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Upcoming Data Cleaning 🧹

JustV

Heeeey people! Just a heads up about some more housekeeping we're doing. 🧹

As we continue to work on our merger with Mental Health Innovations, we're doing some (long overdue!) data cleaning work on the discussion boards.

That means we're pruning accounts that haven't been used for at least three years and removing ancient posts that were made approximately 10 years ago or more.

Why are we deleting old accounts?
Part of our existing privacy policy is that, due to data regulations in the UK, we'll delete your account if it's unused for three years. So this is us doing routine admin that's already in our policies.

Why are we deleting old posts?
A couple of reasons.

First, there was an era in this community where moderation was minimal or non-existent. If you've ever taken a deep dive into the posts from over 10 years ago, you might have noticed that moderation back then looked VERY different, and we just don't know how safe or unsafe a lot of that content is.

Deleting those posts means all remaining posts will meet The Mix's standards of moderation and safety. We know that because some of us have been around that whole time (I'm old sssh 👴)

Secondly, as we transfer our data to new systems and join forces with Mental Health Innovations, it's a prime opportunity for us to have a reset and only take with us what we need.

Will this affect you?
If your account is less than roughly 10 years old, your posts won't be affected. The only exception here is if you replied to threads created over 10 years ago, your replies will be deleted along with those threads.

If your account is roughly 10 years old or more (which is probably only a couple of you!), any of your posts made before that period will be removed in the data cleaning process.

--

If you notice any slowness, page timeouts, etc in the next few days, it's nothing to worry about. All should be back to normal once the work has been completed.

You may even notice some things working a bit better than before - for example, searching the boards won't unhelpfully drag up posts from 2002... 😝

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Comments

independent_

You say roughly 10 years. My account is 8.5 years old.. I’m an old woman I know. Because it’s roughly 10 years could mine be affected or is that too far outside the “roughly” definition?

toffuna101

damn, ive seen those 2002 posts and they seem so nostalgic compared to today's posts. im sad hat theyre being removed, but at the same time its probably for the best.

AnonymousToe

I liked the ancient posts 🤣 they were funny. But it makes sense to remove them, I’ve come across some weird stuff before.

Amy22

I used to look at the super old posts right before I was even born and it's acutally very interesting to see what people talked about back then compared to now. Eventhough I have seen some posts that have had odd links or (inappropriate things attachted to them tbf) so I understand why you may need to do some tidying up and cleaning.

independent_

O guys so is now the time for our final trip down memory lane, I love the old posts too, but they’re a little awkward to read now with everyone’s accounts being anonymised from that time. To be fair I’ve seen other sites doing the same thing, especially really old forums like this one. A lot of the searches are quite irrelevant now.. if very funny.

It will probably mean our longest serving and most consistently active member (I won’t tag but the staff will know who I’m on about) will lose a fair number of their posts, which is sad.

Redemption

Can Liverpool fan's accounts be deleted too?

JustV

Aw me too you guys - I'm an oldie and it pains me to delete our little time capsule. Sometimes I like to look at the old stuff, but as you've said, sometimes there's some weird stuff or some things posted that we would just never allow today, so it's a big risk for it to be there.

Amy22 wrote: »

I used to look at the super old posts right before I was even born and it's acutally very interesting to see what people talked about back then compared to now.

Wait, y...you weren't even born for some of them? 🫠🫠

JustV

independent_ wrote: »

You say roughly 10 years. My account is 8.5 years old.. I’m an old woman I know. Because it’s roughly 10 years could mine be affected or is that too far outside the “roughly” definition?

You're totally fine @independent_ - we know it's going to be either a bit longer or a bit less than 10 years, but the difference will only be a few months either side. So you're good

Dancer

TheNightmare wrote: »

Can Liverpool fan's accounts be deleted too?

And Tottenham

JustV

Data cleaning begins this afternoon

independent_

JustV wrote: »

independent_ wrote: »

You say roughly 10 years. My account is 8.5 years old.. I’m an old woman I know. Because it’s roughly 10 years could mine be affected or is that too far outside the “roughly” definition?

You're totally fine @independent_ - we know it's going to be either a bit longer or a bit less than 10 years, but the difference will only be a few months either side. So you're good

Good to know @JustV. I thought this might be the case to be honest, but suddenly realised my account is closer to 10 years old than I thought it was. I found this in late 2015 but it took me ages to register for the boards, so I have been here even longer than it says. Queue a quarterlife crisis…

independent_

JustV wrote: »

Aw me too you guys - I'm an oldie and it pains me to delete our little time capsule. Sometimes I like to look at the old stuff, but as you've said, sometimes there's some weird stuff or some things posted that we would just never allow today, so it's a big risk for it to be there.

Amy22 wrote: »

I used to look at the super old posts right before I was even born and it's acutally very interesting to see what people talked about back then compared to now.

Wait, y...you weren't even born for some of them? 🫠🫠

I think forums were used very very differently back then, almost like facebook before facebook existed. So moderation would have been really different. Some of the old threads are rather funny for that reason. It was much busier with less staff

Some of the posts were indeed made before I was born too, I love finding one from 2002 and thinking fucking hell.. and I’m one of the older members now, so there will be potentially years of posts before some here now were even born.

JustV

independent_ wrote: »

JustV wrote: »

Aw me too you guys - I'm an oldie and it pains me to delete our little time capsule. Sometimes I like to look at the old stuff, but as you've said, sometimes there's some weird stuff or some things posted that we would just never allow today, so it's a big risk for it to be there.

Amy22 wrote: »

I used to look at the super old posts right before I was even born and it's acutally very interesting to see what people talked about back then compared to now.

Wait, y...you weren't even born for some of them? 🫠🫠

I think forums were used very very differently back then, almost like facebook before facebook existed. So moderation would have been really different. Some of the old threads are rather funny for that reason. It was much busier with less staff

Some of the posts were indeed made before I was born too, I love finding one from 2002 and thinking fucking hell.. and I’m one of the older members now, so there will be potentially years of posts before some here now were even born.

100% - you're totally right. Even WhatsApp before WhatsApp. Before instant messaging that's kinda just what people used, so the volume of posting was soooooo much higher.

Also, right there with you on the quaterlife crisis!

JustV

The data cleaning work on the discussion boards should now be completed.

independent_

Clicked last page on health and wellbeing to see where it took me back to. It just says no discussions found so is it going to do that silly thing with the ghost pages now?

JustV

independent_ wrote: »

Clicked last page on health and wellbeing to see where it took me back to. It just says no discussions found so is it going to do that silly thing with the ghost pages now?

Hmmm... it might... I imagine that's expected given all the deletions. But I'll raise it with our techies just to make sure.

Skive

Sad times

independent_

Skive wrote: »

Sad times

Yours was the post count I was referring to above... at the moment it looks the same, which is odd if threads have been deleted. I wonder if they're hidden?

Skive

independent_ wrote: »

Skive wrote: »

Sad times

Yours was the post count I was referring to above... at the moment it looks the same, which is odd if threads have been deleted. I wonder if they're hidden?

I’ve never been too worried about post count. I’ve lost thousands due to previous deletions.

But losing 13 years of posts is a little bit sad. I joined when there were no smart phones, and social media wasn’t even a thing.
This was a place to seek advice but also a place to chill, hang out and chat shit. I dread to think how many hours I spent in front of my Mac looking at TheSite.

Lots of my life events have been recorded here, from legal issues and almost going to prison, to my mother’s death and the birth of my son.

I only pop back now and again to read old posts for nostalgia, or to see if I can provide some help in the drug forum or there’s something interesting in the politics forum.

But I’m too old for this place now. Nothing lasts forever, especially in IT. It’s progress. Happy that this place is still a very useful resource for young people.

independent_

Skive wrote: »

independent_ wrote: »

Skive wrote: »

Sad times

Yours was the post count I was referring to above... at the moment it looks the same, which is odd if threads have been deleted. I wonder if they're hidden?

I’ve never been too worried about post count. I’ve lost thousands due to previous deletions.

But losing 13 years of posts is a little bit sad. I joined when there were no smart phones, and social media wasn’t even a thing.
This was a place to seek advice but also a place to chill, hang out and chat shit. I dread to think how many hours I spent in front of my Mac looking at TheSite.

Lots of my life events have been recorded here, from legal issues and almost going to prison, to my mother’s death and the birth of my son.

I only pop back now and again to read old posts for nostalgia, or to see if I can provide some help in the drug forum or there’s something interesting in the politics forum.

But I’m too old for this place now. Nothing lasts forever, especially in IT. It’s progress. Happy that this place is still a very useful resource for young people.

That’s a really interesting perspective. It’s the same for me, I have spent countless hours here both on the boards and on chat. It is definitely still useful and I’m glad it helped you back in the day. I’ve got a lot documented here too

toffuna101

this makes me think how long im gonna be here for since i already took a few months break from the discussion boards before.

independent_

I didn’t join with the intention of staying around for nearly 9 years but it just happened loool

toffuna101

hopefully i stay for that long or even longer. ill be 25 by the time its my 10th anniversary on this website.

JsT

Skive wrote: »

Sad times

Definitely my friend! Some good memories on this place over the last 20 odd years, perhaps a lot of it deserves deleting mind...