On Mod actions towards posts on the wrong boards (@Tamat)

#Intro: I've made it clear before that I think mods should move threads rather than delete them. In a thread I made, myself and 12tales did some analysis and concluded that a dedicated team of mods would have the resources to move threads (though of course, we're working off of limited data here, so our analysis may be flawed). If the mods don't have the resources, in that same thread I talk about an idea to take the burden of moving threads off of the mods and into the community.

"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." -Tamat, in reference to moving vs deleting posts.

My response is, "But at what cost?" When a thread is deleted, that's quality discussion that is lost.

#Let's take a step back, though, and think about what we really want.

• You, the mods, want a community that thinks about where to post content before dumping in any board they please (like GD).
• We, the players, want our content, which we may or may not have made a copy of, to be saved.
  • As a secondary goal, we'd also like the replies to our post to be saved

The real question is, is there any solution that accomplishes all of these goals? If not, what about just both primary goals?

I think there is.

#The Good Option:

When a post is deleted, the OP gets a copy of their post along with the reason for deletion.

• The OP's hard work isn't lost (I've spent hours on some posts)
• To encourage the OP to care if his post gets deleted, there's still a penalty: loss of thread traction and replies.
• If the feature is automated (it should be), it's literally no more work for the mods than simply deleting the thread.

#The Better Option

When a post is deleted, it's taken off the forums, but left on Riot's servers for a short period of time (1 week). This is how it currently works, as evidenced by the mods restoring a thread that was deleted by accident/unjustly. When the OP gets the notification that their thread was deleted for being on the wrong board, they are also given a tool (drop down menu) to restore their thread to a different board. If the board they move it to is wrong the second time (ie, a mod sees it and deletes it a second time), then the post is deleted permanently.

• The OP's hard work isn't lost
• If the feature is automated (it should be - a button/menu item next to delete that says "wrong board" and sends the OP an auto-generated message), it's not any more work for the mods than deleting a thread.
• MOST IMPORTANTLY, it forces the OP to think closely about where his thread actually belongs. With either the live solution of deleting threads, or the first suggestion, if a post is deleted, OP reposts, and the post is deleted again, OP is back to where he was after the first deletion. He doesn't really care how many times his thread is deleted. With this solution, OP knows he's being given a second chance, and that he won't get a 3rd, so he's going to put in more effort into thinking about where the post really belongs. He won't make the same mistake again.

#A 3rd (and best?) Community Option

We, the community, have a "Report Post | Wrong Board" option at the bottom of each post. Right now, this sends a notification to the Mods, who come and delete it if necessary. But it doesn't have to. With this implementation, when a certain threshold of reports is received, the OP is notified that his thread may be in the wrong board, and is given an opportunity to move it. If he chooses to move it, the Mods don't receive a notification. If he chooses not to, Mods receive a notification like now, and come make a decision about whether to delete the thread or not.

• Automated Feature
• OP has to think about where his post belongs and make a high-stakes decision about it
• If OP is worried that he made the wrong decision, since he knows that his thread may be deleted, he has a chance to back it up.
• Less work for mods
• Community decides what belongs on each board

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@Tamat especially, but also @Affordance, Krylhos, Bear Hat Alice, Pendragon, (is there anyone else on the team I'm missing?)

Cheers, Hyrum Graff