Delete old forum posts with the click on one button?
linvanchene
Posts: 1,386
I post this here to answer a question raised in another thread in order not to go completly offtopic there.
now obsolete post edited and removed by user.
Man why do you do this?
you edit and remove them on the Otoy forum too, browsing old threads for info it drives me nuts
The short version:
- I edit threads because some forums do not grant its users the right to delete posts themselves.
- If you see a post edited by me you can be sure that it did not contain any vital information that is not covered in another place on the forum
The longer version
There may be several reasons that lead to the same end result of me editing a post to remove obsolete information:
- 1) Posts about outdated workflows
With each software version update some workflows are changed.
Guides, tutorials and FAQs now may contain outdated information with screenshots showing UI options that are not anymore available or are now named differently. When someone made a new and more updated guide of the same workflow it seems reasonable to remove the outdated now obsolete information.
- 2) Cutting down on the forum drama
Sometimes in an emotional state it seems very important to vent and share opinions. A few hours and sometimes minutes later that post is regreted because I am aware that it will just lead to follow up posts.
- 3) Company policy
Some companies do not allow their staff to participate in public discussions on forums at all because personal opinion could be taken for company opinion.
Such a strict policy would go to far. Nevertheless some people have the tendency to actively look for statements that can be taken out of context and then turned into a headline even months or years later.
- 4) lenghty forum posts
Personally I prefer to rather take my time to explain a situation in detail looking at things from different perspectives and then drawing a conclusion. Nevertheless it also takes other people time to read trough them.
- 5) edited posts do not show up in forum search
Unfortunately some forums have not very advanced search options.
Examples:
- It may not be possible to show only thread or topic titles instead of individual posts
- It may not be possible to show only the first 300 letters of a post
- It may not be possible to show only posts of a certain time period
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Each edited post that removes obsolete information is a contribution to the forum search efficiency because users are not anymore presented with outdated information.
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The right to forget = the right to delete
In the law there is a practice that crimes comitted in the past are removed from public records after a certain period of time.
Users should have the right to delete their own posts from public forums.
Personally I would very much like some advanced forum editing options
- display all posts in a link list with only the first words of the post
- add checkmarks to posts
- delete the selection with the click of one button.
Alternatively:
- add the option to delete all posts with the click of one button
- add the option to delete posts older than six months with the click of one button
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I do not know if it would be possible to add such a delete option to the current forum software.
What I wonder:
I) Can users submit a ticket with the request to delete all their posts on the forum?
II) Can users submit a ticket to delete all their posts older than six months?
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Comments
I answer the follow up remark in this thread as well.
That is a good point. In some cases, I do try to provide some kind of indication of the reason.
I do realize that removing some posts may leave a "gap" in current discussions because then an argument cannot be followed anymore.
Nevertheless, there are some cases when explaining the reason would just lead to more speculation about why exactly the post was removed.
And the more you type explaining why you remove something the higher the chance is that some keywords will show up in searches again.
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Public Relations
Look at this from a public relations point of view:
IF you do not want to comment on a question asked by a journalist your answer should be:
"No comment".
or if you want to be a bit politer:
"We thank you for your interest but we will not comment on this topic."
and then stick with that. Do not try to explain why you are not commenting.
Example:
"We thank you for your interest but we will not comment on this topic while our internal investigation is going on."
Now you just provided information that you actually do investigate the issue and are indeed affected by the topic.
The headline will be
XY is investigating the topic
instead a small remark in the article
XY did not comment on the topic
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From that point of view, you can see this post as a practical example. There is some kind of chance that someone will now share their view what would be the optimal solution to deal with some scenarios. If I really wanted to burry this topic I should just not have answered any follow up questions or completely have ignored the original remark.
Nevertheless, I feel that sometimes ignoring people makes them even more angry.
Therefore, acknowledge the question.
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On the forum I deal with this situation by editing a post and writing
now obsolete post edited and removed by user
The discussion moved on. The original reason why the information or opinion was provided has passed.
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Maybe it would actually be better if we could just delete posts manually without leaving a trace?
Maybe that would lead to some speculation who deleted the post.
Therefore, other forums display the message: Post deleted at the request of the user.
Unfortunately, if there is still a trace left it may leave that feeling of curiosity what information now was missed.
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My conclusion:
Personally I find I would rather prefer posts deleted by the user to vanish without a trace.
IF the post was important to the discussion someone may have quoted the important parts.
In that way the original post can be considered redundant because it is duplicated.
When you do not know that something was posted then you will not miss the information that is gone...
Thank you for taking the time to answer.
unfortunately I do not know what was originally posted in those situations and so have no idea if vital information or not.
I have a different issue myself, my posts tend to disappear, sometimes I get an email from the forum moderation team too.
Now that's service - being notified if one's posts are disappearing!
I never really need to remove a post after I make one for two reasons... One- I usually forget them after I post them, two- if it's a controversial comment, it will be removed for me and three- (did I mention it's actually three reasons), nobody cares what I say unless it strikes them as funny.
But I do agree, it might be a useful feature to have... Perhaps for forum members after they make X number of posts... But I could also see where it could be abused. Isn't there some issue with threads going wonky if too many posts get removed? I can't remember what it was, but the old forums (back in the Draper UT days) I remember when post would get removed there were slight problems.
Personally, as far as I can remember only once removed a bunch of posts... Someone had asked about how to import and fix SketchUp models and after going back and forth I offered post a quick but detailed tutorial... The person said that would be great, and after I posted it someone else who had like ten posts butted in and said it was all wrong, which it was not and the OP started thanking them and asking them for more info... The process the other poster was describing results in crappy imports and if that's what the OP wanted then fine, so I removed every post I made in that thread and replaced it with "Never mind"... It was childish of me but, it was just one of those days. Besides nobody gives a rats poop chute about SketchUp anyway.
I agree with the idea of editing old and obsolete information... CGI land is too full of it and it is overly confusing at times.
could swap in squirrel memes for the stuff you delete
or link to video carrying posts ;)
That's a good point... I'll keep that in mind...
I've modded on boards that allow it...from a mod/logistical viewpoint.
NO!
It's a nightmare and not worth it.
I could go point by point, but I'm not going to, just hit a couple.
#1...So what. Not every user is using the current/latest version, so what was just deleted may be the answer someone was looking for. Historical purposes is enough reason to keep ALL information about ALL versions intact. Look at how much information that is still valid was lost when the old forum archive went offline.
#2...from many years of modding on various forums and being a member on many, many more, there is more drama caused by disappeared posts than there is from leaving them alone.
Two small additions...
The best way I've seen implemented one place that allowed it...you could only delete self created threads or posts if there were no replies. And that even was time restricted. You could not delete a post that was a quote of another post.
The other thing, if in doubt...don't post in the first place.
mjc1016
As an Admin on another forum I have to agree. Deleting or editing old posts to leave them blank or with just the word edited or removed by the poster is frowned upon. Anyone doing it regularly is asked to stop and is put on Admin watch where they are monitored. It breaks continuity in a thread and there is nothing worse than reading a thread where half of it is missing.
The easiest way to overcome it where it is alowed is to quote every post from the person doing it in any replies. That way at least someone reading the thread knows what you have replied to instead of reading a reply to something that no longer exists.
My assumptions:
- The majority of users who are confused on the forums because there is a mix of new and outdated information are new users
- It is mostly experienced users who keep their old software versions around exactly because they know all the details why the older version is the prefered option.
- Most forum users do not indicate the software version in their posts therefore searching for information about a specific outdated version is hopeless anyway.
- Not all posts made on forums are tutorials, guides or FAQs.
- There are many posts that are not vital to using the software but share concerns, speculation all written based on the knowledge available at the time of writing.
My priorites:
I consider the value for new users to have a forum with up to date information higher than keeping around confusing old posts.
Casual disscussions on the forum that are not guides or faqs but were written with the intent to share the opinion about an issue are not vital after that discussion has reached its conclusion.
All those posts do is just clutter up the search for everyone else who is looking for actual information and not just speculation and moral and ethical concerns.
It would not be polite for moderators to remove posts of users just to clean up the forum for more search efficiency.
But if users on their own will would actually prefer to remove some of the old posts then please let them do so.
- If a post was important for the continuity you can assume that someone else quoted it.
Deleting a quoted post does not remove any information because the information was duplicated.
The continuity of the thread stays intact because you first read the quoted section and then the reply.
- If a post was not that important for the continuity noone will have quoted it or made any direct reference to it and therefore:
Another user reading trough the thread later has no indication that a post was deleted.
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wahhhh lolllll
looks a bit gangsta