I'll keep this simple.

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• Curse, swear, etc. Fuckin' Eh
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Edit to Add Jul 19, 2008:  If you say you're going to leave the mod staff will be sure to help you along.  Threatening to leave the forum as a dramatic technique will not be tolerated.  If you say you're going to leave the forum the mod staff will ban you account to help you follow through on your actions.  We're here to help.

It was the best metaphor I could come up with on short notice.  And I would be honored to have you paint the wall out back.  You may retain rights to color choice, pictorial content, and a right of reproduction of said artwork in the event that said reproduction should bring you some economic stimulus, however, I retain rights and ownership to the wall, and the original picture.  I also reserve the right to paint over said artwork should you paint those silly Wiggles_tm boinking those poor yellow duckies....again!   

So, I can see this being annoying if I was in some Debate thread, and said something people disagreed with, and then went back and deleted it after people had responded to it. But what if I put something in Venting when I was stressed, and then later regretted it, so I went back and deleted it? And no one had commented? Is that really "defacing"?

So, if you leave your scrapbook on my coffee table, and want it back RIGHT NOW, even though I'm on vacation in a bar in Tijuana, drinking Mezcal by the litre and watching a chick blow a donkey, you can break into my house and scratch up my table to get it? Not a chance. You just have to wait until I get back.


It's defacement because it leaves a content-free gap in the thread.


Sure you do. I delete posts for people all the time. I don't mind a bit. What gets my goat is seeing dozens or hundreds of posts hollowed out, leaving a shell of a post with a single period for content.

As for giving you all a delete button for your own posts, as I told fey, the permissions system on zCh is due for an overhaul, and I'll consider making that part of it.

I don't think that every delete or edit is defacing the site (I even had to edit my previous post just now), but I think there is the potential for defacement.  If someone who is very vocal in the threads just deleted all their posts, the place would be in somewhat of a shambles.  I think Kyle (and the rest of us) have an expectation of order within threads.  But a vent that was made in a stressed moment could probably be worked out directly with a mod. 

So maybe the delete permissions are set by-forum? You can delete stuff in Chatter/Sandbox but not Debate? Something like that.

I think that makes sense.  Although in this particular thread, 5 seconds may be too long.  Also, if you delete it, but I have already quoted it, how would that work?  I would assume if it's already quoted, it's already out there.

.

I thought you might feel that way! *nods*

Well whoever it was certainly made their point.

... get it? point? har har har