Are posts on these forums being silently deleted?

RobMc · Apr 02, 2007, 22:36:38

Quick question. Are posts on these forums being silently deleted?

Rob.

DorsetBoy · Apr 03, 2007, 08:18:10

I wondered that too

Lance · Apr 03, 2007, 08:33:00

I haven't noticed any go missing - but that may be because I didn't see them in the first place $:-\$

Inactive · Apr 03, 2007, 09:59:17

Anybody like to be more specific?

Rik · Apr 03, 2007, 10:53:45

We have recently removed three posts from announcements which were no longer relevant, ie they had been overtaken by later developments. In addition, I have removed two threads from last July, about football, where the language used breached forum rules. No other posts have been deleted to my knowledge.

AvengerUK · Apr 03, 2007, 13:23:50

If post's started disappearing, im sure that id notice

(which i havnt!)

RobMc · Apr 03, 2007, 14:50:20

The reason I asked was that I was sure I'd made at least one more port in the "Dell to sell with Linux" thread in the IDNatter section. There was nothing in my profile to suggest that I'd posted it, but I was reasonable sure that I had. So I tried to use the search facility to see if I could find it. I didn't find my post, but I did find another post that, whilst you can find it in Search, you can't find in the thread. I've attached a screenshot of the search results (I've pixelated the poster's name as it wasn't mine and I didn't want to cause any embarrassment). Now this is mighty strange. Either there was a fault on the forum which left a ghost in the search, the post was deleted by a mod on request of the poster or the post was silently deleted. Maybe I was just unlucky and my post got lost somehow.

Rob.

[attachment deleted by admin]

Lance · Apr 03, 2007, 15:01:47

To me, it looks like the forum is having a funny turn. If a post is deleted, then the search would normally be unable to pick it up at all.

Also, the time shown for that post matches the time the thread was created which makes me think the forum is getting confused somewhere.

Maybe this is one for Rik / Adam to look at?

Rik · Apr 03, 2007, 15:11:09

Hi Rob

This one has me beat. I can see the same result as you in the search, but cannot find the post, yet I know I haven't deleted it. The name and time shown are for the start of the post, so that isn't the issue, Lance - would that it were that simple.

If a staff member deletes any post or thread, they are archived, and I have just done a search through those items, there is nothing of yours there, Rob, nor is my post in there.

As I understand the board, each post is a database entry, so I'm wondering whether there's something gone wrong with the indexing?

All I can do is to ask Adam to have a look.

Adam · Apr 03, 2007, 16:39:27

Well, the moderation logs don't show anything so nobody has deleted your post. Perhaps I'm overlooking the information in here; but could you give me an overview of the content of the missing post? I see you made a few posts in the thread, here, what I don't know is what went missing.

As for the more general point; posts are not being silently deleted. An archive is kept of all deleted posts and any user can contest the deletion of a post. A deletion notice via PM or in the thread is in the works, although admittedly not top priority, which should add to the transparency of the deletion process.

I do hope posts aren't randomly going missing as it could possibly point to larger issues in the forum software, which is never fun.

Rik · Apr 03, 2007, 16:46:52

I can't tell you more than the search shows, Adam. I remember posting something along those lines, but it was a while ago, and I can't remember anything more than the snippet which shows. Rob may me more aware of the post he is referring to.

DorsetBoy · Apr 03, 2007, 17:36:35

I just tried a search,

Dell to sell with Linux.

Match all words.........with and without a user name.

Board IDNatter.

Result....................nothing found

Playing with various parameters still the whole thread is not found.

Rik · Apr 03, 2007, 17:49:12

I couldn't find the thread either, just the 'informed' in Rob's post.

RobMc · Apr 03, 2007, 19:26:09

Gentlemen, it's all very weird. I'm happy to accept that no conspiracy has taken place

Personally I write far more replies to posts than I actually post, so it may be that this was one of those that I didn't post. I just got confused as there appeared to be one in the search that wasn't visible on the forum. Just one of those things I guess. Ho hum. Sorry to all for bringing this up, but I have a very suspicious mind that sometimes leads me to wrong conclusions .

Rob.

Rik · Apr 03, 2007, 19:30:40

Adam's re-indexing the forum as I type, Rob. There does appear to be something odd happening with this particular thread.

Lance · Apr 03, 2007, 19:43:27

Lets hope the re-indexing works!

Adam · Apr 04, 2007, 02:53:15

The re-indexing is now complete; some improvement (or regression) may be seen when using search. The results have changed and there seems to be better matches on "Dell to sell with Linux", hopefully it marks improvement and resolving of the search issues.

Rik · Apr 04, 2007, 08:06:30

If I do a "Dell to sell with Linux" search, or just "Dell" or "Linux", Adam, it returns only this thread.

Lance · Apr 04, 2007, 08:09:26

I just did a "dell to sell with linux" search and it correctly returned the other thread as being the most relevant, second result being this thread.

Rik · Apr 04, 2007, 08:10:37

Can you spell out exactly what you did please, Lance. Maybe I'm having a Homer moment.

Lance · Apr 04, 2007, 08:11:44

exactly as below:

dell to sell with linux

Rik · Apr 04, 2007, 08:16:11

Very weird, Lance. If I do that search I get this thread. If I used the advanced search, I get this thread and the original, but only one hit in each. Slightly more worrying, I have noted a post of mine in another thread has disappeared.

Lance · Apr 04, 2007, 08:22:03

I wonder is the search only returns one post from each thread. I just did a search on dell and it came up with several threads, but no duplicates.

Whether I do a normal or advanced search on dell to sell with linux, it gives the same two results each time.

If posts are still disappearing it would seem that something still isn't right.

Rik · Apr 04, 2007, 08:24:19

Indeed.

Could you do me a favour and post a screenshot of your search results. I just want to make sure I'm not doing something totally dumb here. (Last night I was able to find the other thread.)

Lance · Apr 04, 2007, 08:32:20

Screenshot as requested...

The second one is posted as it differs to the first. I think this is because the search, in returning only one post per thread, returns the most recent post.

[attachment deleted by admin]

Rik · Apr 04, 2007, 09:03:52

Thanks for that, Lance, I've now worked out what I was doing wrong (I told you it was a Homer moment!

). What does strike me as odd, is that the % relevance on the second post changes between the two searches.

Oh, and I've found the missing post - it was in a different thread on the same subject. A little marriage to arrange there...

Lance · Apr 04, 2007, 09:45:13

A happy ending all round then!

Rik · Apr 04, 2007, 09:49:42

Indeed, and a quick wipe of the brow.