[wp-hackers] Data recovery (post_status?)

[Aaron Brazell]

> Yes, I read the Scott Adams thing, which had a bunch of good points.
> And yet through the whole thing I kept thinking, "Who chooses to
> 'delete' hundreds of comments (with the intention of keeping them!)
> without having tested a recovery plan?"
> 
> I didn't see any trash can in WP, nor did I see the word "Trash", nor
> did I see any sign of anything vaguely like "Recover".  I'm not sure
> what implication I can take away from the word "Delete" other than that
> it will actually do what it says.
> 
> > | In any case, using a separate trash table to hold all of this data
> seems
> > | silly when the affected tables have a status column that could be set
> to
> > | "deleted".  The only thing you lose is the status prior to deletion,
> > | which would be set to the status with the least impact, for example,
> > | "draft" or "0"/"moderate".  Everything else would already be set
> properly.
> >
> > First, I never said use a separate table -- I said a separate
> flag/field.
> > Second, I'm the one who suggested setting the status column to 'trash'
> in
> > the first place! ;)
> 
> Re: Separate table.  I didn't mean you, David.  It was someone else in
> the thread.  I like your idea of using the status field.  ;)

I would have to agree with the notion of a status flag as opposed to a whole new data repository.

> When did "delete" come to mean "possibly store it somewhere for convenient > for later retrieval, just in case you didn't really want to actually, you > know, delete it"?  I never saw any delete buttons labeled "Throw this
> away, but put it somewhere I can get it later if I made a mistake".  I can  
> see the advantage of letting users recover from their mistakes, but geez.

I do have to chime in on the "concept" of a Recycle Bin having merit.  There IS precedent for having a Recycle Bin or similar functionality.  Call it Purgatory if you don't want to call it a Recycle Bin.  Every desktop UI since the early days of the Mac and Windows 3.1 and possibly before that has had a Recycle Bin implementation because R&D proves that users DO delete things often and accidentally. I do it and I guarantee you do it. 

The concept has merit and should not be pushed off on plugins because one or two people don't like the idea.  I know WordPress is all about simplicity but that is simple and basic functionality that, although missing from many web UIs, should not be. We're a user-centric platform and I think that the conversation should remain, as it is now, centered around "how" not "why".

My 2 cents.