As if to prove a point, a moderator just deleted a whole reply, completely destroying the sense of the subsequent replies in the thread.
Again for the staff who is obviously hard of hearing: this is not acceptable behaviour for moderation
Here is the post. I removed the section the moderator “thought” was against the forum’s guidelines.
Mind you, it actually doesn’t even begin to go against community guidelines, but thats another issue alltogeter.
Even if it 100% did go against, removing the whole post is badly applied censorship.
Quod ertat demonstratum.
Once again, to make this pathetic policy crystal clear.
Even though they have the option to force a user to modify a post, or to clean up a topic, staff is being directed to Censor complete discussions that have no bearing. Complete set of posts that are not infringing on anything.
Solely based on their opinion and understanding about what is written.
Absolutely no good will ever come of this for the community.
While you see it happen here with a pointless post, the same happens to whole threads where people have taken the time to explain how to do somerhing - just because there’s some flaming.
Essentially posts like the one about materials and switches compiling all the time, which despite the constant flames is probably one of the most informative topics on this forum are now being compeltely prevented from ever existing.
…Yea, the unwashed masses may need a link to the topic to know what I’m even referring to… if I pass by again ill add it in…
Regaddless, this lazy behaviour is disgusting.
And I know for a fact it has costed the forum at least 3 new users so far, being they emailed me privately after reading this.
I invite those who write saying “i agree” etc. To just share with us the topic that drove you away in this thread.
Try to get whatever sorry excuse of a community will be left to actually see it. And flee…
I’m not asking anything anymore.
I’m pointing out how the poor leadership of this forum’s community is going to cause the dissolution of the community.
Why remove a whole post, 90% of which doesn’t break any “rules” when you can literally force users to edit their own content to have the post remain visible?
Same logic applies to threads.
Why remove a whole thread, when the individual posts can be hidden from view IF appropriate?
It’s literally the same lazy excuse of a moderation method being applied across the board - the very systemic problem this thread originally hoped to point out.
The forums are far from lively as it is, and now I find out mods are deleting threads because they devolve into insults?
Then delete the insults, why remove entire threads?
A very disappointing discovery.
Thank you for bringing this to people’s attention OP.
Ok. 5 minutes right? 5 minutes to fix the engine I believe you were saying? Ok. Do it then. Fix the engine for the developers. Make a stable release of UE4, or hell even UE5 since it’s so laggy, maybe you can fix it.
The solution is improving the way one communicates.
I keep saying it, yet not expecting anything:
Study Chris Voss negotiations.
And, write, re-write and edit posts before posting.
Keep it dry and professional and format it in a structured way.
Online text communication is just like writing code and many of us keep getting errors because we don’t “print strings” when drafting our posts.
All communication is negotiations and every post and reply is a sale.
Original posts, wether we like it or not, is copy writing, just like ads.
The better we get at this, the better our lives improve over time.
The OP is selling the concept that forums can improve. It’s a very valuable product.
The sales method is not good enough though and has led to endless discussions, instead of call to action for a smooth and easy implementation.
In regards to the UE EA vs Main topic, it had derailed into a heated, off-topic discussion and the moderation team stepped in to help settle things down. While this decision was made with good intentions, we agree that wholly unlisting the topic was heavy-handed. We’ve removed the posts in violation of our guidelines and restored the topic, with the expectation that the discussion may resume as long as it remains on-topic.
For your visibility, in the last couple of months, we’ve onboarded a handful of new moderators—as evidenced above, you’ve likely seen them in action around the site! As with any new additions, it takes time to settle in, and we’ll continue to develop and refine our processes to help keep all of us aligned. Occasionally a decision or action may not completely reflect how collectively we’d prefer a situation to be handled, and we’ll use this as an opportunity to coach the team as they continue to grow as mods.
As a general reminder, participating in the Unreal Engine forum is a voluntary choice made by community members, and in order to continue participating in discussions here, we expect each and every member to respect the Code of Conduct. Should any of these guidelines be violated, we can and will take action.
In that vein, we do welcome your feedback and concerns, and ask that it be provided in a polite and constructive manner. As this thread has become quite inflammatory, we’ll be closing it, but will leave it listed as a record of the grievances expressed.