I Screwed Up: Comments Deleted
from the sorry dept
Like plenty of other blogs, we get a fair amount of comment spam, averaging about 1,000 spam messages a day (and going as high as 4,000). We have a decent spam filter that manages to catch the vast majority of them, but a few get through every day. I was just going through today's comments in our comment admin tool, and was trying to delete the 10 or so spams that had gotten through this morning. In doing so, I clicked on the wrong button, and ended up deleting all of the legitimate comments since about 4am this morning. That was about 400 comments. Yes, it's ridiculous that our comment admin tool would let me do such thing. Yes, it's ridiculous that we don't have a way to go back and retrieve them once deleted. We're now in the process of changing the comment admin tool to make it so my fat fingers/slow brain won't be able to make the same mistake again. Apologies all around...
Reader Comments (rss)
(Flattened / Threaded)
Thank you for reassuring me that I was not losing my mind!
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Eh!
You'll have some of that.
It's unfortunate but thanks just the
same for Techdirt. We probably don't
say that often enough.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
whoops!
Didn't a UK ISP just do this to a few hundred gigs of email?
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
HA!
I apologize for inciting others to spam (see sirius/xm posting), and you apologize for deleting it!
That's wonderfully rich.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Fat fingers
The fingers you have used to delete the comments are too fat. To order a special typing wand, please mash the keyboard with your palm now.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Mike, It's completely unAmerican of you to simply admit your mistake. Nothing short of suing the manufacturer of the admin software will do, after all shouldn't they have created a "oops I F'd it up tool" to recover the lost data. Maybe you could go after the HD manufacturers as well since we all know the data is really there, just not there (awaiting over write). its all a big conspiracy and we have to get the bad guys.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Conspiracy? Damned right!
It's all George Bush's fault.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
You know...
If noone had stolen your magic sword of Typing +1 this wouldn't have happened...
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Fired?
Where's Donald Trump when you need his catch phrase? :D
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Database with no way to restore to a point in time
Wow sounds like someone needs to upgrade to SQL Server or something. Point in time restore learn, must you...
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Every application should have an un-do function...that should be a law!!! (Hmmm...I wonder if this comment will post....????)
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Never mind man!
It's ok man, at lease this site gets comments, i've just started up my site, not got one comment yet :(
If anyone wants to give my site a comment, go ahead, its http://www.philipaustin.co.uk
its a tech blog btw ;)
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
c'est la vie
I can't imagine that this hasn't happened to all bloggers at least once in their blogging career. It's certainly happened to me. You're working quickly, are thinking about ten thousand other things you need to do, you hit the wrong button and "boom!" Thanks for admitting your mistake. :)
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Re: Conspiracy? Damned right!
Don't laugh. Bush's ineptitude is viral and may well have been a partial cause of the comments' loss.
I'm convinced that Republican running our government is the root of 90% of the bad things that have happened since 2000.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Wow...
I commend you for telling the truth! If only the rest of the companies in America could do that same thing.
So some posts got deleted, mildly irritating but not the end of the world.
THANK YOU FOR ADMITTING IT! Other companies should take note!
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Re: Never mind man!
"If anyone wants to give my site a comment, go ahead, its http://www.phi...."
Hey Mike, does your tool let you delete "part" of a post? I suppose its a good thing when you competition starts spamming your comments section, right? Thats an indication that you are doing better than them... right?
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Re: Conspiracy? Damned right!
George Bush hates fat fingers!
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Bummer
Eh, I write mostly pointless crap anyway.
But I will say that I wrote a fairly pointless (as usual) post once, and it was flagged as SPAM... system said it would be reviewed and posted (if it wasn't completely pointless)... but my comment never showed up! So there's a fairly fine line between offhand comments and SPAM.
Wait... what was my point, again?
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Isn't that an act of terrorism now days?
Don't let Dubya (W) find out or he will put you up for accommodations in a resort he owns in Cuba. I think its called “Wan-to-no-more” Cuba.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Wrong button
Heh Heh I pushed the wrong button heh Fat fingers heh But I can tell you we are not looking for Osama in Iran any more
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Here's the solution...
Hi Mike,
Just wanted to swing by and let you know about a new solution from Sanders Enterprises called Comment Save. All you do is load our software on your machine and you'll be able to backtrack and save data in the unfortunate event of lost comments on your board. We can discuss pricing offline if you prefer, but I wanted you to know I am prepared to offer you a significant discount - along the line of 25 percent - should you decide to purchase our products.
Thanks
Steve Sanders
CEO
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
i was gonna say, what happened to the comments on several of the pages i was keeping up to date on.
thanks for the post!
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Damn...
Damn dude! I know you want to get rid of the childish insults, immature arguing, and those foresaken "first" posts but this was a touch of overkill. LOL. We all make mistakes. I'm just glad you're un-American enough to admit it.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Glad someone...
can admit that they made a mistake. We need more of that. Instead of this pointing fingures bullshit
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Damn
fuck you, towel head.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Re: Re: Conspiracy? Damned right!
Please. And democrats could do better? Same s*** different a**hole if you ask me.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Transparency has a lovely shine to it ...
What is most remarkable about Mike's all-too human error is his admission, no bullshit, no alibis, no evasions, just, well, I screwed up. That, to me, a recent arrival in the world of bloggers, although I am not a blogger, is the magic of the Internet, the thing that will make it bigger and better and more empowering. Yeah, we all fuck up, and you do not have to demand a retraction, clarification or admission. Wow. holyfuckingwow, almacleese from hallowell, maine, where life is as it oughta be.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Re:
Bah! It's not worth suing unless you go for the deep pockets. I suggest Microsoft, Sony and Google. There's not a jury in the world that wouldn't deliver some serious kaching! to you. This is America, land of the lawsuit lottery.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Re: Damn
Towel head? Where?
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Re: Database with no way to restore to a point in
A Point In Time Restore of an entire database to undo the work of one transaction would not be the best approach. While SQL Server may be considered an "upgrade" of some sort, it wouldn't provide any outstanding recovery features. To get that, you need Oracle - then you can undo the effects of one transaction.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Re: whoops!
I hope Mike from the Sorry dept was not working at that ISP when the gazillion gigs went AWOL!!!! I jest!!!
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
This is an abomination.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Jesus. Reading this cracked me up.
Thanks for the heads-up Mike.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
You'll be hearing from my lawyers
I am shocked and disappointed that you have infringed my human rights. Help, I'm being repressed! My attorneys will be sending you a demand letter for $2,048,000 and if you do not make good within 24 hours I will go to the feds!
You have been warned. After the feds are done with you I will dig up the landscaping around your (by then former) offices for the platinum bars.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
oi
Well, there goes all those educated discussions everyone was having, such a great day for intelligent conversation on TechDirt too. All the FU's and up yours, I do not know what I will read now. The last conversation had something to do with Captain Patent....
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
The wisdom
of dorpus is now gone!
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Re: Re: Database with no way to restore to a point
That's it....should have been using Mac, then you could upgrade to Leopard and have Time Machine. (insert typical Mac fanboy cheesiness)
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Add Your Comment