Why was my post deleted? (Tom Gutting, City Sun)

October 8, 2001 10:03 PM

Yea I want to know why you guys deleted my post. Some people get away with posting porn sites but I can't post a controversial thread that Tom Gutting wrote in the Houston City Sun. Geez who woulda thought!
posted by redhead to Etiquette/Policy at 10:03 PM (8 comments total)

like I emailed you redhead:

I deleted the threads about the fired journalist because they have been discussed twice already:

http://www.metafilter.com/comments.mefi/11029
http://www.metafilter.com/comments.mefi/10983

When something gets deleted, it's for a good reason. Your first link was up for about an hour after it was posted, complete with 5 comments saying it was already covered.

posted by mathowie (staff) at 10:17 PM on October 8, 2001

redhead: perhaps because it was old hat, an old article, something already discussed. Take it from me - I've been deleted and sulked too - it's better just to accept Matt's decisions. They generally turn out to be right and they keep MetaFilter interesting. I made a fool of myself when one of my threads was deleted and now you're reminding me of me.

Don't do the same. Believe me: you'll get over it and come to live and gladden us all with another post another day.

(This may sound condescending, I'm sorry if this is so, it wasn't my intention at all)
posted by MiguelCardoso at 10:20 PM on October 8, 2001

Well, that's cool guys, My feelings aren't hurt, I really did search the archives before the post, keywords and everything....thanks Matt
posted by redhead at 10:26 PM on October 8, 2001

If you're posting a newsy link because "it's been missed", it's probably best to assume that it's missing because it was discussed within an early thread. It's tricky right now because you get several parallel sources for the same stories, which won't come up in the URL search: but also because the MeFi database is getting a bit too bulky for the poor old search engine.
posted by holgate at 11:52 PM on October 8, 2001

general rule: the audience here is well read and well travelled. Chances are we've seen anything "wow" or anything surpising, especially if it's a few days old.

If you're unsure, try posting it in an existing and related thread first, 100% chance that if it deserves its own link, people will tell you.
posted by chaz at 1:20 AM on October 9, 2001

chaz: Guess that proves my theory that the only reason the NY Times "pretty girl" thread, which involved a month-old link to a widely read weekly national magazine, was not protested was that it centered around a pretty girl. Discuss amongst yourselves.
posted by raysmj at 7:15 AM on October 9, 2001

I likes purty gurls :)

That said, I'd wonder after the possibility of considering a brief (read: "permanent") moritorium on posts to news sites. I suspect that most Mefis check 2 or more news sites daily, so it's likely we are up on current events, even breaking stuff. Metafilter isn't supposed to be "the Times, only later" right?
posted by UncleFes at 2:53 PM on October 9, 2001

honest, my intention was not to post what I would think of as a "newsy" link. I had read about the situation in the Sunday DallasMorningNews letter to the editor. It took me forever to find something about it online, thought it was good topic for discussion. Maybe I'll go dye my hair blonde, so I can feel better about my dumbness :)
posted by redhead at 7:02 PM on October 9, 2001