Closed diaspora topic

Man, why was this closed so fast? 😕

I’ve gone ahead and locked this thread—mostly because there are a dozen other discussions happening right now that basically cover everything you asked. Honestly, we already have dedicated country-specific threads where people talk about what life is like over there, plus plenty of other topics where users compare their current lives to how things used to be back home in the States.

I feel like this question has been pretty much answered multiple times across various different threads already.

Anyway, sorry I didn't get back to you sooner!

Hey there,

A bit late to the party, but whatever...

About a week ago, I started a thread over on the diaspora topic asking, "Is life actually better abroad?" I was just looking for some general perspectives from folks living in the diaspora, without pinning it to one specific country...

Within an hour, the thread was shut down. No explanation provided. Just gone.

When I reached out to the moderator Grace Diaz76 to ask why—basically asking what the criteria are for nuking a thread without warning—she just told me she’d discussed it with another moderator and would "look into it."

She pointed out that I hadn't specified a particular country, to which I replied that I meant the diaspora in general. After that, the thread was wiped clean. Completely deleted.

Watching how things work around here, I’ve gotten the impression that the moderators are always right, no matter what.

Honestly, having followed the diaspora topic for a while now, I've seen plenty of high-quality contributors get pushed out over the last year or two because of moderation, specifically by Grace Diaz76....

Do moderators have to act like little dictators? Or is this just a local thing, where once someone gets a taste of authority, they feel the need to completely overhaul everyone else?

Thanks!

Even though I’m heading out and won't be around this forum much anymore, I’m still listed as a (super)mod over on the diaspora topic, so—well, I might as well weigh in.

Your thread was shut down and deleted for good reason; honestly, it just overlaps too much with existing discussions, and it's basically identical to this one:

Duplicate posts and repeating topics aren't allowed. They never have been, and it’s pretty clearly stated in the sub-forum rules.

I get it—there are plenty of things about the diaspora topic that haven't sat well with people, and some issues are still up in the air, I agree!
But, I guess your appeal regarding the deleted thread is pretty much baseless.

Honestly, tilting at windmills was never worth the effort anyway...

We’ve wandered way too far off track here; this whole thing is basically just fueled by nostalgia now, but fine...

Since our moderator Susan Price pointed out earlier, the thread is being locked for several reasons!

That’s a hell of a response. Personally, I think when you close a discussion, it’s polite to actually provide some context instead of just slamming the door shut...

It’s like getting pulled over by a cop who tells you you're getting a ticket "just because." Like, excuse me? Who's the crazy one here?

She shows up to the diaspora topic, posts a few things, and then disappears—probably fading into obscurity like most people passing through...

lp

Dear Moderators, yet another thread just got nuked from the Diaspora section— . It was just one user asking folks in the diaspora to help her out with a birthday wish for her boyfriend by sending photos from their neck of the woods with a "happy birthday" sign...

The same user posted a similar thread over in Tourism , and she actually got tons of replies; looks like she gathered quite a collection of photos. Her idea even inspired other users to jump in—the posts speak for themselves...
Personally, I’m all for helping people out. I’m a hopeless optimist who believes in paying it forward. Most of us only stick to specific threads or subforums, so I wouldn't have even known about this girl's little project if she hadn't sent me a DM via the Democratic Party asking if I could help by sending a photo from Singapore. I was more than happy to do it. And it wasn't just her; a few other users reached out to me with similar requests afterward.
In my humble opinion, the whole point of this forum is for people (mostly strangers) to comment, ask for help, offer assistance, debate, and share advice or experiences... all while following basic rules of human decency and communication, obviously. I honestly don't see which rule that thread actually broke...

A guy made the exact same request across several Diaspora threads last week (Americans in Asia, Singapore, and a couple others), and all his posts were wiped too... He was putting together a surprise for his girlfriend's birthday and asked the diaspora to snap some photos of him holding a greeting next to local landmarks. I sent him what he needed, too. I really don't get why these requests keep getting deleted in the Diaspora section when they aren't offending anyone and don't seem like spamming the subforum...
Thanks in advance for any explanation!

I've been chatting with the other moderators about this topic, and we should have a final decision ready pretty soon.

In my view, topics like this don't really belong under the diaspora topic since there wasn't much engagement here—it just led to people flooding other threads instead, which ends up being off-topic anyway.
Look, if people aren't interested in helping out, you can't exactly force their hand by asking them over and over in five different threads. It's just not how it works.

That being said, I actually think the idea itself is really sweet and quite charming.

I’m thinking we should just have one big, unified thread in the diaspora topic—rather than splitting things up by specific locations... it keeps the wolves at bay while the sheep outnumber them 😁.
As for how people are responding, most folks are reaching out to the organizers via private message, which stays under the radar (though I’ve heard from a few people that the response has been great, just through PMs), so I really think we'll see a solid turnout in the end.

Glad to see I haven't been "kicked out" yet and that everyone is still trying to keep the forum users somewhat happy 🙂 .
Yeah, okay, so it turns out my boyfriend was flooding other threads, but honestly, he was just being clumsy and clueless. He didn't realize there was already a specific Diaspora topic for what he needed... I know, sounds like I'm making excuses for him, but at least that's how he explained it to me after I grilled him about his (deleted) posts. I even pointed him toward the right thread so he could post his request there properly, and then—bam—the whole thread gets nuked... 😕
There are plenty of other threads sitting there totally dead for weeks (even months!) without a single post, yet those don't get deleted, and this one wasn't even a month old 🤷 ....

I actually agree with the suggestion from NN. For example, on the Diaspora section, we have one main thread for Americans in Asia, but then we also have separate ones for Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, and so on. And judging by the engagement over in the tourism section, I think people will be really interested. When they're diving into a project like this, they'll want to collect as many photos from different destinations as possible.
Thanks again to the moderators for putting in the work and being willing to discuss this.

Sandra Brown18 said:I suggest we just have one single thread under the diaspora topic instead of splitting it up by different locations... quality over quantity, I guess. 😁.
Regarding the response rate, most people tend to message the organizers via private message, which we don't see—though I think the turnout will be good since people have been telling me privately that there's plenty of interest.

I agree with her
(even though, personally, I think the idea is kind of meh 😬—I wouldn't ever use something like that as a greeting card, but if it helps others out, then fine)
The thread itself has potential, and using the Democratic Party messaging could help boost engagement within the diaspora topic.

My take (while I'm still over there) is that there should be just one—one single, unified thread for this. I suspect you guys might actually start a new trend here, which would make it pretty much impossible for us to "ignore" it on the diaspora boards.

So, what’s the move here? If someone happens to be looking for a pair of used jeans, are we supposed to just start a whole new diaspora topic about people donating their old denim? Or should we just start a contest where everyone likes a photo of a baby to decide who wins the title of cutest toddler?

Grace Diaz76 said:So what's next? If someone needs some old jeans, should we just start a diaspora topic about donating denim? Or maybe collect likes on a baby photo to win some contest for cutest toddler?

Exactly... if the supermoderator makes a call, who are you to question their decisions? ☕ 😬

Either way, she isn't going to moderate that... 😬

Megan Hughes25 said:Sure, it turns out the guy ended up spamming other threads, but that was honestly just due to pure haste and sheer ignorance.

http://bit.ly/rpZ2T9 🤷

Poor guy. He clearly didn't realize that dropping the exact same post across ten different threads isn't exactly considered "engaging." 🙂

Linda Price5 said:http://bit.ly/rpZ2T9 🤷

Poor guy. Apparently, he didn't realize you aren't supposed to spam the exact same post across ten different topics. 🙂

Regarding the link—thanks. I'm not quite sure where this idea came from that I don't know what I'm talking about, but thanks anyway. 😁

Otherwise, I just "love" it when people cherry-pick a few words out of context and pretend they've made some brilliant deduction based on half a sentence. 🙄
Same goes for those armchair experts who stick their noses into everything, acting like they've mastered all the world's wisdom when they haven't even read the manual. Look, I'm happy to hear different perspectives and I don't expect everyone to agree with me, but I have zero intention of apologizing to anyone or getting into a back-and-forth fight over sarcastic, malicious comments from people who clearly have no clue what's actually going on. ☕
(Note: this doesn't apply to the moderators)

Alright, look. We’ve already agreed that we’re going to spin up a dedicated thread where people can reach out to the diaspora for help with these kinds of "projects."

We just need to hammer out some ground rules first—you know, to make sure this doesn't devolve into a mess of tiny classified ads or just endless random chatting—before we officially pull the trigger and open it.

Regarding that question Samuel Sanders6 brought up—honestly, I’m not sure what part is tripping you up. 🤷 Both myself and Emily Fowler52 have already told you that there are existing threads where you can find exactly what you're looking for; the real issue (I assume) is that you actually have to put in a little bit of legwork to find them.

And frankly, I don't see the point of your specific topic. How much better life is abroad really comes down to the individual who moved. You mentioned you're only interested in the middle class—as if you're somehow guaranteed to never end up stuck in a lower income bracket. Let's be real: most people moving to the States start from the bottom. Anyway, just do some digging. Read the thread Emily Fowler52 linked you, and maybe then you'll actually get what we're talking about.

Big thanks to the moderators for being so understanding! :klap:

Megan Hughes25 said:I also "love" those internet trolls who feel the need to stick their noses into every single conversation.

I am fairly certain I already flagged those posts. 😁