ATS, Please create a Trash forum.

I realize that with the current policies some posts need "deleted". However, if there is any way around this, it would be nice to see the posts put into a "public" Trash forum for reference - even if the topic is locked.

I'm really tired of reading about conspiracies concerning trashed topics. There's enough conspiracy here as it is.

I think you are trying to create a conspiracy of trash, granted there is a lot of trash in the world but that is no conspiracy we as a species consume.....I mean as in a trash button like WIndows? You can click on a forum and you won't ever read things from it again by the way.

Originally posted by Golithion
I think you are trying to create a conspiracy of trash, granted there is a lot of trash in the world but that is no conspiracy we as a species consume.....I mean as in a trash button like WIndows? You can click on a forum and you won't ever read things from it again by the way.

LOL, I didn't post this in the Metaphysical forum.

This a legitimate rant.... Hey, go easy.. it's my first one.

Well trash indicates garbage, which obviously means not worthy of being needed anymore.

But I see the dilemma, they need to create a trash but not garbage forum.

Originally posted by AnteBellum
Well trash indicates garbage, which obviously means not worthy of being needed anymore.

But I see the dilemma, they need to create a trash but not garbage forum.

Even if a Mod decides to trash a topic, I would like to at least be able to reference it and decide if it's BS myself. I'm tired of people hyping up their topics based on their topics being trashed.

I just had another idea. Along with the W to denote "Workload" we could have a T for "Trashload".

Im an admin on a few facebook groups and have to delete posts and topics from time to time but what I see going on here at times is terrible. Some topics are perfectly fine but one person comments and it's out of line and they delete the thread instead of the offending post, highly unprofessional. But maybe someone hit the nail on the head too hard and it upset the man,, another conspiracy all in itself.

Maybe calling it a "closed thread" forum instead of a "trash" forum. Often times I see great posts that appear on repeat threads, and when these threads are 404d the information is lost. For people really interested in a topic, repeat threads aren't really that big a deal if the info contained in these threads is different.

I would like to make my own mind up. why dont they just move them somewhere else are we not grown up to make our own minds up....

Hold on guys step back. I think OP is actually a gov agent trying to get as much information about us as possible. Its like the gov now wants to go through our trash online also!

reply to post by Bixxi3

If the government wants my trash, they can have it. Anything of importance gets ashed in the kiln out back anyway

reply to post by Mactire


someones to good for a shredder

reply to post by Bixxi3


I own stock in Scotch Tape.... and I don't trust those guys at all.

Originally posted by Bixxi3
Hold on guys step back. I think OP is actually a gov agent trying to get as much information about us as possible. Its like the gov now wants to go through our trash online also!

That goes both ways. I've seen just as many posts accusing forum moderators of the same. It's just better practice to keep everything open. Fundamentally, that was the principle behind ATS' conception. Having moderators deleting forum posts is rather anti-ATS.

I know the mods have a copy of all the "deleted" posts in the 404 forum anyways. I'm just asking for them to open up the forum to the public.

Yes, it's always too much.

"Extreme T&C Violation" is very common, and when you see it, the poster must have been very obscene and/or disgusting, vile etc. But no, it's almost never the case, I've seen a lot of posts get T&C'd or "Off-Topic Post'd", for simply responding to someone that is debating semantics.

It works like this. Someone comes in a thread, and they disagree with the flow of discussion. Maybe they have a sleight against the topic, or they hate being wrong, or hate being in the crowd that is perceived as unfavorable to the discussion.

So they start directly responding to people with not-so-insightful posts. Usually very dramatic, or debating semantics, and completely derailing the topic. So all their targets usually have no choice but to respond directly to their flames, or leave the thread entirely. (I just went through this, I fell for the trap once again)

So what happens? Dozens of posts are literally just deleted. This is entirely unacceptable, in my opinion. To date, I haven't seen a post worthy of "extreme T&C violation", it is always a major stretch. It allows too much abuse from moderators who have opinions like everyone else, and it gives trolls and disinfo extraordinaires too much leverage.

We're all adults here, we have to be in order to sign up. I agree that posts shouldn't be simply removed or worst-case scenario, entire threads deleted. That's pretty horrible. Also, post-warnings should go to the people that started the flaming. It is always obvious. The first non-constructive posts starts the derailment, and that first post should get the warning. As these people always instigate chaos in an otherwise good discussion.

I've also noticed that during discussions, posters really take up "sides", with one group arguing against the other. Sometimes, I've seen that posts getting deleted are often slanted towards one side or another, exposing the possible abuse. For instance, a hypothetical discussion about war, where one side is for it, and the other against. The one against has a very large majority of their posts deleted, the side for the war does not due to mod favor of opinion. It's very common on other sites, but on ATS it's kind of disappointing.

Some rather popular sites and discussion areas handle this maturely. Like youtube or yahoo etc. If a post is "flagged", it simply 'hides' it from general viewing, allowing anyone to "Show" it if they want to. You simply click 'show post', if you feel you are an adult and you are interested in seeing what all the fuss was about. Hardly do they ever delete posts, it's only when it's particularly vile like racist attacks or absolutely deviancy. Both are acceptable solutions. Deleting posts because they sway slightly from topic or are not of the opinion of the majority 'hit squad' of posters.. is unacceptable.

I am watching a thread right now, that is getting posts deleted up the wazoo. Now the thread is literally all about ONE guy, talking about HIMSELF and HIS views, and other posters responding to him directly. Virtually everything else is getting deleted. Totally unsatisfactory conclusion.

There is a TRASH forum, it just isn't public. So if a thread is erroneously deleted, it can be brought back.

Closing a thread doesn't trash it, it simply prevents any more replies.

Im an admin on a few facebook groups and have to delete posts and topics from time to time but what I see going on here at times is terrible. Some topics are perfectly fine but one person comments and it's out of line and they delete the thread instead of the offending post, highly unprofessional. But maybe someone hit the nail on the head too hard and it upset the man,, another conspiracy all in itself.

I can't recall instances of a thread being removed due to one bad comment. Typically, it's a pattern of repeated such comments by many, that leads to trashing. There is always the complaint feature, which puts it to the attention of multiple mods to debate.