deleting topics

we-el the only way you can delete post is..oh hang on. you cant. you have to contact a druid to be able to do that.

as for your predicament sarge, all is now good

im also gonna put this in a forum somewhere.

REMEMBER! always put topics in forums using the little drop down box!

But you didn't... At least, I had to move that thread from {none} to {Forum Thud!} at 21:10, and your quote says it was 17:31. Or did I move the wrong one?

but then we need to have the power to delete our own topics and I think there should be a default topic because i only discovered that topic button yesterday.

but that's where the problem comes in sgt l,if we all have the power to do things on thud then this place would be a mess.

I'm not saying we should each be endowed with the power of a druid i'm saying we should have druidial powers over our OWN stuff so that they don't need to fix stuff for us even when we reallise we screwed something up

yes,i understood that part,but i don't think it would work...

hye!!!i got an idea!!why don't we have druidal powers over our OWN forums and stuff,that way we can regulate ourselves instead of the full druids having to do it all the time...what does everyone think????

thank you man-bear-pig
but thanx to the evil empire i can sue you for theft of an idea that could have made future profits. so i predict you owe me $1,000,000 in stolen future revenue

well then i guess i'll have to steal some future-revenue to pay you back then,won't i?

HA! THIEF OF TIME!

ha!trying to introduce books by pterry is not going to make you look smarter!anyone can do that

HAHA YOU CAN'T

i do believe you aren't telling THE TRUTH.

PS are we gonna start this again the way we did all those disturbed songs?

probably.

hmm, it would be easier to email "illegal" stuff over the PM system here and not get caught...

Disturbed rock!

yes they do,what illegal stuff you talking about then????...

like mp3's movies and other stuff the fbi tracks

ooo,someone give this guy a noddy badge

ooo,someone give this guy a noddy badge,or for the sake of thud and DW,give him a nobby badge

what, pray, is a nobby badge?

It's a fair point and salutes (as it were!) for the sentiment but the reality is a bit more complicated. As Jennifer Aniston says, "Here's the science!" (insert cute face and chirpy voice yourself ):

When you post a new forum topic, the site creates a container for the topic called a "node". When you delete a topic the node is deleted too. This is a bad thing. The reason is that every certain period of time (approx every 6 hours or so?) the site uploads an XML sitemap to Google with a list of the addresses of all the pages (or really, all the nodes) on the site. Google then comes along and indexes everything on the list. If the list says there's a node/1234 but when it goes to index it it's not there it gets a bit annoyed (technically we get penalised just a wee bit for every issue a competent webmaster should be in control of... like uploading lists of pages that then aren't there when Google goes to check). That's the bad news.

So if the Sarge posts a page but clicks "Submit" twice the page may get posted twice. Naturally you want to tidy up and delete the unnecessary one. We understand and appreciate this but there is a better way. Everyone can edit their own posts so it's actually better to change the title and the body text and post something else there so that node/1234 is something actually there for google to find. If the page isn't there, google assumes it was misplaced and keeps trying to find it for up to a month becoming ever more annoyed when it can't connect to it.

The good side of all this attention to detail is that with you all posting lots and lots of stuff (most of it relevant ) and we organising the system in the most optimal way it presents the content in a way that punches way above its own weight.

For example, the last time we checked (been a bit busy with the site upgrade - coming soon!), we are second only to Jason Anthony's discworldmonthly.co.uk for the search term "discworld monthly", and we come just after the 14 year old Discworld MUD for the search term "discworld online game!" We're first page (up with Wikipedia and friends) for the words "magrat", "wolfgang holbein" (Ta muchly, Wizzard and friends from DE! ) and "Paul Panzer".

We are second after artificer.co.uk for the terms "cunning artificer" and rank ahead of the fine gentleman and his cohorts for the terms "Discworld Jamboree." Sadly we aren't hosting and managing their website for the jamboree

Best of all, last time we checked we had the same pagerank as Youtube!

We would like to preserve this and build on it so the management of the site is an art we prefer to leave in the hands of the Druids and ourselves. We've coerced, bribed and blackmailed quite a few capable folk from our merry community to help out in this way (andthey are rewarded in some ways that will soon be very nice for them... ) so please don't be shy about asking for help.

We would really, really like to put up more info like this and inform more and send more regular updates and and things to our Druids but we are ever so busy with some things going on in the background that will become obvious in the near future. Dewi and I are working hard; honest! so I hope that little note explains why deleting topics actually hurts the site. If you double-post, just change the title and post something else - we and Google will love you for it!

wow,seems like we're doing quite well.and it is now completely clear as to why there are druids and why they have mystical powers

well can't we then have the power to delete the node from the list as well or to delete the actual content but not the node or be able to send the content to an unused "storage" area on the site so that for all intensive purposes it is gone but still techniacally there?

the idea to delete the node is good,but dunno if that is possible,the idea to delete the content and not the node is what lee said already,you can change the content,but the node isn't removed,and putting the content in a different area...won't that still cause the link from google to reach the node,but nothing will be there?

...is the right answer!!!

You can't delete the node (for good reason) but I don't want the Druids to delete it either. You can edit your own nodes (and you two especially are good at coming up with whatever to put into a new forum topic) so I would rather you put some different content into the extra node and post it and everything will be fine

can't we juststart a forum topics graveyard? like a palace you can send to tpoics to like the thudding drum that doesn't appear on the new topics list or anything and it just sits there FOREVER

that's like saying that the nodes we delete content from will just go into another node,am i right?and i don't think that's possible,to put a node within a node unless it's maybe a link,i'm not too sure...and i wouldn't use a palace,i'd rather use a 'place' to put it if it was possible to put it there,if you get what i'm saying.