What's With DONOTDELETE?

Cliff_Johns · Mar 30, 2007

It seems a bunch of old posts are resurfacing labeled from DONOTDELETE and dated from the beginning of the UNIX operating system. Interesting posts, but it's a bit odd.

Cliff

Hakim · Mar 30, 2007

Cliff_Johns said:
It seems a bunch of old posts are resurfacing labeled from DONOTDELETE and dated from the beginning of the UNIX operating system. Interesting posts, but it's a bit odd.Cliff

Cliff,

Not sure what you mean here. We have always used UNIX operating system on our servers.

I ran a search for posts going back to 2002, and do not see any term as you describe.

We did have a switch to a new database forum software more than a year ago, and as I recall we had some "orphan" posts that had to be stuffed in sideways, so to speak. There are 1 million+ posts, so a few may get mixed up, I suppose.

Can you be more specific or give screenshot, so we can send this along to our DB admins and see what is going on?

Thanks.

JerryG · Mar 30, 2007

Hakim,
The "DONOTDELETE" that he is referring to is where the persons name normally is located at. I don't know anything about the other.

California · Mar 30, 2007

Hakim said:
Can you be more specific or give screenshot, so we can send this along to our DB admins and see what is going on?

Here's one example. It starts in 2002 then was revived in 2007:
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/chinese-tractors/12388-avenger-dealer.html#post135745

If you go to this Mr. DONOTDELETE's 'show other posts', it says he made 5,000 posts in spring 2003. But he started the thread cited above, in 2002.

After a dbs reaches a certain age, and size, there's no telling what's floating around in there. BTDT.

Cliff_Johns · Mar 30, 2007

And Mr. DONOTDELETE joined TBN in Dec 1969, which I expect means the join date field is set to 0. Unix does dates in seconds since Midnight Dec 31, 1969.

Strange little facts you absorb over time.

Cliff

Muhammad · Mar 31, 2007

During a forum conversion, a bunch of "anonymous" posts got changed to "DONOTDELETE" when one of our table fields got messed up, or something. Easier to just leave it than try to fix all the posts with the correct poster names.