[Aloha]

Quote

We have 81112 registered members

I remember seeing the number bigger than that, around 110000 or so. Do my eyes have problems? If not, then I'm curious of the missing members. Where are they? They have left the forum? Or maybe it's the cleaning up of the forum sometimes?

I think this question is not important to care about. But I really want to know about the forum as much as possible. Thanks in advance for any reply.

This post has been edited by Aloha: 12 January 2010 - 02:00 AM

[Zxian]

There was some user pruning done a while ago, but only for those members who had zero posts and had not signed in for close to 2 years.

Smaller databases means faster browsing for you.

[tain]

We do this sort of housecleaning every once in a while to keep things running smoothly.

[Aloha]

Hi Zxian and Tain,
Thanks for the info. Then this pruning is for good. It's very fine. Browsing here is faster than browsing on other forums I know. So, I don't notice the faster surfing at all! I guess I'll have to come and write posts from time to time to maintain my account. And now: We have 81170 registered members
The number is still growing up quite fast.

This post has been edited by Aloha: 08 October 2009 - 10:59 PM

[cluberti]

It does. We get a lot of transient members who join to download something, or join to peruse the forums but not post, etc. Note we welcome folks to do this, of course, but with the expectation that if they join and don't post or otherwise interact with the boards within a specified amount of time, the account will be removed from the DB.

[Aloha]

Cluberti,
Thanks for replying. I understand it now. I'd like to keep my account here, but sometimes it's hard for me to write a post. I mean, I have no problems to ask for help, and I don't know much to help the others. Then, not sure what I should talk about! But because the pruning is:

Quote

only for those members who had zero posts and had not signed in for close to 2 years

I feel completely safe now!

[Aloha]

Sorry for posting here, but I don't want to make a new topic.
I happen to see two Guest names when I click on my name today. Well, I rarely do this! One came on 8 May, and the other on 8 Aug. I search in the member list but there is no one by that name, Guest. Why is it so strange?

PS. I change the topic. I hope everyone doesn't mind when I ask anything about the forum here.
And I do notice that the number of members goes down again!

[cluberti]

If you see a guest_<username>, it's an account that's been removed from the DB but is still showing up in the user list for some reason. It happens from time to time that a deleted account can login, and we have to do some database synchronizing to make sure deleted accounts really are deleted, just to be sure. But yes, we keep the user list as trimmed as is possible, to 1. alleviate strain on the database, and 2. to keep performance to a maximum whilst keeping overhead on the backend servers to a minimum.

[Aloha]

OK, then they used to be members but no longer now. Got it. Thanks for the answer.

Just one more issue, I would like some of my topics to be deleted. Is it possible, Cluberti?

[cluberti]

Send me a PM with which ones, and why.

[Aloha]

I read your previous post many times and think a lot of this, "to alleviate strain on the database". So, I decided to have my miscellaneous topics removed. I'll send the links through a PM. Hopefully it won't take you much time to handle them.
Frankly, I can't help laughing when I reread some old posts! I can't imagine why I could write such things! Thanks in advance for your help.

This post has been edited by Aloha: 13 January 2010 - 01:11 AM

[jaclaz]

Aloha, on Jan 13 2010, 08:08 AM, said:

I read your previous post many times and think a lot of this, "to alleviate strain on the database". So, I decided to have my miscellaneous topics removed. I'll send the links through a PM. Hopefully it won't take you much time to handle them.
Frankly, I can't help laughing when I reread some old posts! I can't imagine why I could write such things! Thanks in advance for your help.

If I may, and of course as a provocation , I find deleting old posts/threads to be "falsifying history".

Who knows if any of those posts has been useful (or will be) if not for anything else to avoid re-posting the same question/problem/report?

Just imagine if (say) Picasso had destroyed ALL his juvenile paintings or Kipling ALL his initial attempts at literature....

Ok, ok, moot point, I do know a fair number of artists and writers whose WHOLE production could be destroyed without any damage to humanity (actually avoiding quite a number of nightmares to future generations)....

Aloha, on Jan 13 2010, 08:08 AM, said:

Frankly, I can't help laughing when I reread some old posts! I can't imagine why I could write such things! Thanks in advance for your help.

You see?

When you are sad or in blue mood all you have to do is come here and read a few of your early posts, and it will cheer you up a bit!

jaclaz

This post has been edited by jaclaz: 13 January 2010 - 04:54 AM

[tain]

You and I are of the same mind. Please trust me that I've argued these points and more whenever we've needed to clean up the database. Rest assured that we do not make a habit of deleting any "real" posts. The pruning is almost exclusively of old spam and defunct accounts.

[Aloha]

I don't know what I should say after reading the above posts. In fact, I was a reader of this forum for over a year before I decided to be a member. Reading many posts by many people here encouraged me to join the forum. I like the way people talk to each other and help one another, very patienly and very friendly. I thought I could do the same. How funny! Since I used the internet, I just like surfing and reading, and always avoid becoming a member. Not sure why I chose MSFN among many forums I've known. Do you think I have the answer now? OK, I'll say no more about this feeling!

Jaclaz,
I like your post. Very much. Especially this sentence:

Quote

When you are sad or in blue mood all you have to do is come here and read a few of your early posts, and it will cheer you up a bit!

Good idea. But, I guess you didn't think I've saved some funny posts before asking the deletion!!!

Anyway, I still hope Cluberti will remove the links I sent.

[jaclaz]

Aloha, on Jan 13 2010, 04:39 PM, said:

But, I guess you didn't think I've saved some funny posts before asking the deletion!!!

Sure I did , but I am one step ahead of you :
when and if your only copy of them (as you did not back them up properly) will fail , don't come here asking for help in recovering them....


@tain
I am sure that this approach is applied whenever pruning is made.



jaclaz

[cluberti]

In general, the only posts we delete are spam, violations of the rules, etc. If a post doesn't meet either of these criteria, especially if there are responses in a thread, we don't delete it, ever. As to the request for deleting threads, I don't see any reason to do so. They don't really fall under the spam or violation of forum rules, and while they may not have a lot of technical merit (or none at all) I don't see any real reason to remove them either. They're part of MSFNs history, so I'm leaving them up for now.

[Aloha]

jaclaz, on Jan 13 2010, 11:46 AM, said:

Sure I did , but I am one step ahead of you :
when and if your only copy of them (as you did not back them up properly) will fail , don't come here asking for help in recovering them....

--> Predictor!!!

cluberti, on Jan 13 2010, 11:59 AM, said:

They're part of MSFNs history, so I'm leaving them up for now.

--> Supervisor!

I think I should stop here! Thanks all for replying.

[Aloha]

I would like to have only 3 lines (Group, Posts, Joined) under my name like this post:

http://www.msfn.org/...21

On my posts there are Gender and OS, which are not necessary. I don't give information about these, then why are they displayed like that? How can I change the way it looks? Thanks in advance for any replies.

I read all the posts on that topic, and then read some different old topics. I feel that there are no females on this forum at all! Not sure why gender should be put on every post! The only thing I like about the new theme is that I can choose a color to match the current theme on my computer. And, I find that posts with quotes look more beautiful than the others! Maybe because of the colorful background!

[Tarun]

Why the concern about Gender and OS? Even if you give information about them it wouldn't make much difference. The OS would be the more important of the two, as it can help when assisting with computer related issues.

[Aloha]

Tarun, what I care about is why some people can have such only lines on their posts, and I would like the same on my posts. Can you tell me how to make it, please? What should I change in my profile options?

By the way, I don't tell what OS I am using but people can know what it is. Because I always put my problems on the right sub forums, XP for example. And I know you and most of the others don't care about a person's gender when you are answering him/her to help. Then why bother putting this information on? Thank you for replying.