forum-issue: deleting PMs
davejames
Posts: 4,047
How do I go about deleting PMs? I've looked and hovered expecting to see some sort of button to push, but to no avail.
Comments
Once a message is sent it is sent. Like email or the good old fashioned snail mail.
Struck out as being obviously gibberish !
"conversations" will appear (at the bottom, you can select "All Messages"). Click on any (of the) name(s) at the top of each
message. Click the red button, "Delete Conversation".
edit: why is the stupid forum putting unnecessary breaks in the middle of sentences?
I have nearly 3000 Bookmarks assigned to me and would prefer zero, but haven't found a way to change this.
Notifications seems to be similarly outside the sphere of the individual.
And PMs may be removed from your visual listing in a slow and tedious one-by-one procedure. But seeing as PMs going back to August of 2010 have reappeared from what was previously an empty mail box, I have given up removing them for now.
I had thought that my previous removal of these PMs was final and assured that my privacy and the privacy of the people I was in contact with was assured. Now I have serious doubts about there being any zone of true privacy on anything outside my own personal computer.
The ability of the internet to replicate and archive all and everything to unknown servers for unknown purposes is 'The Defacto Situation'. Anything one desires to remain private best be left unsaid, or go through a rigorous secure channel with appropriate encryption, etc. (That all may be a dream.)
The majority of my security relies on the simple fact that I am mundane and boring to those that desire to snoop and data mine.
Rick - thanks.
I guess I was "visually overloaded" in not seeing the delete conversation button, on top of not understanding that a "conversation" is a PM thread.
That delete process appears to work but is incredibly s..l..o..w...
...um, like forever - in the previous Forum anyway. I'd go to that part of the Forum and manage the Received/Sent/Draft sections as needed, and quickly.
Not so much in this forum incarnation.
Forum = Category
Thread = Discussion
Message = Conversation
There are probably more.
Any need to do this other than to add more confusion eludes me.
I trimmed down a lot of old crud as well. Took me 8-10 minutes, whereas in vBulletin I could have merely checked off the old messages I wanted deleted, and clicked Delete. A 15 second job, tops.
I get that we needed a responsive theme (though later versions of vBull support responsive themes as well). I'm just sad we had to give up so many other things -- trivial individually, but significant in aggregate -- to get what we have now.
8-10 minutes is not too bad. How many years did it all go back to. Mine just dumbfounded me as I suddenly had August, 2010 messages appearing when I previously was looking at nothing.
In many ways, things are not as bad as they first seemed. But I am not a fan of 'sink or swim' change overs. Or was this a 'do or die' change over?
I remain very irate that the 'front page' is messy and confusing with the top of front page focusing on the SX chips. That never should have happened. But my standard is that no matter what doesn't work right, the first impression should be a graphic experience that makes people have confidence in whatever might follow.
Maybe I am just odd that way. Your first web page with the log in is the only one chance you have to get a new user to log in and become a regular user.
8-10 minutes is not too bad. How many years did it all go back to. Mine just dumbfounded me as I suddenly had August, 2010 messages appearing when I previously was looking at nothing.
Well, yeah it is, when in the old system it took mere seconds. This is a classic example of one step forward, two steps back. In my case it was only about 50 "discussions" total, going back a few years.
Individually, this one feature -- or lack of -- is no big deal. So what. But I worry about the consolidation of apathy toward loss of functionality. In the end, we get less than what we had before. People accept it because that's just the way it is.
I have a favorite story related to this. When I was 10, I was in an 880 yard race, my first. My brother loaned me his track Adidas. I felt I was on springs. At the start of the race I shot out, and was a good half a lap ahead of everyone else. But I hadn't competed in many races, and didn't know how to pace myself. Last half lap I started slowing down. I was passed by another runner. I thought, well, coming in second isn't bad.
Then another runner passed me, and another, and another -- until at the end I came in sixth, out of about 10.
My mistake, other than not pacing myself, was accepting second place. Once you do that, you might as well accept last place. And when that happens, what's the point in being in the race.
You can't always win, but if you accept a "second place is okay" mentality, you will always lose.
We should expect only the very best from the forum that we all devote so much time and love to. It's unrealistic to believe it must be perfect, but the little things do add up. We need to keep pointing out what's lacking -- especially in comparison to what we had -- or else nothing good will happen. Mediocrity has a way of becoming your best friend if you let it.
This is not being negative or picayune, but striving for the best whenever we can.
Mike
I am all for lean and mean service that may be a bit more primitive.
But Parallax does have to now deal with Internet traffic to iPads, smart phones, and net-books. All beyond the de facto standard of a PC desktop.
++++++++
My core desire here is to just make all the clutter go away. That improves the user experience.
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In another way I just can't seem to see the wisdom in adding clutter via the changeover. Having acquired nearly 3000 un-remove-able Bookmarks makes no sense to me.
This issue erodes my confidence in Parallax as an educational resource, teacher, and mentor. It just seems to me that they should have learned something about Forum change overs and Forum software by now to avoid doing this kind of thing.
Of course, a one time event could be easy to overlook, but this is a repeat.
I live in a world where lots of people claim to teach English, but few are diligent in developing their craft. So I am suspicious of those that claim to be educators unless they set a good example.
Sorry, but that is the way I feel. Sometimes it is what is not said or not done that is the strongest message.
I guess that is what Gordon means... striving for the best, or striving for excellence. We are on the same page about that or at least I think we are. We may never get there, but it demonstrates sincerity, character, and generosity.
Just obsessive about coming in first is not what I am about.
I just checked my Inbox and saw there was only one message. But when I opened it, there was the one new message and all the old clutter. So I still have a housekeeping chore to do.
That's enough of that.
A new bit of strangeness occurred...
When I replied to the message, I was then bounce into that person's Activity screen. I almost jumped into writing something there as I thought I it was the PM entry screen.
I don't understand why I am automatically jumping there. It is odd and likely to generate more visible trash.
-Phil
-Phil
That works, until the spam harvesters start reaping.
I do get some spam at my forum email address, since it's always been public; but it hasn't gotten out of hand. If it does, I can just change the address to something else.
-Phil
John.Doe@example.com
John.Doe@example.com