Deletion of older posts

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Craig
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Deletion of older posts

Post by Craig »

Dear All

I noticed tonight that all threads the were last posted in prior to August 18 2006 have been recently deleted from the site in all sections. :( Previously posts were still online that were made since March 2004.

I was wondering why this was done as there doesn't appear to have been any consultation with the general readership before this has happened.

Having old posts was useful to allow people to search for information that may not have been posted recently, to prevent people having to ask common questions over & over. I know I occasionally search for threads older than 3 months, and I am sure others do too.

While this situation is still better than the dark ages of ATDB when the Boardhost forum had discussion from the last week or so available online towards the end, I am still rather disappointed that much discussion appears no longer available.

Even if the server space was becoming limited, only leaving 3 months of threads does appear to be slightly excessive, given we previously had 2 and half years of threads still online.

Kind Regards


Craig :)
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Fleet Lists
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Post by Fleet Lists »

This could also explain why the photo guidelines have disappeared. I feel at least those and other guidelines should have been retained.

I raised this with other admins yesterday not aware that all older threads had been removed.
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T1200
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Post by T1200 »

I noticed this the other day because I couldn't find a rule that said no quoting of photos anywhere, and when I went searching I realised there were many, many topics missing. The admins and mods are currently discussing this.

I am not going to make generalisations at this stage, but another server error could be a contributing factor.
Reality continues to ruin my life.
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TOXANA
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Post by TOXANA »

I've just checked through the photo section and it's not just old threads that are gone, but also some of the more recent threads are gone as well.
The 2 weeks from mid Oct to early Nov has gone.
Mother's and my U-boat tributes have all gone.
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Post by Magus »

T1200 wrote:I am not going to make generalisations at this stage, but another server error could be a contributing factor.
Server error is not a factor in this at all.
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Post by T1200 »

Magus wrote:Server error is not a factor in this at all.
I beg your pardon.
T1200 wrote:I am not going to make generalisations at this stage
What a hypocrite that T1200 guy is.
Reality continues to ruin my life.
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Herbert
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Post by Herbert »

Any update on the lost threads?

Some people have put a lot of effort into previous posts, would be a shame to lose them for good.
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Craig
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Post by Craig »

Dear All

A fortnight has now past without a proper response from the admin team.

Does this mean the old posts are simply lost forever? If so, that would be a great shame.

Kind Regards


Craig :)
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Post by <smarTTrams> »

I would like to add my voice to those who have already expressed their disappointment that older posts (and apparently some recent ones) have gone without any warning being given that this would happen.

As Herbert says
Some people have put a lot of effort into previous posts, would be a shame to lose them for good.
If I had known that any of the posts were going to disappear I would have saved the ones that I had spent a lot of time on, together with other board users' posts that contained information of particular interest to me!

Unfortunately when you save posts to something like Microsoft Word you lose the formatting and end up with unwanted hyperlinks and tables.

To have all the posts intact was a big advantage, particularly when it is so easy to locate any particular post or piece of information using the board's Search facility.

Is there any significance in the fact that currently the Sydney Forum has 9 saved pages, while Melbourne and Perth have just 3 pages each, and General Transport Discussion has only 2 pages saved?

Thanks in anticipation.

<smarTTrams> ... coming ... <smarTTrams> ... going ...<smarTTrams>
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Post by T1248 »

<smarTTrams> wrote:
Is there any significance in the fact that currently the Sydney Forum has 9 saved pages, while Melbourne and Perth have just 3 pages each, and General Transport Discussion has only 2 pages saved?
It would have to do with a date, and after that date when all the posts have been lost, only the current ones remain. Since that date the NSW section has had 9 pages of activity where as the WA and VIC sections have only had the 2 or 3 pages of action. That would be my guess at the problem.

Cheers James
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Andrew
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Post by Andrew »

Apparently the posts are able to be restored, however not immediately as relevant people are busy with other matters (not relating to this board).

They will be replaced as soon as possible.

As it turns out, the board was hacked by someone (who's IP address we have logged). On the same day, the same person for whatever reason, also hacked Railmedia and Vicsig sites in a similar fashion.

Messages posted before a certain date (which we have not exactly worked out yet) were removed from the server, hence the variation in number of pages in different sections - Sydney/NSW having more regular postings than the General Discussion section.


We'll get as many back (hopefully all) as soon as we can.

Thanks for your continued patience.
.
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Post by Nexas »

Finally someone explains it, over two weeks later, better late than never I suppose. :P
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Post by Herbert »

Yes, thanks Andrew, for that information. It is also understood that those who provide us with this forum also have other activities and "life" outside of it. Good news that it can be restored. As time goes on this Forum itself will become a valuable source of historical information, therefore its protection from such attacks is very important. I trust appropriate action is being taken to identify the culprit.
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Post by T1200 »

Herbert wrote:I trust appropriate action is being taken to identify the culprit.
Near impossible after all this time has passed.

However extra measures have been taken to prevent this in the future.
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Post by Andrew »

I believe that, along with the other two forums so affected, the 'identity' of the person through their IP address has been forwarded on to other parties to see if any action can be taken.
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Job done.
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Post by Member1100 »

Andrew wrote:
Thanks for your continued patience.
With the speed of the response, i dont think they had any choice. LOL!!!!
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Post by Craig »

Almost a month has passed since Andrew gave us the good news that the posts could be restored.

Now that the Christmas period has passed, I am hoping that the relevant person(s) can get on with the task of restoring the lost posts ASAP. Its rather annoying knowing you can't search for a post you know has the information you need.

I know others are awaiting the return of the older posts too.

Kind Regards


Craig :)
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Post by Andrew »

The relevant person is overseas I'm afraid (lucky bastard). It will be another couple of weeks I'm sorry.
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Craig
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Post by Craig »

Andrew wrote:The relevant person is overseas I'm afraid (lucky bastard). It will be another couple of weeks I'm sorry.
Thanks for the update at least.

Kind Regards


Craig :)
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Post by Simes »

Andrew wrote:The relevant person is overseas I'm afraid (lucky bastard). It will be another couple of weeks I'm sorry.
Any update on the situation?
http://19302413.blogspot.com/

3092, last bus on George Street - 23rd October 2015 7:50pm
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Post by Magus »

Simes wrote:
Andrew wrote:The relevant person is overseas I'm afraid (lucky bastard). It will be another couple of weeks I'm sorry.
Any update on the situation?
Lads (and Lassies),

I've still got a copy of the old database which has all the old posts in it. I'm working on a way to merge the old and the new together without buggering things up. Rest assured this hasn't been forgotten... Just taking a while...
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Post by Simes »

Magus wrote:
Simes wrote: Any update on the situation?
Lads (and Lassies),

I've still got a copy of the old database which has all the old posts in it. I'm working on a way to merge the old and the new together without buggering things up. Rest assured this hasn't been forgotten... Just taking a while...
cheers, thanks for the update :)
http://19302413.blogspot.com/

3092, last bus on George Street - 23rd October 2015 7:50pm
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Craig
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Post by Craig »

What's the latest on this?

Kind Regards


Craig :)
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Magus
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Post by Magus »

Hi Guys,

I've spent considerable time on recovering these posts but with limited success (none visable on the site). The situation is that I do have the backups of the old database which has the posts in question, however to incorporate them into the existing "live" database would require a bit of custom programming which I don't have the skillset for. So as it stands it's unlikely we'll be able to have these up on the site anytime soon.

Sorry for the delay on getting back to you.

Cheers,
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Post by member 1423 »

(This post is merely a suggestion, and should be taken that way. I have no knowledge of programming so I'm not sure if its possible - thanks)

I know on another forum I visit we had something similar, and all the websmaster did was create a subfolder with the forum software and then placed a link up the top that said 'posts before xyz date - go to the archives'. This seemed to work well enough to be able to research atleast.

Is that at all possible? Cheers
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