specs

I do not understand why my post expressing condolences was deleted. I see the London postings have been re-instated in part, but many are missing from yesterday. I would hope in future if you, dear fodors editors are going to ask people to lower their voices, change the subject, or to leave the room, you will offer the courtesy of a posted request. I posted from the UK in the early p.m. and my condolences are among the missing. I imagine there were folks in the western u.s. who never got a chance to read or post at all. I never expected condolences to be censored. I am confused by the rule of etiquette here. Fodors, please offer this Gentle Reader an explanation at your earliest convenience. Thank you.

Intrepid1

The short answer: nobody knows for certain what drives the removal of posts in some instances.

Do not hold your breath waiting for some "editor" at Fodors to respond to this or the other post or, for that matter, the many e-mails that have already been sent to them asking that the deleted post be returned, etc.

Not being cynical, just realistic. I encourage you to e-mail them also but with a clear-eyed view of what may or may not transpire as a result.

Cassandra

Isn't it possible that once Fodors editors deleted the post, it couldn't be restored? (Not that there's any good indication of why it was pulled in the first place.)

Marilyn

Yes, Cassandra, I think that's very likely. However, this forum seems to have changed in some subtle but not positive ways, and I don't mean the posters. I can't help but wonder what is going on with the editors and whoever is above them on the management chain.

I have always taken the position that it is fodors' forum and they can make the rules, delete posts, kick people off, etc. But I always felt under the rule of a benevolent dictator. I had the sense that the editors partook indirectly in the spirit of this board, and were sympathetic to the community aspects of it. Now I'm not so sure.

We used to know who Danny Mangin was, remember? On the rare occasion that I emailed the editors about a problem (maybe 3 times in 3 years) I received a reply from a real editor who wrote to me like a human being, not in corporate-speak.

Someone (the editor responsible) should have taken the extra few minutes to clean up the London thread instead of deleting it. Sheer laziness and bad judgment, if you ask me.

SB_Travlr

According to the "THIS IS WHY WE POST HERE" thread, the deleted post has been restored. They must have heard from a lot of folks (me included).

Marilyn

I don't think it was restored by fodors. I think several people had saved parts of it and reposted. One of the links did not work for me, but I'll try again.

PalQ

Maybe because this is a travel forum; i'm not condoning it but that would be a valid reason as long as it's always enforced.

Christina

I don't have any opinion on the deleted thread as I didn't see it so don't know what happened (I suspect politics).

However, from past experience with some FOdors staff, they told me once a thread is deleted it is gone (could not be restored), and also the folks who do a lot of that on this board are not really "editors", as I understand it. They have some staff members who are given a lot of power and autonomy to delete posts from this board and do things like that on their own, and sometimes their decision-making is rather arbitrary. It isn't the guys editing Fodors books, nor even the main guys whose names you'll find in the credits.

Patrick

I'm one of those who USUALLY understands when a thread is deleted if it doesn't relate to travel. But under the very unusual circumstances of yesterday's terrorist attack, and also by the fact that tons of this travel forum is often about US travelers to London, it is kind of a stretch to say that messages of support and condolences from US travelers (and others) to London citizens is NOT travel related!

starspinners

I emailed Fodors this morning to request the deleted thread be reinstated and I pasted a copy of my email on the thread started by Buzzy
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34648240

Perhaps, as others have speculated, it isn't possible for Fodors to recover a thread once they have deleted it.

However, there were several things that Fodors could have done other than annihilating the original thread.
If they felt there were parts that were offensive, they could have deleted those posts only.
If they thought the thread was not relevant to the Europe Travel forum ( and I would debate that notion) then they could have moved the original thread to the " Other Topics" forum and left a note on the Europe forum to direct us where the thread had been moved.

And now after so many posters have objected to the original thread's being deleted and have sent emails to the editors, I feel it's time for someone at Fodors to post the reasons for the deletion. In lieu of that they could at least respond that they have read the emails that have been sent.

specs

Well, I hope my message will re-appear; it seems to be gone for now. It hasn't reappeared with the re-posted threads.I appreciate all fodorite thoughts on the matter. Since the editor is anonymous i prefer to think of him as Mr. McFeeley the postman on Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. No political agenda, just goodwill and a speedy delivery is all we ask. I hope that all this will get sorted out soon.

internetexplorer

ttt

internetexplorer

It appears Fodors is not going to respond to the requests for the original thread to be re-posted.
What I wonder is did anyone who emailed Fodors get an email from them in return?

chatham

I didn't.

sfowler

I didn't.
I think they are counting on it just fasing away .... which, given the internet ... it will. We'll get on with our posting just as the Brits are getting on with their lives.