# Ongoing deletion of old posts? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [December 10, 2006, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ongoing-deletion-of-old-posts/383553 "2006-12-10T08:54:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2006, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ongoing-deletion-of-old-posts/383553/1 "2006-12-10T08:54:47Z")
Is the SDMB still deleting old posts on a weekly basis because of database limitations? Are we at risk of having “classic” threads deleted? If so, how could that be avoided? ---
**Author:** ![According\_to\_Pliny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@According\_to\_Pliny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/According_to_Pliny)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2006, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ongoing-deletion-of-old-posts/383553/2 "2006-12-10T14:46:21Z")
That labor of Sisyphus? Haven’t heard about that effort in a while. The most recent admin comment is [QUOTE=C K Dexter Haven] Right, I’ll officially echo what **FatBaldGuy** We don’t delete history, in general; the main exception is that when we find trolls, we usually delete all their posts. [/QUOTE] I assume a few threads named “Just testing my sig” may get swept up, but there’s no prominent deletion program. ---
**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:** [December 10, 2006, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ongoing-deletion-of-old-posts/383553/3 "2006-12-10T16:11:31Z")
[QUOTE=According to Pliny] That labor of Sisyphus? Haven’t heard about that effort in a while. The most recent admin comment is I assume a few threads named “Just testing my sig” may get swept up, but there’s no prominent deletion program. [/QUOTE] That is not correct. They have purged some of the oldest posts to keep the total posts under I believe 2 gigs. There was a thread on this just a few weeks ago where \*\*Jdavis \*\* confirmed the need. I found the the post for you. [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=7841922](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=7841922) [QUOTE=jdavis] As to the status of the new server I’m in the process of ordering one within the next two weeks. When will we be running on the new server? I don’t know and I’m not going to give a definitive or even approximate answer because I don’t have a definitive or approximate answer. When the new server is purchased it will then be built, the SDMB will be moved from it’s current hosting company to a co-location site in Chicago, the vBulletin software will possibly be upgraded to a newer version and I will attempt to resolve the underlying MySQL database issue that is limiting us to approximately 2.4 GBs worth of posts. That current limit is what necessitates the deletion of old posts. If we want to keep adding new posts to the database I have to get rid of something until I can resolve the underlying issue. [/QUOTE] Jim ---
**Author:** ![drewbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drewbert/32/15890_2.png) [@drewbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewbert)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2006, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ongoing-deletion-of-old-posts/383553/4 "2006-12-10T16:41:47Z")
Well they’re being deleted but not _deleted_. In other words, they still exist, but aren’t available on the main server, and may one day be restored. Possibly. Someday. When we least expect it. ---
**Author:** ![fortytwo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f9ae1b/32.png) [@fortytwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fortytwo)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2006, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ongoing-deletion-of-old-posts/383553/5 "2006-12-10T18:46:17Z")
[QUOTE=drewbert] Well they’re being deleted but not _deleted_. In other words, they still exist, but aren’t available on the main server, and may one day be restored. Possibly. Someday. When we least expect it. [/QUOTE] But only for 20 minutes.