Luce asked about "pruning" in my "announcement" thread. "Pruning" is an automatic option on this BB. IOW, the software can be set to automatically prune any threads that have not had a post in X number of days, where X can be any number selected.
I have turned off that option for every forum, assuming that most people would like to keep ALL threads for future reference, (otherwise there's not much point in having a "search" feature).
If most of you do not see the need to keep old threads, then we could certainly reduce the overall size of the database by activating the
"Pruning" feature. Be aware, however, that the software does not distinguish between threads that contain useful material, and threads that do not, and once a thread is pruned, it is gone forever. Therefore, if we were to activate this feature for the MMB, we would need to manually archive any threads that we especially wanted to save. Any opinions?
Love,
Wayne
Pruning
Moderators: Rosie, Stanz, Jean, CAMary, moremuscle, JFR, Dee, xet, Peggy, Matthew, Gabes-Apg, grannyh, Gloria, Mars, starfire, Polly, Joefnh
I have NO experience with hosting a forum like this and won't even pretend to, so maybe this idea is really impractical but, who knows..... you asked for opinions..... here's mine:
What if you set up a another category/room/board called "To Be Deleted". The moderator of each board could periodically go in and place chains of e-mails and files into the "To Be Deleted" section, and you (Tex) could dump/empty that at your convenience. The plus side to that is each one of us could browse through there on a regular basis and see if there is anything we want to keep for ourselves before it disappears forever. Kind of like a "holding station" or "one last chance" before it gets dumped. Is that a lot to ask of the moderators? Again, I have no idea so if that's not practical, feel free to ignore the suggeston.
Sue
What if you set up a another category/room/board called "To Be Deleted". The moderator of each board could periodically go in and place chains of e-mails and files into the "To Be Deleted" section, and you (Tex) could dump/empty that at your convenience. The plus side to that is each one of us could browse through there on a regular basis and see if there is anything we want to keep for ourselves before it disappears forever. Kind of like a "holding station" or "one last chance" before it gets dumped. Is that a lot to ask of the moderators? Again, I have no idea so if that's not practical, feel free to ignore the suggeston.
Sue
Sue
Diagnosed November 2004, Used Asacol and Lialda, sometimes worked, sometimes made it worse. Entocort always works but hate it. Remission only lasts 3-6 months and then back on Entocort. Enterolab test July 2017, now gluten free. Time will tell!
Diagnosed November 2004, Used Asacol and Lialda, sometimes worked, sometimes made it worse. Entocort always works but hate it. Remission only lasts 3-6 months and then back on Entocort. Enterolab test July 2017, now gluten free. Time will tell!
Well, as most of you know, I HAVE had some experience running a Board. And it got so big it became a bandwidth issue and really too huge and unwieldy to handle efficiciently. I hated to delete anything, though, because, especially with newcomers, there was always a question that needed an answer which had been discussed before. Our 
is very good at unearthing these old topics and bringing them back into the present.
Unless this is costing you money and headaches, Wayne, I think we should keep the database as it is. It would be a daunting task to have to go through each forum and segregate the wheat from the "chaff."
Again, that is just my 2 cents.
Love,
Sally
is very good at unearthing these old topics and bringing them back into the present. Unless this is costing you money and headaches, Wayne, I think we should keep the database as it is. It would be a daunting task to have to go through each forum and segregate the wheat from the "chaff."
Again, that is just my 2 cents.
Love,
Sally
Mitakuye oyasin
(Lakota for "We are all related")
(Lakota for "We are all related")
Well, I really don't know what the best way to handle it might be. I certainly don't think you (Wayne) needs to have the responsibility of "sorting & deleting". You do enough as it is.
If deleting things seems to be the way to go (and I'm not saying it is - I just think that eventually it's going to get so big that it may take half a day to do a backup), then I kind of like Sue's suggestion about the moderators doing the selecting part of the operation to relieve Wayne from some of the work.
If not that, then - say a week's warning before deleting a certain number of pages. Example: the last (pick a number) pages will deleted on (pick a date) so anyone wishing to save any posts from those pages needs to make a copy before the "delete date".
Have I confused everyone enough?
Love, Shirley
If deleting things seems to be the way to go (and I'm not saying it is - I just think that eventually it's going to get so big that it may take half a day to do a backup), then I kind of like Sue's suggestion about the moderators doing the selecting part of the operation to relieve Wayne from some of the work.
If not that, then - say a week's warning before deleting a certain number of pages. Example: the last (pick a number) pages will deleted on (pick a date) so anyone wishing to save any posts from those pages needs to make a copy before the "delete date".
Have I confused everyone enough?
Love, Shirley
When the eagles are silent, the parrots begin to jabber"
-- Winston Churchill
-- Winston Churchill
Ooooooooh, that's a tough one. I'll ponder and reply at a later time........
I agree with all posts so far = decisions, decisions.......
I'm
me up again! Someone just 
me if I get too annoying (that's Jordan's favorite word, at the ripe old age of 2!)
I'm really watching the clock to hit 4!!!!!!! Then it's vacation time until July 5th, at which time I will be working 7:30 to noon from the 5th thru the 8th! YIPEE
I agree with all posts so far = decisions, decisions.......
I'm
me up again! Someone just me if I get too annoying (that's Jordan's favorite word, at the ripe old age of 2!)I'm really watching the clock to hit 4!!!!!!! Then it's vacation time until July 5th, at which time I will be working 7:30 to noon from the 5th thru the 8th! YIPEE
"Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so, let us all be thankful." -- Buddha
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annie oakley
- King Penguin
- Posts: 3859
- Joined: Fri May 13, 2011 5:56 pm
My opinion
When I wrote the above posts, I really didn't know that you could erase in one room, and not others, so this is good if the group and Wayne want to, of course.
Don't you think that there would really only need to be a few more well-defined rooms, and that would just about give us all the places we would need to "send" the posts that have answers to questions newbies will likely ask again and again?
Also, when a good "keeper" post comes up, if there isn't an appropriate "home" for it, couldn't we make up a new room title, and then move it there.
I have no experience, but I'm thinking that this would serve the purpose that Sally mentioned and be much less work than trying to go through all the posts at the end of some time frame. This way, we just have to alert Wayne to the fact that some of us think a thread would be particularly helpful to a newbie so that he could immortalize it in room "so & so." Saavy?
Could be that the nature of the posts will get more disease oriented once this thing is opened up to the public, but we'd have plenty of time later to make a judgment on this, right Wayne? That could greatly increase the number we'd need to move to other rooms, but once the other rooms have pretty well covered most of the common subjects, I really think the number of moves would slow down considerably.
Another thing we could do if we wanted to carry over some topic that comes up is to have it edited before putting the information into an appropriate room. That way the information would be presented in a little more formal way, and probably be more compact.
This would pretty well solve the search issue that Sally was worried about, unless I missed something, not having a clue what I'm talking about. Haha!
In terms of personal stuff, we have times when there are other personal issues that we'd like to be kept at the forefront -- illnesses and deaths and other issues of great concern.
I know that sometimes when I don't have much time, I still make time to check in to a post or poster when I know there's some grave or otherwise important situation they are dealing with.
I was trying to think of something to call it. Sometimes it could be used as a prayer request room, but I thought perhaps something like "Situation Room" might be broad enough to cover a diverse no. of requests.
That way, once the situation no longer needed attention, it could be erased as well, unless there was some other reason to leave it there.
Just throwing this out to brain storm, you guys!
Whole point of such a room would be that if it went on a really long time, we'd want to make sure it wasn't erased, same as for the information posts on the illness and related issues.
Wow, getting too sleepy to compose anything all of a sudden.
Anyway, it's going to be a GREAT success!!
Yours, Luce
Don't you think that there would really only need to be a few more well-defined rooms, and that would just about give us all the places we would need to "send" the posts that have answers to questions newbies will likely ask again and again?
Also, when a good "keeper" post comes up, if there isn't an appropriate "home" for it, couldn't we make up a new room title, and then move it there.
I have no experience, but I'm thinking that this would serve the purpose that Sally mentioned and be much less work than trying to go through all the posts at the end of some time frame. This way, we just have to alert Wayne to the fact that some of us think a thread would be particularly helpful to a newbie so that he could immortalize it in room "so & so." Saavy?
Could be that the nature of the posts will get more disease oriented once this thing is opened up to the public, but we'd have plenty of time later to make a judgment on this, right Wayne? That could greatly increase the number we'd need to move to other rooms, but once the other rooms have pretty well covered most of the common subjects, I really think the number of moves would slow down considerably.
Another thing we could do if we wanted to carry over some topic that comes up is to have it edited before putting the information into an appropriate room. That way the information would be presented in a little more formal way, and probably be more compact.
This would pretty well solve the search issue that Sally was worried about, unless I missed something, not having a clue what I'm talking about. Haha!
In terms of personal stuff, we have times when there are other personal issues that we'd like to be kept at the forefront -- illnesses and deaths and other issues of great concern.
I know that sometimes when I don't have much time, I still make time to check in to a post or poster when I know there's some grave or otherwise important situation they are dealing with.
I was trying to think of something to call it. Sometimes it could be used as a prayer request room, but I thought perhaps something like "Situation Room" might be broad enough to cover a diverse no. of requests.
That way, once the situation no longer needed attention, it could be erased as well, unless there was some other reason to leave it there.
Just throwing this out to brain storm, you guys!
Whole point of such a room would be that if it went on a really long time, we'd want to make sure it wasn't erased, same as for the information posts on the illness and related issues.
Wow, getting too sleepy to compose anything all of a sudden.
Anyway, it's going to be a GREAT success!!
Yours, Luce
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moremuscle
- Rockhopper Penguin
- Posts: 706
- Joined: Wed May 25, 2005 6:16 am
- Location: South Carolina
Lucy, I agree - it's going to be a GREAT success - already is, isn't it!!
I have read this thread and marvel over the creative thoughts all of you have as far as finding practical solutions to this problem. It is hard to say one is better than another. Lucy's idea is new - the idea of creating a room for posts/threads that are worth keeping forever. I like the idea of picking some of the threads with most info and keeping them - some of the more chatty threads probably serve their purpose while they are being created and then sort of outlive themselves with little interest for future members.
I am hoping that Tex will tell us that is won't be necessary to prune.....
How is that for being lazy LOL!!
Love,
Karen
I have read this thread and marvel over the creative thoughts all of you have as far as finding practical solutions to this problem. It is hard to say one is better than another. Lucy's idea is new - the idea of creating a room for posts/threads that are worth keeping forever. I like the idea of picking some of the threads with most info and keeping them - some of the more chatty threads probably serve their purpose while they are being created and then sort of outlive themselves with little interest for future members.
I am hoping that Tex will tell us that is won't be necessary to prune.....
How is that for being lazy LOL!!
Love,
Karen
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moremuscle
- Rockhopper Penguin
- Posts: 706
- Joined: Wed May 25, 2005 6:16 am
- Location: South Carolina
This really IS a tough situation, but I'm confident that with so many creative and hard-working people here, we WILL come up with a good solution, and, THAT, my friends, will be one of the things that will make this forum the best one out there, colitis-related or not!
What discourages me most about forums is that when I initially go to one, it's because I have a pressing/serious problem or situation that is causing me distress, and I'm desperately seeking answers and facts. I get real optimistic to find a board dedicated to my situation, only to be quickly disappointed when I find that 90% of it is filled with chat and daily conversation amongst friends, and only about 10% deals with the subject I came looking for answers to. I LOVE the friendships we develop and the commaraderie and closeness we develop, but there needs to be a way to separate the friendship from the facts. I remember last year when I was at my wit's end with my newly-diagnosed CC, I would go to the forum, do a "search" and be thrilled to find many hits relating to it. Then I would start to read each and every one, only to find that the post didn't really touch on the disease at all.
I'm not saying we shouldn't have the "friendships" and daily updates with our lives, but we need to find a way to make sure that newbies can find relief and disease-related posts when they come seeking them in their scared, depressed state.
How? Beats the heck out of me! But if we could, it would make our board, by far, the best there is. It would have the best of both worlds - the answers people come looking for AND the friendships that develop later.
I know I am very guilty of this: I will post a reply to someone's question or comment staying very focused on their main concern, and THEN I will ramble on in the SAME POST about other non-related stuff. If we could stop me and maybe some others from doing that, it would be a step in the right direction.
And there I go again, trying to protect the newbies and they're not even here yet!
Sorry I rambled - I do that, you know. That's the main reason I force myself to NOT post too often - I'm afraid of boring everyone to tears!
What discourages me most about forums is that when I initially go to one, it's because I have a pressing/serious problem or situation that is causing me distress, and I'm desperately seeking answers and facts. I get real optimistic to find a board dedicated to my situation, only to be quickly disappointed when I find that 90% of it is filled with chat and daily conversation amongst friends, and only about 10% deals with the subject I came looking for answers to. I LOVE the friendships we develop and the commaraderie and closeness we develop, but there needs to be a way to separate the friendship from the facts. I remember last year when I was at my wit's end with my newly-diagnosed CC, I would go to the forum, do a "search" and be thrilled to find many hits relating to it. Then I would start to read each and every one, only to find that the post didn't really touch on the disease at all.
I'm not saying we shouldn't have the "friendships" and daily updates with our lives, but we need to find a way to make sure that newbies can find relief and disease-related posts when they come seeking them in their scared, depressed state.
How? Beats the heck out of me! But if we could, it would make our board, by far, the best there is. It would have the best of both worlds - the answers people come looking for AND the friendships that develop later.
I know I am very guilty of this: I will post a reply to someone's question or comment staying very focused on their main concern, and THEN I will ramble on in the SAME POST about other non-related stuff. If we could stop me and maybe some others from doing that, it would be a step in the right direction.
And there I go again, trying to protect the newbies and they're not even here yet!
Sorry I rambled - I do that, you know. That's the main reason I force myself to NOT post too often - I'm afraid of boring everyone to tears!
Sue
Diagnosed November 2004, Used Asacol and Lialda, sometimes worked, sometimes made it worse. Entocort always works but hate it. Remission only lasts 3-6 months and then back on Entocort. Enterolab test July 2017, now gluten free. Time will tell!
Diagnosed November 2004, Used Asacol and Lialda, sometimes worked, sometimes made it worse. Entocort always works but hate it. Remission only lasts 3-6 months and then back on Entocort. Enterolab test July 2017, now gluten free. Time will tell!
Sue, you are quite right. I had that same concern when I was running the old board.
Since there are only 45 or so of us now, it would be a good time to break the Main Message Board into two message boards. One strictly for chit chat and one for more serious and informative stuff. How to keep from rambling on in one or the other is a bit beyond me, though. So often the "How are you?" posts give very informative information.
It is a puzzlement as the King of Siam used to say.
Love,
Sally
Since there are only 45 or so of us now, it would be a good time to break the Main Message Board into two message boards. One strictly for chit chat and one for more serious and informative stuff. How to keep from rambling on in one or the other is a bit beyond me, though. So often the "How are you?" posts give very informative information.
It is a puzzlement as the King of Siam used to say.
Love,
Sally
Mitakuye oyasin
(Lakota for "We are all related")
(Lakota for "We are all related")
This thread has generated some interesting insight. Here are a few of my thoughts:
Concerning splitting the MMB into two forums--I'll start another thread on that, since it probably deserves consideration in a separate thread.
Regarding editing and selecting threads and posts, in order to selectively save them--in the long run, that amounts to a tremendous amount of work, since we are adding an average of almost 130 posts per day. That's between 45,000 and 50,000 per year. I really don't have time to do that myself, on a regular basis, and if I ask my moderators to do it, I will eventually find myself without moderators. None of us really has that much time to spare, in the long run, on top of all our other chores. There are only so many hours in a day, (unless you happen to be in Alaska, of course, where the number of hours in a day seems to approach infinity, in the summer.)
Anyway, the point is, if we end up having to activate the pruning option, it will most likely have to be on an individual forum basis, without manual editing.
Concerning the presentation of information to newbies--Polly especially, along with the other moderators, and myself, have given a lot of thought to that issue. We decided that rather than try to reinvent the wheel, everytime a newbie signs up, we would establish a set of "Information" forums, where newbies could find the answers to most of their questions without even having to post. Then, when they do post, if they post in a special "newbie" forum, there will be no danger of their questions getting lost in the broad field of topics on the MMB, and we can address their inquiries there. Therefore, with this arrangement, newbies see no chit-chat, (unless we choose to let them see the MMB)--everything that they see is strictly business, and directly specifically at them.
Out of 23 forums currently listed on this BB, 2, (the very first 2), are specifically directly toward newbies. There are 8 more forums, containing pertinent information specifically chosen to address their issues, and they will also probably find the "Medical Profiles", "Journals", and "Recipes", forums to be of interest, for a total of 13 forums which are newbie-oriented. In addition to this, we will need to add a forum where they can make their initial posts.
Note that whenever one of the moderators finds a topic on the MMB that obviously should be added to one of the "Information" forums, it is promptly added. This is obviously an on-going, never-ending project, but there is already enugh information there to keep newbies busy reading for many hours, if they are seeking information specifically related to MC.
This also prevents members who do not choose to respond to newibies, from even having to see their posts, let alone having to look at the same old responses posted time after time again.
Does anyone see any reason why this approach will not be practical?
Love,
Wayne
Concerning splitting the MMB into two forums--I'll start another thread on that, since it probably deserves consideration in a separate thread.
Regarding editing and selecting threads and posts, in order to selectively save them--in the long run, that amounts to a tremendous amount of work, since we are adding an average of almost 130 posts per day. That's between 45,000 and 50,000 per year. I really don't have time to do that myself, on a regular basis, and if I ask my moderators to do it, I will eventually find myself without moderators. None of us really has that much time to spare, in the long run, on top of all our other chores. There are only so many hours in a day, (unless you happen to be in Alaska, of course, where the number of hours in a day seems to approach infinity, in the summer.)
Anyway, the point is, if we end up having to activate the pruning option, it will most likely have to be on an individual forum basis, without manual editing.
Concerning the presentation of information to newbies--Polly especially, along with the other moderators, and myself, have given a lot of thought to that issue. We decided that rather than try to reinvent the wheel, everytime a newbie signs up, we would establish a set of "Information" forums, where newbies could find the answers to most of their questions without even having to post. Then, when they do post, if they post in a special "newbie" forum, there will be no danger of their questions getting lost in the broad field of topics on the MMB, and we can address their inquiries there. Therefore, with this arrangement, newbies see no chit-chat, (unless we choose to let them see the MMB)--everything that they see is strictly business, and directly specifically at them.
Out of 23 forums currently listed on this BB, 2, (the very first 2), are specifically directly toward newbies. There are 8 more forums, containing pertinent information specifically chosen to address their issues, and they will also probably find the "Medical Profiles", "Journals", and "Recipes", forums to be of interest, for a total of 13 forums which are newbie-oriented. In addition to this, we will need to add a forum where they can make their initial posts.
Note that whenever one of the moderators finds a topic on the MMB that obviously should be added to one of the "Information" forums, it is promptly added. This is obviously an on-going, never-ending project, but there is already enugh information there to keep newbies busy reading for many hours, if they are seeking information specifically related to MC.
This also prevents members who do not choose to respond to newibies, from even having to see their posts, let alone having to look at the same old responses posted time after time again.
Does anyone see any reason why this approach will not be practical?
Love,
Wayne
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
Well geez - I was so busy trying to figure out a solution to pruning, I completely forgot that you have the option to turn on the "auto-pruning"!!!
My question is: does the rule you set to the auto-pruning apply to the ENTIRE FORUM as one unit, or can you selectively turn it on and off per message board? Maybe we could auto-prune our chit-chatty rooms but not touch the information ones and the profile ones.
And yes, your solution does make practical sense. Thank goodness you're steering this ship!
Sue
My question is: does the rule you set to the auto-pruning apply to the ENTIRE FORUM as one unit, or can you selectively turn it on and off per message board? Maybe we could auto-prune our chit-chatty rooms but not touch the information ones and the profile ones.
And yes, your solution does make practical sense. Thank goodness you're steering this ship!
Sue
Sue
Diagnosed November 2004, Used Asacol and Lialda, sometimes worked, sometimes made it worse. Entocort always works but hate it. Remission only lasts 3-6 months and then back on Entocort. Enterolab test July 2017, now gluten free. Time will tell!
Diagnosed November 2004, Used Asacol and Lialda, sometimes worked, sometimes made it worse. Entocort always works but hate it. Remission only lasts 3-6 months and then back on Entocort. Enterolab test July 2017, now gluten free. Time will tell!
Hi Sue,
Yes, auto-pruning would definitely be for selected forums only, otherwise it would wipe out our information forums.
Tex
Yes, auto-pruning would definitely be for selected forums only, otherwise it would wipe out our information forums.
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.