Proposal: Allow members to remove their IDs and expunge all associated posts.
Dec 5, 2008, 11:39 pm
#1
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2000
Posts: 15,788
Proposal: Allow members to remove their IDs and expunge all associated posts.
Given:
1) Changes in Forum policy are out of the control of any individual member.
2) Said changes may result in an environment in which the member may have originally chosen not to participate.
I propose that FlyerTalk enable an "opt-out" function to allow any member to remove their handle and all posts associated with that handle.
This facility mostly exists today through the simple expedient of editing existing posts to contain null text. The only effect of adding this one-button option is to remove the mechanical burden of editing multiple posts one-at-a-time from the individual.
Enlightened Social Networks already enable this facility.
I believe this is a feature we currently possess, and only requires that a flag be set to make it visible.
The net effect to FlyerTalk can only be positive. Either a few concerned posters will quietly leave, or a large number of posters will vanish and thus stimulate change, hopefully for the better.
Let us make it so.
1) Changes in Forum policy are out of the control of any individual member.
2) Said changes may result in an environment in which the member may have originally chosen not to participate.
I propose that FlyerTalk enable an "opt-out" function to allow any member to remove their handle and all posts associated with that handle.
This facility mostly exists today through the simple expedient of editing existing posts to contain null text. The only effect of adding this one-button option is to remove the mechanical burden of editing multiple posts one-at-a-time from the individual.
Enlightened Social Networks already enable this facility.
I believe this is a feature we currently possess, and only requires that a flag be set to make it visible.
The net effect to FlyerTalk can only be positive. Either a few concerned posters will quietly leave, or a large number of posters will vanish and thus stimulate change, hopefully for the better.
Let us make it so.
Dec 6, 2008, 2:55 am
#2
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Sunny Switzerland
Programs: BD / BA / AF
Posts: 4,388
Agreed +1
Dec 6, 2008, 6:14 am
#3
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: 60137
Posts: 10,498
I vote: "yea."
Dec 6, 2008, 6:32 am
#4
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Bansko, Bulgaria
Programs: Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 1,260
Absolutely!
Dec 6, 2008, 8:57 am
#5
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 3,944
Agreed.
Last edited by SkeptiCallie; Dec 6, 2008 at 9:04 am
Dec 6, 2008, 11:09 am
#6
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Under an ORD approach path
Programs: DL PM, MM. Coffee isn't a drug, it's a vitamin.
Posts: 12,935
If implemented, the member should have the option to purge posts by forum- for example, deleting all OMNI posts while leaving posts in an airline forum.
Dec 6, 2008, 11:21 am
#7
In Memoriam, FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Southern California
Programs: DL: 3.8 MM, Marriott: Lifetime Titanium
Posts: 24,575
Just for the record and in the event that this is something that TB gets involved with, I'd like to make note of what appears to be the HOM's official position on removing posts:
From a technical perspective, it is certainly possible to delete all of a member's posts. From a policy perspective, it is not something we currently do.
From the FAQs:
Who owns my post?
For the sake of simplicity, we'd say that we own anything posted on FlyerTalk. Our reasoning is that we have the power to edit or delete any post if we, representing the community, find it provides more harm than value to FlyerTalk. Also, if a member decides they no longer want to participate in the community, we would find it difficult to go into the database and delete each post an individual had made. Excerpts from posts to FlyerTalk may appear in InsideFlyer magazines, books, or other materials.
Of course, policy decisions are always up for revision, but at this time the short answer to the original question is, we do not remove posts upon a member's request.
I understand this probably isn't the answer you were hoping for birdstrike, but I hope it helps clarify the current policy.
From the FAQs:
Who owns my post?
For the sake of simplicity, we'd say that we own anything posted on FlyerTalk. Our reasoning is that we have the power to edit or delete any post if we, representing the community, find it provides more harm than value to FlyerTalk. Also, if a member decides they no longer want to participate in the community, we would find it difficult to go into the database and delete each post an individual had made. Excerpts from posts to FlyerTalk may appear in InsideFlyer magazines, books, or other materials.
Of course, policy decisions are always up for revision, but at this time the short answer to the original question is, we do not remove posts upon a member's request.
I understand this probably isn't the answer you were hoping for birdstrike, but I hope it helps clarify the current policy.
Dec 6, 2008, 11:31 am
#8
Flyertalk Evangelist and Moderator: Coupon Connection and Travel Products
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: Milton, GA USA
Programs: Hilton Diamond, IHG Platinum Elite, Hyatt Discoverist, Radisson Elite
Posts: 19,040
I am against this.... if it is applicable to the entire board. What about other people who posted to those threads... if posts start getting deleted, threads will no longer make sense. In addition, deleting threads will take away post counts from anyone who posted in the deleted thread.
However, if this was only for OMNI... due to the change in policy there... then I could possibly see this.
However, if this was only for OMNI... due to the change in policy there... then I could possibly see this.
Dec 6, 2008, 1:02 pm
#9
Moderator: GLBT Travelers & Hyatt Gold Passport
Join Date: Jan 2000
Location: CVG
Posts: 15,300
I am against this.... if it is applicable to the entire board. What about other people who posted to those threads... if posts start getting deleted, threads will no longer make sense. In addition, deleting threads will take away post counts from anyone who posted in the deleted thread.
However, if this was only for OMNI... due to the change in policy there... then I could possibly see this.
However, if this was only for OMNI... due to the change in policy there... then I could possibly see this.
Now if a member just deletes information in their post, it doesn't cause this effect - at least I don't believe so.
Dec 6, 2008, 2:36 pm
#10
Flyertalk Evangelist and Moderator: Coupon Connection and Travel Products
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: Milton, GA USA
Programs: Hilton Diamond, IHG Platinum Elite, Hyatt Discoverist, Radisson Elite
Posts: 19,040
Another issue is that posts get quoted all the time. Doing a mass delete of a poster does not eliminate all their posts... any post that got quoted would still be there. That again would make threads very awkward.
Dec 6, 2008, 3:44 pm
#11
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: The People's Republik of MSN
Programs: After years of status, back to Peon levels. Anti-Apostheid Platinum, PWP CentCom
Posts: 4,767
I support this. There's certainly technical issues to be worked through, but I agree with what birdstrike is trying to accomplish. At the very least, we should be able to purge OMNI posts, since as wharvey noted, that's one of the major drivers of discontent around here. Since it's a cesspool anyhow ( 
), disconnected threads shouldn't be the end of the world.
The larger issue is that our host has let things get to a state where people not only want to leave the community, but that they want to erase themselves from FT existence. Can the TB fix it themselves? Doubtful...but we need to consider what the guiding reason behind this proposal is. While TB can't fix the root cause, they have more influence than Joe the User with our host.
), disconnected threads shouldn't be the end of the world.The larger issue is that our host has let things get to a state where people not only want to leave the community, but that they want to erase themselves from FT existence. Can the TB fix it themselves? Doubtful...but we need to consider what the guiding reason behind this proposal is. While TB can't fix the root cause, they have more influence than Joe the User with our host.
Dec 6, 2008, 4:17 pm
#12
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: America's Finest City
Posts: 10,936
Definitely. As I noted on the ORP forum, I have deleted various innocuous OMNI posts and all still show up in FT searches, with a trashcan icon. Moreover, I did a google search and found numerous posts by FT'ers making personal insults to my handle and accusing me of all sorts of things. Of course the posts show my home city (since deleted from my profile) and it would be quite easy for a crazy person to find me if they thought I indeed did such things. It's bad enough getting hate PM's from FT'ers I don't know. For security reasons alone, allowing the kind of stuff on OMNI to go out into the wider world is very foolish.
Dec 6, 2008, 5:41 pm
#13
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2000
Posts: 15,788
I am against this.... if it is applicable to the entire board. What about other people who posted to those threads... if posts start getting deleted, threads will no longer make sense. In addition, deleting threads will take away post counts from anyone who posted in the deleted thread.
To clarify, I don't advocate deleting threads, just expunging posts. The DBAs who manage FT have much more sophisticated tools at their disposal than the moderators.
I don't expect the posts of anyone who may have quoted one of my posts to be touched in any way.
I don't care about what happens to my post count. (Edit to say, that was a quixotic comment, if my handle is deleted then it's post count is irrelevant
) I made roughly 12,000 posts out of the 10,000,000+ (ten million) on FlyerTalk. I won't kid myself to think that anyone will miss them. Even the Legends posts would not be more than a drop in the bucket. How many here remember Doc?
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
`My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
( Percy Bysshe Shelley)
Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
`My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
( Percy Bysshe Shelley)
Mikel notwithstanding, this is not going to be difficult to implement and is most likely a component of the software version FlyerTalk is already running.
Last edited by birdstrike; Dec 6, 2008 at 9:35 pm
Dec 6, 2008, 6:13 pm
#14
In Memoriam
Join Date: Jul 2001
Posts: 35,555
I am absolutely against this as it is being presented.
People can be responsible for what they pen.
This whole idea of changing handles was against the grain for me as well.
People can be responsible for what they pen.
This whole idea of changing handles was against the grain for me as well.
Dec 6, 2008, 6:15 pm
#15
Moderator: Delta SkyMiles, Luxury Hotels, TravelBuzz! and Italy
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 26,544