I think one of the main issues here that we keep failing to recognize, is the fact that this forum is not run by a democracy but by a dictatorship. (No, not a nazi dictatorship, but a dictatorship none-the-less.) We have no bill of rights, and we have no geneva convention. Things are done for a vision of a greater good, and that vision is not up for discussion or majority vote.
I don't like seeing posts or entire threads deleted, especially my own (of course), but mainly because it throws me off course and I lose my barrings (
didn't i just post something lengthy last night?). I will agree that none of my deleted posts have really served any greater good for this forum as they were always side conversations and usually off topic at that. The type of stuff I see deleted is the type of stuff that nobody wants to appear in their search results when looking for help.
Case in point... My recent thread in the Developer Forum titled
"Hey Khaled, how does WHOIS work?". You'll note that shortly after I started the thread, codemastr responded several times suggesting "see, Khaled will never respond." to which I replied "I bet he'll reply now just to spite you." None of these posts where wholly important to the topic at hand but were just side conversation. When Khaled did reply, he simply deleted this chatter without warning.
Why would he do this? Because none of the crap that was deleted was important or worth reading anymore unless you were there at the time it was being posted. Nobody needs to see or reference a week from now that codemastr got slapped in the face by Khaled's reply. (Nobody a week from now needs to read this post about me debating that nobody a week from now needs to see codemastr getting slapped in the face.) I only expect this post to be ultimately deleted aswell.
My point is that we are ultimately here on this forum to help people and to make feature suggestions. We are not here to have our opinions read or even regarded. Our opinions may be important to ourselves, but they're not important to everyone. It's a dictator's prerogative to stamp out said nonsense at his (their) own discretion. You're a religious man... do you argue with god (the gods)?
As silly as that sounds, the admins and moderators on these forums are our gods (or kings & queens). We may beseech of them and we may muse with them... but please DONT bitch and moan to them! Trust that their vision and their actions are for the better, or simply find a new faith (or new place to live).
- Raccoon
PS. There may be 25,000 registered users, but only 1,500 have ever posted.
This is still a pretty small kingdom.
