tools to unsubscribe from all old threads

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Profile Joseph Stateson
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Message 23242 - Posted: 23 Feb 2009, 6:42:52 UTC
Last modified: 23 Feb 2009, 6:46:02 UTC

I did not see any way to easily unsubscribe from old posts so I put together a perl script here that allows anyone to unsubscribe from all threads on all registered projects that are over X days old. You can specify the number of days. You will have to edit the file unsubscribe.pl and change the following 4 lines

my $InitialSite = "http://www.gpugrid.net";
my $username = "YourUsername";
my $password = "YourPassword";
my $cutoff = 7;

The "7" unsubscribes all posts over a week. Make sure you read the readme.txt about special characters in username or password.

The initial site can be any site you are registered with except that climatewarming bs one.

if you run "unsubscribe.pl list" it will just lists the threads that are older than your cutoff day. If you leave off the "list" they will be unsubscribed from.

email if a problem. I have not tested this on ubuntu but it *should* work like the merge one.

Enjoy.
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Profile Jord
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Message 23243 - Posted: 23 Feb 2009, 6:54:45 UTC - in response to Message 23242.  

I did not see any way to easily unsubscribe from old posts

You see that Subscribe button on top of a thread? After you've clicked it, it changes to an Unsubscribe button. How difficult can that be? ;-)

The only difficulty to get rid of the subscription on some project forums is when the thread is hidden, but I believe that the latest versions of the forum software cancel all subscriptions on threads that people are subscribed to when the thread is hidden.
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Profile Joseph Stateson
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Message 23245 - Posted: 23 Feb 2009, 12:28:25 UTC - in response to Message 23243.  
Last modified: 23 Feb 2009, 12:48:04 UTC

I did not see any way to easily unsubscribe from old posts

You see that Subscribe button on top of a thread? After you've clicked it, it changes to an Unsubscribe button. How difficult can that be? ;-)

The only difficulty to get rid of the subscription on some project forums is when the thread is hidden, but I believe that the latest versions of the forum software cancel all subscriptions on threads that people are subscribed to when the thread is hidden.


Hi Jord. Clearly one can click on the unsubscribe, but my perl code automates going to all projects and doing it for you based on a cutoff date for old posts. In looking here under "Difficult/Complex" there is an acknowledged need to propagate profiles between projects, same for "forum preferences" and a quote "list of recent posts and threads". These can all be done using perl without haveing to update the php code at any of the servers. Clearly, you or any of the developers can code up a bunch of php pages to do these items, but it hasnt happened yet and all of the above are easy to do in perl.

For example, the "initial site" that must be supplied in my perl scripts (unsubscribe or merge) could easily be used as a template to propagate profile and other info to all other registered projects. I have started codeing that. However, a good php programmer could do us all a favor and code up some pages to handle this and install it at the servers. Again, it hasnt happened yet. I have a lot of experience in aspx, but have written only a single php page and it me took a long time to get it right.

I am unsure what a hidden thread is, but if it does not "show up" then my script will be unable to unsubscribe from it.
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Profile Jord
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Message 23246 - Posted: 23 Feb 2009, 13:20:42 UTC - in response to Message 23245.  

I am unsure what a hidden thread is, but if it does not "show up" then my script will be unable to unsubscribe from it.

When us moderators "delete" a thread, it is still available in the database and can still be read by moderators. Not by normal folk. (Hmmm, I seem to imply that us mods are abnormal ;-))

That's what a hidden thread is.
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Les Bayliss
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Message 23247 - Posted: 23 Feb 2009, 13:46:22 UTC

:)
You need "moderator vision" to see the posts. A bit like xray vision.

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Profile KSMarksPsych
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Message 23248 - Posted: 23 Feb 2009, 14:14:46 UTC - in response to Message 23246.  

(Hmmm, I seem to imply that us mods are abnormal ;-))


I never claimed to be normal.
Kathryn :o)
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Profile Joseph Stateson
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Message 23258 - Posted: 23 Feb 2009, 21:57:26 UTC - in response to Message 23245.  


For example, the "initial site" that must be supplied in my perl scripts (unsubscribe or merge) could easily be used as a template to propagate profile and other info to all other registered projects. I have started codeing that.


Unfortunately, about 1/2 of the projects I am registered with use a spam blocker to confirm profile edits. That defeats my perl program. The first couple of projects I looked at didnt use any spam blocking mechanism and I assumed I could propagate a profile change using perl. Once I got into it I discovered this problem.
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Message boards : Web interfaces : tools to unsubscribe from all old threads

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