getting robust and magnificent support on a social media site that costs you nothing

There was recently a thread, now removed, where somebody figured out that their post was deleted.  So they posted here, to the tinkering forum, to ask about it - which is the right place to ask, and the staff are open to these conversations.

Staff had to ask which thread.  So, first point, if you are gonna ask, adding a link will speed things up.

Another member of the staff did deeper research and came back and said "I think I know.  I think it was because it was something that supposed to be in the cider press."

OP says "What’s that?"

First staffer gives link:  https://permies.com/t/31128/tnk/category-Cider-Press

OP says "Then why were other posts allowed?  This doesn't make sense."

Second staffer tries to explain.  Long explanation.

OP makes a detailed rebuttal.

First staffer replies making several good points.  Basically saying "edge case."

Second staff writes an even bigger reply, talking about how cider press stuff outside of the cider press is tricky to figure out what to do.  A pinch is sometimes let go by most of the staff, but could be too much for other staff.

Everything up to this point seems good and healthy.  

OP now states that the way moderation is done on this site is flawed.  Then proceeds to explain the correct form of moderation and how the OP posts need to be allowed.

A third staff member shows up and says "I'm the one that removed the post in question."

First staffer decides to cut to the chase and make things clear and simple.  This is the entirety of the post

The reply I saw was definitely cider press material.  

If you can make a reply that fits with our publishing standards, we can publish it.  

OP replies

Can you please explain how? Something really isn’t right here. Is there a staff member I can speak to over the phone?

first staffer:

The staff here are 100% volunteers.  I doubt any would be willing to give out their phone number.

I mentioned earlier there is a line between discussing these topics (cider press) and mentioning these topics (okay in some cases).  The line is fuzzy, moving, and subjective.  

Maybe one day we will have the money to hire and train moderators, but until then we are doing the best we can.  Instead of instantly deleting hot button topics like we used to, we have made an imperfect compromise by having the cider press.

The other element of having over 50 active volunteers (plus another 100 odd that pop their head in from time to time) is that there is often a lot of discussions.  Sometimes decisions take time. We want to hear from different points of view and I can see they are still talking about the post in question.

OP replies with "wrong" and "fishy".  And insists that the staff must provide an explanation that is satisfactory to the standards of the OP.

First staffer points out edge case again.

I got an email about the thread while i was traveling.  I replied with this

Fishy by your standards.

Our magnificent, untrained all volunteer staff has done an excellent job!  My congratulations on a job well done!

If anybody wants something more, I would be glad to talk about that. First send $200 via this link https://permies.com/pp/200/permies-support

I think the free service provided is absolutely excellent.  But I can understand somebody wanting support that is superior to services that charge a thousand bucks a year.  It's good to want things.  And for $200 I'll give you about 15 minutes of my attention.

I'm now gonna lock this thread so the volunteers can stop stressing over this.

Apparently, the OP did a swan song, so they are now gone and the thread was removed.  I just thought that we needed a thread to drive home a few important points:

    - this is a free site; i doubt people get this much support on the big social media sites

    - i think we are providing more support and interaction than on a site where a person might pay thousands

    - just because we are cool with talking about stuff does not require us to be obedient

    - if you write an edge case post, don't be surprised if it disappears.  Pro tip: don't write edge case posts

Here is something I stumbled across today. I wrote this a long time ago and it applies to this thread

Long ago, people would write "letters to the editor" for a newspaper.  Maybe a tenth of the letters were published.   This was a massive organization that made a lot of money.  But they would never write to the people where their letters were not published to say "the reason we did not publish your letter is ________."

By more modern standards, you could think of it as a game.  If your posts are disappearing, you will need to go on a quest to figure out what it takes to get your posts to remain.  The information is freely available.  

The newspaper has a massive paid staff.  Everybody has a job to do.  And yet they still felt it was appropriate to not pay somebody to write the rejection notes.  

Permies.com is all volunteers.  Even me.  Well, I actually pay money to keep this site running. I'm not sure what the word is for that.  

So an organization with 300 employees, fat profits, and the only way to see the content is to pay for it, does not send out an explanation to individuals for why their submission was not published.   But a completely free service with an all volunteer staff ...   you wish to have an explanation for every action.  

Okay.  

  Click here to pay $200 to get a brief explanation for one instance.  

  Click here to pay $20,000 to get a thorough explanation for one instance.  

I actually pay money to keep this site running. I'm not sure what the word is for that.  

Philanthropist?

...a few important points:

    - this is a free site; i doubt people get this much support on the big social media sites

    - i think we are providing more support and interaction than on a site where a person might pay thousands

    - just because we are cool with talking about stuff does not require us to be obedient

    - if you write an edge case post, don't be surprised if it disappears.  Pro tip: don't write edge case posts

We have over 40 active staff - volunteer staff - from all over the world.   What may sound good in your head, can have an entirely different tone when read from a different point of view.  

It's the age old problem that comes with writing,  we read without intonation or inflections that make those little subtleties come through in spoken word.

But it's also our strength to have people from so many different cultures on staff - volunteer staff - and I often see a lot of time spent on the question "does that read rude to you?".  Sometimes it's days before a decision is made.

Somewhere around here we have a way to pay paul $200.

Or one of the volunteers $500