Posts are being deleted here!!

[JohnD0406]

One of my posts, pointing to the E.T. on eBay, has been deleted. I received no private message as to an explanation. Perhaps this forum is broken?

[01PyTypeR#1140]

That's weird I saw it earlier. Was it your own ebay item that was for sale? If it was maybe because you should have posted it in the pachi auction here. I can see posting ebay finds here to help other members find a machine they've been looking for or a good deal but to promote your own pachi off of ebay when we have an auction right here doesn't seem fair.

[JohnD0406]

First, why doesn't that seem fair? By posting a link to the eBay auction, everyone here has the chance to bid.

Second, if that's why posts are being deleted, where is the written rule that's being enforced?

Third, I'm not selling anything, but just linked to an eBay auction.

Finally, who deletes posts without sending a private message explaining why, especially when there are no written rules?

I'm not sure I like how this place is being run if that's the case...

[RaymondV]

What difference does it make?
It was a link to a machine for sale on Ebay.
Not to piss anyone off, but Birdbrain posted a link to one of his auctions on Ebay for a Playboy slot.
So I don't see why that post should have been deleted.

http://www.pachitalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24570

[Rik1138]

That's weird I saw it earlier. Was it your own ebay item that was for sale? If it was maybe because you should have posted it in the pachi auction here. I can see posting ebay finds here to help other members find a machine they've been looking for or a good deal but to promote your own pachi off of ebay when we have an auction right here doesn't seem fair.

What difference does it make where I list the auction? I need to sell an item, there's less than 400 people registered on the Pachi Auctions, and millions on eBay (including EVERYONE here)...

And again, if there's some rule about this, WHERE IS IT? How can I follow rules (if they exist) if no one tells you what they are?

Why are posts being deleted without the mod TELLING THE POSTER WHAT THEY DID WRONG?

How come other members of this forum can posts links to their eBay auction, and I can't?

(Hehe, I think we all posted these messages at the same time...)

[RaymondV]

Just put the machine in the Pachitalk auction too.
You never know, it might sell on here before Ebay.
It costs nothing to list.

[01PyTypeR#1140]

I don't know exactly why the thread was deleted. I just responded with the first thing I could think of. It may not have been the reason or at least the only reason. I get my post deleted from time to time and half the time I get a message as to why. It takes a lot of work keeping everything around here running smooth so the other half of the time I don't get a explanation I understand.

[Rik1138]

Just put the machine in the Pachitalk auction too.
You never know, it might sell on here before Ebay.
It costs nothing to list.

But I don't see why I should HAVE to... I'm not registered on the Pachi auction site, I've never used it, I have no idea how to use it... I've been using eBay for over 10 years, it works fine, that should be good enough.

What's the point of having a section of Pachitalk called _EBAY_ if I can't post a link to an eBay auction?

Hell, if it wasn't for someone posting the eBay link here when the E. T. was originally on eBay, I wouldn't have known about it in the first place!

Rik
______________________________________________________

It takes a lot of work keeping everything around here running smooth so the other half of the time I don't get a explanation I understand.

Maybe if there were some written rules that we are expected follow, it wouldn't take a lot of work. I run two websites and one public forum myself, and it hardly takes any time out of my day (and I'm the sole moderator of my forum). Granted, it's a smaller forum, but short of someone going on a swear fest, I don't EVER delete posts. If I felt I had to, I would at least have the common decency to explain WHY the post was deleted.

I mean, what I see is a forum error to cause my post to be removed. I should just re-post it, right? I mean, if I did something wrong, SURELY someone would have told me, right?

Rik

[MrGoodBurn]

My point of view...

Post in the PachiTalk Auctions. It's free to list and if it sells; you are paying a smaller fee than eBay, and are supporting the site.

I believe that all member deserve the courtesy of a quick message explaining why their post was removed. It doesn't take but a minute, and eliminates the issues we are having right now.

[RaymondV]

First of all, listing something in the auction site works the same way as on Ebay, if you can list something on Ebay, you can do it here.

Second, I thought the post was made by JohnD0406, not you.

[JohnD0406]

Second, I thought the post was made by JohnD0406, not you.

Rik1138 and I both have had posts deleted here, and neither of us has received an explanation. I'm not the one selling the E.T. on eBay, so I'm really curious as to why MY post was deleted...

Enforcing an unwritten rule that nobody would have any idea even exists is bad enough, but not sending a private message explaning the situation is beyond belief.

[Rik1138]

First of all, listing something in the auction site works the same way as on Ebay, if you can list something on Ebay, you can do it here.

Second, I thought the post was made by JohnD0406, not you.

Actually, it was posted twice. _I_ posted it a day or so ago mentioning that I was selling a pachinko on eBay. That post got deleted. Apparently JohnD0406 then posted a link to it himself just trying to share, and that one also got deleted.

And it's not about if I can post in Pachi auctions or not, my problem is that if that's now a requirement of every Pachinko sale I try to make because I joined this forum, I SHOULD BE TOLD THAT!!!

And WHY DOESN'T THE 'RULE' APPLY TO EVEYRONE???

It's simple marketing... I have two places I can list something forsale... One reaches a target audience of 368 people. The other reaches a target audience in the millions, INCLUDING those same 368 people. Where are you going to advertise?

And my auctions has a few limitations, I don't want to ship the machine, so I want to sell it locally in Los Angeles... How many members here are in LA? How many people in LA do you think know about eBay? If I list it here and it sells, I then have to potentially cancel bids and close the auction on eBay... They don't like it if you do that a lot...

Rik

[MrGoodBurn]

Let's calm down a little bit. I would hate to see people get upset over a misunderstanding.

Maybe one of the mods would like to explain what happened.

[01PyTypeR#1140]

It's not that serious! Is it?

[JohnD0406]

Censorship is always a serious issue, regardless of whether it's from government, or public forum. The following sum it up rather well I think...

:bsflag:

[casinocrazy]

Maybe this thread will be deleted

Although I do think some of the points raised are valid.

[hanabi]

I'm not sure what has happened in your case,

but sometimes Posts are just moved NOT deleted, until they have been read properly and approved

I know that if there is a problem, then a PM would usually be sent


I would wait and speak to the Man in charge before jumping to any conclusions

This is a Friendly Family Forum here and a lot of hard work goes into running this Site and making it work,
occasionally things may not always go to plan or to the satisfaction of all the Members

Let's not forget that this Forum and wonderful resource was almost lost to us all,

I'm pretty sure you will get the answers you require in due course

and please just continue to enjoy PachiTalk for the amazing Forum that is it

[JohnD0406]

sometimes Posts are just moved NOT deleted, until they have been read properly and approved

I've had that happen also, but in this case 3 posts over 2 days from 2 members regarding 1 topic is a bit conclusive.

I know that if there is a problem, then a PM would usually be sent

I've had moderators remove, merge, and modify a few of my posts, and have received PM's explaining why the action was taken, and have agreed with their course of action. In this case, neither Rik1138 nor I have received any such PM.

I would wait and speak to the Man in charge before jumping to any conclusions

Conclusions such as... Naaa... Not me

This is a Friendly Family Forum here and a lot of hard work goes into running this Site and making it work, occasionally things may not always go to plan or to the satisfaction of all the Members

Kudos to all the hard work - it's much appreciated. The censorship is not.

Let's not forget that this Forum and wonderful resource was almost lost to us all

I remember, and had a Vader moment myself...

I'm pretty sure you will get the answers you require in due course

I hope we all do. I sent Sid a PM earlier, and am confident he's investigating the situation, and will reply when he has all the facts.

and please just continue to enjoy PachiTalk for the amazing Forum that is it

Already doing so... 3 PachiTalk windows open on other topics

[MrGneiss]

I've been speaking with Sid and he really wants to address this properly, but due to real life commitments he is unable to at this time, so he has asked that I Close this thread to avoid escalation of the matter.. and when he is able to answer, hopefully this evening, he will address all of the issues in this thread..

[Sid]

Well ladies and gentleman.

Since I took over the board in February one of my first ideas was to have a posted rules section where clear cut rules are mentioned and everyone knows what is expected of them. These rules would apply to everyone regardless of their status on pachitalk, (User/Mod /Admin)

Unfortunately after consulting both moderators admins and asking suggestions from various long time members and friends. This task has not been an easy one. One question just brought up a number of other what ifs. Etc etc. And although I have a near finished draft of the rules I to publicize they still need to be fine tuned, something which I had hoped would have been ready sooner as apposed to later sadly i have delayed their implementation

Id like to remind some this is a hobby and not my full time profession, I must make some choices and usually the real world and my family take precedent, not that this board does not mean anything to me on the contrary it means a heck of a lot.

But when I am forced to choose between drawing up and finalizing a set of rules or spending what little free time I have on weekends with my family. it’s a no brainer the rules can wait Junior wins...

One of the great things about PT is we have a good set of people here in PT. sensible people, and up until this point the having the rules publicized wasn’t a big deal. My fault there. but im not going to apologise to anyone. and im not making excuses

some points that i would like to elaborate on

So let me go over the following matters..

1)Public Forum – Wrong in no way is Pachitalk a public forum, Pachitalk is a private forum. there is no voted for assembly that democratically rules over our little corner of the internet, its a private entity run by a miserable little man in a non freedom loving country where we lock up people for even thinking about the word freedom. (ok its not that bad. but its a private forum)

2)How come his and not mine.
Quite simply although every effort is made to have an even playing field for everyone some posts slip through the cracks we have on average 200 posts per day, on a broad range of subjects in all honesty no matter how well you try to read everything your gonna miss something. And frankly I don’t know what the ebay selling name is for every user on this site. Nor do I want to learn them. and heres a bit of a secret that a lot of people dont admit to but i will be one of the firsts... sometimes we just thank posts without actually clicking the link...

3)Notified of post removal
Since my first day of running the site I have made it a point to advise each and every user who has had a post pulled the reasons why. This has been in the form of a PM from me where I go over the reasons why etc etc.

The only exception to this rule is with a particular user who I have an understanding with and we have discussed things regarding his posting in previous correspondence.(name withheld to protect his bad joke posting)

Please keep in mind the board works on a 24 hour basis and on several time zones im not on all the time so removed posts are taken care of when I see them.

In this case let me address the matter of your removed post John It wasn’t removed by me, it was removed by a moderator, while i was offline, the Mod did his job, as per the instructions he has from me. Now In regards to Riks thread being pulled thats a matter between myself and Rik but since its up for discussion, that was me I did it last night late evening just before i went to bed, thought I could wait to send him a pm in the morning guess not..

you can rest assured that this non notification is the exeption and not the norm. im not going to ask people to vouch for me on this one its not necessary.

4)Removed Posts
Posts will be removed, for several reasons which in general are common sense issues, this will continue to happen call it censorship call it whatever you would like. Pachitalk is run as a tight ship and it will continue to be run as such. I am not a censorer but i will do whatever it takes to make and keep pachitalk the warm and fuzzy place it is now.

now the main issue Pachitalk auction Vs Ebay
Its a matter of deontology regarding the site.

In regards to ebay ads of members We have an auction site, this site charges a 3% commission on sold items this 3% goes to supporting the site.

When a user posts an ad of their pachi for sale on ebay it’s a bit of a poke in the eye to Pachitalk.

Your auction is good enough to list on Ebay and post a link to it on a site which deals solely with the hobby with 2000+ people who are into this thing in hopes of getting them to buy it.

But its not good enough to list it in the Pachitalk auction so they can buy there and help support the site as well.

So in essence someone wishes to use all the assets of Pachitalk and not give anything back.

I interject here that this is not a money thing, Im not chasing nickels and dimes here. As most sellers will tell you the amount they pay on a finished PT auction is ridiculous.

Although the PT Auction site is small it’s a niche market as you all know you are dealing with people that know what they want and what you are selling. The users on the auction site are approved manually. No automatic confirmations in regards to the auction. And the great thing about Pachitalk is you are dealing with responsible people not just some stranger on EBAY. There is accountability on the PT auction site. No anonymity your not going to find that on Ebay.

but rest assured that this will all be cleared up by this Friday when i have finalized the rules section which i will make a must read for all..

one final note in regards to Moderator actions or lack there of

Moderators are accountable to me. so if you have a problem and no one else can help... oh wait thats the A-Team...

Anyway if you have an issue regarding a post that you feel was removed wrongfully, send me a PM, and tell me about it. Starting a thread to complain about it is only going to lead to that thread being removed as well and more hard feelings.

Just so you all know I answer all my PM’s in a timely fashion I hide from no one on the site, nor do I have reason to.

A simple PM and when I am online and I canI will investigate the matter and discuss with you privately. As I have done with several users in the past with similar issues.

Now i hope i have covered everything with the above, and i open up this thread again.

I would like to ask users replying to the thread from this point on to stay with in the contexts of the friendly discussion format that we are trying to sustain.

and we can put it all behind us..

Best regards
Sid