Crazy. I just submitted replies to three of Sarah's Qs above:
1. Booking???? Credit Cards??? - by sarahchicago1, 5/30/2015 11:09:57 AM (18 reads)My reply active instantly. 2. posting on ad boards - by sarahchicago1, 5/30/2015 10:49:00 AM (19 reads)
My reply still being held in "new" queue. 3. screening!! - by sarahchicago1, 5/30/2015 10:45:22 AM (25 reads)
My reply active instantly. Thanks for your comment, though.
I don't get it. I primarily post to 4 boards. Everything is almost instantly "active" on 3 boards. Here on newbie, some of my posts are instantly active and some remain with unposted "new" status for quite a while.
It can't be moderation because some submissions are active immediately and some are delayed.
What gives?
Thanks.
Your posts and everyone else's are first read by an algorithm that makes a decision whether or not to kick it out to a moderator. If the decision is "no", your post goes active almost immediately. If "yes', then it takes a variable amount of time (related to how busy the moderator is) for it to appear on the board.
I bet that the automated decision is influenced by how many recent posts you've had on any particular board... Try this experiment: don't post on one of the "3 boards" for a week, then see if your first post there is moderated.
You can also do the reverse experiment. Send 3-4posts over a reasonable length of time - say, once an hour - but make them interesting 
on a board where you are being moderated and see if the response changes.
Recently started shill thread for a Friday shill. Posted basically immediately.
Posted the actaul shill and it was hours not minutes. Most of my posts have been up almost immediately.
...for no particular reason. I asked TER about it more than a year ago when it first happened to me. The random moderation was their response.
There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. Initially you could access your post from the My Message Boards link, edit it, and the edit would post immediately. They stopped that.
If you look there is at least one thread here where I immediately posted after the random moderation held my post stating exactly that. So far that second post has gone up right away. Once my original reply posted they show only minutes apart. I've done that several times.
edited for grammar
-- Modified on 5/30/2015 7:27:23 AM
Is everyone subject to this process or does having a history of posting on any board come into play? Are some board postings subject to less moderation?
...a new provider. Sometimes it's a one liner on most any board. Don't think I've ever had two in a row held up. It doesn't appear to be the subject matter.
It does happen to everyone that isn't moderated as a matter of course such as new TER members or members placed on moderation for board rules infractions.
This all came about after TER decided they didn't want local member board moderators anymore. TER Board Admin moderates the boards now. This random thing came along shortly thereafter.
Always wondered what went on behind the scenes. Now some of us have a better idea or a little more insight.
By that I mean they'll immediately go live when posted, then after a couple minutes will disappear (yet show as active in "my board posts") and then about 10 minutes later they're live again and will stay that way. Guessing the algorithm kicks it out for review since it's a picture instead of machine-readable text.
Posts that are just text will pop up immediately, unless it's a board I've not posted on for a while - then it takes about 5 minutes to cycle through.
except when I first started posting years ago.
Mainly mine goes up right away. Sometimes two or three posts in a row will not go up right away and may take hours. I have asked before and was told it's random, that I wasn't moderated and everyone experiences random moderation here and there (if not moderated).
Crazy. I just submitted replies to three of Sarah's Qs above:
1. Booking???? Credit Cards??? - by sarahchicago1, 5/30/2015 11:09:57 AM (18 reads)
My reply active instantly.
2. posting on ad boards - by sarahchicago1, 5/30/2015 10:49:00 AM (19 reads)
My reply still being held in "new" queue.
3. screening!! - by sarahchicago1, 5/30/2015 10:45:22 AM (25 reads)
My reply active instantly.
Thanks for your comment, though.
...I just posted a long reply to a thread on this page. It's being held and will post shortly. Sometimes it is a long post but not always. PITA
edited to add a P.S.
this post went live immediately.
-- Modified on 5/30/2015 8:09:44 PM
...however it didn't actually post then. It posted at least 15 minutes after I submitted it.