I remember your post @g.h.hubers, the thread were similar to another one by the OP just as @sjdorst recalls.
This is the original “similar” thread below, your answer is not there so it doesn’t seem the thread you were involved in were merged into that one. Maybe the thread you were involved in were flagged and removed, I doubt the OP deleted the thread themselves though…
Thank you, that could very well be. But what is the other thread’s header?
And still, there isn’t any notification to me (or other posters for that matter) in cases like these? Strange.
Interesting. I just checked out @ned.reif’s profile, and it only lists the one post previously linked in this thread. So either the two posts @IanT and I recall were actually by different OP’s, or the OTHER post has disappeared without a trace!
PS: I just moved this thread over to the Meta category - seems a more appropriate place to me - and might get more views by people who can come up with other theories!
No, that is a previous thread that were started by the same OP (I think). The thread you were involved in has not been merged with that one but has vanished.
@g.h.hubers You can see YOUR accessible activity by going to your profile and it’s Activity listing, which is a listing of all your recent posts in reverse order.
No that is a previous thread by the same OP (I think), a few days earlier that happened to be on the same subject as the “one that disappeared”. The thread that G.H Hubers were involved in were a continuation of that question but in the form of a new thread. Its just gone.
The posts from G.H Hubers are not present in that actitvity, they involved instructions for the Push/Pull tool if I remember rightly.
Guys, this is all my fault, and I apologize, I am the one who asked the moderators to delete a stupid question I asked (and then figured out the answer to about five minutes after posting it). I didn’t want to waste anyone’s time, but not I see that by asking moderators to delete it, I tragically created more consternation. Sorry!
Thanks @DanRathbun, but that’s just what I did yesterday and what triggered me when I couldn’t find the thread where I answered. To find out that even my answers were gone “by the wind”.
Thank you @ned.reif. At least we now know what happened. Your question wasn’t stupid, nor my answers.
But whatever, letting answers just disappear without any notice to the poster isn’t a good thing. I missed your earlier (sort of similar) thread and couldn’t figure out what went wrong with how this forum can ditch relevant answers.
Thank you.
I’m really sorry! I will never ask anyone to delete a forum post ever again. I thought that only my most recent question (which I didn’t think anyone had answered yet) would get removed, but apparently older responses got deleted, too, for which I apologize. That was a real learning experience! Please excuse my misdeed as a beginner’s mistake. It won’t happen again Thanks again for your continuing help, by the way.
@ned.reif, forget about it, you’re only to blame 1%. And me myself another 1% for missing your original thread. The rest (98%) is to blame on how the forum seems to work.
My answers are most likely covered by other posters in your other thread.
As @john_drivenupthewall mentioned, you can sort of end a current thread by ticking “Solved”. Or just add a post saying "end of thread > see: “other thread…” "or something similar if given answer isn’t the desired solution.
Some with super powers (level 4) can delete whole threads ( Follow the Leaders )
Meaning: leaving no signs at all (not in activity of anyone contributing the thread
Sometimes, it is in the interest of the Company (Trimble)
Sometimes on request, like this example
All though it is a public forum, it is still owned by Trimble
that’s the way forums work, if the initial post is deleted answers get lost too… besides being split and moved to another thread.
Some forum software allow a soft delete by hiding threads/posts instead of doing a hard removal… which would allow to recreate the thread by mods/admins w/ appropriate rights.
It seems to me this is entirely a question of administrative policy and process. It makes perfect sense that if a topic is deleted entirely that all the posts in it are likewise deleted, and sometimes that is the right answer. For example if a troll starts an obviously no-value topic. Deleting individual posts also can make sense, as happens when the community flags them.
But in the specific case at hand, there were two different issues: the topic paralleled or duplicated content from another one, and the OP was embarrassed that the initial post was hasty and looked foolish, as the solution occurred to him minutes later.
Regarding the former, it is possible to cross-link a topic to another and that would have been a better solution. The difficulty is that the administrator has to realize the situation, which isn’t possible unless they are paying close attention to every topic posted. That’s work that requires more time and effort than I sense our administrators can contribute.
Regarding the latter, as John already noted, the answer might have been obvious to the OP after some thought but not to someone else. In such cases I think a better solution is for the OP to just post his own solution and check it as the answer.