new underhand style of moderation

Because editing each individual post with a comment (even if copied and pasted) can take much much longer than batch selecting the 25-50-100 posts that need to be deleted and clicking "Delete" and removing them all in one go.

I have had to delete multiple posts in forums. I have had to start at the first offending post, then read through every post on the thread following to see who referenced it, quoted it, replied to it, argued with it etc. I have simply selected each post that needed to be deleted and deleted them. And even that takes quite an amount of time. A thread full of edited posts saying "post removed. Off Topic" would quickly become very tiresome for posters scrolling through, and it wouldn't look good on the thread to have post after post saying "post removed".

Actually removing the posts is a far cleaner, simpler and efficient way of dealing with posts that shouldn't be on the thread.

Yes, one post after all that to say "Off-topic posts deleted" would be very helpful, and in fairness is something moderators regularly use. But editing each individual post rather than deleting is not something I would be in favour of. It would quickly lead to feedback threads asking why are there 100s of "post removed" posts and why are they not just removed altogether.

But that's assuming there's 1 offending posts and only all replies to it are problematic.

There could be a large number of unrelated posts that need to be deleted. Off topic, petty arguments, backseat modding, personal abuse, etc. I think editing posts with "Post removed" will lead to an awful lot of edited posts PLUS deleted posts.

I suppose it's something to consider and might be worth trialing, but it would really be up to the moderators in those busy, fast moving forums to decide whether they think it is a workable solution in their particular forum.

Already moderators do leave "off topic posts deleted" notes occasionally. I think this should suffice rather than editing individual posts to say they've been deleted.

As I said, I'm open to considering it, if moderators think it is workable and will be a benefit rather than a hindrance.

I cannot speak for all moderators. Only myself. I regularly add notes saying "x number of off-topic posts deleted". Sometimes I just delete an off-topic post and don't leave a note because the thread has moved on. Sometimes I PM the poster and explain that I've removed their post, rather than issue a warning.

I also understand that some moderators are dealing with forums and threads and reported posts an awful lot busier than my forums.

I have taken your points on board. I have contacted every moderator group with a link to this thread and asked that the comments are taken on board and that efforts are made to make decisions more transparent for posters.

I hope this is a satisfactory response to your original complaint.

Moderators are posters too, and are perfectly entitled to post when and where they like on the forum. Being a moderator does not preclude anyone from also being a poster.

If you ever have any problem with any post or poster you know what to do.

I will lock this thread at this stage because the issue has been addressed and will be monitored. I see no reason to leave it open for lazy potshots at volunteer moderators.