Implemented Allow searching of soft deleted threads/posts/profile posts

digitalpoint

Well-known member
We use search extensively to find spammers, people slinging the same crap from the same websites, etc. It was quite a shock when I realized that soft deleted threads, posts and profile posts aren't searchable by mods/admins. Digging a bit, I realized the DataWriters actually delete the soft deleted items from the search index completely.

I ended up changing that and now posts, threads and profile posts that are soft deleted are searchable by mods/admins (the system already filters them out of search results for users who can't see them normally).

But it got me thinking... Why does XF by default go out of it's way to make soft deleted items not searchable for mods/admins?
 
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Really miss this feature in XenForo. Moderators should be able to find soft deleted threads and posts by a user via "Find all content" and "Find all threads" links.
 
Agreed, same here.

Note that it's very big a problem in large forums.
Very much so. It partially impedes our ability to deal with problem members.

Since there was an add-on for it, the modification can't be all that difficult. I just don't have the time to look into it anymore.
 
Very much so. It partially impedes our ability to deal with problem members. Since there was an add-on for it, the modification can't be all that difficult. I just don't have the time to look into it anymore.

Correct.

So, if you removed any thread with soft delete and if there is a problem (people, members, political problems etc.) in forums, moderators have a problem. Because they can't see soft deleted post, threads, etc. in search, new posts or user's content lists.

Maybe it's not problem in small forums. However, in large forums and if you have lots of moderator, it will be huge a problem. That's why I said this is should be core.
 
I can't blame the developers, though, for not including certain features. They aren't involved in many of the day-to-day situations we see on our forums, especially big boards. And each community is different. They have to rely on us to give feedback about what is working, and what isn't. (Having said that, I'd gladly have any of the XF developers be an "honorary admin" for a week or two, to see how we work, and what we deal with.)

We recently had a situation where a banned member changed his Gravatar to something really vulgar and nasty, with our forum owner's head Photoshopped onto the top of it. Despite being banned, that Gravatar was showing up in the public forum--a member reported it, in fact. I never would have considered such a "leak" possible, yet I made sure to check in here and note it so they are at least aware of it.
 
Just adding my support for this function. It makes it impossible to effectively find threads that have been accidentally deleted, or that users have changed their minds about, or threads that have been deliberately deleted but shouldn't be.

The plugins are great but really, soft deleted content should be easily find-able by people who have rights to view it.
 
This is a major issue for us. I'll probably use digital points solution, but this should really be addressed.

If a user is causing a problem and the mods search the users history, it's very different if they have 10 deleted posts vs none. You lose a lot of context without that.

arn
 
I would use an add-on if it were available for a one-time purchase price. We don't do any "subscription" add-ons, since we don't need more costs nibbling away at our accounts on the various forums. It should be simple to code, really, but I don't have time/energy to do coding anymore.
 
I would use an add-on if it were available for a one-time purchase price. We don't do any "subscription" add-ons, since we don't need more costs nibbling away at our accounts on the various forums. It should be simple to code, really, but I don't have time/energy to do coding anymore.
I've got a free addon which I developed which allows soft-deleted content to be searchable.

Please be aware that it makes search worse for normal users.

I've got some more work todo so it only causes deleted posts to be returned for people with permission, without degrading the search results for those without permission.
 
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I've got a free addon which I developed which allows soft-deleted content to be searchable.

Please be aware that it makes search worse for normal users.

I've got some more work todo so it only causes deleted posts to be returned for people with permission, without degrading the search results for those without permission.

Works with Enhanced Search?
 
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