Housekeeping/Culling?

[Tender Face]

I was keen to look up a very old post of mine and its responses .... but it appears to have disappeared - along with everything else posted pre-October 2007?

Is there some 'archive' we can access? Or has anything posted pre-2007 been lost in cyber space? Gosh, had I known I would have saved the threads I knew would remain pertinent to me into my own personal 'archive' ......???

Thanks for any help .... Karen, x

 

[jenniferpa]

Blimey Karen - I don't know. I suspect it's not so much a time thing (in that I can access posts from before 2007) but it may be a personal volume thing (I'm speculating here). I'll direct the web teams attention to this thread so we can get some idea of what's going on.

 

[jenniferpa]

To add to the above - it seems to be limited to 100 threads and I'm reasonably certain it didn't used to be

 

[Brucie]

Hi Karen

I think the search results are limited by a software setting to 100. I've just checked in the administration area and it has an option

Maximum Search Results to Return
Any search results over this number will be discarded.

This is set to 100

This makes me think that all the posts and threads are still there, but a member [any member including admin and mods] get closed down at number 101 on a search.

This explains maybe why some members can go back farther than others - if they have posted less, but over a long time.

The search is 100 for posts and 100 for threads started by, so if you used the former, then maybe try the latter.

I assume there are possible server performance issues over raising the limit, so I'll ask Alzheimer's Society next week, rather than just change the setting now and bring the TP world to a halt...

P.S. I seem to recall it was once set to 500, not 100.

 

[Tender Face]

....it seems to be limited to 100 threads and I'm reasonably certain it didn't used to be

Thanks both ..... I know some people use TP as almost a 'diary record' - think we need a 'warning' if our logs are going to 'drop off' after a certain time ..... Not that long ago for pure sentimental purposes I went back to my own very first post back in early 2006!!!!!! - and I am nearing the 3000 post mark - (never mind 500!) and streets behind others!!!!

I understand for capacity purposes things may have to change but can we have an 'amnesty' or warning to allow those who wish to, to preserve their own archives?

Ta evermuchso, Karen, x

 

[Brucie]

can we have an 'amnesty' or warning to allow those who wish to, to preserve their own archives

I think the thing here is that, when TP software is upgraded - as it will be in early 2009, probably, the main issues that are looked at are usability, consistency and compatibility.

However, there are literally hundreds of settings and as far as I know, AS can't simply select an option that says "transfer all current options across to the new release" as one can with application software such as Microsoft Office.

Your highlighting this will help bring this particular issue to the fore when the next upgrade is made.

Final thought:the people who update and upgrade the software are never users of the software, necessarily.

So we all need to help them by letting them know what is important to us.

 

[said]

Hi Karen

There are hundreds of settings within the software that runs TP.
It might have been one of these was altered during an update without us knowing it.

Together with our IT department we are also looking at the overall speed of the forum. Search tends to have a big impact on this (especially when you allow unregistered users to search) and we are constantly looking at ways to improve speed.

Having said that it is always unwise to use an electronic resource as a back-up. It might be in the future that we do need to do something like this, once again to improve the performance of the site. If there is something that is personal and important please always save your words and thoughts onto other media.

I will look into it and get back to you.

Said

 

[Brucie]

Every member who reads this - please reflect that Said does not have to spend his weekends looking at Talking Point. He does it because it is important to him. He should be watching Strictly Come Dancing

Thanks Said. As with so many things, this is added value to the service that Alzheimer's Society provides.

 

[daughter]

Hi Karen,

I will look into it and get back to you.

Meanwhile, did you know that you can still access your old posts by searching for a phrase in them?

For instance, my 'Posts Made By' 100 limit goes back to March 2007 but if I search for "it's my Mum's health suffering too" I can find my very first post back in March 2003... remembering the phrase from a post could be tricky though!

P.S. I'm betting that Said is more of a River Cottage fan myself.

 

[CraigC]

Well I found my first post from 2003 in a couple of seconds using a the search:

http://www.alzheimers.org.uk/talkingpoint/discuss/showthread.php?t=2&highlight='solice+for'

I'm terrified of an archive as I put a lot of work into some of my replies. Right now every thing is still available as far as I can tell. It happened on a forum that I moderated main years ago without warning and we were all devastated. I'm sure the society will give us all plenty of warning if it needs to happen.

Kind Regards
Craig

 

[said]

Hi Karen

The setting has been set back to 500 posts/threads.

All the best

Said

 

[Tender Face]

Many, many thanks Said ... (and everyone else on the thread) ...... yup - can now go back to days I was a veritable dinosaur!!!!!

Definitely made me think:

Having said that it is always unwise to use an electronic resource as a back-up. It might be in the future that we do need to do something like this, once again to improve the performance of the site. If there is something that is personal and important please always save your words and thoughts onto other media.

Karen, x