We need to open comunications between moderators and boards members.
I first made this post in the boards feedback because it was in fact feedback. However a moderator chose to delete it and sent a message to post it here. So here it is.
I've recently had a two posts removed, not because I violated boards rules, but because the moderator misunderstood what the post was.
Now listen first. This is NOT a complaint. This is NOT an appeal. What this post is about is that we need to be able to communicate with moderators, thus it needs to be in the boards feedback, because it is in fact feedback.
We need to be able to talk to the moderators about why our posts are deleted, and get feedback from them. Right now all we get is a pre-generated message telling us we did something wrong and that our post was removed, and on occasion where we should have posted something.
What we need is for the post to be locked down first, so that people can not visit it, and then when we see that it is locked down, we can contact a moderator and speak with them. This would allow us to discuss why the post was locked down and what we need to change in it for it to be unlocked for public view. If we fail to contact a moderator within about six hours (I think that's a fair amount of time) then the post can be automatically deleted.
I think this will not only help the forum users, but the moderators as well. Moderators will be able to show us what about the posts need to be changed and how we can avoid disciplinary action in the future. This will allow people to better understand what is, and is not acceptable on the forums, without having to be warned or punished first.
I'll use a recent experience of mine as an example of how this could have helped.
AGAIN! This is NOT a complaint. It is NOT a appeal. It is an example of how we need to be able to communicate with the mods.
So I decided to update one of my posts on memes&games, and add in the champions that have been released after my post went up. After doing so I copied everything over and re-posted it so that people can see it again, (let's face it, no one is going to scroll down an entire year's worth of posts to see one updated.) Later I get back online to find that the post was deleted. Here is the message I received.
http://i1378.photobucket.com/albums/ah116/Daniel_Fritsch/dontunderstand_zpshodchvzn.png
As you can see it does not mention "explicit" or "inappropriate" content, nor does it mention use of profanity, race, or religion.
It merely states, "While we do allow a number of topics that can be discussed about, there are some areas of discussion that are better left to other community platforms."
My post wasn't a discussion. it was a meme I had made 12 months ago called "Sentinel's Report. Child Abuse On Summoner's Rift. It was a meme about all the champions in league always fighting Annie. Here is the link to the original which I did update with all the champions, Sentinel's Report
Based on the message I received, I can only assume the moderator saw the words "Child Abuse" and instantly believed it was a serious post about child abuse and removed it without actually looking at the post.
If the moderator had taken the time to speak with me regarding the post then they would have known it was a meme and not a serious discussion about child abuse. Or if there was in fact something in it that called for it to be taken down, (Which I doubt as the original is still up.) than they could had spoken to me, and pointed out each thing in the post that would have been deemed unacceptable, allowing me to fix it, and learn what I can and cannot put in my posts.
Again, this is NOT a complaint. This is NOT an appeal. This is feedback in regards to how we need to be able to communicate with the moderators.
So with this all being said, I honestly believe that instead of simply deleting posts outright, the posts should be locked down, preventing public view, and the poster and moderator should be able to talk to one another about why the post was locked down, and how to change the post so that it can be on the forums. Moderators should be able to guide us and pinpoint what we do wrong so that we can fix it. We shouldn't have to be left wondering what it is we did wrong, with nothing but a generic message to tell us we posted something we shouldn't have. We should be able to speak with the moderators and work together with them in correcting our selves and our posts.
TL;DR We need to be able to talk with moderators instead of our posts being outright deleted without a proper explanation or information given as to how we can avoid getting in trouble.