PLZ DELETE Classified Ads Messages

[baileyman]

These old classifieds where someone updates the heading to request delete, they never get deleted, right? They just sink down the list until they reach obscurity?

[BGuttman]

... unless someone like you keeps reviving them

At one time we had a 'bot that searched for the word "sold" and deleted the file. Then we had a few sales go bust and people wanted to restore the ad. So as long as the added storage is not a problem we just leave them.

[BassboneJ25]

Ahh. Thanks for the heads up! Now I will just let them fade into oblivion…

[harrisonreed]

Why do that when you can just keep resurrecting?

[Matt K]

... unless someone like you keeps reviving them

At one time we had a 'bot that searched for the word "sold" and deleted the file. Then we had a few sales go bust and people wanted to restore the ad. So as long as the added storage is not a problem we just leave them.

Oh man I forgot I made that that. That seems like an eternity ago.

So not necessarily the best spot for this but I don't know where a better spot would be.. at any rate, the origins of that date back to TBF when the classifieds that was a part of the site as a separate addon or something was hacked. As a response, the admins created a forum to buy/sell/trade stuff. But due to limitations of the software, if a subforum got too many posts, something bad would happen. Crash the site or the subforum... something like that. So I created a bot that would prune posts after x days or if someone indicated for it to be deleted.

Since phpBB is still (very) actively supported software and so bugs like that don't really creep into the software so it isn't an issue to have an enormous amount of posts in subforums (I think the limit is technically in the millions, so the heat death of the universe would probably happen first).

Actually, I kind of like not deleting posts because it tends to be a repository for pictures of some pretty cool stuff. But if people want to edit their posts to remove their ad, obviously we don't do anything to stop them, but we also haven't made a habit of deleting posts. I don't always even see such requests unless the equipment would actually interest me in owning.

[Matt K]

I went ahead and split this off into a separate topic.

[BGuttman]

I should point out that if the OP deletes the entire post, I will usually permanently delete it. I agree with Matt -- there are pictures of some really cool stuff in the sold Classifieds. If you want to see what something looks like and there are pictures, it's a kind of resource.

[robcat2075]

And how will the scammers get pictures of horns they don't really have if the old ads keep getting deleted?

[PhilE]

I have minimal understanding of how this software works.

Would it be possible to create a separate classification in the Classifieds to which a member can move an ad for a sold item?

[BGuttman]

I have minimal understanding of how this software works.

Would it be possible to create a separate classification in the Classifieds to which a member can move an ad for a sold item?

Nice idea, but only Moderators and Administrators can move posts. And quite frankly, I don't keep that detailed a check on the Classifieds since I don't buy or sell much.

[Matt K]

And how will the scammers get pictures of horns they don't really have if the old ads keep getting deleted?

archive.org.

Leaving up also gives people the ability to do reverse image search. You should always do that on purchases from anywhere second hand. If the picture already existed five years ago in its exact state it’s obvious it’s a scam. You won’t find it if it’s behind a firewall that doesn’t get indexed like google drive though.