# Premium Member badge in thread list



## Zevida (Nov 8, 2003)

I find it confusing to have the premium member badge shown on the icon in the thread list. It looks like it is a badge for the thread, not a badge for the person, and I spent a bunch of time wondering why those threads were badged. Even though I figured it out, my eye still gets drawn to that badge as if those threads are special. My guess is there is no way to change this - anywhere a profile picture is shown, the badge is added if applicable - but it would be really nice to turn this off in the forum thread lists so that it is not so confusing.


----------



## Mike Lang (Nov 17, 1999)

In the thread listing page, I'd rather it be replaced with a "posted in" indicator.


----------



## sharkster (Jul 3, 2004)

Mike Lang said:


> In the thread listing page, I'd rather it be replaced with a "posted in" indicator.


Yeah, that's what I miss.

I am losing my memory and I liked knowing if I posted in a thread so I don't repeat myself. Now, I just don't say as much as I otherwise would (y'all are welcome! ) because I don't want to look any more boneheaded than I actually am.


----------



## Zevida (Nov 8, 2003)

Mike Lang said:


> In the thread listing page, I'd rather it be replaced with a "posted in" indicator.


I was going to say I think that's exactly what is throwing me off. It feels very much like the black dot that had indicated you posted in the thread so I think my brain is connecting the format/placement with that dot and making me think I have more interest in those threads.


----------



## markb (Jul 24, 2002)

I absolutely agree! I posted about this in the New Forum Look thread probably a week back or so. You can easily remove the badges using StyleBot, this this code:


```
span.badge-premium.badge-premium-s {
  display: none;
  
}
span.badge-staff.badge-staff-s {
  display: none;
}
```
This will only affect the thread listing. You'll still see badges on the individual posts, where they belong. Unfortunately, there's no easy way to get the "participated" indicator back, without the forum owner's help. (There are maybe some not-so-easy ways, and maybe they are worth looking into.)


----------



## VSPlatform (Oct 1, 2021)

markb said:


> Unfortunately, there's no easy way to get the "participated" indicator back, without the forum owner's help.


No plans to do that at this time.

However, we have many updates planned for 2022 and you can up to date with them here under Help > Release Notes.

Jeff


----------



## Hank (May 31, 2000)

VSPlatform said:


> No plans to do that at this time.
> 
> However, we have many updates planned for 2022 and you can up to date with them here under Help > Release Notes.
> 
> Jeff


Can someone please explain why we can't have 'Delete Post'?


----------



## danm628 (May 14, 2002)

Hank said:


> Can someone please explain why we can't have 'Delete Post'?


I believe delete post on the old forum software was “hide from users who aren’t moderators”. Which makes sense, you don’t want people posting something vile, letting someone see it and then deleting it. I believe Mike said it was an old custom plugin to do that.

It would be nice to have. Probably my biggest complaint about the new forum software.


----------



## Hank (May 31, 2000)

danm628 said:


> I believe delete post on the old forum software was “hide from users who aren’t moderators”. Which makes sense, you don’t want people posting something vile, letting someone see it and then deleting it. I believe Mike said it was an old custom plugin to do that.
> 
> It would be nice to have. Probably my biggest complaint about the new forum software.


"Delete Post" on virtually all forum software going back 20 years to at least vBulletin 2.x has always been a "soft delete", and the mods could always view user-deleted posts. No special plugins required. When mods go to delete posts, they have the option to "soft delete" or "hard delete", where the latter actually deletes the post.


----------



## VSPlatform (Oct 1, 2021)

Heya all,

We do not allow deleting posts to avoid data gaps/loss in the threads however you have the option to delete them.

Edit Post FAQ HERE:

Click on the 3 vertical dots to the far right of the timestamp. Select “Edit”.










Members have unlimited editing of new posts for the first 24 hours after posting. Up to 10 existing posts (older than 24 hours) may be edited per week. More editing will be allowed as each of those 10 edits expires every 7 days.

Jeff


----------



## Hank (May 31, 2000)

VSPlatform said:


> We do not allow deleting posts to avoid data gaps/loss in the threads however you have the option to delete them.


So then how does editing a post to say "deleted" not cause the exact same data gaps/loss in threads that actually (soft) deleting the post would cause? The only difference is the former is a lot messier and adds extra zero-content posts to scroll through. Makes zero sense to me.


----------



## Mike Lang (Nov 17, 1999)

User post delete was decided way above our paygrades and I don't see it changing anytime soon no matter how often it's questioned.


----------



## Hank (May 31, 2000)

Mike Lang said:


> User post delete was decided way above our paygrades and I don't see it changing anytime soon no matter how often it's questioned.


Yeah, I understand that, but the logic for it makes zero sense.

I'd just like VS to either admit that this policy makes absolutely no sense, or come up with a better reason (or just enable post delete).

And as I said before, it's not even a global software change, it's a simple flag on the user group settings they could do just for TCF without affecting every other community.


----------



## Mike Lang (Nov 17, 1999)

Hank said:


> And as I said before, it's not even a global software change, it's a simple flag on the user group settings they could do just for TCF without affecting every other community.


If the day ever comes that one forum breaks away from the other 1500+ and gets special treatment that the others want but can't have, I doubt little old TCF will be at the head of the line.


----------



## Hank (May 31, 2000)

Mike Lang said:


> If the day ever comes that one forum breaks away from the other 1500+ and gets special treatment that the others want but can't have, I doubt little old TCF will be at the head of the line.


I'd bet dollars to donuts that not all 1500 VS forums have _exactly the same _user group settings and policies.


----------



## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

Hank said:


> So then how does editing a post to say "deleted" not cause the exact same data gaps/loss in threads that actually (soft) deleting the post would cause? The only difference is the former is a lot messier and adds extra zero-content posts to scroll through. Makes zero sense to me.


If a post is deleted, it changes the numbering for all the posts that follow. Could that cause issues in the software?


----------



## Mike Lang (Nov 17, 1999)

Rob Helmerichs said:


> If a post is deleted, it changes the numbering for all the posts that follow. Could that cause issues in the software?


No you can request your own post be deleted by staff. It's just a decision made by VS that's best looked at as "the way it is". Just like everyone got used to needing to have a mod change their thread title in the old software.


----------



## Hank (May 31, 2000)

Rob Helmerichs said:


> If a post is deleted, it changes the numbering for all the posts that follow. Could that cause issues in the software?


Deleting posts is a integral part of all forum software since the dawn of forum software. It's simply turned off for the regular users here. There's no reason to turn if off other than a "policy" that makes no logical sense.


----------



## markb (Jul 24, 2002)

VSPlatform said:


> Heya all,
> 
> We do not allow deleting posts to avoid data gaps/loss in the threads however you have the option to delete them.


Would not be a problem if you just allowed ninja deletes (limit to within a few minutes of posting). You should seriously consider this!


----------



## ADG (Aug 20, 2003)

Most forums in which I participate (including those where I'm "on staff") restrict member deletions for the very reason stated above - to avoid gaps and confusion in the threads. Some do permit deletion within 30 minutes of posting and of course all of them allow the poster to request deletion by reaching out to a mod or admin.


----------



## Hank (May 31, 2000)

ADG said:


> ve - to avoid gaps and confusion in the threads.


So I'll ask once again, what's the difference between a deleted post and a post that says "deleted" ??

Seems like nobody can answer this question.


----------



## ADG (Aug 20, 2003)

Well, the simple answer (at least from my perspective) is that editing at least shows that there was a post there, its contents were deleted, and there may be a disruption in context within the thread. When a post is actually deleted, it may appear the alphabet is missing a few letters.


----------



## VSPlatform (Oct 1, 2021)

Hank said:


> So I'll ask once again, what's the difference between a deleted post and a post that says "deleted" ??


Moderators can always revert the text back if they feel that it was important to the thread. The edited post will still be visible to all members so others can see if someone edited the post in the effort to hide it.

With deleted, only moderators can see that a post was removed. Members would simply not see the post. This would make threads confusing as there would be no clear indication that a post was removed.

Daniel


----------



## Hank (May 31, 2000)

Are the moderators really going to spend that much time to read and understand every conversation, in every thread, and view the edit history, just to revert back something someone deleted so as to not "break the flow"? Come on.

I moderate my own forum with 5.6 million posts and 23k members. There's no way we can participate and do what you say for every thread and every discussion. 

In my experience, any post that someone deletes, if it's important enough to the discussion, it's quickly quoted in subsequent discussions so the "flow" isn't broken. That's what quoting is there for.

edited to add: This forum survived just fine for 21 years with the ability to delete posts. It just seems like a really lame excuse to remove that feature, at least for TCF. Perhaps on other forums in other communities deleting posts is a real problem, but it's never been a problem here.


----------



## Mike Lang (Nov 17, 1999)

AVS sees 10X the posts TCF does and has been without a user delete for two years now without issue. Sure there's an occasional "I wish we still had it" but for the most part everyone adapted.


----------



## Hank (May 31, 2000)

Well, that doesn't make it right. It just means that people adjusted to senseless rules. I can definitely see why 'delete post' is an issue on some forums. It should be a feature that's enabled until such a point that the community itself abuses the privilege and brings on the policy itself (I've seen this happen in real time elsewhere). But to be handed down a new policy from above "just because we say so" isn't an acceptable reason.


----------



## danm628 (May 14, 2002)

Hank said:


> Well, that doesn't make it right. It just means that people adjusted to senseless rules. I can definitely see why 'delete post' is an issue on some forums. It should be a feature that's enabled until such a point that the community itself abuses the privilege and brings on the policy itself (I've seen this happen in real time elsewhere). But to be handed down a new policy from above "just because we say so" isn't an acceptable reason.


Maybe it was abused on one of the thousand (1500?, big number) of forums that they manage. To keep things simple they run the same setup on all forums with minimal customizations (banners, etc.).


----------



## eddyj (Jun 20, 2002)

danm628 said:


> Maybe it was abused on one of the thousand (1500?, big number) of forums that they manage.


I seem to remember someone here abused this by deleting all their posts (or some large number), years ago.


----------



## Hank (May 31, 2000)

danm628 said:


> . To keep things simple they run the same setup on all forums with minimal customizations (banners, etc.).


I talked about this before -- "delete post" is just a simple user group setting (it's an on/off toggle switch) for this instance of Xenforo and doesn't effect all other communities. 
And I would doubt that all 1,500 communities have the _exact same_ user group settings. This isn't anything complex or hard to do. It's just decided that this is their policy (regardless of the logic of it) and it just won't be done. So we have to just live with it. Doesn't mean we have to be happy about it. Reminds me of my university motto: "Leges sine moribus vanae" -- or “Laws without morals are useless.”


----------



## Mike Lang (Nov 17, 1999)

Hank said:


> And I would doubt that all 1,500 communities have the _exact same_ user group settings.


Actually I believe every single community that's been migrated to this platform so far is just that...the exact same user group settings.


----------



## Hank (May 31, 2000)

Well we'll have to agree to disagree then. Maybe if it were 10 communities, sure. But 1500 forums over how many years and they all have identical user group settings? Not possible, IMHO.


----------



## Mike Lang (Nov 17, 1999)

All usergroup settings are altered to match on migration day which is why things like title edits & user delete changed here.


----------



## Hank (May 31, 2000)

Sure, for the initial import. But over time, you don't think a single community out of 1,500 had not a single user group settings change?


----------



## Mike Lang (Nov 17, 1999)

They didn't alter a single one on any of the dozens I'm involved with or aware of in the years since migrating. It's not a currently available option. It's sort of the point of the platform...all sites are identical so they can push out weekly updates without concern of any variables.


----------



## markb (Jul 24, 2002)

eddyj said:


> I seem to remember someone here abused this by deleting all their posts (or some large number), years ago.


But if there was a time limit on self-deleting posts, like 30 minutes, or even 3 minutes, that wouldn't happen.


----------



## ADG (Aug 20, 2003)

I'm not trying to start trouble Hank - just asking - what's the big deal about deleting posts? Why is it so important to you?


----------



## Robin (Dec 6, 2001)

Mike Lang said:


> Actually I believe every single community that's been migrated to this platform so far is just that...the exact same user group settings.


I'm guessing they're going to a lot fewer renewals of paid memberships and a lot more use of ad blockers.

I notice that I paid extra to have the club badge removed but now it's there. Will it be removed or will those of us who paid for it get a refund or membership extension?


----------



## Mike Lang (Nov 17, 1999)

Hiding badges is no longer supported and the membership cost was reduced. You can submit your info to the Contact Us form to discuss any available proration.


----------



## Hank (May 31, 2000)

Mike Lang said:


> ...all sites are identical so they can push out weekly updates without concern of any variables.


Ok, but we both know the single 'delete post' user group setting being set on or off isn't going to have any impact on code updates. Since it's already available to mods, it would just add that same option for regular users. It's part of the core forum software. 



ADG said:


> I'm not trying to start trouble Hank - just asking - what's the big deal about deleting posts? Why is it so important to you?


It's an important feature for forums, IMHO.

But more importantly and why I'm riled up about this (regardless of the actual rule) is when any organization has made-up rules that don't make any logical sense, and the reasons or justifications provided are weak excuses for those rules. It's simply a power-trip. I'm fine with any rules and regulations that actually make sense and have a valid reason for existing. I don't believe the reasons provided in this case are significant enough to deny a very basic forum feature (maybe other forums, sure, but that would mean there is a valid justification). The first excuse was "it disrupts the flow of a thread".. when I pushed back on that, all I got was "mods can hard delete posts and restore any edited post" which still makes no sense since no moderator is going to read and judge every "deleted" post in every thread looking for edited posts that should be undeleted to restore the "flow". And who wants to bother the mods with requests to delete single posts? Don't they have enough to do already?


----------



## eddyj (Jun 20, 2002)

It does not matter if their original reason made sense or not. The fact that they have a standard configuration means it will not change, whether it made sense originally.


----------



## Mike Lang (Nov 17, 1999)

Hank said:


> And who wants to bother the mods with requests to delete single posts? Don't they have enough to do already?


I've spent more time replying to you here about user deletes than I'll spend fulfilling TCF delete requests for months to come.


----------



## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

Mike Lang said:


> I've spent more time replying to you here about user deletes than I'll spend fulfilling TCF delete requests for months to come.


Maybe you should just delete all those posts...


----------



## pdhenry (Feb 28, 2005)

danm628 said:


> Maybe it was abused on one of the thousand (1500?, big number) of forums that they manage. To keep things simple they run the same setup on all forums with minimal customizations (banners, etc.).


IOW, this is why we can't have nice things.


----------



## Mike Lang (Nov 17, 1999)

eddyj said:


> It does not matter if their original reason made sense or not. The fact that they have a standard configuration means it will not change, whether it made sense originally.


----------



## pdhenry (Feb 28, 2005)

I suppose they could decide to globally allow user deletes within something like a 5 or 30-minute window. Then it wouldn't be a TCF-unique fork. 


Mike Lang said:


> I've spent more time replying to you here about user deletes than I'll spend fulfilling TCF delete requests for months to come.


We could certainly fix that for you.


----------

