Hmm... I'm assuming this won't affect closed threads, will it?
Also, how does this affect edited content? Will support still have access to edit history?
I'm thinking it would be strange to ensure users can delete comments but not threads, but I wouldn't want closed threads to disappear from SG.
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maybe add option to 'delete' threads on top of closing them? this way closed thread will remain on SG and will remain accessible, but if someone wishes to permamently remove closed topic he will have such an option. It will go abiding the new law, while still not clearing all our DB of closed threads, which can be useful (I still often use my old closed puzzle threads, for example in my guide to show how some puzzles may work)
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My thoughts as well. Might be a bit annoying to have some threads vanish into thin air, but if it's necessary, it's necessary.
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We don't keep a history of edits. If you make an edit, then you're overwriting the previous description saved in the database. We'll always have closed discussions, but you'll likely see an update in the near future that allows for them to be deleted.
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Sounds good CG, thanks :)
I wanted to take a second to ask if a group refresh button is being considered? I think it would really be an awesome feature to have and it would definitely help admins of SG groups.
https://www.steamgifts.com/discussion/oyh5k/group-refresh-buttons
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I would agree. There are many closed threads here that I regularly refer back to, and it would be a pain to have that information be deleted.
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It will still be displayed if there are replies to the comment. If there are no replies, or if the replies are deleted, then it will be entirely removed after a few minutes.
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i can't refrain from being happy for seeing the beneficial effect to user privacy privoked by EU regulations
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That means we can no longer reserve comments for events/etc (without leaving them undeleted, thereby causing additional visual clutter). I don't suppose you'd be willing to add a "Hide/Hidden" flag to comments that'd work the same way as the old delete in terms of compressing displayed content? Add in the ability for all users to reveal it, and it'd be a nice way to better present more-involved spoilers (since we use spoiler tags for pretty much anything on SG, meaning it isn't always clear when something is an actual spoiler or not). Likewise, the lack of a collapsing spoiler (like many other forums have), means we don't currently have a way to visually declutter longer posts; so such an addition would have several benefits.
Otherwise, having proper deletions offers a lot of improvements to the site (given that moderators never actually undeleted comments to review for abuse, meaning there was never much benefit to temporary deletions past 5 minutes anyway, outside of the aforementioned reservation of space for the sake of smoother organisational structure as the thread continued).
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What does reserved comments have to do with this? You can still create a thread and make a comment in it before anyone else, can't you?
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the lack of a collapsing spoiler
But you can collapse the whole comment.
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Sure. But changing that to something where the OP can affect other users would interfere with the typical reader-based usage of collapsing.
The topic here isn't changes to personal viewing, but changes in presentation to others, to keep key thread subposts tied together (while minimizing visual clutter from currently unused subposts).
For example:
First batch of Giveaways!
Hey, you can get your giveaway fix here!
7 hours ago Reply Permalink
Deleted
Deleted
Fourth batch of Giveaways!
Hey, you can get your giveaway fix here!
7 hours ago Reply Permalink
Deleted
Hey, this is a reply to the fourth comment, posted well after the replies to the first comment!
Hey, this is a reply to the first comment!
You can still do the same thing by leaving empty posts, but it feels more messy to do it that way than to have the post deleted or collapsed (even though a deleted comment currently takes up just as much space as an empty one, the italicization makes it a smoother thing to skip over).
Giving OPs the ability to dynamically top-insert comments would work even better for that, but we still lack the benefit of spoiler-collapsing that other sites have (though SG already inherently uses the same general structure for image attachments). I mean, we have spoiler-tags, but they still take up space, and work a bit awkwardly when your aim is to provide a paragraph of detailed content (such as when detailing a specific rule for an event) without making the post get too cluttered.
So, I figured, why not ask for the function now, when it'd be a twofer along with adding a replacement structure for our now-lost pre-nesting comments. It's not a big deal, persay, but I'm pretty keen on well-organized presentation, and it should be a relatively easy modification, regardless of how cg goes about it.
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Great stuff, cg. Thanks as always!
The undelete feature always sat poorly with me, much like Reddit's (hopefully now changed or changing) system of retaining deleted comments in the database, so I'm happy to see it go.
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Isn't 5 minutes a bit short period? 30 minutes or maybe even 1 hr sounds better to me, but you know...
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nice, another way for people to insult and beg without consequences ^^
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Yet no privacy whatsoever when people can still look back threads and what people said using google search.
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Then you need to make an inquiry with them, nothing SG can do anything about https://support.google.com/legal/troubleshooter/1114905
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Sites can choose to block it not? Wouldn't site owners have that option?
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There isn't even need to force Google, you could achieve that using .htaccess method on the server itself but there are lots of reasons why a webmaster would not use it, especially when it comes to visibility to the public, rankings, search results and whatnot. Such requests are opt-out and case by case, you pinpoint Google to laws and regulations and then they can act upon them and give you what you want or don't. Google depends on the data it gathered, so it will take as much as it can get and as long as it can and that won't change, except if it gets blocked from the government etc., where Google services are unavailable normally and i mean all of them.
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Thank you for the continued SG updates, cg.
Some people in closed threads and old giveaway threads will have a lot of fun with this. ^^
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Good, wasn't even aware you could undelete (very counterintuitive)
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I, for one, am unhappy with this change. Removing features in the name of "privacy" isnt a step forward, but a step back.
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+1
GDPR regulation requires organizations to fulfill end user request to permanently delete their personal information. It doesn't mean that any old comments these users created and then hid from public view (by marking as deleted) should be permanently wiped. A better solution would have been to offer an option to Permanently Delete a comment, and rename the current toggle to Public/Private (or Hidden/Visible).
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" Removing features in the name of "privacy" isnt a step forward, but a step back"
Says who?
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it may not be true most of the time, but it does apply to this situation, the deletion(with the purpose of not show the comment to the other users already existed), and one can always edit a comment(and there never as a way to see the previous version of a edited comment), they could have added the permanent deletion as another option instead of altering/weakening the existing feature
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the way you explain it makes sense, but throwing to the air a generalization so absurd like he/she did (" Removing features in the name of "privacy" isnt a step forward, but a step back") made me question humanity for a bit
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let's just say that the GPDR and the people that wrote it are a tad bit too aggressive on their point of view, some useful services might cease to exist because of it (the Whois database is an example, I can bet that there are others that i don't know about), so yea that tends to make the other side also overreact :/
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Of course it has to be taken in context. The cons just outright outweight the pros. On one side you have the deleted data, that was already invisible to anyone but mods and original user to review, which we gained nothing by deleting (it was already inaccessible). On the other side, that same data that some users had uses for (self reminders, puzzles hints, etc) was lost without any warning for the very same users it tries to protect AND we lost the undelete feature in the process.
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yeah I thought you were speaking in general, an apology
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In general, its more of a case by case basis, even if it still often holds true. Access to data is important for alot of websites and services. Lets take the recent steam privacy changes for example. They caused alot of 3rd party websites and add-ons to not work anymore for lack of data to produce results from (namely the Steamspy case made big waves). Even there, steam left an opt-in option, which isnt the case here. If it went full private/friend only, so many more would have to outright close, and even SG would lose alot of its current features. Of course in some cases privacy should prevail, but like marlop said I think that idea is being pushed too strongly and that impacts us negatively.
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I should also mention that all previously deleted comments have been permanently removed, and that is why you'll notice the undelete option is not available for those.
That's quite unfortunate. I added comments with "Note to self" followed by a deleted comment with the actual info in various old threads and giveaways. Now they're all gone :-(
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It wasn't anything critical. Had it been critical I would have kept it in a separate file, but adding this info directly where it's relevant was more convenient.
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i wasn't affected by this but it would have been good to have some warning before the deletion, instead of how it was handled
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I like this feature addition... sometimes you rethink if you really want to say what you just said and when you decide to delete it then you dont want what you had said used against you...
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well you could already delete comments(and you can also edit them) the only difference is that they would still be kept in the database, but other that you, the mods and cg no one could read it
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Yes! Nice, now all the hundreds of useless comments I made testing ESGST are deleted for good. \o/
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Okay, I guess. I deleted less than 20 comments of my own, and never thought about undoing that ever, the change doesn't affect me.
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Can you automatically send an email to the user when a comment is deleted by a moderator with the comment deleted ?
And maybe keep a copy of a comment if this one is report until it was moderate (but for this it need a new feature to report) ?
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Hey everyone,
You probably noticed a lot of services rethinking how they collect and store user data with the upcoming privacy regulations in the EU. We're going to be making a few changes to SG during the next month as well, and today I'm focusing on how comments are deleted. Previously, when you clicked the button to delete a comment, it was flagged as deleted in our database, and that allowed you to undelete your comment at any point in the future.
Starting today, it works a little differently. When you click the button to delete a comment, you only have a 5 minute period to undelete the comment in case you clicked the button by accident or changed your mind. After then, the comment author and description will be cleared, and the undelete button will no longer be available. If the comment is removed by a moderator, that moderator will also have 5 minutes to undelete the comment before it is cleared.
If there are no replies to the cleared comment, then it will be completely removed from our database, and it will no longer be visible in the corresponding discussion or giveaway. If the comment has replies, then the cleared comment will remain visible for as long as those replies exist.Another small change is that only the person that deleted the comment will now be able to undelete it. In the past, moderators could undelete a user comment if it needed to be reviewed. Now, that is no longer possible to ensure the comment is always deleted as intended by the user.
Edit: I should also mention that all previously deleted comments have been permanently removed, and that is why you'll notice the undelete option is not available for those.
Edit 2: There has been a revision today. Although comments are still permanently deleted after 5 minutes, the empty comments will always remain visible on the site for reference and permalinks.
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