was disabled.

Finally, please remember that blogs are a personal space - for personal discussions. Do not post in your blog threads that should be posted on the forums. Blogs are a good place to talk about yourself and your own life events, but remember that this community is mainly based on an active Forum, so make sure to keep the Forum alive

 

[Costello]

Considering how a large number of people are nowadays treating everyone who disagrees with their opinion (that somehow is factual despite evidence against it) as being offensive or insulting them, I can see those two rules contradicting each other a lot

That is why we will punish the abusers.
This point is also in my post but you left it out intentionally, you're no better than the people you denounce

Do we have the privilege to restore posts? I want to test it but I don't want to permanently delete anything

We would have given the privilege if it existed, sadly it does not. Only mods can restore posts. So think twice before deleting a comment because if you abuse it, you may be punished.

 

[WeedZ]

That is why we will punish the abusers.
This point is also in my post but you left it out intentionally, you're no better than the people you denounce


We would have given the privilege if it existed, sadly it does not. Only mods can restore posts. So think twice before deleting a comment because if you abuse it, you may be punished.

I'm not likely to use it honestly. I can take criticism and aggressive disagreement. Just nice to know I have an option to handle the rare cases of blatant spam/harrassing behavior without having to bother the moderators.

 

[ThoD]

That is why we will punish the abusers.
This point is also in my post but you left it out intentionally, you're no better than the people you denounce

Didn't leave it out intentionally. You can't give warnings to or suspend the blogs of people until AFTER they take things too far, reason why it wasn't really relevant. I was referring more to the early part when it's before things get too out of hand.

 

[Costello]

Didn't leave it out intentionally. You can't give warnings to or suspend the blogs of people until AFTER they take things too far, reason why it wasn't really relevant. I was referring more to the early part when it's before things get too out of hand.

that, my friend, is the basic principle of moderation.
you can't prevent people from breaking the rules, you can only moderate them after they've crossed the line
we're just displacing the responsibility of moderation.

we think the number of abuses due to overmoderation will be lesser than the number of abusive comments that we've had until now

Also, it changes the way people express themselves. If they know they're in control, they wont be afraid to open up about a certain range of subjects.
For example, if you want to make a blog post about coming out as gay, you might feel safer doing it if you know you're going to be able to delete stupid homophobic comments that you know will come eventually.

 

[SirNapkin1334]

I wish the number of not-morons outnumbered the morons in this world. But it's just by far the opposite. It' depressing, because if the former was true, then moderation would not be complex and difficult as hell.

 

[Seriel]

While I am happy to see this feature, I feel it would get messy when the opinion on what is a "bad" comment differs between the blog owner and the mods. For example if the writer is offended by a seemingly innocent comment for some reason that's not fully explained, the commenter would then get their comment back and the blog writer won't be happy and would either receive punishment for deleting things they found offensive or they would end up arguing with the person whose comment they tried to delete, making the blog fly off into an off topic argument about comment deletion.

However with that said, if this system is done correctly it can be a really great new thing, people will be more likely to post sensitive things in blogs if they know they can remove the trash comments.
it's a good idea, just has the potential to get really weird, but I guess we'll see how it goes

 

[WeedZ]

While I am happy to see this feature, I feel it would get messy when the opinion on what is a "bad" comment differs between the blob owner and the mods. For example if the writer is offended by a seemingly innocent comment for some reason that's not fully explained, the commenter would then get their comment back and the blog writer won't be happy and would either receive punishment for deleting things they found offensive or they would end up arguing with the person whose comment they tried to delete, making the blog fly off into an off topic argument about comment deletion.

However with that said, if this system is done correctly it can be a really great new thing, people will be more likely to post sensitive things in blogs if they know they can remove the trash comments.
it's a good idea, just has the potential to get really weird, but I guess we'll see how it goes

I can definitely see this happening. But I also think people will quickly learn the difference between posts they don't like, and ones that break the rules. I understand why this feature was added. The mods are already stretched thin. It all comes back to maturity and personal responsibility.

 

[330]

Awesome!

Will you also punish those who keep posting because their rulebreaking comments keep getting deleted and they have nothing better to do? Since you still can't block certain users from posting.

 

[Issac]

Awesome!

Will you also punish those who keep posting because their rulebreaking comments keep getting deleted and they have nothing better to do? Since you still can't block certain users from posting.

If someone keeps posting, after being deleted time and time again: report it and let a mod take a look at it.

 

[Stephano]

This is cool and all but now we are going to get "So and So is deleting my comments"

 

[FAST6191]

This is cool and all but now we are going to get "So and So is deleting my comments"

I have changed my position slightly since last night.
Not only might it be a useful tool in discovering people that might not get this discussion lark I reckon should said people then be compelling to justify their decisions or explain their reasoning for deleting said same might actually learn how to properly discuss things and the value of feelings, and failures of feelings based moderation.

 

[Sathya]

as far as I know the permission was disabled in the group permissions.
I enabled it a few minutes ago.

good job buddy

 

[Taleweaver]

I'm indifferent to this. For one, I barely ever write stuff here (English isn't my first language), and the blogs I make are half-way descriptions of "threads where I don't care for an answer of anyone".

Aside from my ex-girlfriend (who doesn't know about the site or my profile), I don't see anyone purposefully trying to offend anyone. And even then: if someone decides to go all out personal against me, I'd rather have it NOT be removed. Removing it may prevent some escalated discussion where D takes offense because C is saying something that B finds offensive on post A, but that removing of the initial offensive post (by A) allows A some escape room. He/She said whatever he/she wanted to say so the deleting also acts as a confirmation that the message got across. So since the message already has come across at that point, all that remains is whether bystanders should be able to read it. And IMHO they're allowed to because their opinion on the matter isn't that relevant to me.

 

[FAST6191]

Sounds like you grew up in a time where logic and reason and not feelings was the thing that mattered, or otherwise picked it up along the way.

In theory "baseline forum rules, add some of your own for your own blog/microsite as long as they don't contradict the first" can work.
So many times now we see people try backseat moderation because their feelings got hurt, their voiced opinions got challenged or similar such things. The switch from backseat, whining and hitting the report button to being able to do some damage then causes apprehension in some, myself included. While as mentioned I still have some apprehension I am also going to try to see it as being able to deliver harsh lessons in reality which are sometimes sorely needed.

 

[WiiUBricker]

The ignore feature doesn’t work in blogs, so you’re still seeing stuff from ignored users.

 

[DeoNaught]

So when you delete a comment, it's still there right? like when you delete them on a regular thread?

 

[porkiewpyne]

So when you delete a comment, it's still there right? like when you delete them on a regular thread?

It will be hidden from view, yes.

 

[330]

Can the staff also read the reason you can write when deleting something?

 

[ItsKaitlyn03]

YAY! Thank you, now I can bust transphobes on my blogs.

 

[Dionicio3]

Idk if this is an issue or not, but you can delete comments on locked blog posts