Disappearing posts and replies...

Yes, I had the same problem yesterday when I posted a quote from Obama.... Which I will re-post here.

A quote from a good source .... The man himself.

"The fact that we are here today to debate raising America 's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the US Government can not pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government's reckless fiscal policies. Increasing America 's debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that 'the buck stops here.' Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better."

-- Senator Barack H. Obama, March 2006

Well, I started a thread this morning about who would be at the 9/11 memorial ceremony this year and who was being excluded. The thread was going pretty good, but after I took a short break and came back, I had a message that the thread was in the TRASH BIN! It said my thread contained information that was either discussed in a thread previously posted or it contained OFFENSIVE content.

I used the search function prior to posting the thread and didn't find anything containing the same info as my thread. So, I'm left to wonder if it was trashed because of offensive content? I have u2u'd the moderator who made this decision asking for specifics, but haven't had any reply so far.

Regarding the search function, I find this particular function on ATS to be less than dependable. Am I the only one? I have seen others complain that they, too, have failed to turn up duplicate threads containing content similar to what they want to post after using the search function, and upon starting the thread, they find there IS a duplicate thread.

All I know is that it sucks to put time and effort into the information for a thread under the assumption that the search has turned up negative matches, only to discover that your work was for nothing and the thread was thrown in the TRASH BIN. I didn't even know there WAS a trash bin! LOL

reply to post by NightGypsy


Yeah, I couldn't agree with you more. The ATS search function is really nothing more than an exercise in futility. If you don't enter the exact thread title in the search window, you won't find the thread. If we knew the exact title of another like thread, we wouldn't need the search function to begin with. Go figure!

reply to post by Flatfish


I know.....

That explains why the first couple of paragraphs of the majority of threads posted by members contain a long dissertation about how they used the search function and didn't find anything and that the mods should feel free to make changes if necessary.

HAHAHA

reply to post by Flatfish


Incidentally, Flatfish, apparently the thread of mine that I mentioned previously has been mysteriously pulled out of the trash bin and resurrected in the forums with no explanation. LMAO!

I think someone is toying with me.....LOL....it's a conspiracy, I'm telling you!

I'm seeing a lot of "Oh yes, I've seen it happen!" and very little "Here is an example..."

And this on a board where members states "Pictures or it didn't happen..."

"Officer I saw a murder happen."
"Gazooks! We'll investigate. Where did it happen?"
"I don't know. But I saw it happen!"
"Who did it?"
"I don't know. But I saw it happen!"
"Where's the body?"
"I don't know. But I saw it happen!"
"Where's the murder weapon?"
"I don't know. But I saw it happen!"
...

And so on. If anyone can give us an example, then we can look into it... If we don't have anything to go on, then there's not much we can do...

Also keep in mind that there's a difference between a thread being removed (404 pages), posts being removed as off-topic, etc. and a post that simply vanishes into thin air - without a trace...

In other words, one moment your post is right between Jack and Jill's posts and then the next moment there's nothing. Jack's post. And then Jill's post...

reply to post by Gemwolf


The Jack and Jill scenario you've outlined above is what I've observed.

Which, unfortunately, unless one takes a screenshot of every post one reads, is pretty difficult to prove.

The post just up and vanishing, poof!, is what leads me to believe staff aren't involved.

It's only occurred once with one of my posts, but I have observed it occur with three other posts that others have made.

reply to post by NightGypsy


The part that really puzzles me is the fact that when the thread I was posting in disappeared, (thread was authored by someone else) so did all of my previous post made within the thread even when I tried to look them up in my own profile of past post, they were gone.

Who tracks down all the post made by various responders in a thread and removes them from individual profile records? I mean gone without a trace!

I have sent a personal message to one of the mods who requested it, (regarding the thread I'm speaking of) and he's going to investigate more. Hopefully, I will get a response soon and I'll be able to better understand this phenomena. I'll let you know what I find out.

Originally posted by Gemwolf
I'm seeing a lot of "Oh yes, I've seen it happen!" and very little "Here is an example..."

And this on a board where members states "Pictures or it didn't happen..."

"Officer I saw a murder happen."
"Gazooks! We'll investigate. Where did it happen?"
"I don't know. But I saw it happen!"
"Who did it?"
"I don't know. But I saw it happen!"
"Where's the body?"
"I don't know. But I saw it happen!"
"Where's the murder weapon?"
"I don't know. But I saw it happen!"
...

And so on. If anyone can give us an example, then we can look into it... If we don't have anything to go on, then there's not much we can do...

Also keep in mind that there's a difference between a thread being removed (404 pages), posts being removed as off-topic, etc. and a post that simply vanishes into thin air - without a trace...

In other words, one moment your post is right between Jack and Jill's posts and then the next moment there's nothing. Jack's post. And then Jill's post...

Normally, I would be more than happy to provide an example, but because of the fact that all traces of the thread I'm speaking of have disappeared, I don't have an example to provide. It wasn't my thread so I don't remember the title precisely but I do remember the topic and who authored it and I have provided that info to "tothetenthpower" in hopes that he/she can figure out what happened. Because of the fact that it wasn't my thread coupled with the fact that my own profile was modified to remove all traces of my post within the thread, it makes it a little hard to provide an example. Doesn't mean that it didn't happen though, because I guarantee you it did!

reply to post by Flatfish


That would typically be the scenario with a thread that has been Trashed (deleted)... It didn't "disappear". The original poster of the thread received a U2U as to why said thread was deleted. Thread removal is usually the result of T&C violations. This is in fact done by the staff and there is no mystery about it.
All dead links to the thread are automatically removed. In other words the Post links to the deleted thread doesn't show up on your profile because that's the way the site is coded. Any website designer will tell you that you don't want dead links on your site.

Again - as before - if you cannot provide any details on the thread, then it's impossible to track down why it was removed.

"Some thread" by "some member" was removed. Why?
...
We've got 236,876 members with 720,218 threads on ATS. Being vague will not make for quick answers...

reply to post by Flatfish

Normally, I would be more than happy to provide an example, but because of the fact that all traces of the thread I'm speaking of have disappeared, I don't have an example to provide.

Flatfish, when the smoking pug talks, we need to listen. Don't mess with the pug, man.....especially when he's trying to smoke a stogie.........

I just posted a relay to the thread
www.abovetopsecret.com...
and when I hit the reply button it seemed to go though like always but I checked thread less than a minute latter and my post was gone. Very odd. There was no links or URLs or pictures of any kind. There was no bad words or any thing. The reply got pulled but why. I do not think a mod did this. It happened too fast.

I posted something yesterday in the thread about the man who lives without a pulse because he has a continuous pump in his chest and I checked that my post was there [which it was] but after a while it was gone.

As a matter of fact I can't even find the whole thread any longer [a day later]. There is one thread there but it isn't the one I was posting to. However my post disappeared long before the thread did. I checked.
Granted I voiced my own opinion but not rude or horrible or out of place. I was merely mentioning that we should also think about the animals who have died in the trials. I love animals, I like them more than humans. This is who I am; and nobody will change my opinion. Yet should my opinion not be heard? I do no harm to anyone, never have, never will, never will I ask people to do so. I have to listen to religious people insulting others left right and centre but it is OK because it is religion. Well, animals and nature are my religion, therefore ignoring my opinion hurts me as much as if you ignored others' belief in their gods.

I truly believe that the mods [or some other unknown] deleted that one because it did not fit in with the mainstream opinion [bad enough in itself IMO but I can live with that]. what bothers me most is why was I not notified?
Why wasn't there any evidence of my posting with one of their 'warning signs' on it? Instead it just quietly disappeared.
I don't like this one bit and I don't think it is a glitch of some sort as I saw my post published.
Feels like being in East Germany again where only mainstream opinions are allowed or you'll disappear in the night. I slowly become a little disappointed in this site and might stick to read only. See how it goes.

If indeed this is some kind of software failure then it would be worth noting how strangely selective these glitches are...and would deserve its own thread.