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Some questions about the forum


Aloha

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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.

Edited by Aloha
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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. ;)

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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.

Edited by Aloha
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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.

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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:

only for those members who had zero posts and had not signed in for close to 2 years
I feel completely safe now!
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  • 3 months later...

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!

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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.

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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?

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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.

Edited by Aloha
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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". :w00t:

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? :unsure:

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).... :wacko:

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! :thumbup

jaclaz

Edited by jaclaz
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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.

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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:

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.

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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 :ph34r:, don't come here asking for help in recovering them....:whistle:

@tain

I am sure that this approach is applied whenever pruning is made. :thumbup

:hello:

jaclaz

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