A week or so ago a newbie provider asked a question on the newbie board. In her question she mentioned another review site. I answered her and impposter did as well. Wasn't long the whole thread was gone. I am guessing TER removed it because of the other review site being mentioned.
I know the rule and it makes sense but in the case of newbies I think TER should give them a break. TER should edit the post, send a PM to the newbie explaining the rule and warning if it happens again the post will be removed. It would help if they would include a link to the Self-Help Center and the Message board guidelines.
I get it that they don't want "the competition" mentioned. But, really, the downside of that for TER is minimal. They should change the rule.
I saw that post and also wanted to reply to it, but it was gone before I had a chance. In the past when I have seen these kinds of posts with an innocent question but with a mention inside of another review site, I have reported the post and asked admin just to edit the post and remove the “offending” site name, rather than deleting the whole post (and subsequently the whole thread). They have done that in response to my request multiple times in the past, so I know it’s possible. At least this way the post and the replies stay up. If it’s a newbie asking for help, they certainly don’t know any better, and when admin just deletes he thread, the newbie has no clue what happened or why her post disappeared. This is not very welcoming, and can keep people away from the site. Leaving the thread up not only answers the OP question but it’s up for many others to see. There are always others who have the same question.
What makes things worse is that all newbies are moderated, so a moderater already saw that post and approved it to go up. Then some member saw it and hit the RAP button to get free VIP days, and a moderator removed the post. First of all the mod should have caught it and edited out the “offensive” part before posting it. Having missed that, when the RAP comes in they should use their judgement on a case by case basis and in a case like this, either edit out the offensive part or just let the post stand for the good of the community. There are a lot of serious discussion board infractions that warrant post removal. This is not one of them.
Another thing I see on the newbie board where selective editing is way better than thread removal is when a newbie provider posts her web link on an OP asking for genuine help. She is brand new. She doesn’t know that she violated a rule. TER can just remove the link instead of the whole post.
I also agree with inicky that the rule to not mention other sites Is not really necessary anyway. Is it really any threat to TER to mention the competition? I know the rule has been around for years, but it was not always a rule from TER’s beginnings. Back in the early days there was lots of mentions of other review sites on the boards, especially the large K9 site. Now I think not allowing posting links to other review sites on TER provider profiles is a good rule, but is there any harm in just mentioning a competing site on a board post?
In any case there are different degrees in mentioning the competition and admin could use their judgement on a case by case basis. There is a huge difference between someone coming on TER and saying, “hey all you should all leave here and join xxxx site. It’s a better site,” and someone saying, “I’m new to TER, can someone help me out? My only previous experience was on xxxx.”
-- Modified on 1/31/2020 6:03:41 PM
I completely agree. It’s not anyone trying to poach membership from TER, it’s just a newbie not knowing how things work. You learn these things through experience— even the rules for the site are spread out across multiple pages. I like the selective editing idea. It could just say “my past experience was over on [redacted], does anyone have any tips?” and then we wouldn’t lose the rest of the thread.
I think folks would be more understanding if they couldn’t get VIP days from reporting. It incentivizes it, so they’re more trigger-happy.
My smart phone and email prompt me with pre-loaded reply options. "I agree." "Call me later." etc..
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I'm not saying TER Admin need to go the whole AI route, but maybe they know their own list of Frequently Applied Rejections and can create a list of pre-written explanations that can be added with a "click" and then edited further for details.
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With AI, the detection of the large K9 or other trigger terms in the post, can auto-hold and auto-begin the reply for a human Admin.