I didn't read the post in question -- it was deleted by another moderator. However, I'll trust that moderator's judgement -- in the past, this particular moderator has been pretty lenient and doesn't delete posts arbitrarily. It's my understanding that the poster received a PM with an explanation of the action taken and why.
Gopher4Life complains that the rules aren't in print and aren't consistently enforced. Actually, there's a link on every page of a thread at the bottom left entitled "
Forum Rules" The rules are somewhat general but include the provision that posts that are "obscene, vulgar, sexually-oriented, hateful, threatening, or otherwise violative of any laws" are impermissible. As is also noted, "moderators of GopherHole Message Board Community will attempt to keep all objectionable messages off this forum, it is impossible for us to review all messages."
When we see an objectionable message, we evaluate it in terms of that general rule, regardless of whether we receive a complaint or not. However, we do review every complaint we receive and make a judgement whether the complaint is valid, etc.
Since there's four of us who serve as moderators, there may be some inconsistency between one moderator and another. We've increased our internal communication so that other moderators are aware of others' decisions and there are some occasional disagreements as to disposition of specific posts.
I've moderated other forums in the past and frankly think this forum is managed with a relatively light hand for a moderated forum. But it basically comes down to whether its members feel comfortable with the tone and conduct of the forum, its members and its moderators. I'd say the general comfort level is pretty good but understand there may be disagreements from time to time. Folks can certainly let us know when they're unhappy by clicking on the triangular icon at the top right of every post. The complaint goes to all moderators and somebody will respond when they can.
