Cleaned thread

[pockets]

This thread is going off topic a bit, sorry about that. I want to make one more reply and then I will leave it alone, argument is not my goal, sharing a perspective is my only intention here.

Respectfully, I think that your view is too narrow and maybe cynical. I, for one, usually replace dead links in bulk. I might replace dead links in 20 posts in one day. I am also fairly indifferent to how much attention my post gets, I don't post for $$$ and I don't post for either. I have a lot of content that I think other people might want, and so I share it and I just want the stuff that I've shared to be available to someone who comes looking for it.

I am sure that Internet searches bring people to this forum and they are disappointed to find that what they're looking for is not available. But since Internet searches are cached, many, if not most, of these results would come up in Internet searches regardless of whether the PATM dead section were public or not.

[Lonewolf]

As someone steeped in cleaning threads, I'll add my two cents and move on as well...

I've only cleaned threads in Music, mostly along side Gemini, about once a year. It is rather time consuming, and at times, tedious work. But as I see it, we do so mainly to avoid frustration of finding something worthy of download, only to find the link dead. The process of cleaning, as far as showing the "dead link" verbiage, allows for a more streamlined re-up request procedure. It's not something we necessarily look forward to, and no one puts a gun to or head, forcing us to clean, but we do so for the greater good.

Whether certain sections are cleaned better or more often than others is a function of staff availability as well as section popularity, IMO.

And as Reclaimer mentioned, links die randomly for various reasons. Fortunately, as we select hosts carefully, we tend to avoid entire hosts dying (Zippyshare notwithstanding; no one really saw that one coming). But sheer volume prevents us from watching every link in real time, waiting for its demise.

(Not to be mean-spirited or even morbid, a couple major reasons for dead links have to do with posters disappearing, or, God forbid, passing away.)

I like to think we have a really good system in place. How many boards clean their threads? No, it's not perfect, but what board is?

[DoctorNo]

Originally Posted by pockets

Well, this isn't "wrong" but it isn't quite right either. The PATM dead section is also available to members so that they can, if they wish, replace dead links and have their posts moved back to the original thread. I would argue that this is the primary reason that the PATM dead section is viewable to the public, and your reason, though valid, is secondary.

It's also a resource to see what things a model has done. It's better than a database site (eg. IAFD) in many ways in that it has preview pictures, file information, and shows that the content is out there — that it has already been shared.