Removing posts from forums?

Slime101 · 12 Mar 2006 at 12:03

Alchemy said:

Muppet

Berserker · 12 Mar 2006 at 12:05

Sequoia said:
Surely not? Search by user and block delete?

No such thing as 'block delete', and what about quotes etc.?

Slime101 said:
Or perhaps i'm fed up with continual abuse and victimisation (to both me and my lady) which is carried out in part by the admin team, and feel it better that i remove myself from the forum...but i want my posts removed too as if i was never there.

Thing is they claim "they own my posts".....er, no i dot think so!

Legally they may well own your posts (or at least have a perpetual right to them). If you're not on good terms with the admin team, then you've got no chance.

As for those suggesting deleting the posts directly from the database, that would be a very bad idea for various reasons.

Jotun · 12 Mar 2006 at 12:08

If the admins won't cooperate, can't you go back and edit all your posts? Assuming they've given permission to users to do so. Might take a while, but if it's only a small number of posts that are a proble, and you need it done, it may be worth while rather than trying to talk to someone unwilling to cooperate. And do it all at once over night when less users/admins are on so nobody will notice till the next day when it's all gone?

starscream · 12 Mar 2006 at 12:09

in admincp Threads & Posts > Prune > Prune by User Name > select all forums.

Then delete the username.

It's a 20 second job, but whether the admin team will do it is another matter (normally the forum I work for will only do it if lawyers get involved)

Dinomania · 12 Mar 2006 at 12:11

In another forum I frequent, users started to notice the 'overall post count' on thr front page slowly start to trickle downwards, even though we were adding to it at the time - eventually it came to light that one guy was leaving, and in his paranoia was deleting all of his posts (possible with the permissions on that forum).

I don't remember him having terribly controversial views, I still wonder what he thought he had to hide. He certainly wasn't victimised, just wanted to do it.

But the mod team and some users got really miffed at him as he had contributed some useful stuff, and a lot of threads would be left all confused without his posts. Moot point now though, seeing as the forums just got hacked and it's in the process of starting over...

Slime101 · 12 Mar 2006 at 12:11

Evil-Penguin said:
If the admins won't cooperate, can't you go back and edit all your posts? Assuming they've given permission to users to do so. Might take a while, but if it's only a small number of posts that are a proble, and you need it done, it may be worth while rather than trying to talk to someone unwilling to cooperate. And do it all at once over night when less users/admins are on so nobody will notice till the next day when it's all gone?

Nope. Edit is disabled after about 2 mins of post being posted.

They also claim the copyright on my photos.....which i KNOW is incorrrect as under UK and EU law i legally own the copyright regardless as the person who took the photos.

I somehow thing that their copyright "claims" are a bit er....hopeful and wild.

Dolph · 12 Mar 2006 at 12:13

starscream said:
in admincp Threads & Posts > Prune > Prune by User Name > select all forums.

Then delete the username.

It's a 20 second job, but whether the admin team will do it is another matter (normally the forum I work for will only do it if lawyers get involved)

Which won't remove any quotes, and if it's a large database can cause fragmentation and indexing issues if the user has a large number of posts....

To totally eliminate a previously active participant from a forum is actually quite difficult.

Berserker · 12 Mar 2006 at 12:13

starscream said:
in admincp Threads & Posts > Prune > Prune by User Name > select all forums.

Then delete the username.

It's a 20 second job

I stand corrected. I've used the admincp (on another forum) lots, but I still don't know the whole deal. Thanks for putting me straight.

Still doesn't get quotes though, so doesn't fulfil the requirements of removing all trace.

Dinomania · 12 Mar 2006 at 12:13

Slime101 said:
They also claim the copyright on my photos.....which i KNOW is incorrrect as under UK and EU law i legally own the copyright regardless as the person who took the photos.

WTF, what kind of forum is that?!

Alchemy · 12 Mar 2006 at 12:14

Slime101 said:
Muppet

Yeah, I'm the muppet.

Tomsk · 12 Mar 2006 at 12:15

Deleting your posts might not be a problem, but quotes from them would be.

edit: beaten to the point!

Berserker · 12 Mar 2006 at 12:15

Yeah, they don't own copyright in photos unless they explicitly claim it (which I doubt). However, you may have granted them a perpetual right to publish them on the forum.

PeterNem · 12 Mar 2006 at 12:17

Alchemy said:
Yeah, I'm the muppet.

I think you'll find you are. The thread starter is after some serious advice and you come in trying to play the "humour" card. It wasn't really neccesary and would have annoyed me too.

Some people don't seem to be able to tell the appropriate time and place.

Anyway, that's wnough of the troll feeding.

As for the database issue, I must admit databases aren't an area I know anything about so I'll take the word of those people who say it'd cause indexing issues.

I always thought that a database that enforced referrential integrity etc was meant to combat any problems caused by deleteing data even if there is other data dependant on it.

starscream · 12 Mar 2006 at 12:19

Dolph said:
Which won't remove any quotes, and if it's a large database can cause fragmentation and indexing issues if the user has a large number of posts....

To totally eliminate a previously active participant from a forum is actually quite difficult.

You could add smile101 to the swear filter as well so no one knows who the quotes are from. Alternatively the only other way would be to run some SQL queries that delete from message text where like

slime101 said:
but I can understand why you wouldn't want to do that.

Slime101 · 12 Mar 2006 at 12:19

Berserker said:
Yeah, they don't own copyright in photos unless they explicitly claim it (which I doubt). However, you may have granted them a perpetual right to publish them on the forum.

No, as a photographer i own the copyright unless i grant it in writing, which i obviously dont and didnt.

I'm not worried about quotes, just posts really.

Berserker · 12 Mar 2006 at 12:20

PeterNem said:
I always thought that a database that enforced referrential integrity etc was meant to combat any problems caused by deleteing data even if there is other data dependant on it.

MySQL doesn't enforce (or even offer) referential integrity - up to version 5.0 anyway.

Alchemy · 12 Mar 2006 at 12:23

PeterNem said:
I think you'll find you are. The thread starter is after some serious advice and you come in trying to play the "humour" card. It wasn't really neccesary and would have annoyed me too.

Some people don't seem to be able to tell the appropriate time and place.

Well, I didn't intend to cause any offence, it was just a little joke. Try and relax and don't take things too seriously. :cool:

Slime101 · 12 Mar 2006 at 12:24

So it can be done....but are there any laws, bits of the DPA or copyright law that make it enforcable?

basmic · 12 Mar 2006 at 12:25

Alchemy said:
Well, I didn't intend to cause any offence, it was just a little joke. Try and relax and don't take things too seriously.

Well I saw it as offensive spam.

Typical of recent users with double and triple-figure post counts.

Alchemy · 12 Mar 2006 at 12:27

basmic said:
Well I saw it as offensive spam.

Typical of recent users with double and triple-figure post counts.

Please don't make me feel bad about having a low post count.