Re: Missing topic
I’ve been away from the forum for a while today and returned to find this discussion on the “missing post.” I inadvertently left my partners here to take the heat.
You’re looking at the guy who removed that thread.
I try to read every post on the forum and think I keep up with them fairly well. Apparently, though, when I first read this one, it got by me. I don’t know why. I would have, and should have, pulled it the first time I read it. I slipped up.
However, a forum member complained and called it to my attention. I looked at it again, and agreed that it appeared commercial. Very commercial. I was miffed that I let it get by earlier and I removed the thread. Then I thanked the member who reported it to me.
This isn’t the first post I have pulled. I have seen blatantly commercial, self-serving posts. We sell space here for blatant commercialism. We like it, as a matter of fact. It is paid advertising. If the forum were to contain a lot of those messages trying to pass as unbiased posts, members would tire of them, and it would ruin the boards.
When members see an ad here they know it is an ad and they interpret it as an ad. When they see a post, they expect it to be from a fellow Villager recommending a business. (At times, too, that seems to go a little far, perhaps borderline, but we let them go by as a service to forum members.)
Other kinds of posts I have pulled are ones I viewed as unwarranted, belligerent personal attacks. I have communicated directly to the posters why I removed them.
I am remiss in this instance for not informing the poster. I regret that. I should have sent a note as a courtesy. It was a lapse that I hope I will not commit again and I apologize.
Let me return to the point, though. Most of the original post follows. If I were to see one similar, I would probably pull it, too. It appears blatantly commercial.
The post:
“SAVE anywhere from $ 12,000 to $90,000 on a select group of homes & villas.
* Patio Villas available with savings from $12,000 - $15,000
* Keys and Savannah Courtyard villas with savings from $20,000 - $40,000
* Designer homes with savings from $30,000 - $90,000
To qualify, simply reserve your new home or villa by December 31st.”
The next line was a link to a commercial home sales web site.
How you would have handled it if you were moderating a for-profit forum?
|