[wp-hackers] Data recovery (post_status?)

[Owen Winkler]

David Chait wrote:
> Ummm, usability folks?  I think there was a recent link here to an article 
> about the Scott Adams disaster, which noted that the usability of web apps 
> just stinks when it comes to things like deleting items.  I mean, my OS has 
> a trash can, my email app has a trash can... ;)

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'd prefer the wp-cron-purge thing be an optional implementation, not the 
> default.  How hard is it to click over to the "Trash" page, and click the 
> "Yes, really nuke all of these" button, maybe once every two weeks?  I just 
> dislike house-cleaning thingys running on their own (I'm a C++ programmer, 
> not Java! ;) ;) ).

Ah...  I would prefer all of this recycle bin business to be an optional 
implementation.  If we set the appropriate enum fields to varchars like 
we had been discussing, and ensured that the appropriate hooks executed 
in the delete actions, anyone could implement this however they like via 
plugin.

If someone makes a really great plugin, we could consider distributing 
it with the core.

Owen