Author Topic: Why Cant Remove Older Posts?  (Read 11035 times)

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Online MechatrommerTopic starter

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Why Cant Remove Older Posts?
« on: December 13, 2011, 07:20:37 pm »
i just browsed my older posts, through profile section. i noticed some/most of them dont have "Remove" option so i cant delete (but some can), but when i clicked to open the thread where it is, then only i can delete it. is it intentional? or a bug? or both? or neither?  ???
Nature: Evolution and the Illusion of Randomness (Stephen L. Talbott): Its now indisputable that... organisms “expertise” contextualizes its genome, and its nonsense to say that these powers are under the control of the genome being contextualized - Barbara McClintock
 

Offline Jon Chandler

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Re: Why Cant Remove Older Posts?
« Reply #1 on: December 13, 2011, 09:00:46 pm »
Personally, I don't like forums where previous messages can be edited.  I hate replying to something, only to look like a fool when the original poster edits the message to say something different after I've posted.
 

Offline McMonster

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Re: Why Cant Remove Older Posts?
« Reply #2 on: December 13, 2011, 09:17:34 pm »
Some forums automatically block editing and removing posts after certain time, for clarity, order and cases like Jon Chandler described above.
 

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Re: Why Cant Remove Older Posts?
« Reply #3 on: December 14, 2011, 12:48:25 am »
Deleting posts should not be allowed after a reply has been posted in my opinion, it breaks the flow of the conversation.
 

Offline Psi

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Re: Why Cant Remove Older Posts?
« Reply #4 on: December 14, 2011, 12:53:18 am »
It's equally annoying if you write a post and use the preview button to get it exactly right and spelled correct only to find 3 people have already posted by the time you're actually ready to hit submit.

I much prefer to post an answer and then tidy it up with editing afterwards.

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Online MechatrommerTopic starter

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Re: Why Cant Remove Older Posts?
« Reply #5 on: December 14, 2011, 09:17:21 am »
you people are off topic! :D i know what i should delete to avoid broken forum (which will make the job harder, make my spirit down :P). but its random. some less usefull with no reply no quote msg i cannot delete, but other more usefull posts i can delete. maybe i should check again if my previous msg that has been replied by others made it "undeletable". i just want to make sure if its intentional or a bug. i'm not against anything. ;)
Nature: Evolution and the Illusion of Randomness (Stephen L. Talbott): Its now indisputable that... organisms “expertise” contextualizes its genome, and its nonsense to say that these powers are under the control of the genome being contextualized - Barbara McClintock
 

Offline EEVblog

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Re: Why Cant Remove Older Posts?
« Reply #6 on: December 14, 2011, 11:19:01 am »
i just browsed my older posts, through profile section. i noticed some/most of them dont have "Remove" option so i cant delete (but some can), but when i clicked to open the thread where it is, then only i can delete it. is it intentional? or a bug? or both? or neither?  ???

I don't recall any option that would disable you being able to delete your old posts, I certainly didn't enable anything.
I don't think you can delete your own post if it's the first in the thread perhaps?
Not sure if SimpleMachines has that option of disabling old post editing after a set time?

Dave.
 

Offline McMonster

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Re: Why Cant Remove Older Posts?
« Reply #7 on: December 14, 2011, 12:48:50 pm »
i just browsed my older posts, through profile section. i noticed some/most of them dont have "Remove" option so i cant delete (but some can), but when i clicked to open the thread where it is, then only i can delete it. is it intentional? or a bug? or both? or neither?  ???

I don't recall any option that would disable you being able to delete your old posts, I certainly didn't enable anything.
I don't think you can delete your own post if it's the first in the thread perhaps?
Not sure if SimpleMachines has that option of disabling old post editing after a set time?

Dave.

It does, Administration > Forum > Message settings > Time for editing since posting message (or something like that, I use different language).
 

Online MechatrommerTopic starter

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Re: Why Cant Remove Older Posts?
« Reply #8 on: December 14, 2011, 06:15:25 pm »
in the older SMF, "remove" button is available to all messages iirc. as i said its random now, no correlation if its older post or not, to say it simpler, its interleaved between "got remove button" and "no remove button" (up to notify button only) messages, or about half the messages in currently displayed page can be deleted and another half cant, and interleaved (actually more cant than can). not necessarily the 1st msg in a thread, and not necessary with quote (my reply to others) inside. just checked: not necessarily someone replied to it, and even the 1st message in a thread got the "remove" button! just an example (i'm not intending to delete, just for example):

i can't remove this message from my profile, but i can remove when opened it from the thread:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=5865.msg76804#msg76804 (reply #9 in The perfect function generator, does it exist ? thread)
no one replied, i didnt quote, i can delete gracely without interrupting the thread flow if i want to. but i cant, from "show post" profile.

i can remove this message from my profile, and also i can remove when opened it from the thread:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=5890.msg77061#msg77061 (1st post in China LC200A LC Meter Teardown thread)
Nature: Evolution and the Illusion of Randomness (Stephen L. Talbott): Its now indisputable that... organisms “expertise” contextualizes its genome, and its nonsense to say that these powers are under the control of the genome being contextualized - Barbara McClintock
 

Offline IanB

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Re: Why Cant Remove Older Posts?
« Reply #9 on: December 14, 2011, 06:22:52 pm »
Just don't try to delete old posts. What you said, you said. Leave it be, it's part of the historical record.
 

Online MechatrommerTopic starter

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Re: Why Cant Remove Older Posts?
« Reply #10 on: December 14, 2011, 07:57:47 pm »
it's part of the historical record.
bad history need to be erased. and i want to save the world by reducing waste. :D
Nature: Evolution and the Illusion of Randomness (Stephen L. Talbott): Its now indisputable that... organisms “expertise” contextualizes its genome, and its nonsense to say that these powers are under the control of the genome being contextualized - Barbara McClintock
 

Offline ivan747

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Re: Why Cant Remove Older Posts?
« Reply #11 on: December 14, 2011, 08:10:20 pm »
It's equally annoying if you write a post and use the preview button to get it exactly right and spelled correct only to find 3 people have already posted by the time you're actually ready to hit submit.

I much prefer to post an answer and then tidy it up with editing afterwards.

I often find errors in my posts after posting them. Some times they are grammatical, others orthographical and sometimes I choose a wrong word to communicate something.
 

Online MechatrommerTopic starter

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Re: Why Cant Remove Older Posts?
« Reply #12 on: December 14, 2011, 10:13:29 pm »
well, another technique to share. sometime i hate the "last edited tag" at the bottom line after i made the editing. so what i do, copy the earlier (edited/corrected) post, delete it, and paste into a fresh new message :D
Nature: Evolution and the Illusion of Randomness (Stephen L. Talbott): Its now indisputable that... organisms “expertise” contextualizes its genome, and its nonsense to say that these powers are under the control of the genome being contextualized - Barbara McClintock
 

Offline EEVblog

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Re: Why Cant Remove Older Posts?
« Reply #13 on: December 14, 2011, 10:16:25 pm »
It does, Administration > Forum > Message settings > Time for editing since posting message (or something like that, I use different language).

Ah, so it does.
Time for a poll perhaps....

Dave.
 

Offline tinhead

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Re: Why Cant Remove Older Posts?
« Reply #14 on: December 15, 2011, 12:51:54 am »
It does, Administration > Forum > Message settings > Time for editing since posting message (or something like that, I use different language).

Ah, so it does.
Time for a poll perhaps....

Dave.

oh pls don't ... just think about the longest threads in forum - it is just perfect to be able to edit over and over again
the first posting (to update what so ever, add highlights). Without that edit function ppl would get lost.
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Offline Joshua

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Why Cant Remove Older Posts?
« Reply #15 on: December 15, 2011, 04:37:22 am »
I think it is definitely necessary to edit. However I wouldn't mind not allowing deletion. I can see where that could really cause some confusion. Yes I realize that it can be no different than editing, but I think we would all agree that the more deletions there are the more confusing it will become.
 

Offline EEVblog

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Re: Why Cant Remove Older Posts?
« Reply #16 on: December 15, 2011, 07:46:14 am »
oh pls don't ... just think about the longest threads in forum - it is just perfect to be able to edit over and over again
the first posting (to update what so ever, add highlights). Without that edit function ppl would get lost.

Yep, fair call, that's important and useful.

Dave.
 

Offline Psi

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Re: Why Cant Remove Older Posts?
« Reply #17 on: December 15, 2011, 09:23:07 am »
There really isn't much point in disabling the delete button.

If it was disabled and someone wanted to delete their post they will just edit and change the text for a :)  ( or something else random )

And there are situations where you need to delete.
Like when you accidentally click quote when you meant to click edit.
« Last Edit: December 15, 2011, 09:29:52 am by Psi »
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Offline ivan747

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Re: Why Cant Remove Older Posts?
« Reply #18 on: December 18, 2011, 12:47:11 am »
I think it is definitely necessary to edit. However I wouldn't mind not allowing deletion. I can see where that could really cause some confusion. Yes I realize that it can be no different than editing, but I think we would all agree that the more deletions there are the more confusing it will become.

When replying to a particular post, like I am doing know, people should quote the post they are replying to. That way, it doesn't cause too much confusion. If Dave disables the remove button, people could still replace their posts with something like a blank space or a "Post removed" message, but since people would be quoting messages, it wouldn't matter.
 

Offline EEVblog

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Re: Why Cant Remove Older Posts?
« Reply #19 on: December 18, 2011, 09:15:42 am »
When replying to a particular post, like I am doing know, people should quote the post they are replying to. That way, it doesn't cause too much confusion. If Dave disables the remove button, people could still replace their posts with something like a blank space or a "Post removed" message, but since people would be quoting messages, it wouldn't matter.

Yep, good point. If you want to forever immortalise someones post, just quote it.

Dave.
 

Offline Zero999

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Re: Why Cant Remove Older Posts?
« Reply #20 on: December 18, 2011, 11:17:17 am »
Last time I checked. It was possible to delete or a thread if you're the creator, although I didn't go through with it because I don't think I should be allowed to do it. I haven't actually tested it.
 

Offline Psi

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Re: Why Cant Remove Older Posts?
« Reply #21 on: December 18, 2011, 11:35:13 am »
When replying to a particular post, like I am doing know, people should quote the post they are replying to. That way, it doesn't cause too much confusion. If Dave disables the remove button, people could still replace their posts with something like a blank space or a "Post removed" message, but since people would be quoting messages, it wouldn't matter.

Yep, good point. If you want to forever immortalise someones post, just quote it.

Dave.


however, people are able to quote any text, doesn't have to be a real quote.

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Dave.


Not that it's always a bad thing.
It's nice to edit a quote and remove text before/after the sentence you're replying to. Especially if it's a really long post.
That probably wouldn't be possible if the quote system was locked down.
« Last Edit: December 18, 2011, 11:42:16 am by Psi »
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Offline amspire

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Re: Why Cant Remove Older Posts?
« Reply #22 on: December 18, 2011, 12:33:52 pm »
oh pls don't ... just think about the longest threads in forum - it is just perfect to be able to edit over and over again
the first posting (to update what so ever, add highlights). Without that edit function ppl would get lost.

Yep, fair call, that's important and useful.

Dave.

Just another support for tinhead's argument. Sometimes the first post in an important thread has to be kept up-to-date as a summary of the following 60+ pages of posts. It would be lousy if the only way to safely upgrade the Rigol scope was to read every post in the Rigol Upgrade thread.

Richard.
 

Offline McMonster

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Re: Why Cant Remove Older Posts?
« Reply #23 on: December 18, 2011, 12:47:22 pm »
Just another support for tinhead's argument. Sometimes the first post in an important thread has to be kept up-to-date as a summary of the following 60+ pages of posts. It would be lousy if the only way to safely upgrade the Rigol scope was to read every post in the Rigol Upgrade thread.

Richard.

What would be really helpful here is a mod for SMF that makes only the first post in the thread editable. Unfortunately it seems such mod doesn't exist yet. Maybe ask someone skilled with PHP to create it? I don't think it would be complicated, but it's not really my area of interest.
 

Online MechatrommerTopic starter

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Re: Why Cant Remove Older Posts?
« Reply #24 on: December 18, 2011, 04:25:45 pm »
Last time I checked. It was possible to delete or a thread if you're the creator, although I didn't go through with it because I don't think I should be allowed to do it. I haven't actually tested it.
i believe i have done that sometime ago. you know, i usually made useless thread :P i didnt think  it deserved immortality, cant remember what it was. hell i "saved" too many posts in one click! anyway, some thought its unethical, but under eevblog regulation, whose thread created in this forum? the OP? or the admin? iirc electro-tech declared any thread created will belong to the forum owner. ???
Nature: Evolution and the Illusion of Randomness (Stephen L. Talbott): Its now indisputable that... organisms “expertise” contextualizes its genome, and its nonsense to say that these powers are under the control of the genome being contextualized - Barbara McClintock
 


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