Changes at HOH

[onlyhomelites]

We've had a pretty good run without major controversy or trouble, so I guess it was time for something to pop up.

It was noted this morning that some posts seemed to be missing, so I did some looking. According to the security logs, there are quite a damned few deleted posts that have made a number of threads pretty screwy. I haven't had time to go through all of the details, but I may end up having to delete entire threads if they are too jacked up. I'll use that as a last resort though; I believe in preserving the integrity of the threads here at HOH.

The member that deleted their posts has been banned...I had to in order to prevent any further forum damage, until I could find another solution.

That solution has been implemented and it affects all members. I've installed a ProBoards plugin that will prevent editing or deleting your posts after a given time. I gave this a lot of thought (and then some more) and I currently have it set to prevent altering or deleting a post after 4 hours. The edit button will still be there, but if you click it, it will take you to a new post within the thread. I don't think this is unreasonable, but I'm open to hearing differing opinions on this length of time. A forum can't work if posts are randomly deleted within threads, so there must be a reasonable limit. This happened once before, nearly a decade ago. The programming to prevent it didn't exist then...I wish I had paid attention enough to find the plug-in before it happened again.

So moving forward, please everyone understand that posts made here become part of the forum. Moderators will still have the ability to edit or delete a post, but we use that very infrequently now and I hope that continues to be the case. Thank you all for your understanding and your contributions to HOH!

[fossil]

I think the four hours is fair. Some forums are as low as five minutes for the reasons you state above. I like to be able to edit for a while to fix my bad typing or maybe to add something.

This forum is pretty benign compared to some of them.

[jselden78]

I've been guilty myself of deleting a few of my post once I realized I let emotions control my response. I was asked once to be an admin on the "nextdoor" app once and I did for about a year. I quit lol. I say that to say that I think its pretty tough to moderate folks and this forum in my opinion exceeds any other I have been on by far. The admin and moderators do a great job at organizing information and keeping the peace as needed. I myself would not be bothered by most any change you make because I know y'all do it for the better of the forum. Thanks for all of your hard work and effort in making this what it is

[westcoastthumpin]

Four hours is more than adequate.

Too bad some people feel the need to destroy things.

[ettrick]

Think before you post should be the motto here. Thank you for trying to preserve this site. Would it hurt for you to point out who it is? So people can be aware of the bad intentions of others. It does seem pretty obvious though from reading a few threads.
Thanks
Dan

[rowdy235]

I am thankful that you are proactive enough to catch this and get it resolved before more damage was done. Good job, thank you!

I was here last time this was an issue and while I started pretty silent on the issue it was definitely harmful and just not good for anyone involved. I was also a moderator on a boat forum years ago where we had the same issue, we ended up going with a 1 hr edit window at that time, which I think was fair. 4 hrs is more than fair in my opinion.

I agree the edit feature is nice if you mistype or have additional information to add but I don’t think it should ever be able to be used to remove information.

[tjthechainsawmech]

It sucks things have to be this way these days. Never have seen a reason to argue about anything on this forum yet!

Glad you are able to catch these mishaps though for sure!

[onlyhomelites]

Well I appreciate the support on this...thank you! I just want HOH to be a drama free place that we can all talk about what brought us together in the first place: Homelite's!!!!

I hate when this kind of situation comes up and one person can hose it up for everyone.

Ettrick: First off, you are absolutely correct that "thinking before you post" is a phenomenal idea! I know at work when I'm pissed about something, I type the email and then walk away for an hour without hitting send. If I cringe when I re-read it, it gets edited! In terms of who this member is, I'd rather not name the person publicly...but you are correct, it is easy to figure out. Anyone with any questions can PM me so that we can avoid a public "trashing". I'm sure in his eyes he was doing the right thing and he thought he had every right to do so. While I obviously disagree with that premise, I hadn't done anything to prevent it from happening, so I share the blame as well.