Title:           Concerns RE: Derpibooru moderation
Author:          Anonymous
Pastebin link:   http://pastebin.com/HryjbJwV
First Edit:      Tuesday 25th of February 2014 10:47:24 AM CDT
Last Edit:       Tuesday 25th of February 2014 10:47:24 AM CDT

What is spam? I recently posted a pony confession image that was deleted as spam, so I decided to assume good faith and come here (as we're supposed to do when we have an issue) to ask for a clear, consistent definition of the term, because as I saw it there were plenty of images under the "exploitable meme" tag that many would consider to have little to no artistic merit, and yet they remain.
 
From my (albeit limited) experience with this site's moderation, as well as the general sentiment in /mlp/, it seemed to me that the mods were using "spam" as a catch-all excuse for deleting whatever they felt like. After all, once an image is deleted someone has to notice a gap in the numbering system to even notice its absence, and even then all they can really do is take the deletion log's word for it, as there's no record of the actual image.
 
I thought this could be rectified by simply setting up a set of impartial criteria for determining if something qualifies as spam, instead of leaving it up to a moderator's current mood or tastes. I thought that this would also be a good way to increase confidence among the userbase that Derpibooru is a site of rules, not of men, and their uploads weren't subject to the capricious whim of whatever moderator is having a bad day. I also expressed concern that deletion logs no longer show the username of the mod who deleted an image, resulting in even less transparency and accountability.
 
I tried to give you the benefit of the doubt, asked an honest question, and expressed my concern. I got no response. I checked back later and found nothing still. Then the thread disappeared, and I discovered that it too had been deleted and marked as spam. I tried to not assume the worst or believe the zeitgeist on /mlp/ and to gave you some tips to improve, and my concerns weren't only ignored or shut down; they were censored entirely, meaning no one else would know what happened or what my concerns were; anyone interested enough to investigate (if they even found the traces of something to investigate) would be told my concerns had just been "spam". This is not a grown-up way to respond to criticism, and I fear my initial concerns about administrative overreach have been all but confirmed.
 
I made this thread because I just wanted to let other users know what is going on. Because of this, if you simply delete this thread without addressing my concerns or answering my questions, I will repost this post in its entirety to /mlp/ to ensure that you so not succeed in silencing dissent and others aren't deliberately kept in the dark.