I've seen the suggestion to delete threads on here multiple times. And, whenever it happens, the main issue is always the ID's of the posts.

So, let me make this clear:

I AM NOT SUGGESTING DELETING THREADS.



But, here's the thing- we already have a 'delete' function. Or, more accurately, the mods have a delete function. If a thread is problematic, it gets hidden. It still exists, but only the mods can see it (presumably).


Basically, my suggestion is two-parted. And, I'd be fine if part 2 wasn't added. But, it is to:


1) Allow players the ability to hide their threads. If 2 isn't implemented this would presumably be permanent unless you ask a mod to un-hide it. This is how it is on plenty of sites and I'd be fine with that.

and/or

2) Allow players to still see said threads. This could just be the OP or, if possible, OP and people who've replied. The thread would be hidden to everyone else. There'd be some kind of 'hidden' forum, probably under general, which would show any hidden threads a player is a part of.*


*This would be especially useful if a thread is considered problematic. For those who may not know, when a thread is considered a problem, it gets hidden. Which, makes sense and I completely agree with so long as it's kept fair. But, the OP of the issue is PM'ed and given a link to the post that was an issue... which they can't see. The link does nothing for them. The OP has no certain way of knowing what the problematic thing specifically was, which is especially bad if there might be some sort of misunderstanding and it was taken out of context. This would also resolve that.

My personal opinion: Threads not meant for public reading should not be posted in public forums. Private messages are available, although they are a bit clunky when attempting to have conversations. If a conversation needs to be hidden at all I'd already say it's site inappropriate. Instead of allowing players to have "hidden" conversations in forums / invite only conversations I'd be more inclined to suggest a group messaging system via PM, or perhaps even an overhaul of the private message system to make it easier to have private conversations while being able to see the conversation history.

Edit: Perhaps another thought, if you're possibly trying to have a group conversation that is site appropriate that might be planning events, I'd like to see something like that along with guilds/groups in the future. With maybe a forum portion being "guilds and groups" that only show threads that are active within your own guilds and groups.

That's not what I meant. Being able to privatize threads was more of an afterthought for me; if you can see hidden threads, it's usually a fun idea to have private threads to go along with it. But, what I was considering is a situation like this:


Let's say that you, at one point, said something embarrassing. Maybe it's some cringy old post that's resurfaced. Maybe you got your facts wrong and got called out. Maybe you just said something that makes you seem dumb, oblivious, bad at the game, etc. If you're active long enough on the forums, something along these lines is bound to happen. Sure, you could edit it so that people won't know what you said, but there'd still be the reactions of other players. That could be enough context for people to get a rough idea of the thing you said.


And as for the 'not being site appropriate' stuff- it never starts out as inappropriate. The conversation derails somehow. I highly doubt anybody's gonna go "hey, let's read the rules and BREAK ALL OF THEM!!!". And, as I mentioned before, what if you get reported? Whether it's a misunderstanding or you're totally in the wrong, you deserve to know what exactly you said for that to happen, and that's not possible with not being able to see the threads.

If you at one point said something embarrassing and completely wrong and were corrected...that's okay. We ALL say embarrassing things sometimes, not everyone is right 100% of the time and when you try to hide or deny then you're more likely to bring more attention to yourself. I once told someone players can not feed other players pets and I was corrected. I learned that it was possible and I moved on armed with that knowledge for the future.

The admins lock threads that get out of hand and mark content hidden that is inappropriate, usually posts - not entire threads unless the entire thread is inappropriate. Most people who break the rules are likely those who have not even bothered to read the rules in the first place and if one ever want to double check the rules, the terms of service is the first link at the bottom of the page. If one would like to know if they did anything wrong, I doubt Krinadon or Faiona would mind a polite inquiry asking what one did wrong so that the inquirer knows not to do it again.

Actually, this is not always true. I know this from experience.


I had a roleplaying friend. At one point, one of her characters used a word that I'm kinda paranoid to mention but is marginally against the rules. I'm pretty sure my character asked what it was, and that was it. We continued on for a solid year and a half with no other issues, until somebody (somehow) discovered that one interaction and reported it.

That was the only infraction.

Or, at least I'm pretty sure that was it. I don't know. I can't see the thread because that one word was enough to get us both a forum strike and the entire thread hidden.


They do indeed hide entire threads over things.



And when it comes to dumb things, I mean legitimately embarrassing things. If I said, for example, "luporas are cats and you cannot change my mind", and later want to delete it because that was a stupid comment, I'd like to be able to hide the full thread of that. Or, let's say an argument starts and you want to silence it. Hiding the thread would be the best way to do so- kinda like kicking somebody out of a group chat if they cause trouble.

I dont like the idea of hidden threads. There are private chat boxes and stuff in gen chat if you want a chat place away from everyone else. I know of a role play thread that was deleted cause the posts were extremely inappropriate for a pet site that has people of all ages on it.Another issue present with being able to hide threads is that a player could scam someone and hide the thread so the person they scammed had no evidence

Gonna go backwards with your points:


All the player would have to do is tell Krin. I'm certain he can see hidden threads, so scammers wouldn't get anything extra. Plus, there's very few scammers here on Sylestia in the first place, so while I can understand the concern it's not worrying.



Okay, and your point is..? I already mentioned that getting chats hidden can be quite sudden, and most of the time there's only a singular problem in the entire thing. How are players supposed to know if it was warranted or even correct if they can't see the thread? Sure, the one you mentioned sounded like it was bad for everyone, but what about smaller infractions like the one I dealt with?


Forums are much, much easier to use than PM's*. The format is user-friendly, it has formatting options that aren't in PM's, and it's very easy to track its history should you need/want to go back to check on something. I have never had a bug in forums (and I have had bugs in inbox), the most I've ever had to search for something is ten minutes to find the thread and maybe 20 to find the post itself. Compare that to inbox, where not only can you not check the history of the entire thread without clicking on each individual PM, this is furthered by the fact they get buried under task/event complete for festivals and smaller events, plus Pick-a-Door PM's, plus the occasional PM from completing one of those raids from the earlier zones.



*I don't use gen chat so I'm leaving it out of this. I didn't even know there were 'private gen chat boxes'. However, if it's like the normal gen chat it's not much better because history would still be fairly hard to track.