How do I delete a post?

capecod · Post by **capecod** » 11 Feb 2018, 12:15

how do I delete a post?

Post by **matthew1** » 11 Feb 2018, 13:20

A button appears for a time after you post that will delete it. After 20 or 60 or so minutes (I forget) the button goes away. What post do you need deleted?

Post by **abscate** » 11 Feb 2018, 18:02

All of abscates...

Post by **June** » 11 Feb 2018, 18:26

matthew1 wrote: ↑11 Feb 2018, 13:20 A button appears for a time after you post that will delete it. After 20 or 60 or so minutes (I forget) the button goes away. What post do you need deleted?

What does this button look like? June

Post by **mrbrian200** » 11 Feb 2018, 20:12

I suspect it's a button available to moderators but not to regular users. The edit button works like that for us and disappears after a certain amount of time. This is what regular users see on a recent post (edit, report, quote). I don't see a way to delete a post within 'edit' either.

: Capture.JPG (21.15 KiB) Viewed 963 times

Post by **abscate** » 12 Feb 2018, 05:31

Just add a post to delete it, Andy ask someone to use the report button

!

So we get a flag.

The Terminator cannot self-terminate and you cannot self report. It's a pHp quirk.

Post by **matthew1** » 12 Feb 2018, 11:43

I fixed this. Sometime in the big forum software update a year ago the ability got lost. Now it's back! My apologies. It's only in the car forums currently, not Classifieds or the other ancillary forums.

Here's the "small type" -- if you delete something important to the conversation, like the first ('head') post, and there are replies,
we (mods) will bring it back.

What we don't want are strange threads where people are replying to something that isn't there any more.

It's a "soft delete".

Please use the delete to kill duplicate posts and for other similar clerical purposes.

Thanks!
Matt

Post by **mrbrian200** » 12 Feb 2018, 13:28

matthew1 wrote: ↑12 Feb 2018, 11:43 What we don't want are strange threads where people are replying to something that isn't there any more.

Oh that happens enough already. Someone replies to an old dead 'Help me I've fallen and I can't get up' thread without noticing the date from months/years ago.

Have you ever considered marking old dead, resolved, or dropped threads to the geriatric ward (read only)? Or maybe display placeholder instruction text (disappears when you click or start typing) "Please be aware this topic slipped into torpor more than 4 months ago, unless you're really tasty vampires usually don't like being disturbed"

Post by **matthew1** » 12 Feb 2018, 15:27

I had an old thread warning years ago that got wiped with a forum software update. Some code I wrote.

This forum software (all forum software) is old and ill-engineered. Compared to say Wordpress (which runs the MVS home page and the VRD), it's like using a tool from 1840. Wordpress is modern, well-written, and mods (if written correctly) and most plugins survive Wordpress updates with 0 fanfare.

Not true with phpBB (this software you're using). It's archaic. Conceived and written around 2002. Recently the authors have made it somewhat modular, but they're working with a ton of legacy functionality that prevents a robust re-write.

However, having said that, I can do whatever I want. If you/we/I think that old thread resurrections are bad for the community, I can put a warning on them like I had years ago.

Anyone else have thoughts?

Post by **June** » 12 Feb 2018, 18:11

matthew1 wrote: ↑12 Feb 2018, 15:27 I had an old thread warning years ago that got wiped with a forum software update. Some code I wrote.

This forum software (all forum software) is old and ill-engineered. Compared to say Wordpress (which runs the MVS home page and the VRD), it's like using a tool from 1840. Wordpress is modern, well-written, and mods (if written correctly) and most plugins survive Wordpress updates with 0 fanfare.

Not true with phpBB (this software you're using). It's archaic. Conceived and written around 2002. Recently the authors have made it somewhat modular, but they're working with a ton of legacy functionality that prevents a robust re-write.

However, having said that, I can do whatever I want. If you/we/I think that old thread resurrections are bad for the community, I can put a warning on them like I had years ago.

Anyone else have thoughts?

Personally I don't find this a problem. I tend to look at the posting date of each answer generally. (Not if I have been part from the beginning) Sometimes the old thread has no resolution, and the addition of useable information to a old thread could help someone researching a problem in the future or even to the person resurrecting it. So in my eyes adding helpful information to a thread of any age is good. June