Sensationalistic titles with no content/censorship

[dsm363]

Never said you were, and I appreciate the time you give to the board. I do the same in my contributions -- with a 5-week-old son in my arms many times.

That said, I'm sorry -- this is censorship. Leave the original post. Add your reply that "this is a sensationalistic, inflammatory, over-the-top title and we really need more information from you here." Even include your opinion that it's a worthless post without that information.

...but don't hide something that has already been seen, making others question motives, especially since most of the mods have been great cheerleaders of Tesla. If anything, *that* is what will cause others to begin to wonder what's being hidden. That is what will attract the Fisker fire press.

I'm a great cheerleader for Tesla, but I'll be transparent 100% in how I do that. Sunlight is indeed the best disinfectant.

Jeez. You do realize we don't get paid for this too, right? The number of posts has exploded in the last year including 5 threads about the same topic in multiple areas, titles such as 'doors?' or 'won't go fast' and bickering which all creates work for the volunteer mods. Volunteer as in not paid meaning no money.

Did we say we weren't going to restore the original post? If he has simply posted any amount of detail it would have never happened in the first place but was basically a placeholder thread with that title.

 

[FlasherZ]

I'm sorry you're insulted, it wasn't intended. I'm insulted by the actions taken by moderators to hide posts related to a potential life safety issue.

If I could see the original post, along with your thoughts that there wasn't substance there, I could worry a bit less about what may have happened. But I can't worry less, because the moderators have chosen to be super-secretive about the post instead.

There is no reason to hide a post unless it is a personal attack on someone, against the board's guidelines. That way, you, I, and everyone can see it has no substance. Anything else causes speculation.

 

[bonnie]

And isn't it nice that we can disagree publicly, with no censorship.

Let me give you another viewpoint. We have a constant stream of people posting here. It has grown exponentially in recent months. The mods spend a great deal of time merging threads (really, people, FIVE threads on sound started in a couple of days??), attempting to diffuse chest thumping when we see it, moving threads to the right area of the forum, breaking threads apart, and CHANGING the titles of threads to be more descriptive. Yep, WE CHANGE TITLES all the time. Because a title that just says 'Guess what happened to me!' doesn't help anyone. It lowers the value of the forum.

What you're talking about here is a post that was made temporarily invisible until we know if the title is correct or not. And if not, then we'll fix it. And if it IS descriptive of what happened, then, like I said earlier, it will be posted in entirety.

So respectfully, please chill. You're making this into a something it is not by throwing out words like 'cheerleading' and 'censorship'.

 

[Norbert]

The only politics that get generated are when motives are hidden. As I said above, sunlight is the best disinfectant.

Not true at all. This forum is full of threads with overreactions due to incomplete information, and people going into a fury as if being paid by the oil industry, for dozens of pages, until someone posts the clarifying information showing that all the excitement was about nothing (in the first place).

 

[FlasherZ]

He referred to an explosion and a fire related to a device that sits in my garage, near where my family sleeps. With all due respect, I think it's in our best interest to leave the communication 100% open regarding such, even if it were to make the original post look sensationalistic or disingenuous or just plain stupid.

 

[GeekGirls]

I moderate for a few communities myself and unfortunately moderation generally offers a damned-if-you-do / damned-if-you-don't set of choices. I appreciate any attempt to be even-handed and fair, even if I might have done things differently. A request for clarification seems reasonable under the circumstances.

 

[bonnie]

He referred to an explosion and a fire related to a device that sits in my garage, near where my family sleeps. With all due respect, I think it's in our best interest to leave the communication 100% open regarding such, even if it were to make the original post look sensationalistic or disingenuous or just plain stupid.

Oh ffs, he did NOT. He said his car was fine. There was NOTHING (with the exception of the sensationalistic title) that would lead you to believe that. So let's wait for him to tell us what actually happened.

And if you really believe there is potentially a problem, you would have gone out to your garage and moved the car. But you haven't. So this is just pot stirring.

 

[Norbert]

He referred to an explosion and a fire related to a device that sits in my garage, near where my family sleeps. With all due respect, I think it's in our best interest to leave the communication 100% open regarding such, even if it were to make the original post look sensationalistic or disingenuous or just plain stupid.

I don't see any info referring, so far, to any device that you might have in your garage. You are already overreacting big time, in several ways.

 

[FlasherZ]

The mods spend a great deal of time merging threads (really, people, FIVE threads on sound started in a couple of days??), attempting to diffuse chest thumping when we see it, moving threads to the right area of the forum, breaking threads apart, and CHANGING the titles of threads to be more descriptive. Yep, WE CHANGE TITLES all the time. Because a title that just says 'Guess what happened to me!' doesn't help anyone. It lowers the value of the forum.

This is all done with 100% transparency and anything posted ends up somewhere else. This is not hiding information, which is what was done here. Can you see the difference? I'm happy you combine/split/rename threads, and don't forget that MY contributions here are done using my free time too. I'm calling out a specific action taken by moderators to hide information -- not what the moderators do in their personal time, or how much they put into the board, or whatever.

 

[dsm363]

We are all speculating which is the exact point and why it was hidden until he did. Let's just let us see what ModelS1079 says.

 

[Norbert]

This is all done with 100% transparency and anything posted ends up somewhere else. This is not hiding information, which is what was done here. Can you see the difference? I'm happy you combine/split/rename threads, and don't forget that MY contributions here are done using my free time too. I'm calling out a specific action taken by moderators to hide information -- not what the moderators do in their personal time, or how much they put into the board, or whatever.

Accusing moderators of "hiding" information makes as much sense as accusing you of "falsifying" information.

 

[bmek]

I'll speak up and say that I flagged the post for moderation for exactly the reasons that the mods here have expressed already.

I thought perhaps he was short on time and intending to create a placeholder that he could link to from this thread -- I'm sure no malice was intended. However, what was there was essentially a worrying headline plus a quick reassurance that people and car were okay. I was concerned that such a posting would cause unnecessary alarm in the absence of specifics.

I'm really glad to hear that everybody's okay and I will look forward very much indeed to hearing details when he's able to get back and write things up.

I happened to read the post and noted that it was flagged for moderation.

The posting didn't say anything useful and was somewhat dramatic. Having time to submit a posting like that and then dashing off without completing the posting doesn't seem appropriate to me.

I don't like censorship and, in this instance, I don't think it was censorship. Then again, I read the posting (which didn't say much). The moderators at TMC give plenty of rope and, not surprisingly, periodically someone finds out where the end of the rope is.

Finally, let's recognize that the moderators are volunteers and contribute their time, energy and intellect to TMC. I thank them for that.

Oh ... almost missed noting that FlasherZ has contributed immensely to TMC regarding electrical connectivity and safety. I thank him for that.

 

[dsm363]

This is all done with 100% transparency and anything posted ends up somewhere else. This is not hiding information, which is what was done here. Can you see the difference? I'm happy you combine/split/rename threads, and don't forget that MY contributions here are done using my free time too. I'm calling out a specific action taken by moderators to hide information -- not what the moderators do in their personal time, or how much they put into the board, or whatever.

If someone posted a member's personal information, credit card number, social security number as a joke should we leave it? Taking if off would be censorship. Please relax for a moment. We are not out to get you. If that were the case we wouldn't be having this open discussion. Any instance to that post would be removed as well but that is not happening.

 

[bonnie]

You're either deliberately misinterpreting what is being said or just don't understand. Not sure which one it is at this point. But I am sure that when ModelS1079 returns, he can give us the whole story and then we can have a real discussion.

Again, no one is trying to hide info because there is nothing to hide. MikeK also confirmed that. So please. Just. Chill. ModelS1079 will give the full scoop.

 

[FlasherZ]

Oh ffs, he did NOT. He said his car was fine. There was NOTHING (with the exception of the sensationalistic title) that would lead you to believe that. So let's wait for him to tell us what actually happened.

How do I know that if I can't see the post? I see a reference to an explosion and a fire that makes his Tesla-showing-off bad for neighbors and friends. You're only making my argument for me.

And if you really believe there is potentially a problem, you would have gone out to your garage and moved the car. But you haven't. So this is just pot stirring.

For what it's worth, I *did* move it to the machine shop. So who is doing the pot-stirring now, bonnie? This type of statement to me is EXACTLY the reason why I say we need transparency rather than moderators hiding posts that are not violations of AUP.

My house nearly burned 15 years ago because of an electrical panel malfunction and I take absolutely NO chances when it comes to this stuff.

- - - Updated - - -

And here is the reference, just in case you have forgotten:

See Recharging thread for little story about my explosion and house fire last night. Not the waybtomimpress your neighbors with our new Tesla.

How should that not concern me? Explosion, fire, and Tesla... sounds apropos to me.

 

[bonnie]

Do you honestly believe the mods would hide a potential safety issue?

You've had two non-mods say there was nothing in the post. We've said the same thing. You want to believe differently. Let's wait for the facts.

- - - Updated - - -

Maybe the misunderstanding is that you believe he posted his story over to where he linked in the recharging thread. He didn't. He said only 'this is a placeholder and I'll come back later to fill in the story'. That's IT.

We did not remove his story of what happened. Because he never posted it.

 

[Doug_G]

The post was put into moderation because a sensational title with no content is (likely unintentionally) inflammatory. I didn't take that action myself but strongly agree with it. Unfortunately trying to keep things sane has resulted in this meta-firestorm. Cut it out already!

Look, we moderators are volunteers (!!!) who are doing our best to keep the forum civil, well-organized, clear of spam, informative, etc. Don't assume that we're a bunch of Tesla cheerleaders. I myself have occasionally been quite critical of Tesla, when warranted. They're doing great things but are NOT perfect. So enough with the questioning motives BS and stop wasting (more) of our time.

</rant>

 

[Discoducky]

FWIW, the mods are doing a fantastic job and only a few would provide small criticisms. And FlasherZ provides great input as does the others in this thread so I'm just willing to wait to see what that post was all about.

 

[MikeK]

Okay, I'm going to post one other thing and then shut up until we hear more details.

FlasherZ: I understand your concerns, but you didn't see the original message. It added almost no detail to what was in the posting that is now #1 in this thread. There was one important detail, which is that it did say that everybody was fine and the car was fine. I agree that's important to know.

But otherwise, it just said essentially "I don't have time to write this post now, I'll do it later." Generally speaking, I don't think anybody should post a thread on this board on any topic, where they just post a subject, and then say "I'm going to come back and write this post later". If you don't have time to make the posting now, just don't make it. I used to be the primary moderator for a bulletin board, and that's the sort of posting that I would certainly take down and ask the author to post it when they had time to write it. For sure it's not good to make a posting like that under a very alarming subject line.

As I said, I really think ModelS1079 was just in a rush and didn't intend any harm. But we know for a fact that the press reads this forum, and posting an alarming subject line with no details is something that can really get out of hand.

I'm sorry if anybody thinks I am in the wrong for flagging the post. It was a judgment call.

 

[dsm363]

I'm sorry if anybody thinks I am in the wrong for flagging the post. It was a judgment call.

I saw the same post before you even reported it and thought that was going to be trouble due to the complete lack of detail and the title. So instead of everyone worrying about that we're worrying about this.