On medical advice and closing threads...

[Apollyon]

So, another thread which, although old, still could have engendered more discussion has been closed, due to a person signing up expressly to ask for medical advice (which is directly in violation of article #1 of the Terms of Service). However, this doesn't seem to make sense, as a one-off post by someone for whom SDN is not aimed leading to the entire thread being closed seems, to me at least, to be a little extreme. This is especially galling, because the asked question remains.

Alternately, why not just ban the one-time wonders, and delete the TOS-violating post? I mean, that is not even unreasonable, as people accept the TOS on signing up, and acknowledge that violating them can lead to a ban. Even in the face of this, they still do it, and the only punished are the regular users. The advertising bots are banned, and their posts deleted, in rapid fashion. However, the thread stays open.

Maybe @Lee can pipe in, if he has the time.

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[GeneralVeers]

Plus, I had some really snarky replies all set to go, and was denied my chance to share them with the world!

 

[The White Coat Investor]

Just because you're right doesn't mean you should get your way.

 

[SDN]

Alternately, why not just ban the one-time wonders, and delete the TOS-violating post? I mean, that is not even unreasonable, as people accept the TOS on signing up, and acknowledge that violating them can lead to a ban. Even in the face of this, they still do it, and the only punished are the regular users. The advertising bots are banned, and their posts deleted, in rapid fashion. However, the thread stays open.

Hard to say without knowing the specific thread/post. Generally I don't close a thread based on a single post being inappropriate. When someone registers only to ask a medical question, they often will have their account deleted along with their posts.

 

[Apollyon]

Hard to say without knowing the specific thread/post. Generally I don't close a thread based on a single post being inappropriate. When someone registers only to ask a medical question, they often will have their account deleted along with their posts.

It was this post in this thread, just a few threads down here in the EM forum first page.

As for deleting individual posters and their posts, that has not been the case in many cases. Of course, I draw that only from those I see. I do not know how many "what is this rash" questions get posted (although, coincidentally, there are two of those in the derm forum now, although only one is a 1-post person; the other had something like 20 posts), to swiftly get junked, versus those that don't, and, so, I don't know the inner workings. You would think, after all these years, I might!

 

[Caesar]

It was this post in this thread, just a few threads down here in the EM forum first page.

As for deleting individual posters and their posts, that has not been the case in many cases. Of course, I draw that only from those I see. I do not know how many "what is this rash" questions get posted (although, coincidentally, there are two of those in the derm forum now, although only one is a 1-post person; the other had something like 20 posts), to swiftly get junked, versus those that don't, and, so, I don't know the inner workings. You would think, after all these years, I might!

Sometimes if the poster appears to be legit (even if they only have one post) they will get warnings instead of outright banning which isn't readily apparent to other users. We don't get as much of the advice questions as we used to. Its done on a thread by thread basis and it just depends on which mod it is on whether the thread is closed or not. Typically if thread is old they will just close it and assume that if there is something from the thread people want to re-discuss they will open a new one.

 

[Apollyon]

Sometimes if the poster appears to be legit (even if they only have one post) they will get warnings instead of outright banning which isn't readily apparent to other users. We don't get as much of the advice questions as we used to. Its done on a thread by thread basis and it just depends on which mod it is on whether the thread is closed or not. Typically if thread is old they will just close it and assume that if there is something from the thread people want to re-discuss they will open a new one.

Right there is a leadership problem. Everyone needs to be on the same page. Unified front and all that.

Heck, the way infractions are handed out, it's opaque and featureless, and unappealable. That is a unified front!