I have a friend who joined a site and posted an application. The application was denied and rather then trying to fix it or make a new one, he just decided that the site wasn't for him. He asked that his application be removed. It's his work and since he didn't want anyone reading it, it seems like a simple enough request.

But the admins refused to remove it. Correct me if I'm wrong, but does this seem really rude to anyone else? He asked politely for them to remove it and they rudely replied that he shouldn't demand anything of them. Since it's his work should they have to take it off if he asks?

did they lock it or something? Why couldn't he just delete it?

Yeah, that's stupid...

It's the player's work. If ANY player ever asked me to remove their profile at any time, I'd do it, no questions asked because it's their intellectual property. Besides, it seems pointless to keep it.

Why do those admins want to keep it? It's a rejected application for someone who doesn't want to play there--so what's the point? What good is it to them--unless they want to steal it?

That makes no sense...and seems unnecessarily cruel on the admins' parts, too. :\

If he can't delete it himself, can he edit it? He could just edit it and delete all the content out of the post.

While I believe that they're being more or less unreasonable - how does it affect them? - he did, after all, submit it to the forum.

Personally, I'd just delete the body of the post if I couldn't delete the post itself.

They deleted his account, and he couldn't have deleted it himself anyways.

Personally that seems rather petty on the Admin's part. I don't see first of all why it would just be denied and then his request rejected. It sounds like the admin took some kind of disliking to this person.

But I always check with the person before I delete anything, in case they want to save it if they haven't already. But then I delete it.

Hm well it all depends on the situation, some admins like to keep collections of denied applications as basically examples of what not to do? I know some guy submitted an absolutely horrible application to my site one time and despite multiple times of me trying to help him fix it, he just basically spat in my face.

So I banned him, editted out specific names and such, and left it as an example of what not to do.

On other hands, it is some times damaging to the forum's database to hard-delete posts so rather then delete posts they just archive them. In this case, however, it just sounds like the admin is a 'meanie' for lack of an appropriate word to use.

If a member at Meliora decides not to edit a profile to the point where it is acceptable, or if they decide to stop playing a character, they are able to choose whether the topic containing their character sheet is deleted or moved to an inactive characters forum (for later editting, archiving for reference, or future reactivation). I want to make sure that sheets are available for those who wish to view them (they're usually useful in some way), and if people would like their work removed (obviously people can't play a character without the sheet available) for some reason I will certainly delete it for them.

It seems that there's just no logical reason for an admin to refuse to remove your friend's work after his application was denied. After all, the admins of this site probably have no use for the application, and they shouldn't have any desire to keep it around for any reason. While I would consider the fact that the application was his work, and remove the sheet for that reason, I also acknowledge that he submitted that work to the internet in a place where people were able to read it and use it in a way that he may not appreciate (and he had to be aware of this). It's unfortunate, but I don't think that there is really anything that he can do to force the admins to remove his application.

I think I would have deleted it or archived it in a safe, locked away place that other people could not see it so his work would not be stolen (because, even if the app was rejected, the app could still be decent... just not up to par). You know, just in case he changed his mind and came back later.

I have, however, witnessed admins like this where they kept the application and let someone else take the character on and used the person who actually wrote it as something like verbal punching bag.

I never delete applications automatically--even if they're one of the rare apps I feel I have to reject--because the player might come back and want to take it elsewhere. But if they request that I delete it, I wouldn't hesitate for a moment. Admins and boards exist, really, to serve players--not the other way around. It's common courtesy. And customer service. ;) Don't forget that the RP world is, technically, an economy. There's a demand for well-run and well-set-up RPs... and there's likewise a demand for dedicated, skilled players. Give and take--serve the members, and members should respect the admins--but recall that they are, fundamentally, customers. They ought to get what they want, within reason.

I think that guy was well within his rights to ask for it to be removed. After all, he wrote it, and I can't see why the admins would want to keep it, other than to use it as an example as what not to do, which I happen to think is out of line. It is basically using someone else's work without permission, and just as bad as going to another board and copying their plot or something like that. It's not like everything you post on a game automatically belongs to the board and its admins! And not only are you using the work without permission, but you're also insulting it in the worst way possible. I know I would be furious if that ever happened to me.

Actually that's a common misconception that stuff like that is their property when they submit to the internet. While some things fall under certain protection laws and such, most roleplays and etc fall under "public domain" because they are not copywritten.

People have even less of a claim to it when they use things that are copy written to other people, such as images and such. But when you submit content to a website, that content belongs to the website and technically falls under Public domain I believe. It might be poor behaviour, but the owners of the site are well within their rights to do so.

Putting content on the internet does not make it public domain- that is a common misconception. Being widely accessible does not negate a copyright, which in the United States, and on any forum that has a server in the United States, means that as soon as its written, it is technically copyrighted to the author.

I'm not really talking about legal rights. I'm just talking about common sense and common decency.

I was doing some research on this a few days back, and what I found supported this statement.

But yes, apart from the legal issues of this, it is about common sense and common decency. If the writer of an application wants the application taken down, you take it down without having to be threatened with legal action, which, lets face it, is a little far-fetched in situations like this.

That's even worse. That, right there, is saying, "We'll get rid of you, idiot, but we're going to keep your application." His application will just look like a guest's, but now, he won't be able to edit it. That makes me mad, personally. There MUST be some motive on the Admins' part for this. Either they want the application to say, "Don't be like this idiot." Or something. >>>>:O

That isn't a very Admin-y behavior. Lemme have the link so I can take out their guts! </kidding> UGH.

I do have a Denied section - I don't see a problem with that. But if a person ever wanted their application removed from the site, I would do it ASAP. :/ I think every Admin should do that (maybe not the Denied section thing, since there are various views on that, but at least do a member's wish to have his application removed).