Hi All,
I have a issue that I would like to get feedback on from all of the forum members. There have been several recent incidents in which a forum member's privacy has been violated by someone in their real life and they have needed to delete all their posts quickly.

Admin privileges allow me to delete a member and all their posts in a single command. However, if you delete a post that started a topic, then all the posts in that topic are also deleted. By forum guidelines each member owns their own posts, so the only time a post may be deleted without the owner's permission is if the post is in violation of forum guidelines. Obviously in this case the other posts in those topics are not in violation of forum rules so this necessitates having to edit each post that starts a topic individually. Not being able to delete first posts in topics also complicates doing mass deletes on the rest of a member's posts.

So what I'm looking for feedback on is how would people feel about their posts being deleted in such an emergency? Would it be ok if I did so without permission? Or would people want some kind of notice so they have a chance to save their posts? Or leave it as is, that no one else's posts are deleted?

Please feel free to comment here or if it's more comfortable PM me to express your opinion. Thanks ahead of time for your input.

AG

Having experienced this personally on a different forum, I can accept the loss of my posts if it means someone else's privacy is protected.

Another way to protect privacy more would be to have an option for posts to be readable only by logged-in, registered members.

Hi AG,
I agree with Alpaca...delete mine if someone else's privacy is compromised.

Totally fine to delete if needed.

Agree. Can it make my post count go down too? Seriously, though, I would be absolutely OK with it. If there is anything profound I absolutely want saved from what I write on here (not that I am ultra-profound, but it might happen on occasion that I make a connection on here that I have not made elsewhere), I will save my own writing to my journal. I'm not worried about its disappearance, especially in the face of someone experiencing cyber-abuse as the result of exposure. Also, if the ability to delete quickly and completely makes others feel safer to post, even for a brief time, what is going on with them, I think that is of benefit to the whole community in being able to learn from and help one another.

Fine by me. I hardly ever re-read my own writings anyway, but more than that, I think it's important that people feel safe sharing here.

Agree wholeheartedly with what everyone has said.

It`s fine by me

Fine by me

No problems with deleting in such cases, AG. Thanks for watching out for those members whose privacy is violated.

SG

I'm with everyone else on this -- delete my posts. No questions asked. If a member's privacy is in jeopardy, that takes top priority.

Yes, I agree. Delete my posts if need be... in the case of an emergency. Safety for the members is of the utmost concern.

No worries either from me AG, peoples' safety and privacy must always be the most importance. Thank you for checking though

Agreed with the group. Emergency situations need emergency response that will keep the original poster safe. Delete away as needed.

My question now is what,if nything, can we do to better protect anonymity?

quote:

Would it be ok if I did so without permission?

Yes, it is okay with me.