Forum Moderation

Meta
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Good Monday all! :waving_hand:t2:

Do I need to explain how to query things when self-hosting a Discuss instance?

I apparently need to do so on a Sunday evening.

So here we go:

  1. https://discuss.privacyguides.net/latest?status=deleted, quick and dirty way to see the deleted threads (not messages inside but still)
  • /deleted-posts is also a decent easy starting point
  1. if we want to check which admin deleted what: https://discuss.privacyguides.net/admin/logs/staff_action_logs?filters={"action_name":"delete_post","action_id":17,"acting_user":"YOUR_USERNAME"}
  2. Data Explorer also looks like a very good tool to go even further in terms of query especially when we have access to the DB and allows us to check who deleted a given post with things as simple as
SELECT p.id, p.user_id, u.username AS author, p.topic_id, p.raw, p.deleted_at, deleter.username AS deleted_by
FROM posts p
JOIN users u ON u.id = p.user_id
JOIN users deleter ON deleter.id = p.deleted_by_id
WHERE p.deleted_at IS NOT NULL
  AND deleter.username = 'admin_username'
ORDER BY p.deleted_at DESC

You probably know the rest, I won’t be cocky explaining how to query a DB any further.

My point: it is quite trivial to find out what/where/when was deleted, let’s not pretend it’s not there or hard to find especially with admin access.

Alright, I’ll be taking the voice regarding some concerns people have raised publicly[1] and apply a pragmatic filter on some of their takes.
Idea is not to get into drama or waste everybody’s time but to get short and clear answer as of why some topics are again, silently deleted.

Overall idea here

  • :cross_mark: bring a negative or crusade mood against PG[2]
  • :cross_mark: endless drama/bikeshedding about some endless nonsense
  • :green_circle: get to have some transparency as of why controversial topics are shadow-removed on a forum that is about privacy and doing things in a respectful manner[3]

Fair compromise on deleted threads

I do understand the reasons of deleting topics when it comes down to:

  • some old users willing to anonymize/delete their accounts/posts and not allowing us to start digging grave: right to be forgotten :white_check_mark:
  • topics that are a duplicate of another/mistake or just edited and overall literally empty :white_check_mark:
  • scam or other nonsense where a new account just shares their crypto-scam :white_check_mark:
I could even understand the following to some extent:
  • being fed up with an endless topic/controversial
  • the annoyance of needing to moderate/check constantly what’s happening there
  • decide to mark it as resolved ✅ unilaterally[4]
  • proceed to close the thread

Deleting it tho? Sounds a bit heavy-handed and unnecessary. :-1:t2:

Main course :sushi:

Let’s then talk about this specific thread

Is Constructive Feedback on Whonix/KickSecure Being
Censored?

Here is a PDF printed version of the webpage[5]

Is Constructive Feedback on Whonix_KickSecure Being Censored_ - Meta - Privacy Guides Community.pdf (253.2 KB)

Let’s dissect that thread and all the various points

  1. some (now deleted) user posted some question/feedback expressing a nuanced opinion. Might been based, low effort or whatever their words still stand tho

If I were spreading misinformation, I would understand the removal. However, I’m sharing factual observations which I believe contribute to healthy discourse.

Which is what could be nice overall here if left in the open: healthy discourse. :light_blue_heart:
Their first message is overall better written than anything I could up with my own english. :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

The overall point of how good their current thread (or past thread) can be discussed, yet they were professional and respectful.
Nothing on PG’s side that would be too concerning or alarming, pass on this one. :white_check_mark:

  1. OP allegedly spent quite a few hours writing a previously lengthy message, yet it was deleted with no warning or anything.

Again, I cannot say if it’s a lie or correct but I wouldn’t see why a person would do such things and create chaos while coming with nice intentions at the same time.

Concerning point tho is the fact that @jonah reacted by proposing OP to just create a blog to avoid such issues in the future.
I do not disagree with people hosting their own blog/socials[6], yet it looks like a weird thing to say to somebody on a forum.

Don’t want your thing deleted bro? Just build your own :+1:t2:

It reminded me of this take that @nateb had on a totally different thread that clearly said that not everybody has the time to just spin a blog on their free time in between chores/kids/work.

I myself stopped writing lengthy explanations into the Questions section of this forum where I usually pour a few hours in total for topics I do enjoy around privacy.
They are (usually) less subject to being unlisted but still, I would have them being deleted for X or Y reason[7]
It’s not the end of the day for someone technical or with enough time it’s doable, but quite uncool as a whole. :-1:t2:

  1. So far, nothing too bad right? Indeed.

Let’s proceed.
@jonah closed this overall messy thread with strong opinions by marking with the following

OP inquired “Is Constructive Feedback on Whonix/KickSecure Being Censored?” and the answer was that no, this did not happen in this moderation case. I don’t see how further comments from non-moderators about our past moderation events can be constructive, so I am closing this as a resolved question.

Which is also fair and square. Nothing wrong with that kind of behavior. :+1:t2:

Now, after a few days the entire thread is unlisted, then deleted.
Why?! :woman_shrugging:t2: (cc @team)

There are no reasons to delete such a post

  • it does not consume any resources staying there
  • it is locked and solved, hence no further interaction is possible
  • it does not infringe any kind of guideline on this forum AFAIK

There are a few rules in the TOS that are a bit fancy:

  • You may no longer use the forum if the company contacts you directly to say that you may not
  • You may not automate access to the forum, or monitor the forum, such as with a web crawler, browser plug-in or add-on, or other computer program that is not a web browser. You may crawl the forum to index it for a publicly available search engine, if you run one.

but overall nothing alarming or too weird that was broken in the thread above.

That’s all? :thinking:

Maybe this case in isolation is not that bad of a situation you might say?
And I would very much agree but this is (unfortunately) a recurring theme at this point. :pensive_face:

More threads were also deleted, here are 2 samples:

I won’t be sharing any backups for those here but feel free to reach out on Signal if you want to know more. :+1:t2:

Now, you might be wondering why are those posts deleted?
And I have no idea besides looking dirty, maybe?

Moreover, I don’t mind having posts deleted for a fair reason (as stated above) but it’s just not cool to have it delayed enough to fly under the radar of people noticing.
Reminds me of what some companies are doing when it comes down to hiding their mess under a rug when the storm is finally settling down… :face_without_mouth:

Some folks here do indeed care and could go over their 4 past months of browser history just to see if some of their Internet friends replied to their messages on the Internet[8], turns out quite a few others were also deleted.
Might be because scams/duplicate or others and that’s fair but let’s please keep this community healthy and have something transparent where we do not censor people’s voice unless no-one is noticing it on the front page of the forum. :see_no_evil_monkey: :mending_heart:

Why do I myself we care

Most people that are upset about this situation want the community to thrive

CleanShot 2026-03-08 at 21.30.17@2x
CleanShot 2026-03-08 at 21.30.17@2x1306×391 29.2 KB

I myself applied for the position of doing some videos for the PG team back in October 29, 2025 as shown below :backhand_index_pointing_down:t2:

CleanShot 2026-03-08 at 23.28.20@2x
CleanShot 2026-03-08 at 23.28.20@2x500×414 34.2 KB

I indeed wanted to push the community forward and bring healthy interactions yet allow everybody to be heard. Let’s not split this community further, we need to stick together more than ever given what’s happening out there. :sweat_smile:

Yet I cannot stand behind the latest PG’s moderation/behavior when it comes down to allow conversation to happen: controversial, news-related or just about security/privacy in general. :confused:

Now, I personally can will build a small little community anyway, so my disagreement with PG’s way of handling things here is not really a huge deal breaker.

Yet, it would be nice to not leave everybody left in the streets given that we had some recent loss already. Some amazing people left already, let’s stop the bleeding and make everything in the best interest of everybody here.
We all want PG to be a cool place to hang around with our online friends. :mending_heart:

PS: I spent quite some time and soul writing this in the best way possible.
Hopefully I won’t need to use a backup and this thread won’t be another of the lost ones… :dove:

  1. or privately on Signal ↩︎

  2. most people that were/are still here stay because they like what PG is doing :light_blue_heart: ↩︎

  3. I’m a group of people that do dislike some of this behavior and I’m personally trying to add a bit of water to their wine but it is getting harder by the day when things pile up as of lately :sweat_smile: ↩︎

  4. as in, mark it as solved yourself with admin rights, rather than letting OP do that themselves, which is borderline “I got you bro, let me just close it for you” ↩︎

  5. but you could also copy-paste this URL into your favorite archiving tool if afraid of opening a random pdf file on the Internet: https://discuss.privacyguides.net/t/is-constructive-feedback-on-whonix-kicksecure-being-censored/35760/8 ↩︎

  6. quite the opposite, I would encourage everybody to not be dependent on any platform, forum or whatever and keep their sovereignty as much as possible by using standards ↩︎

  7. I guess that from now on, I’ll be just writing things on my own like @ThePrivacyDad and sharing them here for feedback, less interactive for sure… :melting_face: ↩︎

  8. don’t ask me how I know that one :light_blue_heart: ↩︎

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