What happens to the topics that disappear from this forum?

[MrOzman]

I posted a question that was answered in a thread in this forum a few weeks back. The thread/topic has now disappeared (along with a few others that were in this forum at the same time) and my posts in that thread no longer show up in my post history.

Can you tell me where I can find the thread/topic history? And why do threads in this particular forum get deleted anyway?

[MrOzman]

Ignoring my question won't make my question go away.

Why do topics in this forum get deleted? And, if they are removed rather than deleted, where do they go?

Isn't one of the benefits of even having a forum that there is a history of things that go wrong so that when a customer has a similar problem they can search for and read about it in the forum instead the same questions being asked over and over again? Deleting threads kind of defeats that purpose.

[jokiin]

Ignoring my question won't make my question go away.

Why do topics in this forum get deleted? And, if they are removed rather than deleted, where do they go?

Isn't one of the benefits of even having a forum that there is a history of things that go wrong so that when a customer has a similar problem they can search for and read about it in the forum instead the same questions being asked over and over again? Deleting threads kind of defeats that purpose.

someone that knows what happened to your post would have to answer, anyone else (myself included) would be guessing, not ignoring

threads sometimes get moved, there are auto prune processes that can delete old posts, there is barely any moderation that goes on here and any that is normally happens for good reason, without knowing exactly what your post was about though I have no idea

[JasonM]

Topics don't get deleted, they get archived into the archived topics forum.
As discussed in PM though, I couldn't find any moderation logs referring to the topic.

[MrOzman]

Hi JasonM

Yes I looked in the archives and in my post history. No record of the topic exists.

To say that threads don't get deleted is patently false. This particular forum had five threads in it while the one I posted was active and four when I PM'd you. It now has only one. None of the 'vanished' threads appear in the archived threads forum.

I'd like to know where they go because I'd like to obtain some information from the thread I started.

If they are deleted and disappear into the ether I'll deal with it even though I think that's pretty poor form on the part of whoever moderates this forum and deletes them. What I won't deal with is being told they only existed in my imagination.

Thanks

[Gidget]

There seems to be a gremlin around - yours is the second query I've seen today about posts disappearing and when I check the admin and moderation logs (like Jason M did) I find that no such deletions have taken place (certainly not by human hands at least).

I'll keep an eye on the situation.

Gidget

[JasonM]

I'd like to know where they go because I'd like to obtain some information from the thread I started.

If they are deleted and disappear into the ether I'll deal with it even though I think that's pretty poor form on the part of whoever moderates this forum and deletes them. What I won't deal with is being told they only existed in my imagination.

No one has said the post didn't exist, it's just not able to be viewed - there's a few ways that's possible:
1 - Moderator deletion, logged in forum logs - we checked, none of your posts found.
2 - Database deletion, only possible by those who have direct access to the Exetel database (System administrators, etc). It's doubtful they'd start plucking forum posts out at random, I'm sure they have much more interesting things to do.
3 - Database corruption, this is likely - and my money would be here, the forums have a lot of activity, and the database server gets a lot of load, the database server writes corrupt data, the posts disappear.
4 - Forum security exploit or display bug of some sort.

As above, number 3 is the most likely, the others are just theoretically possible, number 1 being the second likely reason.

If you wish, I can seek out information that might be in Exetel's systems, i.e. the date an issue is reported, or ticket notes - but you'll need to ask me in PM for that.

[MrOzman]

1 - Moderator deletion, logged in forum logs - we checked, none of your posts found.
2 - Database deletion, only possible by those who have direct access to the Exetel database (System administrators, etc). It's doubtful they'd start plucking forum posts out at random, I'm sure they have much more interesting things to do.
3 - Database corruption, this is likely - and my money would be here, the forums have a lot of activity, and the database server gets a lot of load, the database server writes corrupt data, the posts disappear.
4 - Forum security exploit or display bug of some sort.

1. That's not quite the same thing as saying the forum logs don't show any posts/topics/threads being deleted.
2. I have not suggested that it is in any way random. It is every single thread in this particular forum - Telephone Problems.
3. Database corruption is highly unlikely to be responsible for the deletion of posts/threads/topics approximately three or four days after the issue in the thread is resolved. Assuming that the threads are not being deleted by "human hands", a programming error is far more likely to cause a thread deletion after several days of inactivity in the thread.
4. A security exploit is unlikely to be responsible for deleting threads in the Telephone Problems forum alone. It's not an incredibly busy forum by comparison.

[Gidget]

MrOzman

I have just reviewed the Forum settings for all sub-Forums in the "Telephone Issues" section and turned off "auto prune" which is, I think, the cause of the issue you are reporting. No human hands were therefore involved in posts/threads disappearing from this section.

On a busy Forum looked after by a few volunteer Admins, sometimes the settings for new sections/forums which are created don't get standardised and issues such as this crop up from time to time.

If posters notice innocuous posts disappearing for no apparent reason, this could well be the cause. In that case, just post a query and one of the Admins will look at it. Just remember, though, that we are volunteers with otherwise busy lives so we don't always say "how high" when you ask us to "jump" - be patient and courteous, it may not happen overnight, but it will happen

Gidget

[Mixer]

...On a busy Forum looked after by a few volunteer Admins...

Gidget, many many thanks to you and the other volunteer Admins who keep this forum buzzing.
This forum has become an invaluable resource for assistance and discussion in many areas.
Also thanks to the various guru's out there who help with the answers.
Regards
imc

[Gidget]

Thanks, Mixer, we aim to please

Gidget

[MrOzman]

Just remember, though, that we are volunteers with otherwise busy lives so we don't always say "how high" when you ask us to "jump" - be patient and courteous, it may not happen overnight, but it will happen

It certainly was not my intention to be discorteous (and I don't think I have been) but I apologise if my directness has been taken that way by you or any of the other volunteers. I think, for the most part, the volunteer moderators in these forums do a great job.

This was a particular issue for me because I wanted to be able to retain access to the specific information in the thread I posted and had assumed the threads would just stay in this forum like they seem to do in all of the others. I should have known that if I wanted to rely on the information it was my responsibility to save it somewhere, not yours.

As I said previously, I'll cope with the fact that the thread is gone. Thanks for trying to help.

Cheers