Hello. We have an older Ning instance on grasshopper3d.com. One of our admins banned a user for spam, and after some discussion with the user to correct the behavior, we reinstated the user's status. After this, some of the user's images are missing. For example, here is a link to a missing image: https://api.ning.com/files/t5Y0oOviE8I3XardZNu5nb6ZyQaFb-7ukZSoT7y3qzRv5fOxHNJ6eQr72jH8DVJFAdmuLDKWfbSm*4BpmmRzewEe6go201CF/IMG_0864.JPG
It gives a 404 error not found:
The strange thing is that not all of the images have gone, and the ones that do go missing do so gradually. Just last night, more images went missing. On this user's gallery, there are entries for the images, including the title, image description, general metadata, just the actual image file cannot be found.
How can we track down the source of this issue? Are the images gone? Why would they be progressively erased? This has not happened with any other user, and it is very rare that we reinstate a banned user, thus, it is the only time we see such activity.
Replies
Hi Luis,
Thanks for your question.
During the renovation of the hardware, the file removal system has been fixed (you would be surprised but according to our research it hasn't worked properly for years), I mean the actual file removal, not just link removal etc., and I'm 95% sure that it's the source of the issue.
Let's start from the "Suspend for Spam" button and it's functionality. When you suspend somebody for spam his/her content is getting removed as well from the network. The text for example would be stored for a while, however photos and media content is controlled with the help of CDN provider, so it receives the request to remove all files of the member. As there are lots of files they are appearing and queue and some time is required to remove them all, that is why you can experience the delay in files removal or some of the pictures could have been saved in the cache of your browser so you could have seen them for a while. Then when the member has been unsuspected, the content has been restored (the one that could have been restored I mean text), and everything that were removed cannot be restored basically.
That is why files that were uploaded by the suspended member has been removed, however if the other items have gone please let me know so we could take a look closer, if you provide an example as well that would be just perfect.
Bets regards,
Ning Team.
Dear Kyryl,
Thank you for the reply.
What kind of example do you mean? Link to the user on our network?
Do you mean to say that this user's images are gone forever?
Luis, you'd be amazed about how many times I have met a Ning Creator who suspended someone without reading the little warning about deletion of content. Unfortunately, the content is probably gone. The only real way I have ever been able to solve this is to search the wayback machine (archive.org) for previous versions of that member's profile and if your site has been up long enough there should be cached copies. You'll want to download each of them that you can retrieve and send them to your member to reupload.. I know it is a hassle..
I once knew a lady who got so pissed at her admin that she deleted him and in effect, deleted practically her entire site. It pays to think twice about removing an admin... especially if the situation can be worked out. A ton of work otherwise... hope this helps..
Also, here is another tip. Get the Foxyspider add on for Firefox and when you get to the page with all of those photos, right click and run foxyspider and it will extract all of the photos from the page for you for easy download...
Hi there!
The example is basically needed to confirm the theory, as you have mentioned that the other pictures have started to disappear so I wanted to make sure that they belong to the temporary removed member of your network.
The pictures are gone from our servers that's for sure, however the ⚡JFarrow⌁'s idea could be a solution. As I see archive.org has copies of your site made on 14-th of October this year, and 22-nd of September this year, so I guess you will be able to find removed pictures there.
Best wishes,
Ning Team.
Ok. Can I share this information privately somehow?
Also, the user has all of the images on their hard drive, that isn't the issue. The issue is that we have image entries without images.
Hi there!
Yes, you can send me a private message here on creators.
If I have understood you right, it would be necessary to re-upload the images once again and remove those which are not displayed any longer. But before doing that please let me check the link with example so I will know for sure.
Best regards,
Ning Team.