XF 1.4 Undelete permanently deleted thread?
- Thread starter 19ninety
- Start date
and I've deleted some things I didnt want to delete...
The Sandman
Well-known member
How hard would it be to change hard delete to a system where the content goes to a "trashcan" where it could be restored for say a week before being permanently discarded? Has this been suggested before?
19ninety
Member
@The Sandman That would be a really handy add-on for novice users.
The Sandman
Well-known member
True. I do remove hard delete permissions from most staff members, but sometimes permissions are off, or I make the mistake myself. And I'm not just talking about thread or post deletion, but even member deletion.
Sometimes you really do want to permanently delete stuff. But I think most admins have experienced the sinking sensation of unintentionally deleting something.
The Sandman
Well-known member
I accidentally hard deleted a very long thread from TAZ some months ago, ironically entitled "XenForo vs vBulletin" when cleaning up some spam. Didn't realize it until the next day.
What with XenForo 2.0 in the early stages maybe this is a good time to look at such a feature.
What with XenForo 2.0 in the early stages maybe this is a good time to look at such a feature.
SneakyDave
Well-known member
So you want the ability to soft delete posts, and also a trashcan for hard deleted posts? What if you accidentally empty the trash can? Maybe another "compactor"/"just to be sure" status to doubly make sure things aren't deleted accidentally.
The Sandman
Well-known member
Soft deletion serves an entirely different purpose from hard deletion and should be considered separately.
The concept of a "trashcan" as a way station before permanent deletion is nothing new. My pcs have them as do my servers. For some reason forum software has eschewed this feature. It may be a bit of "belt and suspenders" but it's preferable to having your trousers fall down at an inopportune moment.
The concept of a "trashcan" as a way station before permanent deletion is nothing new. My pcs have them as do my servers. For some reason forum software has eschewed this feature. It may be a bit of "belt and suspenders" but it's preferable to having your trousers fall down at an inopportune moment.
SneakyDave
Well-known member
You run Linux servers that have an undelete/trashcan feature? What distribution is that?
The Sandman
Well-known member
Not built into Linux - cPanel File Manager. You're kind of missing the point though.
SneakyDave
Well-known member
I'm not a cpanel guy. I make sure I want to delete something from the command line, and BOOM, it's gone.
I suggest making a database backup before deleting a ton of messages, or maybe just 'soft' delete them, which is just like a trash can.
I suggest making a database backup before deleting a ton of messages, or maybe just 'soft' delete them, which is just like a trash can.
SneakyDave
Well-known member
You wouldn't even have to soft delete them. Just allow admins to view the forum. Then double check, then you could soft delete them, triple check, then delete with a confirmation.
The Sandman
Well-known member
To my mind, soft deletion is removal from public view with no intention to remove the content from the database. Any integration of soft and hard deletion could be confusion IMO.
Permanent deletion OTOH is meant to be intentional removal of content from the database. As such, it is potentially dangerous and I don't see the downside to having "trashcan" functionality built in as a safeguard. That said, I've lived without it for the past decade plus with little ill effect and therefore am not married to the idea - I just put it out there in response to the OP's query.
Permanent deletion OTOH is meant to be intentional removal of content from the database. As such, it is potentially dangerous and I don't see the downside to having "trashcan" functionality built in as a safeguard. That said, I've lived without it for the past decade plus with little ill effect and therefore am not married to the idea - I just put it out there in response to the OP's query.
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JackieChun
Well-known member
I support @The Sandman's idea. Even experienced admins delete stuff by accident sometimes. I am the only admin on my forum and never soft-delete anything, because there is no point.
Reverting a hard-delete action would be very useful in those rare cases where you delete the wrong thing. +1
Reverting a hard-delete action would be very useful in those rare cases where you delete the wrong thing. +1
Well, surely the point is, if you soft deleted everything, or moved it to a private forum, if you ever made a mistake then you could revert it easily.
You could then prune these using the Batch Update Threads feature in the ACP.
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