Reply Notification, and then don't have Permission?

[Ron P.]

I think I know what happened, it is concerning.

I replied like others to a post by @Ali, concerning RAW file development. I was slow typing, so when if finally posted, I did notice that she had posted that no further replies are needed. I step away from my PC for a few minutes. When I return I see that I have a notification:

However when I go to read the post, this is what I'm met with:

Why would anyone quote you in a post, then block you or delete it? That's rhetorical for the most part. Is it because the OP didn't like that the people replying didn't see it their way and only their way? Certainly seems so. That's ok, @Ali, if you don't want me replying, attempting to help you, I'll refrain from doing so.

[NotMyFault]

Same for me. Unless something very stupid happened (duplicate post, mistake, error) it would be nice to keep threads when issue solved, to allow others to find them and learn. I lost access to my reply’s which I didn’t save anywhere else. 
 

Unnecessarily deleting posts will reduce my willingness to try to help this user.

[IanSG]

Me too!  Is this deliberate or a bug in the forum software - the message style and the mention of Error code: 2F173/K would suggest the latter. 

[Dan C]

I can confirm the post being referred to has been hidden by the OP - hence the error you're seeing when trying to access the thread.

 

We do ask that even 'solved' threads remain on the forums, as they can be very useful resources for other members with similar questions.

However any user has the ability to hide/remove their posts from the Affinity Forums at any time if they so wish, as this is required under GDPR practices.

[Ron P.]

59 minutes ago, Dan C said:

I can confirm the post being referred to has been hidden by the OP - hence the error you're seeing when trying to access the thread.

 

We do ask that even 'solved' threads remain on the forums, as they can be very useful resources for other members with similar questions.

However any user has the ability to hide/remove their posts from the Affinity Forums at any time if they so wish, as this is required under GDPR practices.

Generally I have no issue with the thread hiding, however, like in this case, where the poster quotes someone and then hides it. What is someone to think, that they can not view the context of why, or how the poster is using the quote?

What makes more sense, is that even if the thread is hidden, those that participated should still be able to view it, not add to it, but at least view. Right now, I'm thinking that Ali is quoting me in an unfavorably way, thus me starting this thread to inquire.

[GarryP]

48 minutes ago, Ron P. said:

Right now, I'm thinking that Ali is quoting me in an unfavorably way

If the OP quotes someone in an unfavourable way, and then immediately hides the thread, then only the moderators and the OP will be able to see that unfavourable quote and no-one else will be able to quote that unfavourable quote, so that shouldn’t be a problem, unless the OP reveals the thread later.

48 minutes ago, Ron P. said:

What makes more sense, is that even if the thread is hidden, those that participated should still be able to view it

Letting the people who have participated in a now-hidden thread continue to view it may bring up some privacy issues if there is any sensitive information in it which should not have been supplied in the first place – e.g. phone numbers, order numbers, bank details, etc.

[Ali]

I deleted the thread because NotMyFault had made it clear that there were already many threads on the same issue and that I should have searched for them.

Thanks to those of you who offered helpful suggestions. The thread is not needed as it is merely a duplicate of many others, apparently.

 

[Ali]

4 hours ago, NotMyFault said:

Unnecessarily deleting posts will reduce my willingness to try to help this user.

Not a problem.

[Ali]

4 hours ago, Ron P. said:

Is it because the OP didn't like that the people replying didn't see it their way and only their way? Certainly seems so. That's ok, @Ali, if you don't want me replying,

Not the case.

[Ron P.]

On 11/24/2021 at 10:33 AM, Ali said:

Not the case.

Fair enough 🙂. One of the pitfalls of web-boards and forums, perception.

[Ali]

1 minute ago, Ron P. said:

perception.

... or presumption.

[thomaso]

On 11/24/2021 at 1:50 PM, Dan C said:

However any user has the ability to hide/remove their posts from the Affinity Forums at any time if they so wish, as this is required under GDPR practices.

The problem is not a removed post but an entirely removed (hidden) thread. This way the OP is removing also posts of other users, which hardly is required under GDPR practices.

Also it might be useful when clicking the link in an email notification not to result in "You do not have permission to view this topic."
Even the slightly less misleading message "We could not find that topic." which appears if you alter the URL (removing the part related to a specific post).
I wonder if the software can get set to display an unambiguous message like "Unfortunately this thread has been set to invisible by the topics founder (OP)."

Here's another example which indeed causes confusion for those community members who already did response, or if any post of this thread was linked in another thread.

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/152954-resize-road-labels-at-once/&do=findComment&comment=861278

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/152954-resize-road-labels-at-once/

[thomaso]

On 11/24/2021 at 5:17 PM, Ali said:

I deleted the thread because NotMyFault had made it clear that there were already many threads on the same issue and that I should have searched for them.

In particular if replies have already made clear a redundancy of your topic, then your reason for hiding the entire thread could also be a good reason not to hide it: Considering that the forum's search engine is not as perfect as perhaps expected (e.g. fuzzy), such a thread could be helpful for those who don't use the "right" keywords in their search, maybe because not knowing yet how to express their question precisely.

[PaulEC]

A slight aside (not applicable in this case) – But I do find the following scenario, which I have seen more than once, a bit odd/worrying:

Person A posts something which is then quoted by Person B.

Person A realises that their post contained information that should not have been made public.

Person A edits or deletes their post to remove such information.

The problem is that this information is still visible in Person B's quote of the original post!

Surely it would make sense for quotes from someone else's post to be automatically updated if they change it?

[Alfred]

11 minutes ago, PaulEC said:

Surely it would make sense for quotes from someone else's post to be automatically updated if they change it?

It might seem logical, but I suspect that the only way of achieving that would be for the forum software to maintain links to every quoted post. This would then fall prey to a disgruntled forum member choosing to delete their post content on the way out the door, as has happened a few times: there are many threads which are rendered unreadable because of such vandalism, but several of the deleted posts are preserved through quoting.

[thomaso]

39 minutes ago, PaulEC said:

Surely it would make sense for quotes from someone else's post to be automatically updated if they change it?

Hardly. This way a post using the quote may get changed in its sense, not only if but in particular if a post got quoted to literally point to a used term, expression or sentence, e.g. as misunderstanding or confirmation. So, auto-changing a quote would require sophisticated AI to get also auto-correction for posts referring to the changed post. 🕵🏿‍♂️
And what would happen to custom formatting of the quote, as in the orange example?

[Old Bruce]

44 minutes ago, PaulEC said:

Shirley it would make sense for quotes from someone else's post ...

Don't call me Surely.