Can we start *really* deleting posts, please?

McHaggis

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We've all seen it before, someone posts something off-topic, the thread derails and all the replies to that post are deleted along with it. After reading through page 24 of the 3DS Homebrew Channel thread, I just think it's gone too far. There is a total of 11 trashed posts on that page, leaving 4 remaining (assuming 15 posts per page). Arguably, the entire page adds very little to the thread and could be skipped entirely.

'Deleted' posts are wasting valuable page real-estate and bandwidth as well as unnecessarily increasing page counts, and don't seem to serve any purpose beyond telling the poster why it was deleted ― something that could be easily done with a private message/notification.

Can we nuke this feature, pretty please?

Edit: the referenced thread has had all of the deleted posts hidden now. Thanks VA.
 
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mjax

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While you do have a valid point, 10% trashed posts do not really make it difficult to browse a thread. Besides that, it really doesn't happen in a lot of threads (now that Valwin is gone, err just kidding). I personally don't think it should really make a huge difference neither to browsing experience nor to the server load.


Edit: I misinterpreted what you wrote, still that doesn't happen a lot, doesn't affect me personally, it's just, 'nothing to see here on this page, move along' *click next page* for me.
 

kthnxshwn

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I just think it looks ugly. Most, if not all, forum software supports actual deletion with a PM sent to the user letting them know why it was deleted. Hel,, I'm practically sure IPB supports it since it was the first forum software I used years ago and deleting posts was a daily occurrence. If I knew them kept them there, I would opt out of using the software at all -- far too ugly and tacky.
 
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Magsor

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I don't agree. The way it is now is awesome. The line is hard to draw between uninteresting post and trolling and mods on Gbatemp just do an awesome job its well kept.
 
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WiiUBricker

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I believe all soft-deleted posts have this CSS class or classes: post_block hentry clear
You can use greasemonkey or similar browser add-on to add the attribute "display:none". This way deleted posts are physicaly still there in the HTML code, but I guess it's better than nothing?
 

FAST6191

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[gbatemp inner secrets]
There are ways to delete posts but for the most part we are discouraged from it in place of the "hiding"/trashing style as there are implications for the database behind it all (GBAtemp is large enough in terms of bandwidth requirements and database size that the those responsible for the technical side of things will spend no small amount of time tweaking certain features to reduce load and requests) and nobody wants to fiddling at that level with any backups that might exist in the case of a debate over a judgement/action (it is quite possible to untrash a post and indeed other staff can usually see the trashed posts in a thread). Of course this is less an aesthetics thing and more of a technical debate and to that end you might even have a point at some level although I am not sure how hard it would be to unwind.
[/gbatemp inner secrets]

I suppose the other side of it is much like anything the staff and regulars usually just skip over it (I assume most of you use view new posts- kind of how you probably do not read every title or skip certain sections) and as others have said it does not really happen that often.
 

McHaggis

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[gbatemp inner secrets]
There are ways to delete posts but for the most part we are discouraged from it in place of the "hiding"/trashing style as there are implications for the database behind it all (GBAtemp is large enough in terms of bandwidth requirements and database size that the those responsible for the technical side of things will spend no small amount of time tweaking certain features to reduce load and requests) and nobody wants to fiddling at that level with any backups that might exist in the case of a debate over a judgement/action (it is quite possible to untrash a post and indeed other staff can usually see the trashed posts in a thread). Of course is less an aesthetics thing and more of a technical debate and to that end you might even have a point at some level although I am not sure how hard it would be to unwind.
[/gbatemp inner secrets]

I suppose the other side of it is much like anything the staff and regulars usually just skip over it (I assume most of you use view new posts- kind of how you probably do not read every title or skip certain sections) and as others have said it does not really happen that often.

If that's the case, then a different database query could be used for normal users which doesn't return these posts. This would solve the problem of retaining deleted posts and allowing undeletion. I know of many comment engines using this method to hide comments that have not yet been approved for display to end users, or have received a certain number of spam flags. Stack Overflow uses a similar method, showing deleted posts only to mods and users with greater than 10k reputation.

I disagree. I think this feature should remain with the staff. If there are trolling/off-topic posts, just report them if they are that bad.
I think you misread the request. To clarify, I'm asking if deleted posts could be *really* deleted or at least hidden from the average user. See also http://en.wikipedia....or.27s_.22we.22.
 

Cyan

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Big deleted section in a thread is usually caused by offtopic debates, trolling and users feeding trolls.
I propose that users stop filling the thread with these kind of offtopic message, it will solve full page of deleted post.

no, not a reasonable solution? D:


Like Fast said, we could hide post, but there's an automatic notification for deleted posts that users can activate in their notification management.
If we hide the message, we would have to PM each users one by one and explain why it was deleted, to prevent them reposting it thinking there was an error in the database and it disappeared? I don't have time, sorry :(

I guess it's also easier for Mod activity log purpose, and other moderators can see it and restore message quickly., they know why it was deleted (while hiding a post you can't leave a reason for other moderators).


Edit:
Though, I agree it's ugly to browse full page of deleted post.
But users should also take their responsibility and become a little more mature. Knowing when they have to stop without someone else telling them.
I'm just asking the impossible :P
 
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The Catboy

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[gbatemp inner secrets]
There are ways to delete posts but for the most part we are discouraged from it in place of the "hiding"/trashing style as there are implications for the database behind it all (GBAtemp is large enough in terms of bandwidth requirements and database size that the those responsible for the technical side of things will spend no small amount of time tweaking certain features to reduce load and requests) and nobody wants to fiddling at that level with any backups that might exist in the case of a debate over a judgement/action (it is quite possible to untrash a post and indeed other staff can usually see the trashed posts in a thread). Of course is less an aesthetics thing and more of a technical debate and to that end you might even have a point at some level although I am not sure how hard it would be to unwind.
[/gbatemp inner secrets]

I suppose the other side of it is much like anything the staff and regulars usually just skip over it (I assume most of you use view new posts- kind of how you probably do not read every title or skip certain sections) and as others have said it does not really happen that often.

If that's the case, then a different database query could be used for normal users which doesn't return these posts. This would solve the problem of retaining deleted posts and allowing undeletion. I know of many comment engines using this method to hide comments that have not yet been approved for display to end users, or have received a certain number of spam flags. Stack Overflow uses a similar method, showing deleted posts only to mods and users with greater than 10k reputation.

I disagree. I think this feature should remain with the staff. If there are trolling/off-topic posts, just report them if they are that bad.
I think you misread the request. To clarify, I'm asking if deleted posts could be *really* deleted or at least hidden from the average user. See also http://en.wikipedia....or.27s_.22we.22.
Ohhh~~~ Yeah I think I did misread it greatly. I should really stop posting when I just got out of bed
 

Rydian

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In most cases, if a thread has enough BS for pages to be deleted, it's a shit thread and gets locked.

However in threads like you gave as an example, OP, they're usually full of shit posts because of having misleading or incorrect titles or first post contents... and in most cases a report would be given and the thread title or such clarified (see many user-submitted news threads for an example), but in that specific case changing the title is not clear-cut, since the example literally states what the title is, so even if it was changed it'd be something like "Supposed Homebrew Channel", which would do no better since people would still post as they're posting now. Can't fix stupid.
 
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PolloDiablo

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maybe mods could add a dislike button and implement something like gametrailers.com ("This comment has been buried by our users")
 

kthnxshwn

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I understand what he's asking. In fact I directly addressed an example of his, and multiple people came in to address the technical merits of what he's asking to happen versus what happens now.

Just because we don't agree doesn't mean we don't understand his position.
He's not asking people to post wiser. All he's asked is that posts actually be deleted instead of some sort of psuedo hidden mix.
 

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