Vanishing Rep Comments? (saving rep points and PMs to your hard drive)

Status
Not open for further replies.

TheIT

Infuriatingly Theoretical
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 10, 2005
Messages
6,432
Reaction score
1,343
Location
Silicon Valley
Is there a limit to the number of rep points/comments which are shown in the User CP screen? I've just noticed that when I get a new rep point, the last one on the list disappears.

Also, is there some way to save rep comments (and hopefully the links to the posts)?

Thanks.
 

Siddow

I'm super! Thanks for asking
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 2, 2006
Messages
2,719
Reaction score
2,056
Location
GA
I'm pretty sure it's 500. I have so many, I've lost count. :D
 

TheIT

Infuriatingly Theoretical
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 10, 2005
Messages
6,432
Reaction score
1,343
Location
Silicon Valley
It's a fun thing. Some people use them to send a private comment to the poster, and it's those sorts of comments I don't want to lose.

Siddow, yes, that rep point did cause the last one on the list to fall off the end.
 

dpaterso

Also in our Discord and IRC chat channels
Staff member
Super Moderator
Moderator
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
18,802
Reaction score
4,591
Location
Caledonia
Website
derekpaterson.net
Yep, only the last 500 reps show, because listing any more than that causes database loading delays (or somesuch technobabble).

More than once I've looked for an old thread, couldn't find it, but then I remembered someone gave me a rep point -- which, when I looked this up and clicked on the link, took me right to the thread. So reps can be a useful archive tool.

To access older (>500) rep points: I regularly save my User CP page to my hard drive as an html file (File > Save As). I usually insert the save date into the default filename so I don't overwrite any previously saved html files, e.g.

Absolute Write Water Cooler - User Control Panel 31 Mar 2008.htm

When older reps vanish from my User CP rep list I can always open a saved html file (File > Open, or just double-click on the saved html file) and find the older reps there. And if I'm online/connected and I click on an old rep link from the saved html file, it'll take me to the thread just as if I was looking at my "live" User CP rep list.

-Derek
 

Cranky

Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 26, 2007
Messages
14,945
Reaction score
8,145
I think it might be six hundred, because I'm just shy of that right now, and I can still see all of my rep points.

But, I just archived them, to be safe. :D
 

TheIT

Infuriatingly Theoretical
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 10, 2005
Messages
6,432
Reaction score
1,343
Location
Silicon Valley
Thanks, Derek, that worked. Does the same trick work to save private messages?
 

Sage

Currently titleless
Staff member
Moderator
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 15, 2005
Messages
64,561
Reaction score
22,365
Age
43
Location
Cheering you all on!
Thanks, Derek, that worked. Does the same trick work to save private messages?
There's a button to save all your PMs.

It's definitely 500 reps. I tested it the other day (copy and pasted into XL to see how many rows)
 

dpaterso

Also in our Discord and IRC chat channels
Staff member
Super Moderator
Moderator
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
18,802
Reaction score
4,591
Location
Caledonia
Website
derekpaterson.net
Thanks, Derek, that worked. Does the same trick work to save private messages?
To save your PMs, go into Private Messages and scroll down to the end, where you'll see

Download all Private Messages as:

Select the Text option (XML and CSV are for database admin type people). The default filename already contains today's date. Both your Inbox and Sent Items PMs will be saved together in the one file.

Once you save your PMs you can start clearing out your old PMs to make room for new traffic. But, unlike the rep point links in the saved User CP described above, you can't use the saved PM text file "interactively" -- if you wanted to resume an old conversation, you would need to manually copy/paste text from the saved file into a new PM. Which isn't too difficult really.

-Derek
 

Deleted member 42

CSV works nicely for importing into Excel and some databases.
 

MacAllister

'Twas but a dream of thee
Staff member
Boss Mare
Administrator
Super Moderator
Moderator
Kind Benefactor
VPX
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 11, 2005
Messages
22,010
Reaction score
10,705
Location
Out on a limb
Website
macallisterstone.com
And if something has already vanished that's just breakin' your heart, you can pm me and I'll try to find it for you.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.