3 ms·

I think you're being generous to Atwood here. I don't see how he has any business deleting comments in a community that (1) he did not start* (2) he is not an a

I think you're being generous to Atwood here. I don't see how he has any business deleting comments in a community that (1) he did not start* (2) he is not an active member of. I'd argue that this statement is invariant across communities - hacker or otherwise. This really is a classic micromanagement fail. The original action was motivated by a misguided sense of "being involved". The problem was then exacerbated by an unwillingness to accept mistakes and a sense of outrage fuelled by an ego-bruising. *I do of course understand Atwood is one of the founders of the SE network of sites.

codinghorror 15y ago
Actually, it's quite simple: off-topic, unconstructive, borderline rude comments were removed from a meta post on a SE, Inc initiative to support the math community. It'd be like you asking a hacker news question about how to send HN regulars to a conference, and I replied "well, Hacker News isn't worth supporting because Paul Graham has gone on record saying he's a bad programmer, and has expressed exasperation with programmers". I wish I was kidding. I really do.
- microarchitect 15y ago
  The community is upset because of your fly-by-night moderation tatics. Clearly, Prof. Clark is a valuable and respected member of the community. If you felt what he was saying was inappropriate, you best recourse would have been to reply to his comment, or perhaps even send him an e-mail. Simply deleting his comments gives the impression (whether warranted or not) of high-handedness. What I don't understand is your response to all this. All you needed to do was apologize and promise not to delete any more comments. Prof. Clark would likely have been appeased and the whole brouhaha would've petered out before you could say Peter Clark (sorry, couldn't resist!). Instead, your continued insistence on doing what _you consider right_ raises the very real concern that you might, in the future, abuse your moderator powers in more serious matters.

codinghorror 15y ago

Actually, it's quite simple: off-topic, unconstructive, borderline rude comments were removed from a meta post on a SE, Inc initiative to support the math community. It'd be like you asking a hacker news question about how to send HN regulars to a conference, and I replied "well, Hacker News isn't worth supporting because Paul Graham has gone on record saying he's a bad programmer, and has expressed exasperation with programmers". I wish I was kidding. I really do.

microarchitect 15y ago
The community is upset because of your fly-by-night moderation tatics. Clearly, Prof. Clark is a valuable and respected member of the community. If you felt what he was saying was inappropriate, you best recourse would have been to reply to his comment, or perhaps even send him an e-mail. Simply deleting his comments gives the impression (whether warranted or not) of high-handedness. What I don't understand is your response to all this. All you needed to do was apologize and promise not to delete any more comments. Prof. Clark would likely have been appeased and the whole brouhaha would've petered out before you could say Peter Clark (sorry, couldn't resist!). Instead, your continued insistence on doing what _you consider right_ raises the very real concern that you might, in the future, abuse your moderator powers in more serious matters.