Last night I heard something that troubles me. In addition to moving threads between categories, our SuperModerator is deleting threads.

He's written me a polite note, explaining what he's doing and, briefly, why.

From a completely empirical standpoint, I can agree that there are posts I would like to see deleted. I also share his frustration when the third thread on the exact same topic is started. I believe he hopes that if there are fewer threads to wade through, responsible posters will be more likely to check to see if something similar (or identical) already exists. My faith in human nature is not so great. (Tourguide, if I'm mis-representing you here, please set the record straight.) He may also be trying to make it easier for newbies and people who vanish from the Forum for months at a time to get up to speed.

My problem with this arises from the arbitrary nature of any deletion of threads. The things I would like to see deleted, Mobius or Faibhar would like to keep. Some of the things that Tourguide is deleting, I would probably want to keep.

I may be alone in this, but I view this Forum as a valuable (I wouldn't say 'important') historical record. If (and I'm not saying that these have been targeted) Brenda's, Whipit's, Kostly's, or that damn rabbit's posts are deleted, an essential part of the Forum's history will disappear. I find their posts to be very instructive examples of how NOT to post, and I keep them firmly in mind when I am criticizing fellow Forumites. What will new members use for their bad examples (don't say, "Curtis"!)? I'm not being sarcastic, here. A Code Of Conduct is a very good thing, but seeing how ugly things get when the Code isn't followed is worth its weight in gold.

In the "Moving Threads" thread, I said that these threads exist and suggested that a ghetto be created to segregate them, so that the people who want to avoid them easily can.

The response seems to be, make the threads not exist.

And this troubles me.