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Save discussions from being deleted

Your network is full of healthy discussions, with many contributors joining in after each discussion's creator. For a long time, the discussion creator has been able to delete their own discussions whenever they like, taking potentially countless replies with them.

Today, we've added an option to the Dashboard so that Network Creators can stop an active discussion from being deleted by the author.

On the Forum Features page, Network Creators can now choose who has the ability to delete active discussions. By default, administrators and the discussion author has the ability to delete a discussion. But now you can choose to only allow administrators to delete "active" discussions — those discussions in which someone in addition to the author has added a reply. This applies to all forums on your network, including forums within groups. 

This feature is especially useful if you are worried about a member leaving and destroying the context of a conversation. If "Administrators only" is enabled on your network, active discussions will not be removed even if a member leaves. The only visible change will be the removal of the author's profile picture. Suspended members, though, will still have all of their discussions removed. 

-Abhishek Belani, Ning Product Intern

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  • The ability for a leaving member to destroy content is a terrible feature. The site creator should have the ability to turn this off or on for ALL types of content and this should be reflected in the the TOS.

    I appreciate that Ning has added the ability to retain discussions upon a member leaving, however, Ning seems to have dropped the ball and not carried this over to other content types.

  • I think this function has broken.  We recently had a member leave who had NO administrative rights and they were able to delete all of their content, including some discussion threads that others had commented to.  I checked my network settings and the ADMINISTRATORS ONLY radio button is checked.  [I opened a support ticket, in case its just my network, but am poking this thread so that if its systemic, others will know where to post.]

  • Very good.. But I have one question.. if the leaving member is an administrator what will happened? All of his discussion will be delete? If the answer is yes, I think better to activate this option only for the network creators..

  • I was glad to see this option but still feel it is not enough.  I have spent so much of my time and energy building a network and never imagined that when someone leaves a box is checked to remove all their content.  They might not even read that checked box and it leaves the forum in a mess after they have departed.

    I am a member on other forums and what I post is there for life, sometimes with a 15-minute window to edit.  A conversation does not read and flow with gaps in it and people replying to an invisible person.  I wish Ning would consider removing the option for members to delete their content altogether.  Couldn't you send out a poll and ask all the NC's if this would be a popular decision to make?

    The discussion created by an author might be saved but if that member has commented on other threads, photos and blogs after they have left and removed all their content nothing reads correctly.  And also when a member leaves who was disrupting and their content vanishes, it must look to other forum members that the NC removed their content - but that is not so - we don't get a choice.

    I do love Ning and what it offers, except for this issue.  I can't imagine going on other forums I am part of and removing my content which are part of a flowing discussion.

    I would love to see the option to remove content when a member leaves not available.  

    Thank you for listening.

    • I totally agree. When a member remove his profile, his posts must stay, but identified as "anonymous.".

      • yes yes.. correct.. that option must be remove for members and administrators also. And give an option to site creator only for deleting left or banned member's contents. 

  • OK this has now been tested on our website. the member left, the discussion stayed. problem is that the discussion no longer appears in the activity feed and all the replies have vanished?

  • not sure if this is mentioned anywhere else here, but, what if the group creator leaves? would the group be saved?

    • Hey Jayne!

      I believe if you check the new checkbox (and perhaps even if you don't, I can't recall right now), groups will remain even if the creator leaves and deletes their content.

      /Evan
      Ning Product Manager

      • Are you sure? LOL what about if I ban someone? will their group remain? because There is someone questionable and I am afraid to ban them because I need the group, its a very popular group.

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