Hello everyone. I've received a PM from a user who is upset that their posts were seemingly removed. I have to post this publicly as the user indicated that they will be warning others about bias in the moderation of the forum.

If you've lost a post in the past few days - it was not removed. It was lost doing database restores as the site is undergoing a huge overhaul in anticipation of the coming months. New features for the forum being the most obviously evident soon. I am the only one with moderator access during this overhaul, I can guarantee that nothing was intentionally removed.

Below is the personal message (username cut out), quote of my response, and the server logs/support tickets showing that multiple database roll-backs were performed in the past few days.

If any other user lost posts in the past week or so, I apologize for not timing the restores better. I actually thought I managed to get through the entire process without losing any posts, but evidently not.

I apologize for the inconvenience and hope that you have the patience to repost anything that was lost. Myself and the rest of the community really appreciate any time and effort a user has put into sharing their ideas or experience.

Below is a screenshot of the PM, a quote of my response, and a screenshot of the server restore logs

On a more positive note, I've settled on some tools and plans for how to revamp the website - increasing traffic and also providing better features. It has taken a while as I strike a balance between effective website development and the costs of website development. Thank you for your patience during this transitory period, exciting things coming soon!

Due to technical issues (we are currently doing a site-wide overhaul which will be evident soon), the website had to be rolled back to a previous version multiple times in the past few days. Unfortunately we lost a few posts and new user registrations in the process. During this overhaul I am the only one with mod privileges, and nothing was intentionally removed.

I apologize that you lost the effort you put into those posts – I hope that you repost what you had to say so that others can benefit. Websites usually go into maintenance mode to prevent these sorts of mixups, but I was hoping I could get the fixes in without losing any uptime or posts.

Not a single post was intentionally removed. The entire database and file system was rolled back to solve issues.

I’ve attached the “restores” log so that you can likely match up at what point your changes went missing.

Please let me know if there’s anything I can do to help you restore those posts or restore your confidence in the forum. We do not remove anything or anyone from the discussion unless they are being hostile.

As you’ve indicated you’ll be telling others, I’m going to have to post what happened publicly so that at least the whole story is available.

All the best, I hope you repost what was lost and I guarantee it will not be removed, and I hope you remain actively engaged in the community as I make efforts to pull more people into the discussion.

Karan

TGW

Edit: Support history to match up with the dates, validating that there were technical reasons behind the database restores:

The trust of the userbase here is of paramount importance. This is a free and open discussion forum for all theories and viewpoints. Always will be