No offense taken. Just wanted to clarify for the new members

...My problem is with posts deleted with no explaination and no contact with the author which somebody or group of somebodies didn't think was relevent enough for the topic. It is possible that a quick message to the author would allow him to elaborate on why said post actually was relevent. At least the curtesy of a quick message to inform the author his post is gone and why.

While I can't speak to the actions of other moderators/staff, I don't really think this is happening. I think the only posts I have ever deleted without contacting the author are Irate's. I think he would agree that those deleted posts weren't relevent, and I'd be surprised if he were surprised .

I really don't think all this "deleted post without notification" talk is warranted.

As the proud subject of the title "Most Pruned Poster" I can tell tell you that all is right in the world. I am aware that my ramblings are subjected to close scrutiny for hidden meanings, etc., and it is always worth a chuckle when one of my musings disappears without notice!

Yes, there will always be repetition of questions, but it would be very nice to have good reference sources to direct people to as answers, rather than trying to re-create the entire answer from scratch each time. Cheers, jase

It would be kinda nice.

But the best wiki-ish cross-linked references would have to be created by the people with the most knowledge in each particular area. Let's call them Experts for short. Seems to me the Experts are pretty busy already. (Have you noticed who our Moderators are? The Board of Directors and Officers?)

So creating high-quality credible concise topical references would require those folks to contribute even more of their limited time, to primarily benefit others. (To be clear, the time they're already contributing primarily benefits others. And we appreciate it.)

In contrast, with Forum-style, unstructured, everyone pastes on an extra part when they're so inclined (or irresistibly compelled to rebut somebody else's misstatement), the Time Burden of Discovery is paid by the Seeker of Knowledge. And you can ... I might ... argue that is as it should be.

Also, there is a great deal of serendipitous discovery of unsought nuggets that one gets by being forced to dig through the forum threads, and you might ... I would .. argue that is a good thing too.

For example, because of my enforced wanderings, I have a much greater feel for the personalities, experiences and knowledge of many people who participate here, most of whom I have never met in person.

I would not have that same appreciation and sense of community had I been able to "efficiently harvest" all the factoids I needed from a well-written and maintained wiki-FAQ, and my belief is that is true for many others also.

It doesn't feel at all broken to me.

My $0.03. (Time and half for working on the holiday )

d.d.
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"The Easy Button is not the answer to everything."
- Abraham Lincoln
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"I used to read. Then I found it was quicker to just make stuff up."
- Wally (f. Dilbert cartoon)
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