United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

ok, so a stupid question - what exactly does "moderated" mean? I know when I was first on these boards and didn't realize about logging in, my posts would not show up right away, I think, because they were reviewed first. But now that I log in my posts show up immed. Does that mean that they are still reviewed, but may be removed after a day or so if they are not appropriate? And is there concern for a slander case in that time pd. before the post is removed?

Jess and Anna,

Those are really good questions and it is why 'moderating' is so difficult. It is very difficult. We delete very few posts and I want to repeat that, very few posts. Most of them are deleted because they are duplicates, first of all, submitted by people who aren't logged in, and don't realize it and when their post doesn't show up, they post it again and again.

Second of the kinds of posts that are deleted are those (again posted by anonymous people who aren't registered) that are get rich quick schemes or those that are offerinig a product that has nothing to do with bpi, again from people outside of our community.

Third are the posts which violate our message board policy. It involves judgement, to interpret that, to decide when a post goes over the line. We don't delete a post simply because it is negative as you have pointed out -- it has to go further. The board moderators confer with each other, and fret over it and worry about whether they should or shouldn't delete a post. It is not easy. But we have seen this board erupt into name-calling and direct attacks, and we don't want to go there.

When we delete such a post that is posted by someone in our community, and they are logged in (thereby we know who has posted) we email them and explain why and invite them to repost by restating in a different way their concern.

Anna, to answer your question. Posts from people who are logged in go up immediately. If you are not logged in, your post appears as guest and does not show up but comes to the board moderators. We aren't moderating 24/7 and that is why there can be a lag between when a guest posts and when the post goes up.

I hope this helps everyone to understand. These are good questions. Please know that we are trying very hard to make the boards a safe place for everyone but that there are and must be boundaries put in place in order to achieve that.

Nancy

Oh boy, you know it is bad when you reply to your own post. Sorry everyone, I should not get on the message boards before I have coffee. HA!

Anyway, I also wanted to mention that we are not infallable. We do make mistakes. One of lifes' valuable lessons I have learned about living with a bpi, is that when you fall, you get up again; when you can't do something, you find a way to adapt. I have not let adversity stand in my path but on the other hand, I have learned to forgive myself. My point is that we do err and probably will err again in making judgements about what is an propriate post or not. But please understand that we really are doing our best.

Now I'm gonna go get some coffee .....

Nancy

Nancy, thanks for putting forth the effort to clear this up. Possibly, it's just my concern but I'm glad you're taking the time to help me.

So you're saying that it is perfectly fine for people to post bad experiences that they've had with bpi related facilities? And the post is generally only deleted when it starts to turn into unproductive exchange between members? And at that point, is the entire thread deleted, or just the follow-up responses that got ugly?

Plus, just because I'm curious. About how many posts have been deleted for this "slander" reason?

Okay, thanks again for helping me on this.
Jess

Jess,

Yes and no, to answer your question about whether it is fine to post bad experiences. A lot has to do with the way it is presented.

Our policy states that:
- Slanderous or other targeted attacks aimed at individuals or institutions are not allowed.
- Courteous and respectful postings are expected from all participants.

As I said that is where the interpretation lies and why it can be difficult to judge. We do our best.

Let me also define slander to clarify what that means:

Slander is defined as defamation of a person.
Defamation is communication about a person that injures the reputation of that person.

Simple definitions, difficult interpretations (guess that is one of the reasons why there are so many lawyers in the world).

About deleted posts, I don't have a number, we don't keep those statistics -- too many other more important things to do. In some cases, we have deleted entire threads, in some only the offending post. Again, it is a judgement call.

Nancy

what an excellant thread.
by the way, if this is a moderated board, why hasnt this thread been moved to the appropriate board(suggestions and comments relating to the board itself)?
if comments can be deleted then they can be added to the other board...where they may not upset the natural flow of this one-

Mary,
We can't move threads. It is not possible with the software. But you are right, this thread belongs there.

We also can't edit posts, in case anyone is thinking about that question. We can only delete them in their entirety.

And it is not really a 'moderated' board. Ryan can explain that all more clearly, even though we use that term, we aren't for instance trying to 'guide' discussions in any way as a true moderator would do.

Nancy

I commented more about moderating on the "suggestions" board -there is a difference between 'guided' and moderated -but I can respect your choice not to moderate at all- in which case I personally would want to go back to Jess's original question,

and (please have patience with me)maybe I am missing something here but...MY common sense dictates that;
If you can delete something, and you can post something, then you can delete the post,
and then post again,(or ask the poster to post again) over on the correct forum.
I could copy any of the posts here and post them over on the other board right now-
ahhh-but here I am seemingly contributing to an anthill becoming a mountain, derailing the original nature of tthe post AND doing it on the wrong board so Im getting outta dodge
love and respect to all yall!

people cant post over there(suggestions board)...the threads all seem to be locked, hahaha, ok, good thing Jesss posted this over here-
to not make a decision to moderate is a judgement also- Without external controls similar to that...
the baord itself takes on an internal balance it seems, when things get really out of whack you have posters that come on from the opposite direction, balancing it out, but this can allow for a pretty rough ride that many members may not wish to "surf"-

by the way, I just copied that last sentence from my post on the other board-and moved it from the other board to here... (i just didnt delete it- but you all could if you wanted to-you said you could)
so that can be done...duckingggggggggggggg
hey -you guys -you know if I didnt care about this place I wouldnt bother to tell you what I think-

Mary,
I just posted there. Don't know what the problem is.
It's not on purpose I can tell you that!

You suggested copying all the posts and moving them over to that board. We can't really do that either, without putting them all into one long, long message.

At this point, people who are following this thread are following it here, and the thread did not start out becoming what it did, that's the way with conversations, they sometimes move in different directions and that is ok.

Nancy