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        riddles >> suggestions, help, and FAQ >> Posts Disappearing
        
(Message started by: william wu on Jan 13th, 2004, 9:26am)
Title: Posts Disappearing
Post by william wu on Jan 13th, 2004, 9:26am
One user has told me that his post count has magically dropped by 65 posts overnight. Have any other members noticed a similar effect? I'm working on the problem ... got class now though.
Title: Re: Posts Disappearing
Post by william wu on Jan 21st, 2004, 3:40pm
I recently fixed a bug and would be very interested in knowing if this solves the problem. Please be sure to indicate if you see any more posts disappearing in the future.

As for recovering old posts, I'll see what I can do about that later.
Title: Re: Posts Disappearing
Post by Sir Col on Jan 21st, 2004, 4:35pm
In case my post above is not clear, I was trying to say that I am unaware of any posts disappearing.  ::)
Title: Re: Posts Disappearing
Post by william wu on Feb 11th, 2004, 2:09pm
Does it seem that it's always the first post in the thread that disappears? Can anyone confirm otherwise?
Title: Re: Posts Disappearing
Post by Icarus on Feb 11th, 2004, 7:54pm
The only post that I know of definitely that disappeared was the first post in the Transfinite Subway riddle.

However, I doubt that it is only first posts that disappeared. T&B indicated a substantial number of posts gone (at least 50, if I remember correctly) and I don't think that, prolific as he is at starting threads, he has started that many. But even if he has, when the first post is gone, the subject line for the 2nd post becomes the thread title, and it generally begins with "Re:". I don't see a whole bunch of threads out there with "Re:" titles.
Title: Re: Posts Disappearing
Post by william wu on Feb 11th, 2004, 9:44pm
There are quite a few Re: threads in the hard forum in the later pages.

I should add that I've been backing up the forum content weekly, so the information isn't lost, but it's not clear yet whether it will feasible to reintegrate the information without compromising YaBB's integrity.
Title: Re: Posts Disappearing
Post by THUDandBLUNDER on Feb 11th, 2004, 10:11pm

Quote:
However, I doubt that it is only first posts that disappeared. T&B indicated a substantial number of posts gone (at least 50, if I remember correctly) and I don't think that, prolific as he is at starting threads, he has started that many.

60+ posts of mine disappeared.

Even without these, according to the stats I have started 189 ([smiley=gggtr.gif][smiley=gggtr.gif] 50) threads.

At least the following Hard topics have been guillotined:

Transfinite Subway
Sleeping Beauty
Intersecting Spheres
The Mirrored Maze
Impish Pixie
Cutting Up a Square
Heronian Triangle
Logical Nonsense
More Lies
Carnivores and Herbivores
SelfHelpMate in 5
From a Point to a Plane
Title: Re: Posts Disappearing
Post by towr on Feb 12th, 2004, 1:07am

on 02/11/04 at 19:54:57, Icarus wrote:
and I don't think that, prolific as he is at starting threads, he has started that many.
Actually, for some weeks the number of threads he start is over a third of what he posts.. (You can look at it in the user profile, and look at the graph for the last 14 days/weeks or year)
In the last year (less actually), according to the forum statistics (so the missing posts are unaccounted for), he posted 189 Topics and 964 Posts. Quite a substantial amount. If the posts that where lost have the same distribution, and there were 60 lost in total, then about 12 first posts would be lost (so with a bit of luck all have been accounted for)..
Title: Re: Posts Disappearing
Post by THUDandBLUNDER on Feb 12th, 2004, 1:56am
Yes, it would appear that all the missing posts are from those 12 Topics.
For some reason Online Verbal IQ Test was unaffected.

William, what if you just replace those files for the 12+ pages from your backup?

eg, for Sleeping Beauty can you just replace the file http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~wwu/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=riddles_hard;action=display;num=1049844608?
Title: Re: Posts Disappearing
Post by william wu on Feb 12th, 2004, 2:18am
Yes I could do that, but there are other member-specific files which might need to be adjusted as well to reflect the change. For instance, each member has a file that includes the number of posts he or she has made -- this number would have to be changed to reflect the restored posts, and the deleted posts for those unfortunate enough to have posted to those threads recently. I guess I will save these posts manually to text files and repost them myself (hopefully there aren't too many), crediting the authors. And there are other forum-related files whose integrity could be affected. There is a function that rescans threads in some sense, and I'm hoping that if I just replace the thread content file, the rescanning function will update related files correctly, but I need to check this with people more familiar with YaBB first. Or else this will result in even more problems.

My hypothesis regarding the post disappearances is that they are aftershocks from errors that occurred when I temporarily went over my disk quota a few months back. Then we had that Database cruft that James reported, and some other problems. Then I deleted some junk and went back under quota, and everything seemed normal again. But perhaps there are still some problems that weren't ironed out.

I'm going to lock the aformentioned threads to prevent new posts from being adding to those threads, and thereby minimize the amount of work I'll have to do in reposting newer posts that aren't saved in backup threads.

I'm sorry this problem hasn't been resolved earlier. I've been asking YaBB hackers for help at other forums, but I haven't gotten helpful responses yet.
Title: Re: Posts Disappearing
Post by THUDandBLUNDER on Feb 12th, 2004, 2:37am

Quote:
For instance, each member has a file that includes the number of posts he or she has made -- this number would have to be changed to reflect the restored posts, and the deleted posts for those unfortunate enough to have posted to those threads recently.

I don't think anybody has posted in those threads since the incident happened.
Title: Re: Posts Disappearing
Post by william wu on Feb 12th, 2004, 2:37am
Also if anyone could pinpoint an example of where a non-first post disappeared, that could be helpful. I know this is much harder to do.
Title: Re: Posts Disappearing
Post by THUDandBLUNDER on Feb 12th, 2004, 2:51am
How does one 'pinpoint' a post? By position in thread?
In Transfinite Subway posts 1, 11, and 17 are missing.
Title: Re: Posts Disappearing
Post by towr on Feb 12th, 2004, 3:00am
There are at least 4 posts missing in the sleeping beauty thread. As (current) reply #17 is referred to in quotes as #21
Title: Re: Posts Disappearing
Post by towr on Feb 12th, 2004, 3:17am
in The Mirrored Maze (http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~wwu/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=riddles_hard;action=display;num=1050337088) post 1 and 3 are missing
in Cutting Up a Square (http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~wwu/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=riddles_hard;action=display;num=1052970164) 1 and 3 are missing
I can't determine any others.. (aside from the obvious first post in headless threads)
Title: Re: Posts Disappearing
Post by THUDandBLUNDER on Feb 12th, 2004, 9:44pm
I have been able to identify the following disappeared posts of mine:

Transfinite Subway (http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~wwu/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=riddles_hard;action=display;num=1065500607;start=0) (1, 11)

Sleeping Beauty (http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~wwu/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=riddles_hard;action=display;num=1049844608) (1, 4, 5, 7)

Intersecting Spheres (http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~wwu/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=riddles_hard;action=display;num=1049998432) (1, 3, 5)

The Mirrored Maze (http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~wwu/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=riddles_hard;action=display;num=1050337088) (1, 3, 9)

Impish Pixie (http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~wwu/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=riddles_hard;action=display;num=1049309591;start=0) (Now entitled 'Chew on This' because of the missing first post) (1)

Cutting Up a Square (http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~wwu/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=riddles_hard;action=display;num=1052970164) (1, 3, 6)

Heronian Triangle (http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~wwu/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=riddles_hard;action=display;num=1051382033) (1, 4)

Logical Nonsense (http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~wwu/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=riddles_hard;action=display;num=1049997132) (1)

More Lies (http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~wwu/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=riddles_hard;action=display;num=1049929806) (1, 4, 6)

Carnivores and Herbivores (http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~wwu/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=riddles_hard;action=display;num=1050064255) (1)

Chess Reconstruction Game (http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~wwu/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=riddles_hard;action=display;num=1049921841) (Now entitled 'SelfHelpMate in 5' because of the missing first post) (1, 6)

From a Point to a Plane (http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~wwu/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=riddles_hard;action=display;num=1049769197) (1, 3)

A total of only 27. ??? But the main thing is that the first posts are restored.
Title: Re: Posts Disappearing
Post by towr on Feb 13th, 2004, 12:54am

on 02/12/04 at 21:44:49, THUDandBLUNDER wrote:
I have been able to identify the following disappeared posts of mine:
The Mirrored Maze (http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~wwu/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=riddles_hard;action=display;num=1050337088) (1, 3, 9)
9 isn't missing, it's at 7 (reply #6)


Quote:
Cutting Up a Square (http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~wwu/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=riddles_hard;action=display;num=1050337088) (1, 3, 6)
I think you mean 9 which here is also at 7
(there are only two post missing, if you look at the last post james' post, reply #13, is quoted to be at #15 (counting fro the anchors start at 0, so reply number equals anchor number))
Title: Re: Posts Disappearing
Post by THUDandBLUNDER on Feb 13th, 2004, 5:09am

Quote:
9 isn't missing, it's at 7 (reply #6)

Right.


Quote:
I think you mean 9 which here is also at 7  
(there are only two post missing, if you look at the last post james' post, reply #13, is quoted to be at #15 (counting fro the anchors start at 0, so reply number equals anchor number))

Are you sure you mean 'Cutting Up a Square'?
Only you replied in this thread. James didn't.
If so, there are indeed three posts missing, #6 being the last (a general solution).
Title: Re: Posts Disappearing
Post by Barukh on Feb 13th, 2004, 5:23am

on 02/12/04 at 21:44:49, THUDandBLUNDER wrote:
I have been able to identify the following disappeared posts of mine:

Transfinite Subway (http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~wwu/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=riddles_hard;action=display;num=1050337088) (1, 11)

Sleeping Beauty (http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~wwu/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=riddles_hard;action=display;num=1050337088) (1, 4, 5, 7)
...

Something is broken here... No matter what link I take, I always arrive at the Mirrored Maze thread...

BTW, how do you guys identify what posts are missing? I don't see any broken numbering.
Title: Re: Posts Disappearing
Post by THUDandBLUNDER on Feb 13th, 2004, 7:19am
Thanks for pointing that out, Barukh. (Now corrected.)
I guess towr was looking at The Mirrored Maze when he thought he was looking at Cutting Up a Square.


Quote:
[BTW, how do you guys identify what posts are missing? I don't see any broken numbering.

I am doing it mainly from memory.
Title: Re: Posts Disappearing
Post by towr on Feb 13th, 2004, 1:02pm

on 02/13/04 at 05:23:41, Barukh wrote:
BTW, how do you guys identify what posts are missing? I don't see any broken numbering.
I'm doing from references from quotes (as I can't remember where they ought to be like Thud)


on 02/13/04 at 07:19:40, THUDandBLUNDER wrote:
I guess towr was looking at The Mirrored Maze when he thought he was looking at Cutting Up a Square.
Yep, that seems to be it.. I should have noticed that..
Maybe there's something to 'friday the thirteenth' after all ;)
Title: Re: Posts Disappearing
Post by THUDandBLUNDER on Mar 5th, 2004, 2:31am
It's happened again!

I had around 1080 posts and now it's down to 1028.  
???   ???
Title: Re: Posts Disappearing
Post by towr on Mar 5th, 2004, 3:13am
It must have been before last night, because I noticed you had 1024 then. Any idea which threads?
Title: Re: Posts Disappearing
Post by Icarus on Jan 7th, 2005, 3:08pm
It may be too late, but I have found one place a post by T&B disappeared: In this post (http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~wwu/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=riddles_easy;action=display;num=1067088849;start=0#7), rmsgrey replies to a post by T&B which is missing.
Title: Re: Posts Disappearing
Post by THUDandBLUNDER on Jan 7th, 2005, 11:28pm

on 01/07/05 at 15:08:44, Icarus wrote:
It may be too late, but I have found one place a post by T&B disappeared: In this post (http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~wwu/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=riddles_easy;action=display;num=1067088849;start=0#7), rmsgrey replies to a post by T&B which is missing.

IIRC, having answered the wrong question, I deleted that post without realizing/remembering that rmsgrey had already made reference to it. (Sorry.)

But it would appear that those other posts will not be coming back any time soon.
Unfortunately, many of them are the first in a thread and thus contain the original puzzle.


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