Did some forum post pruning this evening

[FORDification]

Just to let you all know, as part of the ongoing investigation into our current forum gremlins, it was suggested that I do some pruning of posts to cut down on the database size. I haven't done any database cleaning of old/outdated/unnecessary posts since the forum was started 4 (or so) years ago, and since this was something that I've been meaning to do for some time now, I went ahead and did that this evening.

The following forums were pruned of posts which hadn't had any replies in the past 90 days, with the exception of the Testing area, where posts with no replies within the past 10 days were deleted. Here are the stats of what got deleted:

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-Testing...testing...
122 topics for a total of 767 posts

-FORDification.com Auctions
29 topics for a total of 316 posts

-Parts for Sale/Trade
915 topics for a total of 4645 posts

-Parts Wanted
739 topics for a total of 3631 posts

- Trucks for Sale/Trade/Wanted
695 topics for a total of 3466 posts

- Humor
582 topics for a total of 3262 posts

-Website & Forum Feedback/Help
160 topics for a total of 731 posts

TOTAL = 3242 topics deleted for a total of 16,818 posts (WOW! )

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As you can see, I didn't touch any of the information forums, just those that I deemed as unnecessary and would be unlikely to be searched for. This should help in streamlining the database for faster searches and less unneeded overhead.

Oh....by the way....you'll also notice that your post counts did not decrease after all after the pruning. The deleted posts are still included in your post counts, they're just no longer in the database.

[flyboy2610]

That is a lot of posts!
If there's anything we can do to help, let us know.

[mrsnicks]

Whee!!!! Post count saved!! Go Keith!

Umm.. question though.. what happened to the quick reply box that used to be at the bottom of posts???

Patrick

[FORDification]

The Quick Reply box is among a dozen or so forum mods that had to deleted while we track down the gremlins causing some current server problems. We're almost to the point where we can see some light at the end of the tunnel in regards to pinpointing the problem, and when we do, I can reinstall the forum mods and re-activate the Photo Galleries. Be patient...it should happen soon.

[rjewkes]

Just as a thought the welcome and site updates section after a time frame determined by yourself? And unnessacery stikys like for the stickers and stuff.

***Edited*** Ok guess the stickers one is long gone. Just some hopefully helpful suggestions is all.

Great job so far Keith.Thanks for everything you do keith.

[mrung0wa]

I HATE GREMLINS...

[69F110]

Keith, I did indeed lose posts...i was at about 945...now it says 741. Not sure if the two are related. Most of my posts are simply concurring or non-concurring with someone else...but there was a bunch of them. I was at 4 Stars as well, now at 3.

Forum: Project Updates Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2005 7:16 am Subject: more billet interior parts
Who is "he"?

**just got my 4th star- a blue oval fanatic**

[OldBlue67]

ACK! It cut mine I was at 600 something trucking along to blue oval fanatic and now I'm at 504 or so

[FORDification]

Hmmm....after the first round of pruning, it didn't appear to have altered the post counts. I've been busy over the past couple of days pruning some more, and apparently this time the post count was altered. Therefore, I'm going to hold off on any more pruning until I can make sure the post counts aren't affected in the future.

[FLATBEDFORD]

Are the post counts that important? Call me oldfashioned, but don't they just show that we've been spending way too much time on the computer?

[69F110]

Steve...you may have a point there....Steve

[flyboy2610]

I don't think they are that important. There are some with high post counts that don't say much that's worth reading.

[FORDification]

I guess it all depends on how a particular post or thread is dealt with on my part. If I "prune' the posts using a built-in feature of the software, it deletes posts that haven't been replied to in a certain amount of time (of my choosing), and it doesn't affect the post counts. However, it takes everything....good AND bad posts. Since certain forums here contain info that I wanted to save, I couldn't use the prune feature for them and so I had to actually re-read every single thread and then manually delete those that weren't save-worthy....and anything manually deleted does affect the post counts. It doesn't appear as if there's anything I can do about that. So every now and then as I do some cleaning, you're probably going to see your count drop a little. It's just going to have to be the nature of the beast.

[OldBlue67]

Are the post counts that important? Call me oldfashioned, but don't they just show that we've been spending way too much time on the computer?

Well, truthfully yah. I dont post all that often but I've been here since the beginning. My post count was just finally starting to reflect that. I was kinda pumped to be getting close to the next rank, theres only a handfull of guys who've got that far and most of them have been around a good while (obviously). I guess it just shows how useless a lot of the things I post are for so many to be lost when the garbage gets thrown out

[rjewkes]

I don't realy think its our data base oir upgrades i'd almost say its the host cuasing this problem to force an upgrade. What would it take to get our own server establish and hooked int the net?