Allow users to delete own posts
 

vBulletin has the option of allowing users to delete their own posts... I think this should be enabled. This would most likely be a soft-delete, so the mods could still see the deleted posts if desired, but would allow users to patrol their own posts when needed (e.g. forum glitch causing a double post; mistaken post in the wrong forum; user decided their post was out of line; etc.).

Especially lately, I've seen a lot of posts that say "deleted - duplicate" because the website glitched, but users have no way of deleting their own posts.

This is a fairly minor feature that really has no downside to enabling - users can't delete anything but their own posts, but it would allow users to help do some of the maintenance on their own, taking a bit of load off the mods.

There's really no reason NOT to enable this...

I agree - especially because I had to delete a post tonight because I put it in the wrong place ;)

I rarely go in OMNI anymore, but I did notice that a long time ago (back before it was opened to the general public), it appeared that you could delete your own posts there (but nowhere else). That may still be the case. (Edit: it appears it is.)

Given that FT allows you to edit posts indefinately indefinitely (even years later, you can edit your post to say, "Deleted"), I agree that there appears to be no reason why this functionality should not be enabled across the entire board.

Good idea.

At least allow me to delete a post within x hours of after I posted it.

Does anyone knows why this fnctionality has been disbaled?

It sounds like a reasonable suggestion but I am afraid it might mingle with another "hot" topic at some point:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/techn...flyertalk.html

I was a moderator on a highly used board that used vBulletin and we dropped the members having the ability to delete posts for 2 reasons. 1, when deleted no one can see that it is gone, so people would post something bad, let a few people get mad then delete it acing like they never posted. The other was that people were deleting posts all the time for whatever reason then the staff was bombarded with requests to delete any reply that had the deleted post quoted in it or delete the quote. Allowing people to delete their posts led to more trouble and work then the problems it solved or work it saved. At least now if someone edits their post and just puts "Deleted", people know it was their and the author edited it. Again that was from my experience and it may or may not be the same problems here.

Well, that's still an issue now. If I change my post to "deleted," I'd likely ask the mod anyway to remove any subsequent posts of my quote. In and of itself, this functionality doesn't really affect that practice in a positive or negative way.

A valid point I hadn't considered. Stirring up debate (especially in a trollish manner) and then deleting your post allows you to slink away unnoticed (as long as your post wasn't quoted), whereas you can remain at least tangentially responsible for your words (and your share of trouble-making) if people can see you had something to say, even if you later decided you were irresponsible and retracted what you said.

This issue could come into play as well:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/sugge...own-posts.html

That is why vBulletin has a "soft delete" functionality, which keeps a stub visible that says "deleted by <user>" while omitting all content. Soft-deleting a post would have exactly the same effect as editing the post to say "deleted," except that a soft-deleted post no longer counts towards the poster's post count and it looks better (it takes up less space on the screen).

Therefore, allowing a soft-delete functionality would still keep exactly the same accountability as allowing people to edit their posts to say "deleted," yet is still an improvement in terms of housekeeping. An additional benefit of soft-deletes is that mods can still see the original content of the post; this is not the case when the post is edited.

For all of these reasons, allowing something like a soft-delete would not cause any loss of accountability or other downsides compared to the current system, but would allow improvements in housekeeping and visual appeal.

Sounds like a great option.

They can't?

One of the more recent changes around here I've noticed (within the last, say, 6 months or year) is that the "Last edited by" note underneath my own edited posts is now hyperlinked. Clicking it reveals a MediaWiki-style diff screen (since MediaWiki is open-source, it's possible they just used that code) in which I can see the history of all of my edits. (I can't do the same for others' edits.)

I just assumed the moderators had access to that screen for everyone. If not, perhaps it's a good idea to enable that!

Hmm, I had not noticed. I guess that eliminates that particular issue.

Still, a soft-delete offers the same functionality while still looking better.

Did this movement gain any momentum?

Doesn't look like it, PK777, but posters are welcome to edit their own posts down to the 5-character minimum. Lots of people do that by replacing the original text with elipses or "<deleted by OP>" or "nevermind" or similar. Posters may also report their own posts to the mods and request removal.

FTR, all edits are viewable to mods and IB. Just this week I came across two posts that read "opps, wrong forum" or similar. I checked the edits: both were troll-bait. ;)

Slight correction: edits are visible to the moderators of the forum in which the post is posted (and presumably the senior moderators). I, for example, cannot see your edit to your post above.

I noticed before I became a moderator that normal users have the ability to delete their own posts in OMNI. I don't see why that can't be extended forum-wide.

there is no reason to have (soft) delete, and there are reasons not to have (soft) delete

no editing = no stickies/compilations/organization/etc = no flyertalk

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