Hey everyone! There are valid questions here... lemme address:
Any time a thread is removed, a PM is suppose to be sent to the original poster on why it was removed. If that didn't happen, then we apologize. We've got a great group of moderators here, but like many of us they get busy and none of us are perfect.
Any time a post is edited by a moderator there is suppose to be a comment in the post with a quick blurb about why it was edited.
Many of the items removed or edited are things that we (the staff) consider in the gray area of appropriateness for this forum. We often err on the side of caution, and do so based on our collective 50 years of experience working with this community.
Also, many times threads are moved to the staff section for review and cleanup... not because of what the original poster posted, but because of replies. In these cases we decide if it is worth the effort and time to do all the editing, but either way the original poster should be notified via PM.
Please don't confuse our love of this group and desire to see everyone get along with bitterness or banning freedom of speech. No member has the insight to the thousands of reports we get from other members on different posts. Please keep this in mind when judging the actions of our staff.
Regarding "freedom of speech": This is a very interpretable statement. BYC does NOT support "freedom of speech" in the traditional sense. You can not come on this forum and talk about adult topics, porn, drugs, hate speech, etc. We also don't allow PETA or Cock Fighting topics and discourage religious and political topics. BYC was not established as a forum of freedom of expression... there are other forums out there that allow this, but I promise 99.3% of you won't like them as much as you like BYC (for the .7% that do, they usually end up being unhappy here and some get banned).
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Excellent point. We have a VERY diverse group of staff, which is really good for the community. Each member will moderate differently from the others, but rarely (if ever) does one moderator do something that the other 12 disagree with... which is pretty amazing!
At the end of the day, BYC will never be all things to all people, but there is a reason why BYC is the best and fastest growing chicken community in the world... great staff, solid / proven rules, and wonderful members!