Delete posts

[grailkeeper]

Maybe allow people to delete their own posts? Every once in a while I want to delete a post where I accidentally double post or say somwthing that someone else has already said. All I can do is edit it down to nothing but it might be neater to let me delete it. If you have concerns about abuse maybe set a time limit after which people can't delete their posts, but I don't really see it being abused.

[Grotsmasha]

Best practice is to report the duplicate post and a Mod/Admin will action it for you

[grailkeeper]

5 hours ago, Grotsmasha said:

Best practice is to report the duplicate post and a Mod/Admin will action it for you

That's fair. 

[Brother Tyler]

There are two concerns with members being able to delete their own posts. First, if subsequent replies quote that post or refer to it, the discussion becomes disjointed. Second, if someone posts content that is against the forum rules, they might be able to delete the post before we see it/take action, effectively getting away with something (granted, they can always edit posts, but that's a risk we're willing to take since it has less of an impact on the community).

 

Note that even if we were to allow members to delete their posts, we wouldn't enable them to delete their topics. Topics have a more significant impact on members since the deletion of a topic also deletes all replies to that topic, removing content that other members have submitted (and affecting their achievements). I'm just bringing that up because it's something we learned the hard way with account deletions (which is why content that deleted accounts submit remains on the site, but is attributed to a "Guest").

 

As @Grotsmasha said, the best practice when you want to delete a double post is to report the post. The staff can easily take care of it.

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Even if you don't report it, it may be caught by the mods and hidden regardless - I know my practice is to hide "empty" posts (so, those that just say "double post", that are identical to the previous post, or which are blank and not placeholder posts) when I come across them, and I don't expect I'm alone in that.  The most certain way, though, is to report it as noted above.