Global Prune

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SomeoneWhoCares

Guest
There are many things Bluelight could be doing to improve the user experience. Eliminating old threads that may actually have value to someone searching about specific or unique drugs, situations, scenarios and so on is not one of them.

I've read TLB's various justifications (most of which he admits are irrelevant, eg speeding up the database lol), and the logic simply isn't there. Just because a thread only has a few responses and is locked, doesn't imply by any means that there's nothing of value in the thread. What's useful and what's not? While in some instances this is easy to discern, in most it simply is not. And assuming that every valuable thread is miraculously going to be bumped by someone who just happens to log in and have the time to search through them all in the next few weeks is self-evidently a farcical nonsense and a poor way to distinguish them.

I implore you to stop this process and instead focus on other things.
 
Wtf are you guys doing deleting half ur database?

why are you deleting half the forum? what website in modern times still deletes old threads??? storage costs nothing! :(

the only reason you've dropped off google searches is because of your completely over the top ddos protection, which stops google's bots from doing their thing

you're being crazy. stop this madness guys, before you lose half of what makes bluelight unque and special
 
Yes, data storage is cheap. And our servers are running strong. This is why I said that is NOT the reason for doing this.

The reason for this whole exercise is that BL is a treasure trove of valuable information, but it can get lost in heaps of non-relevant threads if we aren't diligent about this. For example, say I want to go find meth, aside from an arrest record, what am I likely to find? 5 threads of use, hidden in 500 threads of no use. Our goal is to remove those 500 threads of no use so people can get the information they need more quickly, and to remove the 'noise' from the 'gold'. But we're looking to members to help us identify that gold, and ensure it doesn't get thrown out.
Click to expand...

Additionally, we'd like to upgrade the site software. Something that is much more manageable with a smaller db.

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Out of curiosity, just what do you feel will be lost?
 
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tlb said:
Out of curiosity, just what do you feel will be lost?
Click to expand...

I think many kinds of useful and valuable information, including that based on context-specific and comparative, temporally-based accounts, knowledges and experiences, will be permanently lost, and that the forum's harm reduction, educational and academic potential will thus be permanently damaged because of it. In terms of the social forums, I think they contain a multiplicity of value to different people and members, past and present, all of which helps support the community upon which the forum depends for its relevance and continuity, and all of which could be easily destroyed by carelessness.

In terms of your stated objectives, you claim the purpose of the purge is to "remove the 'noise' from the 'gold'", and I agree that's a noble and worthy goal in principle. However, you haven't precisely defined what qualifies as "noise" and "gold", particularly as it pertains to the different types data held in different types of subforums (focus forums, drug discussion forums, community forums, new members etc etc). One mans gold is another's lead.

Furthermore, the methodology you're applying - relying on a few currently active members (who may or may not be experts in defining 'gold' from 'noise') to try and bump anything of value from hundreds of thousands of threads and millions of posts across 40-50 subforums over the period of a few short weeks - cannot possibly meet that goal. It would take vastly more time, eyes and experienced BLers to do such a job properly and thoroughly.

Now, since you say the database can handle the data that it currently holds easily enough, and since you can therefore still upgrade to more modern forum software and streamline or merge forums or whatever else you need to do without this purge, my suggestion would be:

(1) focus on the upgrade first and foremost
(2) hard-delete all soft-deleted threads/posts and spam (probably c.10% of the total database)
(3) then give staff and members as much time as they need to actively volunteer threads into the purge (ie: opt-in rather than opt-out).

Instead of a drastic purge, this process could instead form part of a long-term, on-going process of data optimization that both members and staff can take part in and fell responsible for, making it a considerably more realistic and sustainable proposition (in light of the goals you yourself have set).
 
There are countless forums ive researched on here that has helped a lot. Now that they are gone, I haven't been able to find anything close to the information I have always used this site for. Everything has vanished, not cool. This was always my go to website, any question I had there were answers and now nothing
 
Can you point to where something has been removed?

'Everything has vanished' is a bit of an extreme statement, on par with 'there were answers and now nothing.'


EDIT: To clarify, this is not an effort to send you on a wild 'prove it' goose chase. If there is quality information disappearing, we'd want to know as that is not the intent. And if you can find such material, the next question would be why did nobody let the mods know to save it? Any registered member can do so.
 
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