I know I've broached this subject before but from time to time it crops up again and confuses me even more! I hope someone can help.

I've had a complaint from a member saying that he posted a response to something that had been said about him by another member on my Notice Board (What's New) page but that his response to what had been said had been deleted. Presumably, this was done by the member who had made the original post as it certainly wasn't done by me.

I tested this to make sure by using my website alter ego and posting something about myself, the Administrator. I was then able to delete what I'd posted either directly from the Notice Board (What's New) page or via my own website Profile.

Is there a way to prevent members deleting posts that haven't been made by them? If not, what's the best approach?

Thanks

Admins can delete posts made by any site member.

Site members can delete their own posts and if a reply is directly tied to the post it will no longer be available as the original post is no longer there.

Jessica
Class Creator Support

Thanks, Jessica, but I knew all that. Your reply doesn't answer my question which is

"How can I prevent members deleting posts that are a response to a thread they started".

One member is deleting posts others have made on a thread he started and it's causing problems. I need to prevent him doing it without removing him from the site altogether.

His (or anyone else's) ability to do this needs to be prevented and only the Admin should have that capability.

Mark,

What I read is
- Member A wrote something about Member B on their profile page, which appeared on What's New (your Notice Board).
- Member B replied and it seems that Member A removed the reply.
- Member B complained because her reply was removed.

Though I am replying without reading the post or the reply, there must have been something in Member A's post that was negative about Member B causing Member B to reply. While I have not seen this in twelve years on any of the sites I manage, I would have removed the thread sending a copy to both members stating the site is not the place for it.

Next, I would immediately set site rules. I may include updating contact info and profiles, yet I would be clear negativity toward another member will be removed by site admins.

This is more about what you allow on the site rather than the What's New page.

As an admin overseeing a site, I read notifications of posts and if the initial post was negative about another, I would remove it. If Member A's post had been removed, hopefully, Member B would not have seen it and there would not have been an issue.

Sharing...
An admin of another site does not use the What's New page. Instead, he allows members to "Post (an) Announcement" that must be approved by him. He then moves the member-posted announcement to a specific page. If a post were written that may cause another to speak up for themselves, I doubt he would share it as he is proud of his site and it would not be acceptable.

While we may control what happens on the sites we manage, we need to be sure the character of our sites is positive or members will lose interest. Several years ago, my high school followed Character Counts. To me, it is not only a personal thing, this can be a focus on our sites:

CHARACTER COUNTS! uses its Six Pillars of Character: trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship.

Mark, I am not questioning how you manage your site. I believe you were focused on the page vs the situation. I trust you would not want to leave Member A's post without Member B's response. This would come under fairness, however, who wants to visit a site or attend a reunion after seeing negativity on a class site? Some do not attend as they had enough of it in high school.

I may be wrong as to how the initial response was written. However, when another feels it is necessary to reply because they were mentioned, it is not good. This topic has me considering adding a few site rules as it would be the last thing I would want to handle without rules in place.

Gwen Corey wrote:

After writing this, I realized it comes from the point of a group or page admin on Facebook. I have been an admin of a page for eleven years. When a rule is broken, we remove the post and have the option to send a notification to the member who posted it.

For those who may belong to or be admins/moderators of such on Facebook, you are welcome to laugh at the fact that a very high percentage of the posts we remove are ads for duct cleaning. (UGH!)

Hi, Gwen. Thanks for the response.

I've been running my site now without problems for 14 years. I've never made it known to members that they are able to delete posts made on threads they started as I knew it might cause a problem once upon a time. However, one particular member has realised he is able to do this and has abused the ability by deleting a post that wasn't offensive, racist or unacceptable in any way, he just didn't agree with it! I believe he has done this before as some posts have gone missing over time but it's often taken a long time for anyone to notice. Because this particular member has deleted two posts made by other members and they've noticed, they now know that they all have the power to delete and I am fearful that others will now abuse it. Someone could delete a post at any time and I might not find out about it for a long time unless someone points it out to me.

What I've now done is pinned a post to the top of my Notice Board (What's New) page admitting that members do have to power to delete but they're not to do it. I've told them that if they disagree with a post they can only reply to it explaining why but they're not allowed to delete it. Alternatively, they can ignore it altogether or refer the post to me and I'll delete it if I think it necessary. Anyone found to be deleting posts unnecessarily will now have their site privileges removed for a period of time.

In the past, if I've ever had to delete a post on the grounds of unacceptability I've always notified the poster about it and why I've done it. I've put a lot of work into our site over the years and I don't charge for membership so expect certain standards from my members, but if they continue to abuse the privilege of being a site member I will remove that privilege.

I just believe it should only be the site Admin who should have the ability to delete posts. No one should be allowed to do it on a whim.

Not sure what you mean by members not knowing they can delete. This Delete button is shown on my profile comments. Don't you have that too?

Yes, Jack, the Edit and Delete arrow shows but mine is a site where the youngest member is 65 and the oldest is close to 100 (if he's still alive) so computer literacy is not something the majority possess. No one has actually queried what the down arrow is there for and I know for a fact that the majority haven't tried to use it. I preferred to keep it that way.

What I pinned to the top of the Notice Board (What's New) page has been well received and the member who forced me into doing it has now openly admitted that he had been deleting posts where the opinion expressed differed from his own. I've known what he'd been doing for a long time (he was the only person who could have been deleting the responses on threads he'd started apart from me, and I knew it wasn't me) but wanted him to admit to it.

I don't anticipate further problems as everyone's aware that it's not in the spirit of the website to Delete someone's post. They can reply to it, ignore it, or refer it to me and I'll decide whether it warrants deletion. If I do agree to delete it, the member who posted it will be treated by me in the same way that I will treat anyone who deletes without good reason. Your suggestion of a temporary suspension from website use will be enforced, and it will be a case of two hits and they're out. They know where they stand.

So far, so good.