Why are posts disappearing?

I have deleted one so far, and the reason is I was getting some weird replies from people. So I thought it best to remove an article that was upsetting people, not my intent!

These were non-controversial posts. Nothing obvious as to why they would be deleted. Just kind of annoying when I take the time to type out a reply for the whole thing to disappear!

The people asking the questions and starting the topics delete the entire thing for reasons only they know.

A lot of times it is because they seem to have pre conceived answers and they are looking for confirmation of their thoughts. When that doesn't happen, they delete them.

Others seem to think only they will benefit from the answers so they delete when they have enough info.

It would be nice if people would leave the topics here not only because it allows others to find the answers when they have similar questions, but all the efforts we put into the answers don't just evaporate. It does seem to be happening much more often lately that things disappear.

Any posting in particular? Because I cannot remember seeing anything deleted recently. But don't read them all either. Generally there is some type of notice if the webmaster deletes a posting but he is more likely to do some heavy editing than a total deletion. If it just disappears, then OP pulled it.

Frank is mostly right, and I will pull a whole thread if it's a big mess of guideline violations. There was nothing like that this time around and I didn't pull the thread. I've PMed you, valadelphia.

One was a honeymoon question, so I took a lot of time writing up advice on that. The other was possibly a troll--one of those "see all the country in a week" kind of things, so I wrote a cursory response and not too fussed about that.
Both disappeared in less than 10 minutes, so it must have been the OPs, just annoying!
I know politeness cannot be policed, but seems strange that someone would post a question and then delete so quickly--before any responses appeared in the first case!

We should keep a copy of every reply.

Then at the end of the year we can put all replies that have been deleted in one “AD MEMORIAM” post to remember all “dead” replies.

Obviously, similarly to when they remember departed actors at the Academy Awards, the post should have also the same music from the score of Cinema Paradiso.

I think there are lots of reasons for an OP to pull a posting and sometimes to pull it quickly. Some very valid. Seen more than once where the question was really stupid or very poorly phrased with the result it became obvious to the OP and was pulled to save embarrassment. And sometimes they are in the wrong section and get moved. But I don't think it is frequently occurring.

I also find it a bit annoying to spend time posting information, only to have it removed for whatever reason. That prevents others from benefiting from the various replies.

I assume the "frozen turkey to Italy" thread was removed by the OP?

The 'things I learned on my trip to Europe' thread seems to have disappeared...

I assume the "frozen turkey to Italy" thread was removed by the OP?

I'm thinking she did. She wasted her time and our time by asking for opinions that she didn't want to hear and eventually ignored. Her idea of flying with a turkey was bad for many reasons. She was given viable alternatives which she completely ignored. I don't understand her daughter's obsession with having turkey on an American holiday while living in another country. Half the fun of traveling is to participate in traditions of other countries and to sample their cuisine.

Re: a thread asking a honeymoon question, perhaps the finance did not want to risk his significant other seeing notices for replies (or risk that he/she might also log into the RS Forum doing his/her own searching and see the posts). It could be he/she posted from his/her work email and did not want to continue to receive a lot of emails once he/she got the question answered.
I have deleted threads sometimes in the past, because I would get about 15 responses all saying the same thing, or the thread started going in a different direction, or I got an odd PM or two related to it.
It could also be the person used his/her real name, not thinking, and then realized that was a huge mistake. I have sent a PM or two to people who have done that,suggesting they keep a more vanilla identity on line,especially when they give their full names,and state they will be going to XYZ country from August 1-10 and that they will fly from XYV airport because they live 10 miles south in ABC community. An easy Google search could tell they were the distribution manager or something at ANY corporation.
Lots of reasons people can choose to take down a thread they started.
Just realize that you were helpful to that person asking the question, and remember that no thread has to stay up for eternity. The idea is for individuals to help other individuals. For those threads that posters leave up that ultimately help others, that's great.
I also sigh when I see someone still giving advice to someone two months later, when in the question the OP stated he/she is leaving for the trip in two days. That has got to be irritating. It is also difficult to retrieve emails sometimes when traveling, so if I make a post close to a departure date,I will usually delete it to avoid having to download all the notification of posting emails (realizing I could choose to just not be notified).

I have gotten a huge amount of information from reading old threads on this forum. I'm working on Scotland now, and I started by reviewing posts from 2015 through 2018, making notes as I went. I then read 3 guidebooks. My tentative plans changed hardly at all as a result of reading those books, because I had gleaned so much good information right here.

PLEASE do not delete threads with substantive responses. Change your settings (temporarily) if you get tired of the notifications.

I, at least, do not write responses just for the original poster. I write responses for anyone who might be planning to travel to the same place at the same time of year. In theory, that should help cut down on repetitive threads.

This is generating a lot of discussion BUT ---- is it a real issue? I don't see a lot of posts disappearing but maybe I am not attuned to it either. I tend to post a response and move on. It is rare for me to check back after I have made a response unless I think my response will generate a question. And then it is only a quick hit. And rarely open a posting that has more than ten or more response assuming that the question has been well answered with the first ten. I guess I don't feel the same degree of ownership in my response that others might feel about their responses. This site is far more flexible with posting than many other where the posting is frozen after a short period of time. I like this site's format so lets not mess with it too much.

It's annoying to spend a lot of time crafting a response (possibly including some online research to be sure your information is current) and have it disappear. It is only logical that if threads I have participated in disappear, some others do, as well--threads that might be of use to me and other readers later.

I just don't get the mindset that the information being posted is only for the use of the person who started the thread. If that were the case, the board software would automatically delete threads X weeks after their creation.

The ultimate is when you craft a reply, post it and find the thread has already been deleted.

I note there is no guidance given in the welcome to the forum regarding deletion at all.

It's not a big deal--wondering if I should delete this one now, lol. it just happened to me twice in a very brief period of time--once when yes, the post disappeared before I could even add my lengthy reply. Adding a point about deletion to the sticky is not a terrible idea though. I think some people have no idea they are actually engaging in a conversation of sorts. I should know better after participating on forums for a long time. It's just a bummer when you have a good suggestion for someone, type up several paragraphs, and they're like "oh, never mind."

Too funny, Roberto! I would love to pull up the Forum on my screen and have that happen, Cinema Paradiso music and all.

Kaeleku's comment that posts "effectively disappear" once they move off the first page -- sad that new readers miss the other 4000+ pages of information.

Sometimes I think people new to the site (or forums in general) delete posts when they've made an error but don't know how to edit. That or, based on initial responses, they've decided to go back to the drawing board so figure their original post is no longer relevant?

i'll agree that it's too bad more folks don't use the search function, although you have to be careful how long ago the information of interest was posted as things can change. I do appreciate that RS closes thread activity after a time so that very old, outdated discussions can't be dragged up again, as happens on some other sites.

If the Search function worked better, I imagine more of us would use it. I have better luck with Google. When I'm planning a trip, I just go to the appropriate country forum(s), scroll back as many years as I want, and read forward. I'll miss some pertinent comments that were posted in other spots, but hopefully most of that information will also have appeared in the specific country forum. My process takes a lot of time, but it's worth it to me since I tend to spend a lot of time in each country I visit.

Personally, I don't think many authors delete their posts. I follow a couple of Trip Advisor forums, one quite closely, and it rare for a question to disappear. The posters don't seem to delete even deeply idiotic questions.

I have recently started saving a copy when I take the time to compose a longer post. A while ago I wanted to go back and find lengthy advice I gave on something and couldn't so now I have my own file of "frequent replies."

So if you find yourself thinking "I've seen several posters mention row-boating on Loch Awe" it's probably just me.

This forum allows for the OP to delete an entire topic if they desire. They cannot remove individual responses to their topic from others, that is the responsibility of the person posting the response or the Webmaster.

Does Travel Advisor allow that too? Most don't.

If not, then that is why those "deeply idiotic questions" remain.

I verified that when the OP deletes their question on TA, the whole thread disappears, idiotic or not.