Ability to delete own threads.

As it stands now ATS deals with near daily accusations of censoring information because a few threads 404. Every time Bernard Shnitzel gets bored and wants to spam his plejaren ministry - half a dozen threads pop-up saying that ATS is disinfo/cointelpro/CIA etc. And all we are trying to do is stop spam from a known and high profile Internet troll who is prolific enough to have his own ED page.

And that is with the staff only deleting the threads that heinously break T&C or are duplicate threads. And, even then, we often decide to leave up threads that should be deleted just so the community can get an idea of why we get rid of certain types of threads.

Imagine the confusion and accusations if members could 404 threads? Imagine the abuse that would occur. Let's say you make the best post you have ever made and you are unbelievably proud of it. Only the OP gets jealous that your post is better than his OP... Would you want your work to be censored by a jealous peer?

Oh, and trust me, if people could delete their own threads, there are people who would delete all their own threads, and then post a new thread entitled "ZOMG ATS IS DELETING MY THREADS!!!! PROOF THAT THIS IS A GOVERNMENT WEBSITE!!!!".

In a perfect world, where everyone had perfect integrity... A self delete feature would work. In the imperfect world that we live in? It would be total chaos.

~Heff

Hawkiye,

Those were my opinions as a member, not a mod!

So, in that regard, if my opinion is in the minority, so be it. I take comfort in knowing that I participate in a forum where a minority or unpopular opinion can be aired without fear of reprisal, banning, or undo censorship. I believe in democratic process and would happily accept the change if a majority of ATS membership (Which includes all mods) sought to make this feature available.

I'd make the same argument as I have here, behind the scenes as well. All debates need contradictory viewpoints as a means of exploring the subject matter.

~Heff