Mods, was your action today a bit harsh?

I never post in General anymore, its unhelpful or writing standards constantly. At least a few weeks now. Social gets it, too, but much less.

I didn’t do any of the moderating on that question (this is the first time I’ve been here today, and I don’t moderate philosophy questions in case I want to participate in them). That said, none of the answers were removed for being off-topic. They were removed for being unhelpful, which is different.

The difference is roughly this: unhelpful responses do not answer the question that was asked, whereas off-topic responses are about something other than the question.

Example question: “Who was the best king in French history?”

Unhelpful answers: “Winston Churchill,” “Elizabeth Cady Stanton,” “Gandhi,” “what a stupid question!”

Off-topic answers: “I like curry,” “the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell,” “who else likes pie?”

@elbanditoroso It would help if you would include your answer, as well as the other people ‘s answers (maybe you can ask them to post it here) that you believe were on topic, and helpful.

@flo Except that reposting moderated content is against the rules, so I wouldn’t recommend that at all.

On the same thread, of course it would be against the rules.

But here it would help everyone see and learn instead of wasting our time composing, esp the long answers.

.. by the way re. my last 2 post above, I thought it was @elbanditoroso I was responding to.

@flo – it’s gone to the bit bucket in the sky.

@SavoirFaire – mine was on topic.

But I guess it’s too late now.

@elbanditoroso Answers in the General section must be both on-topic and helpful. Your answer was on topic. It was not helpful, however, and that was the reason given for removing it: Response moderated (Unhelpful).

I’m with @KNOWITALL. I never post in General. I like the meandering path that threads take when they’re in Social. I used to find it annoying when things would devolve into personal jokes and silliness, but still, I like that better than things being modded and then I’d never see them.

I mostly post in General because there are a couple of users here that are notorious for derailing threads in order to ramble on about their own stuff.

My answer didn’t answer who I thought said that. I did offer my opinion on whoever said it,however. :D
Wrong place to do that and I get it.

For bouncing belly’s sake, give it up man.
We took the piss out of the question & rightly got modded, was bloody obvious.
Although to be fair, I still say it was lil stevie’s quote.

“I never post in General. I like the meandering path that threads take when they’re in Social.”

“I mostly post in General because there are a couple of users here that are notorious for derailing threads in order to ramble on about their own stuff.”

Both of these are perfectly valid preferences—and that’s why we have separate sections!

@elbanditoroso I’m guessing nobody else picked up the HHG reference.

@Caravanfan : what is HHG?

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, which is abbreviated in all sorts of ways: HHG, HHGTTG, H2G2, etc.

Oh gotcha. Thank you @SavoirFaire.

@jca2 his quote that got deleted was a reference that the Babel fish is a proof of the nonexistence of God because it is so improbable.

@Caravanfan although to perfectly honest, I was not referring th HHG at all. Pure coincidence.

@elbanditoroso Seriously? Well, you nailed it.

As a former moderator I just want you all to know that Moderators can see deleted comments.

Perhaps, if you felt the comment was helpful and not off-topic, it was worded in a way that did not properly convey what you wished to say.