Deleting Messages

[Dragon]

I think I need to set a procedure that I and my assistants will follow when it comes to a user deleting messages.

If you really screw up when you're posting a message, you can delete it at that point and everything is fine.

If you decide that a message you posted a month ago is not what you wanted to say and it has been replied to you can still delete, but the chances are excellent that if we on staff see it, we will restore it.  Attempting to delete a message to which someone else has replied leaves a "hole" in the thread - often leading others to wonder "what happened?"

Be aware that "deleting" a message does not really delete, it marks it for deletion and one of us on staff will actually have to delete or restore it.

The alternative is to set the forum up so that no messages can ever be deleted once posted - sometimes we hit "post" and then decide that we really didn't want to do that, the way the forum is set up now allows that functionality and I'd like to keep it that way.

The reason for this post, btw, is that one of our olde users went through and deleted some of their messages (well, actually most of them).  I was looking over the forum after doing an upgrade and realized that there were some really odd holes in some of the threads and checked to see what was happening - it was then that I realized that there were several messages deleted from the thread I was reading - they have been restored.

[Eight Ball]

I'm the guilty party that made Dragon have to post this announcement. I'm a fuck up, and sometimes I write turds and I want to flush them down the toilet.

Sorry!

[Dragon]

Eight Ball, actually you're not and the one that you wanted flushed was *not* the problem. (though I really did wonde rwhy you wanted it deleted, it was a good post)

Earlier in that thread, one post had gotten deleted and its disappearance made the remainder of the thread look odd. That however did prompt me to go looking for other messages that had been marked for deletion - and when they're marked for deletion the staff (actively, that's NightSong and myself) can see them but no one else can - I did find where *another* user had deleted several of their posts thus leaving the threads really "messed up"; messages that had been quoted, weren't there for example.

Oddly, I cannot find a function within the forum system that tells me what messages are awaiting permanent removal, so that means I'm gradually looking through all the old threads. One of the joys of being a webmaster / forum admin.... oh well, that's what they pay me the pittance for, right (( and if you're wondering - no one pays me!! ))

I'll tell you when you really screw up, you don't have to try to take the blame for something you didn't do....