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I acknowledge how strong the urge to respond can feel and how compulsive it can sometimes become, but let's be honest here... There is nothing stopping you. It's entirely possible with a bit of determination. It's a choice, and one entirely in your power to make. I do acknowledge its not always easy, though. If you must, consider writing it as a draft, but delete it instead of posting it. That can be very cathartic, and frankly mature. All the same... Very glad to hear it.

I'm not trying to become another target for the mods to attack here, but could you "moderators" & some long-term members take it a bit easier on some of the not so scientifically minded individuals that probably just come to these forums to post questions about something... Considering they probably got confused with the term "speculation" and thought it meant you can come into this section to post things that don't have any theories or studies backing them up. I believe they are more so just wanting to post their own "theory" or curious thoughts to the more educated & informed people residing in the forums for their feedback on the particular question... Instead of receiving a subtle (passive-aggressive?) response which they all seem to get whenever they speak without citing or referencing anything............................... What I'm getting at is this: Stop being self-righteous pricks towards newcomers who just want someone smarter than they are on the particular issue to give them some feedback. I'm sure many others reading this feel the same way. Some of you do come across as excessively harsh. Feel free to click the negative button or delete my post, you usually do.

Then no, we can't delete them. All ur posts r belong to us.

Delete my account and all my posts, please.

WHY DID YOU DELETE MY THREAD ABOUT SCIENTIFIC MIRACLES IN THE NOBLE QUR'AN??? I AM NOT LYING I REALLY BELIEVE THEY EXIST LET ME CONVINCE YOU PLX

You don't get me I was asking you to zero them in either direction i.e. to delete them all and you can tell them the listing. Years ago I don't even remember giving rep points at all.

There is probably a plugin you can get for IP.Board that will allow you to do so. But I would say closing older threads wouldn't solve anything really. Just keep with the regular rules. If a post to an older thread is made that isn't sufficient to the rules of the forum, then delete it. Why solve a problem that doesn't exist?

Why? I'll make better posts with my new account. Thanks How do I delete this account?

You can't. You can edit your posts for a limited time - but you cannot edit or delete after that certain time. You can even change your user name for a short period after joining. But you don't get to delete your account and start again.

Just got off a 2 week ban for losing it. Need to trash this account and create a new one. Thanks

I don't know if it's XRumer causing the problem with WebShield in the OP or not; I was...erhm...speculating, yeah speculating. (Sounds better than wild ass guessing don't it?) I do know XRumertest is here because I have been seeing it as logged in at the 'Show Registered Only' who's online list. >> http://www.scienceforums.net/topic/87156-sand-making-machine-makes-great-contributions-to-sand-production-line/When it's there it is grayed and you can't get to a profile the same as when a banned member logs in but can't do anything. Whatever it's doing it can't be good for the board. I reported it to an Admin but got no reply so can't say if it matters or any action was taken. My suggestion was to delete it as a member. As to malware, well it's often bootjacked (or is that shoehorned? Hat-banded?) into spam. Any port in a storm. (Any gird in a loin?)

I had a similar problem and had to open a new account. I was unable to change my username. Please feel free to delete or suspend my previous account.

agreed - it does seem hyper-susceptible to misinterpreting input Nope; the above done in wysiwyg mode, quote, quote, highlight&delete, highlight&delete

I couldn't activate this account as I used a hotmail address but that's sorted now since I used a gmail address Just to let you know, since I was confused, I'd created another account (I don't remember the username to be sincere but it's on the same IP so easy to find) so it's just 2 I have right now.. and tbh, I tried to email the staff on this email in the announcements but my hotmail account got temporarily locked cos there was apparently suspicious activity which I don't understand, so it would be easier to create another account to PM the admin which I did but that account turned out to be a mess so I decided to try to change my email.. it seems that hotmail addresses are being rejected for some reason? so you might want to check that out? Pffttt, sorry for the longish story, but I don't have any good reason to keep my other account anymore so feel free to delete it since it's against the rules anyway. Sorry for the bother.

If no attachments, please moderator to delete

Why staff wouldn`t delete them? I think more space in the server will be occupied.

You may edit your profile to delete all of your personal info, but your posts will remain. Staff will not delete them. If you wish to leave the forum, the simple solution is just to log out and not return.

Humor I think is usually good as it makes the discussion less combative and more interpersonally comfortable, and I think most SFN members would concede to this. But when it's ambiguous internet sarcasm that makes a false assertion directly pertinent to the discussion, as was the case in Ophiolite's anecdotal example if I recall the contents of that thread correctly, it does not have a place besides the end of a DELETE command.

Some answers to frequently asked questions (or paraphrases of questions) that have come up in moderation efforts or in the Support forum. This will be amended as needed. 1. Someperson is wrong! Why don't the moderators step in and do something? We don't do that. The role of the staff (when acting as staff) is to enforce the rules, so we don't make determinations on who is correct. We do, however, participate in discussions as members of the site, and may weigh in in that capacity, but generally do not mix the roles of enforcing moderation and participation in a discussion. (Some "housekeeping" actions, such as moving posts to a more appropriate area, can still happen while participating) 2. Why was what I posted called a hijack? Or off-topic? The topic of discussion is set by the first post in a thread. If your post is such that it changes the discussion from what the original post(er) (OP) was talking about to what you want to talk about, you are guilty of attempted hijacking. Posting your own pet theory anywhere but in its own thread in the Speculations forum is always considered a hijack. Off-topic is related to this, but this usually arises in the context of commentary on an answer or a subsequent post to the original. Rather than continue the side discussion, a new thread should be made. 3. What is soapboxing? It's when you are simply making a speech, rather than engaging in a discussion. This is what blogs are for. 4. Why was I yelled at for copyright/plagiarism? Copyright is a set of laws that protect things that people write, and mean you can't just paste entire screeds here without permission (and simply existing somewhere on the internet is not permission). Under the provision called Fair Use, you can post small excerpts for review and commentary. Copyright also protects pictures and drawings, so anything posted here should be done with permission or under some form of Creative Commons license. Plagiarism is an ethical violation that occurs when you present material as your own. That is, you have not attributed the work of others. Whenever you are using the creative work of others, you should post an attribution and whenever possible, a link to the source material. 5. What gives you the right to censor me? This is not a public place, and we are not the government, so any such free speech protections do not apply. The price of participation here is that you agree to follow the rules. The people who run the site are well within their authority to remove posts that violate the rules. Moving posts to an appropriate section is not censorship — your words are still there. There are a number of threads where this discussion has taken place. The search function should help you find them. 6. Will you delete my account or remove some post I made? No. We don't delete accounts. If you don't want to participate anymore, it's a simple matter of not coming here. We don't generally remove posts, because doing so after the fact is disruptive to conversations. If you aren't going to stand by something you post, you shouldn't post it. 7. Where is my post? Sometimes posts/threads get moved. Though we try and leave a trail, it doesn't always happen. If you go into your profile, you can click on either the topics or posts box to find your material. If you hover over your user name in a thread, there is a "my content" link. A third option is to use the advanced search function and type in your user name as the only entry, and you will get a list of everything you've posted. 8. Why was my thread locked? Threads are locked if they are duplicates or if the staff decides they have run their course. The latter happens when the thread originator is not engaging in useful discussion — usually by ignoring critiques and simply repeating the same points over and over again. 9. Why was my post moved to Speculations? This has its own FAQ 10. I was expressing my opinion. Why are you asking me for links? This means you probably weren't merely expressing an opinion. An opinion is a personal, subjective view, but if you are asserting a claim as an objective truth, i.e. something that others must accept as truth, then it's not an opinion. And in that case, it's perfectly reasonable for someone to call you on it and ask you to support your claim. Any factual reason(s) you might have given in order to justify your opinion are similarly open to a call for a link to confirm it.

You can edit posts (with the Edit link in the lower right) for a few hours after you post them; after that, editing is no longer possible. You can't delete your own threads though.

Hi, Is it possible for me to edit a topic that I created if I wish to rephrase my question? Is it possible to delete the topic so that I may just make a new one? The only reason is because I don't want to flood the forum with multiple threads of the same topic only slightly rephrased. Of course I know if its not possible then I can just add a comment, but I's much rather edit. Please help. Thanks, pyroglycerine

The quote function - a brief tutorial; although I expect/hope that this might grow into a thread as other members explain techniques and tricks that I don't know about. 1. Plain Quote Box The simplest form of quotation is used to make it clear that some text is copied from elsewhere and isn't yours - a link or source is expected as well. From Wikipedia page on Plagiarism - here a. Copy text from source b. Paste - you can just right-click / ctrl-v or you can use the paste plain text button if you want to remove formatting and hyperlinks c. Highlight the text - click the quote button d. Go back to source and copy webpage address e. Paste this into your post normally f. If you want to customise your link (as above) investigate the link button 2. Quoting a Post We also have a system that allows us to quote another post from the forum - the software will automatically add in the name, time, and date of the post quoted as well as putting a link to the source. Within one thread this is a one click job - a. click the quote button at the bottom right of the post you wish to quote. Hit "return/enter" or use your mouse to move the cursor outside of the quote box, and then start typing your response. You can see the link button that appears on a post quote - clicking this little curved arrow will take you directly to the quoted post. Note you can do this at any point of your post - the quote will be inserted at the point you leave the cursor. 2a. Quoting from another thread If you wish to quote a post from a different thread - it is basically the same process a. Hit quote button at the the bottom of the post you wish to quote. b. Copy entire contents of text entry box. c. Paste this in thread where you wish quote to appear. d. It would be best if you also provide a notice that this quoted post is from another thread. e. I would copy the post in BBcode mode - see 5 below - as it is easier to see what must be copied. 3. Editing a Quote You can also delete partial content of the quoted post to make it clear which part of a post your are responding to - ALWAYS make sure that this is done obviously to avoid misrepresenting another member a. Quote as above in 2. b. Click and select section(s) to be deleted (do not select first character of post this will break things) - and delete. Replace with ellipsis, with [deleted] or \snipped. c. You can quote and delete multiple times to reply to different sections of a post. Or quoting different posters. 4. MultiQuote If you wish to quote multiple posts in full there is an easy short cut using the multiquote button 1. Hit the multiquote button on each post you wish to quote - it will turn green 2. When you have selected all the posts you wish to quote hit the newly appeared floating button You can edit these posts as above but again ALWAYS make sure that this is done obviously to avoid misrepresenting another member 5. BBCode (thanks to HyperV - I had forgotten this bit) Splitting quotes may also done by clicking the light-switch button on the top left of the reply box. a. Hit the lightswitch styled button b. This will show any hidden BBCode tags in the post c. This view and the use of tags will allow you to break up quotes using the begin quote tags around the sections of text you wish to separate (without the space). d. Please note that you must have the same number of tags. You may edit a quote to show who authored it using, as an example, This is very handy if you are quoting multiple sections of quotes from different members.

! Moderator Note To clarify: the staff generally don't delete posts unless they break the rules concerning civility (or spamming; posters spamvertising in the forums are banned and their posts deleted). Post that are off-topic and likely to or actually hijack a discussion are often moved into new threads, especially if the member is new, but it depends on the post. The trash can is used more often for repeat hijacking offenders, when the staff start to get fed up with the rule being ignored.

I moved this. I'm a mod and just think I can run everything and rule everyone. Except that's not true; I moved this post in complete accordance with the rules — the opening is an off-topic hijack, which violates the rules, and that means I can delete it or move it. I could have moved it to the trash, where there could be no further discussion, but it warrants a response and perhaps other commentary, so I moved it here. As Ophiolite says, you do not have a right to free speech here; that right is between you and the government where you live; the government is (supposedly) limited in how they can censor you. How much depends on where you live. The price you pay for entering this forum is that you agree to follow some rules, and if you don't follow them, you might be shown the door. If you don't like that caveat, you can go somewhere else and start your own blog and then you can say what you please. THAT is how you can exercise your right to free speech.

I would like to add my voice to that. Quoting is problematic (Safari user here). I have had two problems, both specifically related to the fact that when you edit a reply the quoted text is "locked in a quote box" and I cannot seem to edit the tags: 1) sometimes I'll be trying to delete some quoted text from the top of the quote and if I accidentally backspace when the cursor is right at the beginning, then the server sends me back to the thread and I lose all my reply. (frustrating!) 2) I wanted to break up the quote into separate boxes and put some of my own text in between. It just wouldn't let me because i couldn't put the tags where I wanted them.