I was thinking about this the other day, and on another forum I’ve been on, after about a year and a half or so the older topics get deleated. When that happens, sometimes some great discussions are lost. Does that happen here, or are they kept?
Right now the oldest post on here is from 23 Apr 2004, 17:49:56, and I know the forum is older then that, so what happens to the old posts?
I keep a watch topic list. If you haven’t started one, the link is at the bottom of the last post and above the reply box.
I’ve found threads and post that are more than a year old, but maybe it’s a storage issue. If the thread is bumped up, then it’s good for another time period. Well, that’s my guess.
Thats kind of how I see it.
I guess what I’m getting at is are the old posts kept anywhere, or are they deleted?
Other forums have an archive section with old topics. They are locked but still available for reading. If you look at the last topic in this forum, the last entry was exactly one year ago. I think they simply disappear after one year.
So apparently, the secret is to make an entry at least once a year in the topics you want to keep.
Tom
You got me curious Phillip. I did a advanced search of (all) Model Railroader Forums for the word TRAIN as far back as possible, January 1, 2000 to January 1, 2001 and came up with “0 matches in Subject & Message of posts in Model Railroader Forums (Non-Archived”).
Non-Archived? I see what you mean. Where’s the archives?
The oldest thread I could find, using the word COUPLER, dates back to December 25,2001.
I did a little exploring and found that at the bottom of the page in the general forum there is a drop down menu that you can select “all topics” in. If you do that the general discussion forum goes back to January 11, 2001.
So I guess that makes the question, “When did this forum begin?”
This is the oldest topic I could find on this forum, and I believe you can still post in it.[:D]
First time “water” maker-best way? by dgoins, January 9, 2001.
http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=106
I just did some more snooping and found something even more curious. A few of the posts on those old topics are posted 2 years before the person joined! [%-)]
I’ve looked at those old topics before, and can’t figure out NA. I think that posts may be assigned to it somehow after members (Not trolls) are deleted.
"Occupation: Place-holder account for deleted members "
Phillip gets a gold star and the rest of the day off for discovering the secret of the vanishing posts. Sounds kinda like a Hardy Boys mystery!
Phillip, I wonder if the dates are off because the user deleted the accont and then rejoined at a later date.
Tom
I was kind of thinking along the same lines, but how would the computer know?
Maybe the files are a little corrupted?
It would depend on whether a user’s post are deleted along with the post (I don’t think they are). Also, I’m not sure if a user id is deleted, can that user id be recreated by the same person (or another)? Only the Shadow knows…
A very good case could be made for corrupted files also.
Tom