The "Topic deleted by author" placeholder is misleading and should be removed

[Manishhh]

Dear All, @MoniDi

I want to share some constructive feedback regarding a platform feature that currently creates a confusing experience for both content creators and readers on Connect.

Currently, when a user decides to delete their own post, the post does not actually disappear from the forum. Instead, the content is replaced with a persistent placeholder that reads: “Topic deleted by author.”

I would like to request that the team reviews this behaviour for a few key reasons:

• It is fundamentally misleading: When a user clicks “delete,” the expectation is that the content will be removed from public view entirely. Leaving a visible tombstone draws unnecessary attention to a post the author explicitly wanted to take down.

• It causes reader confusion: Fellow Local Guides clicking into a thread or seeing this in search results are met with a dead end. It disrupts the reading experience and clutters the forum boards with empty, unusable threads.

• It defeats the purpose of deletion: Whether a post /comment was created by mistake, contained an error, or the author simply changed their mind, the current system penalizes them by broadcasting that a deletion occurred, rather than just cleaning up the feed.

The Suggestion: Could the Connect development team adjust this so that deleted posts/comment are completely hidden from public view? (Even if they need to be retained on the backend for moderator review, regular users should not see the “deleted by author” placeholder).

Keeping the boards clean and intuitive helps us all focus on the great mapping tips, meetup recaps, and community discussions that matter.

[MoniDi]

Hi @Manishhh,

Thank you for your feedback. Please note that this is intentional behavior. If a topic has many replies, we use a placeholder stating “Topic deleted by author” to avoid breaking the thread’s structure. While it is technically feasible to make the content disappear by automatically shifting the next replies upward, that is highly prone to breaking the layout.

[MortenCopenhagen]

I have removed many such empty messages.

A reason for not being able to remove a topic completely can be justified when there are valuable replies. But when there are no replies I agree that they should vanish from our view as there is no context to preserve. Also, I have suggested the process be automated.

Connect moderators cannot vanish such topics but we can merge them.

[Manishhh]

This makes sense @MoniDi , @MortenCopenhagen ,how about a timer, i mean if you delete a post within 2/5 minutes of posting it vanishes else stays as “topic deleted by author” .
This will help avoid the author embarrasment of sharing a post accidently

[MortenCopenhagen]

The best tip is to avoid creating a new topic until it’s ready to post. I often see Local Guides delete a post just to start over with the same title. There’s no need for that—you can easily edit your existing post instead!