I really appreciate the efforts of the moderators almost all the time, but sometimes they are a little trigger happy. If someone asks a question that has been asked before, could we at least have the common courtesy to refer them to the other thread rather than just telling them that the question has been asked before and shutting them down? It just doesn't feel right when that happens.

This type of thread closing leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

We have been fighting hard over on the AC board to avoid having moderators because we have seen this stuff for a long time on other threads and have started to self police ourselves.That seems to work much better for the most part.

Edited for spelling


[This message has been edited by parnel (edited 08-10-2003).]

Out of curiosity, is there something about appointing moderators that is different from "self-policing?"

Every single moderator I know of is a regular on the forums he or she moderates, so it's simply a question of empowering some of the group to be even more helpful in mkaing the forum work smoothly.

Just a question that I've been curious about.

As for Punki's question, I'm not sure that in a forum like UA, there's time for a mdoerator do all that searching every time a poster duplciates a topic. Don't the posters bear some of the responsibility to see if the topic is already in play?

BTW, I think the consensus I've heard last time the mods discussed this sort of thing is that it's only considered a duplicate post if the topic is currently in play (like on the first few pages), nobody that I know of is expecting posters to search back over the years before asking any question at all. (After all, flyertalk would be pretty quiet if it weren;t for the discussion of the same issues again and again.)

I did a 90 day search on "great offer" in the UA forum, and stopped counting at 70 separate threads about the "Great Offer" promotion. I think the moderator made the right call. FTers need to become more familiar with the search feature.

[This message has been edited by skofarrell (edited 08-11-2003).]

Though not perfect, the FT search feature is certainly sufficiently enabling for such a query.

I too think the moderator made the right call based on my search for the same information. The moderator was also very polite about it so I'm confused about such professional behavior could leave a bad taste in anyone's mouth.

1) Since when do we complain on behalf of others when their thread gets closed? Perhaps Richardinsf was perfectly happy with the way this was handled.

2) The thread was closed with an answer to the question and a pointer to the many, many other threads on this subject.

If ANYONE is NOT trigger happy then it's Squeakr, she only closes threads when it's obvious why and always adds a friendly remark as to why, how etc...

I completely agree, and the thread in question is no exception.

squeakr -- Thanks for the great job you're doing as a moderator!

I agree 100%.

I guess I just come from a very different place--maybe all those years as a protester in the '60s have too deeply instilled in me the concept of individual freedom.

IMHO only posts containing personal attacks and/or vulgarity, or those posts obviously intended to incite and/or annoy, should ever be deleted. The only situation where I think it would be appropriate to close down an entire thread is when there is a heated battle going on between or among a small number of posters who are posting (attacks upon one another) faster than the mopderator can delete them--in that case just lock it down.

If a thread is simply boring or overdone, it will die of lack of interest and should be given the opportunity to do so--that may be an even better lesson to the poster than closing the thread.

We each have a different perspective on just about everything and this is mine on moderation. It is neither right nor wrong, it simply is.

Has it been 9 Months already?

Pot, Kettle, Black.

Punki, when you have your own board, you get to set the rules and can be as trigger happy (or not) as you want to be.

FewMiles..

I standbehind my decision but am happyo to give more detail

With so many newbies on the UAL board, AND the search function on the UAL board now working, it has become more imperative to close threads when there are ample threads on a give topic. Otherwise there would 100+ threads omn the Great Offer etc all giving the same info. For a time the search fx on UAL was not working properly so we let a number of posts slide that duplicated info - now there is no reason to do so, and to close dupes keeps the forum a lttle more manageable.

Specifically re Richard's post, both Kathy and I answered his questions and I made sure to do so before I closed the post. Richard thanked me in a private email....so I don't see an issue here.

I see my role as moderator helping keep the boards easy to read which in UAL is no mean feat.

Many thanks for the explanation Squeakr! This just shows how useless it is to complain on behalf of someone else...

I complain on behalf of other people all the time -- it lets me foist my own agenda on the FT membership as a whole.

FewMiles..