Deleting Threads We Started

[Rowena]

I commented on this in the general feedback group.

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/3...

Maybe the deletion privileges should be extended to authors and librarians as well as moderators (Otis is planning to change a feature that allows the person who initiated a thread to delete the entire thread.)

My concern is the "Quote" feature.

Let's assume by way of illustration that I write an opinionated post and suggest an ugly but powerful analogy.

I kick up a hornets' nest of controversy. Dozens of readers comment. Maybe some of them disagree with me and miss the point of my analogy.

I decide to delete my unfortunate analogy, but the quote feature allows all those who disagree with my point to have quoted and misquoted my comments as preface or in the body of their own comments.

Misquoting is also possible.

Is the answer to flag all the comments that quote the thread starting post, and all my other posts so that a Librarian or moderator can remove them?

[Patrick]

Rowena wrote: "I commented on this in the general feedback group.

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/3...

Maybe the deletion privil..."

Well, if they are really just quoting something you posted, I don't think they'll be removed. If you post something on Goodreads, you risk making it permanent. There is no way to put the genie back into the bottle. Just because you deleted your initial post doesn't mean that we will then delete any posts that quote that one.

[Rowena]

Yes, and I'm simply playing Devil's Advocate, because when you change something in response to perceived demand, you want to be sure you consider potential unintended consequences.

At the moment, the situation is (apparently) that if the person who starts a discussion deletes their initial post, the entire thread disappears.

Some people would like to change that arrangement.

I suppose it all boils down to whether a discussion ought to be "owned" as it were by the person who creates it, or by the participants.

If the "rules" are changing, I think maybe it behooves Goodreads to make sure everyone knows what the new rules are.

:-)

[Patrick]

Rowena wrote: "Yes, and I'm simply playing Devil's Advocate, because when you change something in response to perceived demand, you want to be sure you consider potential unintended consequences.

At the moment,..."

No, you're misunderstanding that. It only disappears if there aren't any other comments in it. For instance, I just went to this thread and deleted my post (which was the first post in the thread) and the second post (also, coincidentally mine) remains: http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/3...

Anyway, we are modifying this so that non-moderators can only delete a thread they've created if there are less than 2 comments in it.