I think that "purge" function is enabled in this forum, because i cant see my old posts !

I made 4 as far as i remember, but i cant see anything !!!

This is bad, because the real "knowledgebase" in misc forums is the "search" function...

I think the forum software is set to delete threads if they become inactive for a certain amount of time.

yes, i know...
phpbb has this function:

"Forum Prune

This will delete any topic which has not been posted to within the number of days you select. If you do not enter a number then all topics will be deleted. It will not remove topics in which polls are still running nor will it remove announcements. You will need to remove those topics manually."

my question is: why is it enabled ?

old news will be purged if no activity for 10 days..

why..??

the place will become topheavy with stuff no one has time or wants to read..

housekeeping..!

for a FAQ or list knowledgebase, i can set some permanent threads..

but someone will need to verify each post.. who will volunteer..??

You are the boss

But, IMHO, old posts should remain...
This is not a "Top-Modern", "Top Fast", "Fast Food", forum.
Information written is valuable after years.. In the old one, before posting i used to search-browse for a while in case someone already had the answer..

On the other hand some of us are old men, without good memory
we post a question, and we remember to see for an answer after a month..

Anyway, Thinkpads.com was/is valuable for me the last 5 years, thats why i'm commenting this prune function..

Keep up the good work..

Purging the board as an automatic function is bound to permanently delete good information that you do not want to lose. On my own forum we do expire inactive discussions, but the staff reviews them before they are permanently removed. Those worth saving are archived as inactive discussions (they cannot be "revived" with new messages), those that are not are sent to the great bit-bucket in the sky. This is extremely labor-intensive, but has allowed us to build up a Library of over 8,000 files in a separate "library of archived discussions." The library files are static HTML, are not part of the forum database (and therefore will not be affected in any way if we move to different forum software), are organized by subject, and are available both through a catalog of all the discussions in the library, by title, and via a dedicated search engine. Labor-intensive, as I said, but our library is now more valuable, in many ways, than the discussion board.

And as a by-the-way - I don't like having the discussion I'm replying to in a separate window with a separate scroll-bar - it's annoying. That wasn't the original setup here, if I remember right. I preferred the default.

IMO that's way too aggressive. Unless space is an issue, consider something like a year (or even an indefinite period, until space becomes an issue.)

There's a pretty good Search facility in this forum that's rendered useless unless you let stuff stay around long enough.

(Of course, I'm not the one who pays the ISP bills around here.)

If this forum is / will be around for the long haul, I would be prepared to pay a modest fee to join to help defray expenses. I count myself among those who would like to see an IBM ThinkPad repository of good posts and thoughtful advice. Regards to all and to you, Bill for hosting this site.
... jdhurst

that somewhat defeats the idea of a forum/message board. Many of the same issues will come up, time and time again. As people purchase new machines, how will frequent posters refer to a post that has ALL the detail and distilled information in it? That post could be simply GONE.

If it is disk space you seek, let's rally together and pony up some funds, but as a general practice I would say it would be highly unorthodox for a message board and counter productive to the notion of this being a well of information.

Eventually, I believe the intention is to have a FAQ that covers many of the issues that come up again and again.

In the meantime, you do have the option of searching the archives of the ThinkPad Mailing List since they are probably vigorously discussing the same issues over there. They can be found at http://zurich.ai.mit.edu/hypermail/thinkpad/ A warning that some are missing, though. They only go back to late 1993 even though the list was in existence for a short while prior to that.

ok, folks..

i will stop the deletion of old disused posts until the regulars get together and help me set up some way to do what deb does with her forum..

archive and convert to HTML..
then i will host it all on thinkpads.com..

along with the FAQ i had sent to me IF i can find it..
which i will use as a preface or forward or the like on the archive..

all posters like this idea..

FWIW, i agree that old posts DO hold a wealth of info..
and
please be aware that this board is a BIG departure from the old webboard..

>along with the FAQ i had sent to me IF i can find it..
>which i will use as a preface or forward or the like on the archive..
>

Fortunately, I'm a packmouse - check your message box on here...

Now that I got THAT off my chest,

maybe, in the interim, you could setup a folder on the server/board, which does not get deleted. Then, the posts that everyone think have rich detail and information for the ages, could be put in that do not delete folder on board and be searcheable in a special forum area?

Is there a way of doing POST RATING with your board software? Meaning, people could click a rating on the post and the ones that were 4 STARS plus could be saved into this do not delete archive.

I know some MB software does this, just not sure if this one does.

But, GREAT new forum, this is going to be THE forum I am sure.

keep up the great work, and as I said in my last post, if it is HD space you need we can all work that out.