what does "topic voted down" mean?

Thumbs down > Thumbs up

But I have seen some "topic voted down" here with 18 thumbs up

Does it also show # of thumbs down?

I dont pay any attention to voted up or down. I read almost everything as one should and agree or disagree quietly.

It could mean the thread has been reported to the moderators for some reason and is probably going to be yanked.

No, most moderators don't do it. They allow the public to vote, and if the vote down exceeds vote up, the post collapses and shows "topic voted down" or "Below viewing threshold" like in this forum.

As usual, you don't know what you're talking about. Years ago, when we first started this site up, I WAS a moderator. Haven't been one in years but I DO know how this site works.

So how come Pamela's racist thread "White Victims of Black Crime" that sometimes pop up in the "New Posts" category hasn't been deleted yet?

That interpretation agrees with what I have seen here. Thanks, Andy

It's a personal choice, Hilbert. Try clicking on the "thumbs down" button beside any thread. It'll disappear from view for you and it'll be replaced by "Topic voted down (view)".

Drag your cursor over it and you'll see which thread it is. Click on 'view' and it'll come back into view - I think, until you refresh your screen or maybe, it then stays in your view.

EDIT: I just checked. Clicking on "view" just brings it back until the screen is refreshed. In order to bring back a "Topic voted down" you have to give it a thumbs up. I believe that only one thumbs up per person is allowed, so if you had previously given one it seems logical that you could never bring a Tvd back to permanent view.

2nd EDIT: You can indeed thumbs up a thread as many times as you want, but they don't appear to be permanent.

Posts virtually never get pulled because of racist content or homophobic content or anything of that nature. A thread featuring hard-core porn would probably get yanked but, as far as content goes, that's about it. Threads get closed down primarily when they start acquiring a commercial nature, i.e. if someone is suddenly posting links promoting his/her favorite hair care product or whatever. You'd be surprised at how many threads on this forum are actually initiated with just that in mind -- to sell a product.

Check your preferences under "My Account" at the bottom of the page. You can chose to collapse unpopular threads (those that have reached a certain threshold of thumbs down) and unpopular posts (same deal) or you can set your preferences to "no" and you'll see all of the posts unless you yourself vote it down.

Your preferences only work when you're logged in. If you're looking at the thread listings without being logged in the default is to collapse the unpopular threads/posts.