I've just found that another two topics that I contributed to this week have been deleted, that makes three since Monday. Can someone please, please point me toward the explicit new rules of this forum so I know in future which topics are likely to remain and which will suddenly disappear?

I posted over 1,400 times on the 'old' site and never had one problem with offending anyone or having anything removed or even edited. I should point out that I am a professional writer and journalist so I have some idea for instance about what can and cannot be said in print and of copyright and libel laws.

Whereabouts are the Forum Guidelines in this section?

Like a lot of others I spend time and take care in writing, taking photos and posting, finding out that someone has removed all evidence of what I, and others, have written is getting tedious and annoying.

Please tell me, what rules I should be following or what has changed because the fun is really going out of this for me now.

Mike

PS, and if this gets deleted I will seriously consider not bothering to come back... 

Doesn't take much nowadays to get deleted. Shoot me an email at rattlehead71@yahoodotcom and I'll let you in on some stuff to get you back in the "having fun modeling" mood.

 I've had a few private emails on this one, and surprisingly enough all agreeing with my sentiment.

Thanks guys, I appreciate receiving all of them but I do want to point out that this was a genuine request for advice and NOT intended as a direct criticism of this free and generally very enjoyable website.

I wasn't trying to ruffle any feathers, I just wanted to save some time for me and admin in future. I'm happy to do my best to follow the rules provided I know what the rules are!

I haven't yet found any official rules on what can and can't be posted. The common reason for deletion seems to be admin receiving 'a number of complaints' about the subjects. Perhaps people are more easily offended than they used to be?

Hopefully things might get a little more relaxed in future? If anyone has an issue with something I've written I'd rather hope they'd post a response indicating their feelings rather than going straight to admin and getting posts deleted forever

The situation of number of complaints versus a number of postings with complainants 'winning' seems to suggest that censorship is prevailing. If 150 view a post, 25 reply and 2 complain the post gets removed isn't that depriving the majority to appease the few?

Thanks

Mike 

The Terms of Service spelled this out pretty clearly, and our policies are also well-known for those who have posted awhile. That said, note that these were threads in which you participated, not topics you started, and so the problem areas were not in your posts, but those of others. When a thread "heads south," though, the whole thing generally has to go.

When a specific question has been asked, answered, and acknowledged by the original poster, it too will come down shortly thereafter.

The capsule summary is: Keep it clean; this is a family site. Stay on topic; posts must pertain to the car-modeling hobby. Leave politics, religion, and personal issues behind. Be civil and respectful. Use PM or E-mail for serious criticism or arguments.

As for two people complaining and a post being removed, remember that I too get private messages from members, so although you may only see one or two, there can be (and often are) more than that. 

Duly noted, thank you Jim

Mike

Not to be a jerk here or anything, but I signed up a while back.  I don't post that much, mostly read. The trouble is, I forgot the terms of service and can't find them now.   I didn't memorize them enough to know specificly what I can and can't do.  I see there is no trade/want/for sale section, does that mean that trading things is forbidden?  If not, where is the proper place to post this kind of thing?

I've had to resign up for this twice now.  I wonder, why is that?  Does it have something to do with the terms of service?  

 If a thread is started, then answered, then deleted, well, I understand there are an aweful lot of threads on this site.  But if it is deleted, just like that, then won't it just keep getting started again each time that question comes up?  I wonder how many other threads there were now that I think about it on if there is a trade/want/for sale section that came up, got answered, got acknowleged, then dropped.  I wonder how many wonderful questions have been answered in these threads only to be deleted so that the new folks who might want or need this knowledge can't find it anymore.  

Just my opinions....     Greg.

 See my post above for the capsule summary.

Selling is not allowed; trading discussion should be taken to E-mail. 

The volume of posts and threads on this site makes it necessary to remove or archive posts from time to time. It's different from a reference-only site, where things can remain up indefinitely. And the search function can help with modeling questions, so repeats are lessened,

Ok, thanks for the clarification.    Greg.

 I've also posted the guidelines outlined in the registration process here:

http://cs.scaleautomag.com/scacs/forums/p/71367/757014.aspx#757014 

 Coincidentially I've just been reading that above-mentioned post Jim, I think it sums up things very well, now the question is how to get everyone to read it...

Mike 

A few less holy-rollers and old ladies, winers too, and you could have a little more fun!

Hawk, you are so right.