Thank you for responding. Yes, it was mprep that deleted my posts, based on who edited those that I looked at, however I did not want to call you out by name to avoid creating unnecessary drama. I have no reason to believe this was malicious on your part, or on the part of any other moderator.
To my knowledge, this is the first public mention of the rule in question, posted in April 2016.
I don't think this is in line with the above rule, and would also violate the forum stance against ex-post-facto rules, as someone has no way of knowing if someone else's post would be deleted when they make a post, so they have no way of knowing they would need to edit their post. In other words, someone has no way of knowing they need to follow a certain rule when they make a post. The logic behind the rule is that multi-posting unfairly bumps threads, and spams watch lists, neither of which apply in a situation in which someone else has replied to a thread.
The majority (if not all) the posts in question were from 2015, which is before the rule was implemented...
AFAIK the rule has been in effect for much longer than it was included in the "unofficial list of rules" thread. There's a reason why there's "unofficial" in its name (and why it was made created a few years after the forum was founded) - it's my own personal effort of compiling as many rules in as compact of a format as possible.IIRC I did warn you about this in the past...
Having a few consecutive posts every now and then when you don't have a paid sig isn't a big deal, but PG/GG does it habitually. The issue with this is that it unfairly bumps topics (like bumping a topic more than once per 24 hours) and it spams "watchlist", "show unrelad posts since last visit", etc.
I would say however that I do not agree with this rule, especially when there is no paid signature involved. Posting multiple times does have clear benefits as it makes it very clear that you are making multiple points in relation to a particular topic. Making one post and then a subsequent post immediately after helps empanthesize the second post and would be beneficial to someone making a series of points concluded by a strong/important point.
Having a few consecutive posts every now and then when you don't have a paid sig isn't a big deal, but PG/GG does it habitually. The issue with this is that it unfairly bumps topics (like bumping a topic more than once per 24 hours) and it spams "watchlist", "show unrelad posts since last visit", etc.
Some of the posts were made in threads such as this one, in which the person who I was responding to had deleted their posts and as such the posts the posts did not violate the rule in question, even if applied retroactively as the rule is posting multiple posts in a row are not allowed, and multiple posts were not posted in a row. This is clear because the posts were quoting other posts that were removed.
If posts become consecutive due to deletion of another user's posts, in practice they're usually merged as well.Also, most of the threads in question are very old and are not active (they are 5 years old). I really don’t see a good reason to be going back this far to remove posts you believe violate this rule (using flawed logic).
Had no one reported your posts, I'd agree. I didn't dig those topics and posts up myself, someone reported them.@Quickseller and @RussiaCoinDotInfo, if you believe I was wrong in merging your old posts (and / or deleting old bumps), feel free to appeal my decision to theymos. I am far from infallible and maybe your interpretation is right and mine is wrong. If theymos decides to reverse my decision, I'll gladly adjust how I handle reports on old consecutive posts and old undeleted bumps.
This is the point of my creating this thread. The deleted posts metric has long since been weaponized.
To my knowledge, I was not punished for having my posts removed, other than my receiving 60+ PMs about deleted posts. As far as I am aware, I was not banned for these posts. The majority of the posts were deleted May 2, in two batches, with seconds being in-between the time I had posts deleted in each batch, which implies automation was used in responding to the reports against me. I was not aware of my posts being deleted for over 3 days, so in theory, I could have been banned for 3 days without my knowledge, however if this was the case, it was not followed. I have serious doubts that I will be banned for this, or at all. I always try to maintain my reports to within the last 3 to 4 months, only stepping over the bounds if the user has particularly egregious post quality or if there is something critical to check out. I really don't see the point of people reporting posts older than that: notwithstanding exceptional cases, you can anticipate that those posts would be invariably buried beneath the subsequent lackadaisical replies or beneath the newer, spammier threads in the board.
If some mongrel really has a vendetta against QS, there are certainly more productive ways to lash out at them than doing these sneaky reports if that's the intention.
I have my suspicious as to who is behind the reports, although I don't want to name names right now. I would understand more if the threads were active, and there were old bumps, but neither applies. As mentioned above, it is possible someone is just trying to pad their reporting stats. Or maybe someone is just trying to create trouble....If some mongrel really has a vendetta against QS, there are certainly more productive ways to lash out at them than doing these sneaky reports if that's the intention.