I appreciate all of your comments (archive)

Yes, there should be some sort of policy. This board is running on an older system than some of our more modern boards, and they have some policy wording on them. In time, this board will be moving to those systems.

There actually is a reason to delete flame-inciting posts, and that is to save myself some inconvenience. I have been running the message boards on this site since early in 1997 (starting with the Z3 message board). I used to feel exactly like you do, that I shouldn't touch a thing on the boards and let things happen without intervention. Unfortunately, I found that flame wars tended to generate lots of emails finding their way to my inbox asking why I wasn't doing anything about trolls. So, now, when I spot a post I feel is out of line, I delete it. When someone emails me complaining about a post, I will consider deleting it, but don't necessarily nuke it just because someone asked.

Even coffee shops will kick people out. If I go into Starbucks and start yelling that "corporate coffee sucks!" I will likely be kicked out in short order. This board is no different--we reserve the right to refuse service to anyone (although typically that is only overt trolls).

I don't claim to read every post on all of the boards or to actively monitor their content. I could be held liable if I actively monitored every post and didn't delete something that conveyed copyrighted information. Much like an ISP, however, if I happen to spot something out of line or am notified about something out of line, I reserve the right to delete it. It is physically impossible to read every post on every board, which helps with the liability issue you mentioned.

Oh--one thing I usually don't ever delete are opinions which express dissatisfaction with how the board is being run. I feel those are some of the most important discussions to have on a board like this, assuming they are reasonable. Yours are more than reasonable. However, if someone started saying "xk8.net f-ing sucks because they delete troll posts" then I would likely delete it. ;-)

Anyway, from 5 years of running the boards, I can tell you that 99% of the people prefer that troll posts be eliminated. I usually get people complaining that I don't delete enough rather than the other way around! hah! :-)

--Alan

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