Threads disappearing for no reason?

21

What LacticacidMCB says is spot on.

It is much easier to process, reduces employee costs by avoiding the need for an admin to review the thread, and lowers legal risk by deleting the thread altogether.

If I managed this forum, I would delete the threads when a user requests full removal.

22

So basically because of differing opinions on internal downtube storage, we can no longer know whether ChatGPT can be a good coachā€¦

if you know, you know..

23

Feel free to start a new thread! :+1:

24

Is it not possible to just leave the thread but delete the posts? There are plenty of threads with deleted comments from users for one reason or another that does not completely remove everyone elseā€™s contributions.

Like what happens if the ā€œsweet spot progressionā€ thread up and disappears? We lose over 3000 comments and some excellent contributions from users and coaches.

IMO thatā€™s a bit ridiculous just because one user get the ban hammer.

25

I bet itā€™s a Discourse setting that deletes a thread if the OPā€™s posts are removed because it needs the first post of the thread there to keep it intact. I totally agree with you that the better solution in general would be to just remove the posts and not the whole thread though.

26

I believe this is how it works for some reason. If you delete the first post in a thread, the entire thread disappears.

This is something I brought up in our meeting today. I donā€™t know if this is something we can change, but itā€™s on our radar. :+1:

27

Great to hear.

28

Thanks for raising it up!

29

Iā€™ve been a mod on another forums for >20 years. Once upon a time (think early to mid-2000s), it was very large, so I have some insight into this.

  • Even older forum software allowed users to delete their own posts and threads. However, if you only deleted posts, quotes in replies and such were not deleted, so you could still partially read and follow threads.
  • If memory servers, we could configure whether we allow members to only delete posts or delete threads. I am 95 % certain that members who want all their content done had to contact forum admins and have them do it. We would typically not delete threads, only a (former) memberā€™s posts. But that was way before the EUā€™s right to be forgotten.
  • In some forum software there is a distinction between soft and hard deletes. A soft delete means the posts and threads are no longer visible to regular users (i. e. those members who are neither mods nor admins).
  • While I think you want to have the latter, there are situations where you definitely want to remove any content from a member without leaving a trace. I can give examples, but they are not happy stories, letā€™s put it this way. Deleting threads vs. deleting only posts is a trade-off either way you slice it. Apart from sad examples, another one is spam, you typically want to remove spam root-and-stem.
  • The EU indeed has a ā€œright to being forgottenā€. It is considered a basic right of a EU citizen, and businesses who want to operate in the EU have to abide by it. Because other membersā€™ posts may retain identifiable information, it is programmatically easier to simply delete everything. I am not sure whether it is required, though.
  • I donā€™t know whether the forum software TR uses supports soft deletes in addition to hard deletes, and whether a user choosing to delete their own content results in a soft or hard delete.

Disclaimer: I have not used the mod or admin tools of TRā€™s forum software, so I donā€™t know what feature set they have and how TR staff use those tools.

30

I have similar experience. GDPR changed everything, and a lot of companies decided to use the extreme option to simplify compliance.

31

If you were to prune by hand, itā€™d be labor-intensive and the thread may end up unreadable. Unlike the former forum I frequented, TRā€™s forum is staffed by employees who get paid. So you in principle have more resources.

Perhaps a third option is to leave a trace of a deleted thread to indicate that some thread had been deleted. The sudden disappearance raised the question whether TR had deleted the thread, and for what reason (ChatGPT/LLMs as competition?).

32

The Truman Show Ending Scene (HD) - YouTube