Mr. Cobbler: What is up with deleting SMARTEE? He was one of the few intelligent posters here on the forums. I didn't always agree w/him but I never read anything that I saw that could have had him banned. I am canceling my VA subscription but I am sure that you don't really care! So long!

DON MADER; We hate that you're leaving but we totally understand. Personally, too much of my time is spent on the blogs just trying to keep up with latest comments. ADIOS AMIGO.

Chris,
That is an interesting idea. But yes, I can see where that would be a software challenge to create and use.

Mr. Coffey,

I agree anonymity presents challenges. We're discussing a way to create a tiered site in which anonymous posters appear in one place and verified users appear in another. That's easy to say and complicated to create, but we'll keep looking at it. Thanks for stepping back and taking a breath before posting. That's good advice for us all.

Chris,

I don't think the problem is that the Advocate removes some posters and not others and that "sure doesn't seem fair, blah, blah, blah, blah."

The real problem is that so many folks lack any sense of decorum and civility in commenting in these forums. If folks would display some civilized sensibilities when commenting then perhaps they wouldn't get removed.

One reason I post with my real name is because I have to step back and decide whether I really want to make that loud rude ad hominem attack, or do I want to try and present my argument--or lack thereof in a more acceptable fashion.

It's so easy to go hog wild when no one knows your name. What others don't know CAN hurt you.

Mr. Mader,

I appreciate that you're concerned about fairness. Let me assure you we try to be fair and don't care to protect Big J (whoever he may be) or anyone else. We've deleted many of his comments, as I've said before.
We do try to work with people who post to let them know when and how they crossed the line. No, we can't guarantee we can do this all of the time to the full satisfaction of any person who has a post deleted. People who have been banned definitely know why, although they generally don't agree or like it.
I can't recall many of your posts being deleted, so this apparently isn't a regular problem for you personally. It's almost impossible to talk about other individuals to someone else. It also is not good form to do so.
When we ban a user or delete a comment, we do so for a reason. We have a team of editors review comments that are flagged by other users. Sometimes we delete a whole batch when a thread gets out of hand. Someone might argue that a comment or two within this out-of-control thread was OK, but fell victim to the rest of the mess.
Ultimately, forum moderation is a subjective process, even though we have our commenting guidelines posted. One editor might delete a comment that another might let stand.
It's an imperfect process. We'll keep working at developing better tools to let users moderate for themselves.
Thanks for your questions. I'm happy to discuss more if you want to call my office, 361-574-1271.

Mr. Cobler,

I'm retired and some days, I spend a pretty fair amount of time surfing the web. When I do, i check the Advocate forum every few minutes, especially if there is an interesting thread with lots of comments.

I have seen many comments that DID NOT break the Advocate's written rules, get deleted shortly after they were posted. I'll be blunt - I've also seen many comments by BigJ that were ugly, nasty, uncivil, ill-willed and close to being slanderous on a number of occasions that WERE NOT deleted, even when complaints were made using the "Report a Violation" link.

Let me make what I think are two reasonable suggestions: First, require the Advocate Censor(s) to make a copy of ALL comments that he/she deletes or deems worthy of deletion. I fully understand that as the Editor-in-chief you have many demands on your time. However, with so many comments about what is deleted and with no recourse to discuss why, it might behoove you to review the 'saved" deletions now and then.

Second, if a poster keeps a copy of a comment that has been deleted but appears to be within the rules and wants to clearly understand why it was deleted, he/she should have some way to discuss it with someone at the Advocate.

The Advocate forum is obviously popular with a pretty fair number of users, but I suspect that more and more of the regular posters are going to drop out of what to them (and me) is an unhappy and unfair situation. IF that's the price of preventing "the vast majority of people out there who are reasonable readers" from being scared away, then so be it. Personally I think that's a bit of an overstatement. I'm no longer feel comfortable with posting here and I believe there are more people than you realize that feel the same way.

Good luck with the forum.

JMO31 - yes, our friends list was lost in the switchover, as were some posters' avatars from what I understand (although my avatar did stay intact, as did all my blogs). Now there is something in our profile that says "Who I follow" and "Who follows me" that is, in my opinion, meaningless.

I do wish the VicAd would bring SmarteePantz back, and answer the question that was posed as to why Smartee was banned in the first place.

Just saying hello to everyone since I haven't been on here as much as I 'd like to lately..Question..When the VA updated this forum not to long ago did everyone lose there info such as there list of friends and so on? Just wondering because my friends are all gone.VA please bring back SMARTEE.Thanks.

OK...I've missed out I think. It sounds like Smartee's gone? Why? Although I didn't always agree with Smartee, especially during the last election, it was fun to spar. I've never seen anything from SP that was so bad. Now, if you want to talk slanderous if you don't agree...how about BIGJ? I'm not on here often but when I am I see some real "spew" coming from him.

I for one don't want more personal info on here for safety reasons. This is a crazy world. I do agree that we need more professionalism and less personal attacks. But overall I love to read the comments and throw one in every once in awhile. But I also remember these are opinions...fact based or not.

Archie and Rebecca express well why we have become more aggressive during the past year in terms of deleting reported posts and banning problem users. If we don't do this, we fear our site will scare away the vast majority of people out there who are reasonable readers. Without addressing any individual user, you have to do a lot to get banned.
We know some banned users sneak back on the site. When we discover them, we ban them again. If you suspect this or any other problem, please email us. Thanks for your participation in the community conversation.

SmarteePantz‘s intelligence and wit, is a plus for the Victoria Advocate online forum.

I am one of many; wanting SmarteePantz reinstated.

TxBo..."Although I didn't agree with Smarteepantz all the time I felt like this poster was respectful in his/her comments even when there was a disagreement."

Well said. Like I told Mike, I don't agree with my wife ALL the time but I still like her. It would be terribly boring if everyone agreed all the time.Smartee is smart, respectful, articulate and funny. Heck, no wonder he/she was banned.

I totally agree with DonMader, including the comment to ArchieB.

After the first time I got deleted I looked back and thought "well, maybe this one word... maybe, so I really watched it but then I got deleted again!!! After personally asking WHY and never getting ANY kind of response I just figured this forum is run like the Gestapo/Kremlin. And being a privately owned company they can do what they please, not having to respond to insignificant people (like their readers).

Someone answer me this: If I put in a post and say DonMader doesn't like it can he delete it??
If this is true can someone show me where this DELETE button is so I can use it too??

Although I didn't agree with Smarteepantz all the time I felt like this poster was respectful in his/her comments even when there was a disagreement.

Rusty - It looks like SmarteePantz has been banned by the VicAd. Chris Cobler, can you confirm this? WE WANT SMARTEEPANTZ BACK!!

DonMader, you literally said it all. All, that is, that I was going to say. I really have nothing to add to your intelligent, incisive post except that it was good knowing you. Were I you, I would prepare to get banned also, since this web site does not seem to support talented, intelligent individuals who utilize proper grammar and spelling. Since SmarteePantz became the latest casualty, posters like you can't be far behind. Then I imagine one day the VicAd will be left with the lowest common denominator you mentioned in your post.

What have I missed? Did SMATE PANTZ get 86ed? Or, did she just say, "To hell with it" and unplug her keyboard?

I believe all postings would be more professional with less name calling if the Advocate required individuals to use real names or at least real photos. It would also be nice if they required at least some minimum amount of bio information (age, city, gender, interest, occupation). It is rather easy for name calling when you can hide behind an avatar and bogus name. It is also rather easy to create more than one account under their current system.
For the most part I have really enjoyed the bloggers here. And I appreciate the privilege to post on this site. As far as I am aware, the Advocate does not even require one to be a subscriber to post.

I too miss Smarteepantz.....she spoke her mind intelligently & with humor. She also disagreed respectfully with people, which is refreshing. I would like to see her come back.

If you want Smartee back, post it here.

Thanks DonMader.

I've had only a few comments deleted by the Advocate censor, and I probably stepped over the line and deserved it. BUT, I've watched carefully over the last several months and have seen comments erased that didn't break the rules and comments by one particular poster (and we all know who) that doesn't have comments erased that clearly included personal attacks and out-right name calling, even when his violations were reported. I've reported several that clearly broke the Advocate's rules and they were never erased. I know that others have reported violations that are ignored.

I've pretty much enjoyed jousting with other posters on this forum, but I've decided to back away from participating because as far as I'm concerned, there appears to be an obvious bias in regards to who has comments deleted and who doesn't but should have. In fact, in appears that even the slightest criticism (justified or not) against the Advocate gets an automatic delete.
In fact I wouldn't be surprised if this post is deleted.

If you feel you have had posts deleted unfairly and want to discuss the issue with the Advocate, I suggest you keep a running copy of your comments - copy it as soon as you post it and include the Advocate's date/time stamp. That way if you want discuss why a post has been deleted, you can email a copy to the Advocate staffer involved, since they(apparently) don't keep track of what they delete.

I'll miss Smarteepantz (sp.?) because most posts were spot on. I suspect pilot will eventually get banned again when the Advocate censor finally recognizes nicely concealed sarcasm - he does make me laugh.

As for the poster that gets the free ride.....maybe if everyone completely ignores his comments he'll get bored and just go away, since it's obvious that he deliberately says things just to get others riled up - he thrives on it. Take away his enjoyment
and eventually he may give up. Even he will finally realize he's just talking to himself.

Sorry Archie, but you're dead wrong ("as long as you follow the rules you're ok!").

My thoughts.....

Smartee was not a part of the 'Jay' stuff.

How many were taken out yesterday? I hope the one(s) that I am aware of didn't "die" in vain. It is a shame, more & more good posters have fallen by the way side, for one reason or another. Hope they all find their way back soon. They will be missed.

Once again, I missed it all.

I missed it, well except for the partial comments on the comment list.

BigJay, HugeJay, GenimorsJay ( whatever that word is).

Smartee got caught up in it and fell by the wayside to I gather.

The real BigJ, and Smartee are the ones that really should be mad (or whatever term), about whomever it was(and some of us have a idea), about that fiasco. IMO

I agree with bonkersarchie. If you haven't enough testosterone to own up to what you post, crawl back under your rock. Or go get a shot of the Big T. Rusty

one thing for sure is that I only comment under this user id! I don't believe in using another name! one of me is enough! I mostly try to find humor on here but sometimes that doesn't happen!

I've had a few of my posts deleted as well and I still don't know why.Yet, I see posts where people call others idiots and all kind of crap and there posts still remain intact.

I have had several of my comments deleted and I don't think any of them were in violation. I don't use profanity or name calling or make vulgar comments, talk bad about other people I just write an opinion. Wish I could see what I posted again to make sure I didn't violate the terms. Is it possible to see what your comment was after it was deleted?? If so How??

lol

well said..

I'm gone for one day and look what happens! :) lol I am still a little confused though, is it one person or several? I couldn't figure out exactly what happened. RUKIDDING-fill me in!

Yeah, it's funny how some people get banned and immediately pop up under a different name and continue on with their reign of schoolyard bullying!

I saw all of the comments yesterday and there were some that were giving as good as they got.... and there are some, that regardless of what you say and how carefully you phrase it, they take it as a personal affront and comment something nasty back.

What the VA should do, is give you a fixed number of violations (demerits if you will) and then ban your isp address so we don't have personality number 5, 8 and 13 continuing the argument.

I've noticed alot of the old regulars have stopped posting here in recent months... what a shame!

when I do happen to get deleted I try to remember what I said, then I read the user policy again! it doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out what you can say and do on this forum!

A few of you guys are witty and fun to watch but I try to avoid the comment area especially after that one person got so offended at me. That actually scared me! It seems like many people are caught up in old offenses and view everything in that context or they think you are on a "side" and treat you as their imagined enemy. But, the good thing is that I learned something from it all. I learned that if someone is fighting and arguing you just take this approach to them: "It rubs the lotion on its skin."

=D

it's so typical for this forum! it's sickening at times especially when people attack one another on here! then they wonder why they got deleted! as long as you follow the rules you're ok!

I completely agree....