Need a primer on efficiently cleaning my forum

[rcane]

I need to delete old threads from the "recycle bin" board where they go.

Is there a way to efficiently remove threads and not leave traces.

I have plenty of boards to close now as the content is no longer needed and drive space could use some relaxing due to attachments. 

[Kindred]

Ok...

So, go into the recycle bin and delete them all...

[Diego Andrés]

You can also prune topics from the maintenance page. Just select the recycled topics board and delete them. I believe it also prunes the topics from other boards because it skips the recycled board 'step'. Just make sure to test it first or make a backup, I haven't personally used this feature.

[Aleksi "Lex" Kilpinen]

Quick moderation as checkboxes is usually my friend when I need to do something like this, can delete a page worth of topics at one go.

[rcane]

Quick moderation as checkboxes is usually my friend when I need to do something like this, can delete a page worth of topics at one go.

I'll look at that too.

If you delete a board, what gets wiped along with it?  Topics and replies is my guess.   Does it also clear the tables in ways other than just the topics and replies?   What I mean:  are there other tables that have data related to topics and replies?

[Kindred]

There are a number of interconnected table data... 
if you were thinking about direct database edits...  please don't.


Honestly, unless you are talking thousands of threads, deleting a board to delete the threads is not a great plan.

[rcane]

There are a number of interconnected table data... 
if you were thinking about direct database edits...  please don't.


Honestly, unless you are talking thousands of threads, deleting a board to delete the threads is not a great plan.

Yeah that felt sketchy. 

So is there a way to delete topics, boards, or all the way up to a category and ensure the data is 1)gone (as it's unneeded) and 2)space freed up.

[Kindred]

If you delete the topics using the internal processes (like set moderation to checkboxes, select 100 threads and delete) -- then the system will correctly delete and clean up after itself.

[Illori]

If you delete the topics using the internal processes (like set moderation to checkboxes, select 100 threads and delete) -- then the system will correctly delete and clean up after itself.

this way they go into the recycle bin if enabled, so disable that before taking action.

[GL700Wing]

The Auto Purge Old Topics mod adds a scheduled task to check individual boards for topics that have not been replied to in a set number of days (configured separately for each board) and automatically removes them.

[Kindred]

If you delete the topics using the internal processes (like set moderation to checkboxes, select 100 threads and delete) -- then the system will correctly delete and clean up after itself.

this way they go into the recycle bin if enabled, so disable that before taking action.

We were talking about topics that are already in the recycle bin

[Illori]

If you delete a board, what gets wiped along with it?  Topics and replies is my guess.   Does it also clear the tables in ways other than just the topics and replies?   What I mean:  are there other tables that have data related to topics and replies?

this makes me believe it is not the recycle bin and it is other boards.

[Kindred]

If you delete a board, what gets wiped along with it?  Topics and replies is my guess.   Does it also clear the tables in ways other than just the topics and replies?   What I mean:  are there other tables that have data related to topics and replies?

this makes me believe it is not the recycle bin and it is other boards.

Actually, based on the previous conversations, I believe that they intended to load things into the recycle board and then delete that board....

[Arantor]

This approach is firmly not recommended.

Serious question: how many topics are we talking about to delete? 100? 1000? 10000?

[rcane]

2000 topics. 14000 posts give or take.

The forum use has to pivot now and I need to free up space.

So, after a full backup I just want to ensure the most responsible way to purge and be rid of all those topics.

[Arantor]

Go into your preferences and set it to 50 topics per page, turn on quick moderation to checkboxes if it isn't already, and delete 50 at a time from the UI. 40 pages worth won't take long to do by hand.

[PoML]

I have plenty of boards to close now as the content is no longer needed and drive space could use some relaxing due to attachments.

From the numbers above, 2000 topics of text probably is not the issue but attachments are?
Have you considered using the admin option to prune attachments older than X?

Go to: Administration Center► Attachments and Avatars► File Maintenance

There are 3 simple options for pruning:

• Remove attachments older than X days with a Message to add to post [attachment deleted by admin]
• Remove attachments larger than X KB with a Message to add to post [attachment deleted by admin]
• Remove avatars from members not active for more than X days

PS: realised that this menu may be changed in 2.1...  If so you should upgrade first :-D