How can an empty post be against the rules?
Thread poster: Angie Garbarino
Angie Garbarino
Angie Garbarino  Identity Verified
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Member (2003)
French to Italian
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Nov 3, 2020

Hello
I would really like to understand how can an empty post break rule 1#1

Explaining better: there was an empty post in a forum, this was removed because of rule https://www.proz.com/siterules/forum/1#1

I asked of course with a ST but the reply was: "As an empty post does not have a content related to the ProZ.com's scope, such entries may be removed by modera
... See more
Hello
I would really like to understand how can an empty post break rule 1#1

Explaining better: there was an empty post in a forum, this was removed because of rule https://www.proz.com/siterules/forum/1#1

I asked of course with a ST but the reply was: "As an empty post does not have a content related to the ProZ.com's scope, such entries may be removed by moderators or staff members".

Yes I know it can be removed, of course, but for breaking rule 1#1?

In 17 years as a member, as a moderator years ago, I have never seen that.
If someone can better explain I'd be really grateful, because the reply I got is criptic.

Many thanks
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philgoddard
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philgoddard
philgoddard
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I agree Nov 3, 2020

This is typical of the all-pervading censorship on this site. If it was blank, how did the moderator know it wasn't about translation?

Angie Garbarino
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Samuel Murray
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@Angie Nov 3, 2020

[I don't know which post you're referring to, by the way.]

Angie Garbarino wrote:
There was an empty post in a forum, this was removed because of rule https://www.proz.com/siterules/forum/1#1


1. By "empty" I assume you mean that the body had no content? Or do you mean that the poster simply added e.g. a dot to both the title and the body?

2. The person who removed the post and the person who replied to you may not have been the same person.

3. When posts are removed, moderators often choose the rule that comes closest to their reason, but if they can't find a rule that matches well, they'll use one of the more general, all-encompassing rules, such as rule 1, to justify the removal. Readers here should not look too closely at these rules to try to figure out why the post was removed. Moderators often also communicate directly with the specific posters to provide more information about the removal, even if the public notice is very vague.

4. When the staff member replied, he may not actually have known the moderator's reason, and he probably gave you just a standard reply. To formulate such a reply, simply look at the rule, and then rewrite it as an answer. In this case, rule #1 says "Postings which are not related to ... are not allowed" and it's easy to rewrite that into a template answer e.g. "As [the post] does not [reason], such entries may be removed by moderators or staff members". After having been at ProZ.com for nearly 20 years now (and having experienced the moderator regime of the past 10), this is what I would have assumed had happened.

This is not criticism of ProZ.com staff or the moderators. Sooner or later any moderator will try to streamline his answers.

Yes I know it can be removed, of course, but for breaking rule 1#1?


Not only can it be removed, but it should be removed. What rule would you have chosen to justify the removal? (I'm not sure if it is "against forum rules" but it certainly is something that should be removed, for administrative reasons. You want people to use the forums for discussion, using words, not using artful but ambiguous actions.)


Yolanda Broad
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Angie Garbarino
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Well when I moderated in the old days Nov 3, 2020

Samuel Murray wrote:


Not only can it be removed, but it should be removed. What rule would you have chosen to justify the removal? (I'm not sure if it is "against forum rules" but it certainly is something that should be removed, for administrative reasons. You want people to use the forums for discussion, using words, not using artful but ambiguous actions.)


I know, it should be removed BUT in the old days an empty post could be removed with the reason "other, empty post". And believeme I deleted many of them when I moderated.

Hence I am just asking to explain me if something changed and when deleting it is now mandatory to refere to a broken rule. Perhaps Lucia will explain.



[Edited at 2020-11-03 08:37 GMT]


 
Christopher Schröder
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Mechanical Nov 3, 2020

I think Samuel is right. It always seems very mechanical.

What does get on my nerves is when the moderator says edit your post, so you take the time to do that, and then the post gets deleted anyway.

I think that’s ProZ HQ, not th emoderators.

And obviously this post too is against rule something-or-other for questioning Big Brother, so I won’t bother going back to correct that typo.

[Edited at 2020-11-03 08:23 GMT]


Yolanda Broad
Andy Watkinson
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Angie Garbarino
Angie Garbarino  Identity Verified
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I see I was not clear enough Nov 3, 2020

Perhaps my English is deteriorating.

If you both say that deleting a post is breaking a rule. I do not know what else I can write to explain

Thanks anyway for reading

[Edited at 2020-11-03 08:28 GMT]


 
Christopher Schröder
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Sorry, Angie Nov 3, 2020

I know exactly what you meant. I was just giving another example of the overly rigid and/or arbitrary application of The Rules when a bit of common sense and humanity is all that is required.

You ask for clarification and you are invariably answered by an automaton.

It is against The Rules. Why is it against The Rules? Because it is against The Rules. Can you not give my question individual consideration? It is against The Rules. And so on.


Angie Garbarino
Christel Zipfel
P.L.F. Persio
expressisverbis
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Samuel Murray
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@Angie Nov 3, 2020

Angie Garbarino wrote:
If you both say that deleting a post is breaking a rule...


Do you mean when people try to delete their own posts by "editing" it and then simply removing the content, or replacing it with a dot? That is not against the rules, surely. It's just a quick way to take one's post out of the conversation to prevent others from quoting it while you wait for a moderator to delete it.


[Edited at 2020-11-03 09:31 GMT]


Yolanda Broad
 
Angie Garbarino
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Not only to the current moderator Nov 3, 2020

Samuel Murray wrote:
Aah, so your question is actually aimed at the current moderators, and what you really want to know is whether it is now mandatory [or preferred] to refer to a rule as having been "broken" instead of just saying "other, empty post" when deleting an empty post. I hope we get an answer, because I would also like to know.



Also to someone that experienced the above and have received a clear answer.
I said Lucia because I assume she will read here.


 
Angie Garbarino
Angie Garbarino  Identity Verified
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NO Nov 3, 2020

Samuel Murray wrote:

Do you mean when people try to delete their own posts by "editing" it and then simply removing the content, or replacing it with a dot? That is not against the rules, surely. It's just a quick way to take one's post out of the conversation to prevent others from quoting it while you wait for a moderator to delete it.


[Edited at 2020-11-03 09:31 GMT]


Like I already said in my reply to you that post contained the word DELETED- MISTAKE. And it was like that days before the mod's action, and not quoted by someone. Just without content.

The post was in the Italian forum. I am not posting the link, because at this point I am not sure if this is allowed.


 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
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@Angie Nov 3, 2020

To be or not to be an empty post or if a surrealist were to delve into this he/she would paraphrase Magritte and say “This is not an empty post”…

magritte-cachimbo


Christopher Schröder
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Christopher Schröder
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Artfully off topic Nov 3, 2020

Teresa Borges wrote:
To be or not to be an empty post or if a surrealist were to delve into this he/she would paraphrase Magritte and say “This is not an empty post”…

I bet he wishes now he’d sent that for proofreading. That rogue double-space undermines his whole message.

Or does it?


P.L.F. Persio
Yolanda Broad
Maciek Drobka
 


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How can an empty post be against the rules?






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