A Million Messages

[EnolaGaia]

Sorry, yes it was the home page number I was referring to.

I can only offer my theory about what that number represents ... I have to call this a'theory' because that number is a dynamic and transient figure dependent on multiple factors - some of which are simply historical.

IMHO, based on some exploration and cross-checking ...

The "advertised total messages tally" on the home page reflects the number of individual posts that:

- survive in a message database that has migrated multiple times - sometimes with losses suffered during transition; [1]
- are currently acknowledged by the software platform as valid entries in our message database; [2] and
- are accessible to the forum staff members having moderator privileges. [3]

NOTES:

[1] There's no question the advertised total messages tally underestimates the number of times a post has been tallied as a new arrival from 2001 to the present day. Owing to the differences in the platforms through which the forum has evolved and the nature of major migrations there's always the chance some tally entries have been duplicated or lost along the way. As such, the total messages tally reflects how many posts the current software platform can make available at the present time.

[2] The defensible description of the tally number in note [1] is not a fixed value. New posts arrive daily. Old posts get deleted or merged. The advertised messages tally is therefore an indication of the present water level in the pool rather than the total volume of water the pool has ever contained. I'm not even certain whether this represents a "high water mark" (maximum level ever attained) instead of a "current water level" (accurate reading of the current state).

[3] The advertised tally number definitely doesn't represent the number of posts a regular member can access. More than 78,000 of the tallied posts are sitting in reserved areas to which only moderator-empowered staff have access. The vast majority of these posts are simply the contents of the staff's cumulative "miscellaneous junk bin" - including temporary storage for items salvaged from previous incidents involving losses (e.g., migration carnage).

 

[Frideswide]

The vast majority of these posts are simply the contents of the staff's cumulative "miscellaneous junk bin"

 

[Yithian]

Ok, apparently the number count does not update in real time and I don’t know how frequently it does update. Also once I’ve deleted a message, I deleted two, other people have normally posted and because I don’t know how this interacts with delay it’s difficult to give an answer. There are times when the board is very quiet and not many are logged on. I will continue my experimentation then...

The post counts update every three minutes (but not, as you say, in real-time) and we can force an update at any time by flicking a switch behind the curtain.

 

[escargot]

Does somebody really, actually care about when we reach a million posts?

 

[Yithian]

Does somebody really, actually care about when we reach a million posts?

 

[GNC]

Enigmatic as ever, @Yithian !

 

[Shady]

Or forgetful

 

[David Plankton]

162 to go.
161 now.

 

[Yithian]

We'll be there in an hour or two.

Cheers chaps (and chapesses), especially those who have been here since the early days.

cheers:

 

[Schrodinger's Zebra]

Does this mean a last-minute slew of people posting just for the sake of it, to reach the million mark?

 

[Schrodinger's Zebra]

Not that I would do that, of course.

 

[Shady]

Of course not lol

 

[Shady]

Big party in the Trolls Head.......just make sure you pee at home first, those toilets are a little .....ripe and scary

 

[Yithian]

Done.

See you all at 2,000,000.

 

[Shady]

:boozing::dpoo::band::dbana::dbana::dbana::dbana::dbana::dbana::dbana::dbana::rasta:

 

[Schrodinger's Zebra]

Done.

See you all at 2,000,000.

Have I missed it? Where were the fireworks and stuff?

I feel like I've fallen asleep at 11:50pm on 31st December and woken up at 12:05...

 

[Nils Meijer]

no worries, I will delete some more stuff and the number will drop again below 1.000.000 again, just like swimming, after a while you can balance on 999.999th post and everytime somebody posts something, delete 1 item, but yeah that way, I would run out of posts today, plus all my previous work would have been vain!

 

[Yithian]

no worries, I will delete some more stuff and the number will drop again below 1.000.000

That could be... prevented, you know.

 

[Shady]

Ooooooo

 

[cycleboy2]

That could be... prevented, you know.

Proroguing the forum?!

 

[Schrodinger's Zebra]

That could be... prevented, you know.

You missed something off your post there, I think:

 

[Nils Meijer]

That could be... prevented, you know.

right before alienhub.com crashed into oblivion, I learned that moderators can read whatever users delete and all deleted material gets stored someplace else by xenforo, so I take it as a matter of confidence.. to me, personally, it's very important to be able to edit and delete posts, like in every creative process, I really need to be able to undo messages, or alter them afterwards. I don't mean to manipulate or cheat, but I'm a libra, I change sides, ideas constantly, so hopefully you take no offence, but without a capacity to edit and delete, I would be miserable.. congratulations on breaking the million-posts-barrier, everybody! cheers

 

[INT21]

Beware the root user.

 

[Vardoger]

1,000,494 or something! Time to celebrate!

:boozing::rim::dbana::nelly:

 

[escargot]

I wonder who put up the one millionth post?

Probably a troll!

 

[JamesWhitehead]

And whoever submits the 1,000,000th post wins what?

A free-whizz around the vast Fortean Hypermarket! Scoop up Nessie, Big-Foot and the Croglin-Hall Vampire all in the same trolley!

And then have them evaluated at the check-out. :fslap:

Business as usual, then.

 

[Analogue Boy]

I say a burning at the stake’s in order. The Chosen one has been chosen. This site’s true purpose has been fulfilled and we can all go back to MySpace now.