# David Simmon's old posts **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [April 10, 2008, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-simmons-old-posts/444799 "2008-04-10T21:02:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2008, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-simmons-old-posts/444799/1 "2008-04-10T21:02:36Z")
David’s nephew Tim has posted on the boards to give us an update of his condition. I thought it would be nice to give Tim another view of his uncle by showing Tim David’s posts. Unfortunately, a search for his posts of “any date” returned only 750 posts, going back to 2007. David has a post count of over 12,000 going back I don’t know how far. Is it possible to go back further into the archives, assuming they exist, and somehow get David’s old posts to his family? If it would cost something to do it, I would be willing to pay, or at least contribute something toward defraying the costs. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2008, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-simmons-old-posts/444799/2 "2008-04-10T21:19:40Z")
[QUOTE=Boyo Jim] David’s nephew Tim has posted on the boards to give us an update of his condition. I thought it would be nice to give Tim another view of his uncle by showing Tim David’s posts. Unfortunately, a search for his posts of “any date” returned only 750 posts, going back to 2007. David has a post count of over 12,000 going back I don’t know how far. Is it possible to go back further into the archives, assuming they exist, and somehow get David’s old posts to his family? If it would cost something to do it, I would be willing to pay, or at least contribute something toward defraying the costs. [/QUOTE] I believe I’ve been able to get my oldest posts by changing the sort order on the date from descending to ascending. I believe the 750 is a fixed maximum but there may be workarounds for that, too. ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2008, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-simmons-old-posts/444799/3 "2008-04-10T21:29:11Z")
750 is a fixed maximum. As \*\*Zeldar \*\*said, you can reverse the sort order and get to 1500. You should also be able to reach some more posts by trying different start/end dates (e.g., “one year or older”) – there’s a selection menu on the search screen. It may also help to group the results as threads rather than as posts – I **think** that in that case the maximum number of 750 applies to the number of **threads** returned, but I’m not certain about that. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2008, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-simmons-old-posts/444799/4 "2008-04-10T21:40:16Z")
I get that I might be able to squeeze another thousand or 2 posts out of the search function by messing around with the search parameters. But anyway you look at it, that’s going to miss 3/4s or more of his posts. I suppose what I’m looking for is divine intervention in the form of a moderator, administrator or Web Master with more powers than us mere Members. Is there someone with the power/access to do this? ---
**Author:** ![gardentraveler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gardentraveler/32/3576_2.png) [@gardentraveler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gardentraveler)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2008, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-simmons-old-posts/444799/5 "2008-04-10T21:48:31Z")
I know that this isn’t what you’re asking for; I’m presenting this as a possibility in case there isn’t another way to get at his old posts. I’ll bet you could start a thread asking for David’s best posts or discussions that people know he participated in and a lot of people would have them bookmarked or would have ideas on how to search for them. GT ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-simmons-old-posts/444799/6 "2008-04-11T00:39:05Z")
[QUOTE=Boyo Jim] David’s nephew Tim has posted on the boards to give us an update of his condition. [/QUOTE] Link? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![supergoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@supergoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/supergoose)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-simmons-old-posts/444799/7 "2008-04-11T01:07:27Z")
Uh, I don’t mean to rain on the parade, and I haven’t seen the update either so it might be a moot point, but are you sure David would want that? Maybe someone should ask him, if possible. I could imagine not wanting members of my family reading various honest but cutting things I’ve said here. (And I know, it’s the Internet, at least one person in his family knows for certain that he posts here, and we all signed away our privacy the moment we started posting, but still.) ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-simmons-old-posts/444799/8 "2008-04-11T01:24:55Z")
[QUOTE=Contrapuntal] Link? Thanks. [/QUOTE] [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=9672469&postcount=231](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=9672469&postcount=231) ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-simmons-old-posts/444799/9 "2008-04-11T03:35:03Z")
[QUOTE=supergoose] Uh, I don’t mean to rain on the parade, and I haven’t seen the update either so it might be a moot point, but are you sure David would want that? Maybe someone should ask him, if possible. I could imagine not wanting members of my family reading various honest but cutting things I’ve said here. (And I know, it’s the Internet, at least one person in his family knows for certain that he posts here, and we all signed away our privacy the moment we started posting, but still.) [/QUOTE] While I can’t recall any posts that would embarrass David, there is some validity to your point. Tim Shea emailed me to thank me for the links I posted to a number of recent threads David participated in, and I just replied and asked him to relay this question to David. I also sent him a link to this thread and invited him to reply here. Oh, and sorry about the lack of a link to the thread that inspired this. It’s actually [a sticky in MPSIMS here.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=453138&page=1&pp=50) Tim came in on the last page and has started posting some in David’s stead. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-simmons-old-posts/444799/10 "2008-04-11T10:28:33Z")
I received this reply to my question about retreiving all David’s posts, should it be possible: > [@](#): > > My uncle Cook (David Simmons) has been sleeping nearly around the clock for several days now. He has stopped eating almost entirely and can no longer get any medication down. I am sad to say that the end is likely very near. My younger brother and I are going down this weekend (we live about 5 hours north of China Lake) to be with some of the other members of our family. > I doubt that Cook has written anything that will offend any of his immediate family. As he is sleeping 23.5+ hours a day, it is unlikely that I will be able to ask his permission. I know that my brothers, my sister and I would likely enjoy reading his posts. Please do feel free to use your best judgement about the archives of his posts. > I will notify the list promptly when he slips away. I will also put together a “bio” for anyone who would like to hear the story of his life, with photos, (I promise to not make it too long) and post it to my website. While he wouldn’t brag about it, he lived an incredible life. Engineer, decorated WW II bomber pilot and Army Air Corp flight instructor, husband and father. I will ask his wife (Aunt Wilma) if it’s ok to do so. I am sure it is. He was so incredibly smart, yet down to earth. Literally, he is likely the smartest and wisest person I know. When my daughter was young and asked questions like “why is the sky blue”, he was able to explain it to us in a way that we were able to understand. That is a great gift. If this were left to my judgement and I had the ability to do it on my own, I would already have done so. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-simmons-old-posts/444799/11 "2008-04-11T16:28:15Z")
[QUOTE=Boyo Jim] I get that I might be able to squeeze another thousand or 2 posts out of the search function by messing around with the search parameters. But anyway you look at it, that’s going to miss 3/4s or more of his posts. I suppose what I’m looking for is divine intervention in the form of a moderator, administrator or Web Master with more powers than us mere Members. Is there someone with the power/access to do this? [/QUOTE] You can get the first and last 750 posts in each forum in the advanced search. Use the tricks listed above and then search each forum individually. This should greatly increase the number of posts that you can find. Jim ---
**Author:** ![supergoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@supergoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/supergoose)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-simmons-old-posts/444799/12 "2008-04-11T18:50:31Z")
You could also search for his user name. Discussions in which he was quoted, referenced, or addressed directly would come up, and you might get some that weren’t in the first and last 750 posts searches. And I wanted to say, I didn’t mean to imply that he would have posts he’d be embarrassed or ashamed of. I’ve just been surprised in the past by people whose need for privacy extended further than I’d have thought or wanted myself, and I thought I should mention it just in case. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-simmons-old-posts/444799/13 "2008-04-11T20:39:11Z")
[QUOTE=What Exit?] You can get the first and last 750 posts in each forum in the advanced search. Use the tricks listed above and then search each forum individually. This should greatly increase the number of posts that you can find. Jim [/QUOTE] I’m gonna go with this method. Thanks for a very good idea. I should be able to get up to 1500 posts out of each forum, and I hope that will get the bulk of David’s contributions. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-simmons-old-posts/444799/14 "2008-04-11T20:58:02Z")
I know Jerry Davis archived a large number of older posts when the hamsters were having a sitdown strike, in an effort to keep the board running more smoothly. I’m not sure that form that archive is in (I suspect VBB stored offline), but if it’s searchable, this is something I suspect the Powers That Be would consider going the extra mile for, and authorizing that search by a techie. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-simmons-old-posts/444799/15 "2008-04-11T21:28:02Z")
[QUOTE=Polycarp] I know Jerry Davis archived a large number of older posts when the hamsters were having a sitdown strike, in an effort to keep the board running more smoothly. I’m not sure that form that archive is in (I suspect VBB stored offline), but if it’s searchable, this is something I suspect the Powers That Be would consider going the extra mile for, and authorizing that search by a techie. [/QUOTE] I may start begging for this. I am searching the GQ forum using What Exit?'s method and still coming up with a gap of years that neither search covers. Getting the 750 newest results and the 750 oldest results leaves the date range gap of 3/03 to 6/06 where nothing gets picked up. Even if I do an extra search parameter and do 1) a year ago and less, and 2) a year ago and more, and 3) the oldest forward – this would only close the gap a few months at most. His most recent post there is almost 6 months already. I’m going to try to narrow down the “problem” areas. Maybe he was more prolific in GQ, and similar searches of other forums would result in narrower or no gaps at all. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-simmons-old-posts/444799/16 "2008-04-11T22:20:42Z")
Ok, having search all the forums, only GQ leaves a big gap of uncaptured threads. I have posted the search results links in the “Message from David…” thread linked to above.