Thread Locking (Makes no sense)

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http://www.paklinks.com/gs/pakistan-affairs/481119-condemn-killing-of-3-persons-by-usa-consulate-employee.html

It’s pretty obvious the guy made wrote an editorial style letter, wrote his name in the end taking credit for his work. What’s wrong with that?

Where in the rules does it say every thread must have a working URL? What if you want to discuss something carved out of your own imagination or your own feelings about a topic? Find a URL for that too?

Just looks like the content matter wasn’t jibing with the political views of the moderators, because I see tonnes of threads floating without links, even ones from news sites which should be cited.

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Re: Thread Locking (Makes no sense)

^ man i have been victim of that too........like if u share someting...and even provide a URL and source.....they lock the thread saying "add your own line"....like whats the problem?? The content itself speaks for itself.....bah..

BTW...don't expect anything....there is always this same answer to any complaint "We here work very hard to keep this place nice and clean, obviously moderators are human too. If you have any problem, please contact the respective moderator and channel manager via PM."

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Re: Thread Locking (Makes no sense)

may be its some misunderstanding. may be the mods thought that he copy pasted it from somewhere and wrote his own name underneath it. well i guess yazdi can explain it better since he locked the thread.

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Re: Thread Locking (Makes no sense)

Yes it appears that he copy pasted though it might be his own article, in which case its perfectly ok. I will send him a PM to ask and if it is, then we will unlock the thread

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Re: Thread Locking (Makes no sense)

Please refer to the the rule number one from the “rules and regulations” thread:
http://www.paklinks.com/gs/pakistan-affairs/185504-forum-guidelines-rules-and-regulations.html
It states:
**1. All articles posted must include a working URL link and the person posting these should also include their own comments and state what they wish to be discussed, especially in posts that start a new thread. Any posts without these requirements will be removed. **

Now there are already 3/4 threads running in the forum on the same topic. If the poster wanted to condemn the Americans he could have easily used one of the existing threads on the topic. There are several people condemning the American in these threads and none of the moderators have shown any problem with this as long as the language is decent and at par with the requirement of the forum. Similarly there are posters like mercenary2k who are condemning Pakistanis on the topic. Again none of the moderators have shown any discomfort with that. After all forum is for discussion and there are several opinions on a subject. However if you want to open a new thread there is a certain way of doing it. The thread opener could have used the opening lines as his take on the subject and support it with some fresh news from a worthy source to show why Americans should be condemned. Yes you are right we sometime ignore the URL requirement where we feel the topic is an interesting one for forum where we must have some discussion. It should not have the same topic as one of the existing threads as several threads with same discussion become very boring for forum users.

Please be assured your present moderator team does not have any biases when we moderate. Please do trust your moderators who are working hard to keep the quality of the forum at a high level. If we allow such threads to continue believe me your forum will look like a very childish forum. Such threads are not removed but locked to educate new posters about general etiquettes of posting/opening new threads.

BTW in this particular case my views are not very different from the thread opener. I have myself just opened a new thread today criticizing Americans in this matter:

http://www.paklinks.com/gs/pakistan-affairs/481857-us-postpones-bilateral-contact-until-davis-is-freed.html

Although I am not required to defend my actions as a moderator, I have posted this link just to show how wrong are you with your allegation that the opinion expressed by the said poster clash with the political views of moderator. This is just to prove that we do not moderate according to our political biases, but the target is to maintain a high quality…!!!

P.S. If you have any further question I am always there to clarify. Please do take note that i also make mistakes and if you ever point out these mistakes I will be the first one to acknowledge. However in this case I consider it a baseless accusation that the moderation was done according to the political views of the moderators…

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Re: Thread Locking (Makes no sense)

I agree with Yazdi that there were already a couple of threads on the same topic and so it could just be added as another post to one of them.

I take objection to the view that it looks like an article. That doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. How can you disallow a post based on a hunch that it might be a copied article? I’m sure even the Gestapo checked papers before assuming someone was Jewish :hinna:

Innocent until proven guilty

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Re: Thread Locking (Makes no sense)

yes

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Re: Thread Locking (Makes no sense)

Perhaps I have not been able to explain properly. Let me try again..

  1. Not for a single moment I thought that the post was an article. It was clear from the composition that these were personal remarks.

  2. The poster was suggesting to condemn Americans because their diplomat killed three Pakistanis. Now if this is the reason to condemn Americans then there was already a thread discussing this topic. The poster could have easily used that thread to condemn Americans for this reason.

  3. If there was a fresh reason to condemn Americans then it should have been mentioned, and an active URL from a reliable web site was required to ascertain the authenticity of the fresh news which obviously was not provided.

  4. One of the fact I ignored was the poster is very new and does not have the privilege to post URLs. My co moderator Shamraz Khan recognized this fact and giving him benefit of doubt has opened the thread requesting the poster to pm him the URL and Shamraz offered to help him post the URL.

  5. However the moderators expect the URL will have something fresh, and something new to condemn Americans. A new thread discussing killing of 3 Pakistanis by a US diplomat will not be allowed. If a URL/fresh news is not provided for discussion this thread will be merged with the old thread already discussing the topic.

I think this will explain clearly the actions of the moderators..

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Re: Thread Locking (Makes no sense)

Oh I totally agree with you that this did not deserve a new thread. I was merely replying to the remark in this particular thread (TLK Bro's remark) that it might have been copy paste.

All cool though, I agree with everything else mate!

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Re: Thread Locking (Makes no sense)

It was my perception at the first glance. Honestly, I did not go through the whole article but you probably saw my note in that thread, requesting the OP to PM me. He has not yet, but I trust the over all judgment of general members and agree with what you say.

Also I was expecting Yazdi to come back with a more reasonable reply than mine and he did :D

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Re: Thread Locking (Makes no sense)

So we all agree!

One minute dance party

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Re: Thread Locking (Makes no sense)

Thank you for the detailed clarification.** Firstly, articles need URLs, not personal comments, so why was it locked? **Secondly, I guess whoever wrote this rule made a blunder. ‘All articles posted…’. What we post here as our own are essentially our articles too, and adds to the intellectual value of this database/board. The guy signed his name in the end which indicates he wrote it, and if you think hes lying, then prove it. Until then, open the thread.

Ah, so now you’re saying there are other anti-american topics running and this poster should not have created a new topic? Also, if thats what you felt was wrong, why didnt you merge it into one of the existing topics. Why lock it?

So now you’re saying the thread was childish? Please make up your mind, as to why you locked it.

With all due respect to you, please spare me that, I know very well there are biases, and its perfectly natural. What makes the ‘present’ team so special btw? Are you saying the ones in the past werent? You shouldnt really throw such statements because you’re making a collective claim. I’ve been here for almost a decade, and was a moderator as well, of the same forum before you, and I have seen ALOT of bias and personal grudges here on the part of the mods. The ‘present’ team is no exception. I am not saying that’s a concern for me personally, because everyones human.

Fine, if you believe in that dictatorial logic, it’ll only result in an empty forum, and yeah you will realize how ppl dont post much on PA. I myself didnt, after another mod started this nitpicking before. If this continues, I’ll stop completely.

Your explanations are diverging.

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Re: Thread Locking (Makes no sense)

lol, so what about the rule where moderators arent supposed to use their real nick to post on the forums they moderate? not that i mind, just saying, since you’re so fond of quoting the ‘rules’… lol

anyways, no worries mate, please lock this thread… i just wanted to point something out and i did… atleast u will know why im not posting on PA much…

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Re: Thread Locking (Makes no sense)

Ok, so I did a little research and it doesn’t appears that the person/OP is just expressing his feelings about the topic, or wanting to have a conversation, etc. The article has peen posted on numerous forums/blogs.

Some other posts by the poster, seems like he posts articles without links and never goes back to the threads

Oh and the article in question was posted by him 2 times…he never responded to the moderators comments. Smells like a troll to me.

In all honesty, I think it is unfair to say we mods close threads based on our political views. I think we all work really hard keeping a balance and at the same time keeping the forum clean from trolls which at time is not quite apparent to the members. Yes, we are humans and there might be times where we could have made a different call. In any of those situations, we appreciate members approaching us with their concerns.
Now for the original thread, if this person is genuine, he will contact us and participate in discussions then just disappearing after posting random articles.

Anyway, thank you all for your feedback! :cheegum:

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Re: Thread Locking (Makes no sense)

[quote]
Your explanations are diverging.
[/QUOTE]

Please make up your mind. You are criticizing flawed moderation due of political orientation , or moderator's technical ability to enforce the rules. You accused me of biased moderation in the OP due to my political inclinations, and now in this post you are mainly criticizing the technical abilities required for moderation.

[quote]
Ah, so now you're saying there are other anti-american topics running and *this poster should not have created a new topic? *
[/quote]

I am not suggesting anything.The poster was suggesting to condemn Americans because their diplomat killed three Pakistanis. Now if this is the reason to condemn Americans then there was already a thread discussing this topic. The poster could have easily used that thread to condemn Americans for this reason. This poster did not open a thread with a new topic.

I am the moderator, I'll moderate as I feel is the best for the forum according to my own judgement. I don't have to ask anyone if I have to lock the thread or merge it neither I have to explain any one why did I lock it or merge it. Anyway just for the information of the readers of this thread, a thread is locked giving a chance to the poster if he wants to explain any further, and if a poster has to add something he/she normally sends a pm to the moderator. In this case the thread is not removed from the main forum. Eventually the moderator decides whether to remove the thread from the main forum ( in this case the thread just disappears from the main forum), or to merge it, or to take any other action which is necessary.

It's your wish if you want to continue posting in PA or not. And please don't worry too much about the fate of PA. If you are not posting, doesn't mean the forum is going down the drain (impression created in your post). We have good posting statistics with a significant increase in the traffic recently. What has reduced in the forum are one liner hate posts particularly targeting any specific leader or an ethnic group. These one liners are not of any intellectual value anyway.

And please spare me from these childish threats...

I never said that. The past moderators can speak for themselves if they desire. I will and I have spoken only for the present moderation team.. period. I don't want to defend my self any further on your assumptions, accusations, personal understandings, personal prejudices.

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Re: Thread Locking (Makes no sense)

haha yazdi replied about everything, except the part about him breaking an essential rule about moderators not posting their own views with their own nicks, so what have you got to say about that yazdi :hehe:…

p.s. thank you for saying i have a personal prejudice against you :hehe: Again, hopeless. You remind me of zardari and his ministers always claiming how they’re awesome and the awam is wrong for criticizing them… Dont forget, the awam has every right to call you biased, because you’re a moderator and have been given a responsibility. I did it in a very polite way in my first post here, you could have replied like lusi and ensured me that it wasnt a biased approach. Instead you jumped on me saying I have a prejudice against you (i dont even know you dude)…

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Re: Thread Locking (Makes no sense)

**Thank you, this is the sort of answer I was looking for. I am satisfied with that.

If only your subordinates knew how to reply like that. You can close the thread. **