Hidden posters

[Realfoodieclub]

i have noticed we are having quite a few hidden posters coming on to the forum lately.

Most of these posts are fine but as an admin they cause me concern as it means the poster has put their post up and then taken their account down. It also means that as the site admin I have no idea who the poster was and can not moderate anything in a fair way.

What usually happens when there is a report of abuse it comes to me and I look into the situation, talk it over with all admins if necessary and take action, which means sending messages to all concerned to resolve the issue or if it is blatantly obvious I delete the post and report it to Healthunlocked so they can keep a check of the IP address.

When a poster posts then removes their account I can not do any of these things and that is no way to run a forum and keep it the safe friendly place we are used to. So from now on if I find an active post/ reply that has the user name hidden I will be deleting that post.

If the poster did it by mistake they can always rectify the situation and put the post up again with their name in view.

Hope you all understand why this is important.

Rfcx.

[Irishprincess Graduate]

Good call RFC. I've noticed this recently too and think some people don't like the answers to their question and rather than follow the advice, they disappear.

[Hidden in reply to Irishprincess]

I think someone just left because of something I said. Didn't mean to cause offence, just offering advice

[Realfoodieclub Graduate in reply to Hidden]

Everyone has the ability to come to us and we can help sort issues out, please don’t take it personally.

[ejvcruns Graduate in reply to Hidden]

But you're always so friendly -- it's hard to believe that would cause offence. Unless the person in question is a misanthropist

[VictoriaRuns Graduate]

I'm really confused as to how/why people do this?

[roseabi]

Sounds perfectly reasonable, thanks RFC. I have seen a few of these people, wondered why they were hidden!

[Millsie-J Graduate]

Perfect solution in my opinion RFC. Thank you for your care in maintaining a safe and supportive forum .

[GoogleMe Graduate]

Touch of the troll perhaps.

Good call RFC

[Realfoodieclub Graduate]

Just as a side note, it has been brought to my attention that the site can sometimes hide names. but I still stand by this new initiative.

If you find a post of yours has been deleted in error I am so very sorry, please get in touch with me.

I am sure you can understand why we have to be protective of our site.

[vlmiller1225 Graduate]

I haven't noticed this! But hopefully this will help rectify things in the future!

[skysue16 Graduate]

I agree with this action and don't understand why folk would want/need to be 'hidden'. Thank you Rfc.

[icklegui Graduate in reply to skysue16]

as an aside though maybe not on this forum:

I can understand why people would want to be hidden on other healthunlocked forums and honestly I find the options for post privacy both confusing and contradictory. I am thinking of creating a separate user for other forums, to be honest, probably should have done that in the first place. I don't necessarily want someone finding out the link between my name and various health conditions.

[Realfoodieclub Graduate in reply to icklegui]

I totally understand why someone would want to do that with a health condition and even on here we have people who don’t want their name being known. That is the great thing about user names. The hidden post is different to that instance. It is sometimes someone who has purposely deleted their account so no one can converse with them or know who they are.

[icklegui Graduate in reply to Realfoodieclub]

oh, indeed, it was just an aside as in general I can see a need for hidden. Most people re-use usernames across all sorts of forums and half the time they're something to do with their real name. If you regret your choice of username etc., I think you should have the option to remove yourself; but then also agree that the moderator should be able to remove the post entirely.

The posts I've seen here going "hidden" are often someone who's been disagreed with, though! So it does have the air of going off in a huff.

[MarkyD Graduate]

Hiya RFC, you and the other admins (plus our mentors) do a fantastic job of running this delightful forum & keeping it mercifully free of trolling, spam and the like.

I’ll support any decision that you take to keep the look & feel of our forums.

Good call about Hidden posts.

[IannodaTruffe Mentor]

Thanks for your decisive action.

Definitely a good move.

[SueKen Graduate]

Hey RFC, one of the things that sets this forum apart is the very positive and supportive nature of the vast majority of posts. This sets it apart from so many other fora. Anything that you and the other admins need to do to keep it that way is very much appreciated 😊