[wp-hackers] Data recovery (post_status?)

Owen Winkler ringmaster at midnightcircus.com
Sun Feb 12 21:20:43 GMT 2006


David House wrote:
> I really don't understand your point, Owen. You don't seem to have
> mentioned _any_ reasons why we shouldn't include this recycle bin
> concept.

I never said we shouldn't have a recycle bin concept.  Yay for data 
recovery!

It seems I have a very different idea about how users should be 
responsible for the sanctity of their data, and that adding features to 
account for (however fleeting, accidental, or gross) user incompetence 
are *convenience features* made out to seem required by UI experts.

Seriously, I expect that at some point someone will recommend that we 
have a recycle heap into which we dump things from the recycle bin when 
it's purged, and then if we really, really didn't mean to delete it, 
we're still able to get it back.  It's like the software development 
version of political correctness.

Maybe I'm just getting crotchety, but when I click "Delete", I always 
mean it.  Maybe I regret it later, but I'm willing to live with it.  I 
don't see it as a failing in the software when I make a mistake.  It 
would be nice if it could recover, but I'm never shocked or disappointed 
by software that doesn't.  Maybe it's because "Undo" is a concept that I 
did not grow up with.

Anyway, sorry to have dropped off my baggage on your doorstep.  I won't 
mention it again.  Consider me on the data recovery party wagon from 
here on out.

And now that I'm clearly on board...

Undeleting categories will be a minor nightmare.  What would be the 
greater faux pas: Providing no undelete or providing undelete on posts 
but not on categories?  Arguably, deleting a category is more difficult 
to recover from than deleting a post.  Besides that, consistency is neat.

Owen


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