Well, like I said above, I had Mrs. Cholula post in both an OMNI thread and an OMNI/PR thread. She said that I owe her big time for making her enter OMNI/PR but I digress.

She was not able to physically delete her test posts in either forum. They just looked empty as does her post above.

Not sure what's going on but I think the HOM's or IB gurus need to weigh-in on this.

(post # 8, with bolding added for emphasis)


Chulula, in subsequent post # 14 you say that Mrs. Cholula replaced the text with null text. I am assuming, since her deleted post appears empty, that she replaced it with white letters or whatever. But your original statement is per the quoted passage above. Those are two different statements.

Could you clarify? Is it possible, per your first statement, simply to delete everything in a post and then save it as such? I have never been able to do that. I get an error message that says I have to enter at least a certain number of characters in order to save the changes. Or is your first statement incorrect? Not trying to be sarcastic. I am just trying to understand which statement is correct, since you are a moderator, and you would certainly know more than the rest of us. If you have concluded that it is possible to obtain the appearance of a deleted post by using null text, I don't see that as an improvement to just typing "deleted" as text replacement. I am just wondering if I have understood correctly.

Back to OP: You indicate that a post simply disappeared when you tried to follow a link to it. Try this instead. (I am assuming that you know the name of the poster.) Do an FT search (not a Google search) for that username. The missing post should show up, even if deleted. The text might or might not have been replaced with null text, but you should see the missing post, at least the title of the thread and possibly the first line of text, depending on how knowledgeable (or not) the FTer was in deleting the post.

I don't understand the purpose of your suggestion. If I understand the OP correctly, he read and responded to a post that subsequently disappeared. The OP also quoted the post before it vanished, so he still knows exactly what it said. I don't see how doing a search (on google or on FT) will be of any benefit to him as his questions remain unanswered.

I think you might have inserted issues that were not in my post. I was commenting (or thought that I was) that posts are still in the FT system even if deleted. It was a general comment on how the system works. That was all.

I was not suggesting that the OP use that method to read the post. In fact, the method I outlined would not help to read the post if the text were replaced. Even if text had not been replaced before post deletion, only the first line of the post would still be available.

I thought the OP and others might find it interesting to know that these deleted posts show up. The issues you bring up are not issues that I intended, or believe I implied.

My apologies. I thought when you said "Try this instead" you were offering an alternative to the OP in hopes it was a solution. I regret I misunderstood your intent.

(I wonder where I went wrong? I'm pretty sure I understand the meaning of "this", so it must have been either "try" or "instead" that confused me. )

No need to apologize.

You do understand the meaning of "this," "try," and "instead," but combined--and in context, without a reader's adding an overlay of preconceived interpretation--the clause,"try this instead," refers to the ability to locate (any) post.

Had I said, "try this instead, in order to read the post that you indicate that you want to read," you might have had a point.

It doesn't matter. ^ I just wish that OMNI hadn't been opened to Google so that a lot of us are concerned about those issues now and therefore posting about things to be wary of in deleting posts. That issue is a lot more important than an OT discussion of this sort.

Hmm... I guess I don't understand "implied" either.

I understand that many are concerned by those issues, but I hope you understand that I'm still curious about the disappearing posts the OP reported. Since that's quite on topic for this thread, I'm not sure why you consider my question to you extraneous. I simply wanted to know how your recommendation helped answer the OP's question. Of course, that brings us back full circle...

I just posted in Omni NFL Season 2008

Cowboys go down.


Then I went to edit the message. I press the delete button. Then at the bottom you have the option "Do not delete message" or "Delete message"

Choose "Delete Message" Then at the bottom hit "Delete this message".

I do not see my post anywhere.

Do an FT search (not a Google search) for your username. Does the post show up with a garbage can icon and the first line of the deleted post?

Would it help if you just let the issue go for a few days until you can approach it more objectively? I answered the question.

Yes it does show up with the garbage can icon just like the disappearing post the OP was talking about.

But it does not show up in the thread. So there is no mystery about the disappearing post but the FTer just deleted it from the thread.

Would it help what?

Good to know. That is exactly what you and Cholula both described up thread. Except now there's the question as to why Mrs. Cholula couldn't delete her OMNI posts. Weird...

Good to know. That is exactly what Cholula described up thread. Except now there's the question as to why Mrs. Cholula couldn't delete her OMNI posts. Still weird...

Am I just really stupid? I see no Delete button.