woo boy.
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I do not believe you can delete the OP itself to make someone else the OP. You can delete the content, but not the post itself.
An E in a circle could also be any number of other posters whose screen name starts with an E.
Edit to add:
@La-LaPopRider, I went and confirmed what I posted here. I found a thread I started and it does allow me to edit the original post, but deleting the post is not an option.
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I agree, victim blaming and antagonizing victims shouldn’t be allowed on these forums. End of story.
CoTH is constantly publishing articles about the changing times, supporting victims and promoting supporting each other, but then they let the forums run rampant with victim blaming.
No other forum of this stature allows that. It’s clear one or two people spend way too much time obsessing over a certain poster here and it IS SUS and disturbing and the moderators could do with going back and reading all their posts and realizing they don’t make CoTH a nice place to hang out and their obsession is red flag that should be dealt with.
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We recently learned about and starting using the archive feature of this software platform. That thread was mistakenly unarchived, but I don’t recall the exact circumstances of why. I believe it related to mistakenly thinking we had to unarchive to perform a moderation action. It was rearchived on Dec. 31 when we realized it was just closed and not archived, when we performed a search for Barisone threads to archive them all.
We generally wouldn’t penalize a user for referencing another user’s real-life identity if that user had chosen to make it public on the site. We might moderate a post containing personal information for other reasons…language, insults, gratuitous personal commentary, etc.
A user cannot remove in its entirety a thread that they have started (except in the Giveaways forum, and I believe the Announcements forum). They can edit a post that started a thread to change or remove its content, but they will remain listed as the OP of the thread. If another user copied and reposted an OP, it would start a new thread, and none of the posts on the original thread would carry over.
We review alerts on content made through the alert system, and we may act on some and not on others. We don’t moderate on factual accuracy of statements made and we do not agree with or like all comments made. We understand that users may not agree with moderation decisions, but we do our best to provide a forum for discussion of issues from different perspectives.
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A vast majority of users of this forum have been portrayed publically and GLOBALLY in media as being evil, as bullies, as persons of lesser character and as having pummeled the person who was shot. And why? Because we dared to comment on a posting board of which we are members about an incident. To me the demonization of posters is also beyond the scope of acceptability and decency so maybe consider that as well.
And all this demonization of the forum users occurred WHILE WE OURSELVES WERE BEING BULLIED OR BULLYING WAS ATTEMPTED AND THREATS WERE MADE by the OP of this thread.
BTW, there is no crime in starting a thread. If there were the Mods are perfectly capable of handling it.
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Bolding mine.
On the technical forum, a couple users (Scribbler and Sdel) explicitly asked how many times a poster needed to be flagged in order to be suspended. This led to the following thoughts.
If a group of posters used PM to communicate among themselves “We’re getting criticized by Equkelly for victim bashing, let’s get her riled up and then flag her posts to get her banned”, is that a strategy that could be used to manipulate the moderation?
Why do I ask? I am simpatico with Equkelly’s position pushing back at the LK hate, and she and I and perhaps one other user were attacked (as I perceived it) in a recent thread. Being a coward, I tucked my tail and dropped out. Equkelly stuck it out and lost her cool slightly. I think she included “FFS” in one post (just the letters). Anyway, the usual train wreck ensues and when the dust settles the two posters with the most offensive posts are still standing and Equkelly is gone.
Here’s the question. If the handful of posters who are likeminded with Equkelly, like me, refrain from flagging the truly offensive posts by Ambitious Kate, Idaho Rider, and Eggbutt, but a group of posters flag Equkelly for writing “FFS” (yes, I suspect there is a conspiracy via PM, based on Scribbler’s inquiry) is that why Equkelly is banned and Ambitious Kate is not?
I had been deliberately refraining from flagging posts, even if I thought they were offensive and violated the rules, in order to minimize the burden on the mods, but it now looks to me that by refraining from flagging the posts I find offensive and in violation of the rules, the result may be that the mods get lopsided feedback.
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The OP of this thread is Joanne.
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Well, that is a nasty accusation. I don’t give a fig about what anyone says about me, so I don’t generally see the need to flag moderation for anything anyone says. I just junk things into my mental trash can and go on with my day.
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I stand corrected. I meant to refer to LK
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It could also be that this is not the first time a poster has flown off the handle in an inappropriate way. Leeway may have been granted the first time, but not the second.
I don’t even know what thread you’re referencing with the “FFS” in it, but I do know your ol’ buddy has gone ballistic more than just that once.
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Yes, and I’m not on 24/7, so perhaps she said something truly awful and it was deleted before I saw it. I don’t see everything the mods see, or see the track record.
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@CurrentlyHorseless, the way I read the post(s) here by Mod1 is that they do not simply say ‘oh this person is a nuisance because they are either always flagging people or get flagged a ton’, not the other way around.
Edit to add: The irony is not lost on me that another dead thread was bumped up by the same person who insists they don’t like threads about them.
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Endless is talking about at least a couple of years, if not more, worth of consistent behavior.
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Question:
Why would someone find it necessary to edit a post on a CLOSED thread?
Why would someone find it necessary to REPEATEDLY have to edit posts on a closed thread?
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User banning is very seldom the result of a singular post or even a single thread.
If you feel we should review a post, send an alert. We may not agree that it’s something we need to intervene on, but if you’re concerned about a post, let us know. If there are a bunch of posts in a thread you think we should review, you can just send one alert where the issue begins and make a note about taking a look at subsequent posts…we can read on from there to check on the thread.
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General observation.
Traffic on COTH is primarily North America and slows or stops by about 11 pm PST.
The exception is when a cray cray thread erupts. They very often do this after midnight PST, so very late in other time zones. Sometimes I am awake and get to watch it unfold. Then the next morning the thread is locked or people are banned.
Other times I get a good night’s sleep and complete miss the action. It’s not unheard of for someone who has been merely prickly or contrarian to explode quite suddenly in the wee hours. The next morning, the mods report that they have removed or edited several posts and banned a member. And the other posters are murmuring about mental health issues and if the banned poster needs help.
In the case here I never saw the posts that got the person banned but like I said it’s a known pattern for a poster to finally lose it over night and get edited and banned before I have my morning coffee in the PT zone.
There are indeed examples of this late night phenomenon on this very thread. I think the term they use in senior care is “sundowning.” A useful term for online life as well.
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Having spent years moderating a large now gone horse forum I can say that it’s extremely rare to ban based on a single post or even a contentious thread. It’s also rare to ban a dissenting poster who often swims against the forum’s main opinion. People don’t see the entirety of a member’s input…what’s been moderated or deleted or a pattern of issues. Moderating is a thankless job. It’s like trying to herd cats. And rarely is everyone happy.
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Thank you.
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I cannot tell you how many times that term has crossed my mind on many of these threads in the past. However, I did not mention that term, since I did not want to insult anyone with the comparison. Particularly seniors.
Many thanks to the mods here for all their efforts and explanations.
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When I have read someone get a bit hot under the collar and lose it, if it is evening or weekends, I first think they may be under the influence of mind altering substances. 
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