"Archiving" this forum

[karthur1]

I just noticed someone has made the decision to "archive" post older than 10 years.  Who thinks that is a good idea?

I think I understand why this is being done, but this is being DELETED not archived.  Why not move the post to a new "read-only" forum, but please don't delete that information.  There is tons of information that will be lost.

What about newer posts that link back to post of the 10yr mark.  All we will get is an error when we click on the link?

This is a horrible idea.

Link to the original post: https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/community-announcements/community-content-archiving-announcement-and-...

[pcrawley]

I agree.  Please don't delete it! 

Throughout the life of Inventor, this has been THE place to come for real information. The knowledge captured here is so valuable it'd be an absolute waste to bin it. 

Make them read-only - it means we can still see/search them.  Anyone wanting to comment on a post 15-years old probably ought to start a new thread.  But delete the old stuff... No.  Bad idea.

[EdvinTailwind]

 @Tiana_Y wrote:

Q: Is the archiving based on the creation date or the latest activity date? 
A: Archiving is based on the creation date of the idea or forum thread. The latest activity does not affect the archiving process. All replies and comments within a topic being archived will also be archived. 

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(from: https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/community-announcements/community-content-archiving-announcement-and-... )

This is backwards thinking....

The start date of a thread is irrelevant if the discussion is still active. A thread that hasn't been replied to in 3 years could be locked and no one would care. 

[HAFA12]

Incredibly shortsighted decision by Autodesk. Destroying an enormous amount of troublesolving that users have supplied them with. The majority of issues that have been present for years and years in Autodesk products have only been covered in forum-topics and not findable in AutoDesk own help functions.

The fact that it get's framed as "Archiving" while it is straight up deleting everything and nothing of it will be available to its huge userbase anymore makes it even more annoying. Stupid decisions that short-term might generate more profit but destroying knowledge and goodwill of power-users in the process..

Fully compatible with a lot of other bad calls that seems to be getting made at the headquarters lately..

[andrewdroth]

It is beyond comprehension.

Such a waste. 

Surely there are ways to purge and still keep the good bits. 

At the very least the number of links from other posts pointing to a post should indicate it's value.

Number of likes perhaps.

Put out a call for ideas, there is a wealth of smart people here.

At least try to do this sensibly Autodesk.

Frustrated and seeking answers. 

[mluterman]

Agreed, and they should give more weight to the opinions of the top contributors on this forum before doing anything hasty with its format.

[hollypapp65]

Cancelled.

Let's move on.

[andresmontemayor]

A good option going forward could be to start reaching out more often to Autodesk Support since we won't be able to troubleshoot on our own without some of this information. 

[pcrawley]

My first fail for this forum "archive" process. 
I just wanted to double check...

And the link unhelpfully goes to the Forum home page - no error, not even an "archived" message.

So unhelpful on what is otherwise the most helpful forum I've ever used.

[karthur1]

What they have done is so wrong on so many fronts. Just unbelievable!! 🤢

[Curtis_Waguespack]

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@pcrawley wrote:

And the link unhelpfully goes to the Forum home page - no error, not even an "archived" message.

---

@Tiana_Y , I think we can agree that this is a very confusing user experience, and not one that we would want Autodesk customers to encounter. Can you check with the team that is responsible, to ensure that this is or is not the result they expect users to have when encountering content they removed. Thank you.

[Curtis_Waguespack]

I feel like the ones marked Solved are going to be the real heart-breakers.

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/inventor-forum/ilogic-driven-dimension/td-p/3872792

 

[andrewdroth]

I'm trying to create ilogic rules to help manage a large project and I'm constantly running into dead-ends today. 

An impressively uncooperative collective of individuals making decisions here.

[Curtis_Waguespack]

I just ran into this 😨

[andrewdroth]

https://www.futureme.org/ 

---

To My Future Self, Staring Into the Void,

I transmit this data fragment—a breadcrumb—cast adrift ten cycles ago across the cold, unfeeling grid.

Ten years might sound like a voyage through lightless eternity, but when it comes to forging a collective—a sanctuary of shared knowledge—it is barely the blink of a dying star.

I fear that by the time this link reaches you, it will have long dissolved into the digital void, another casualty of Autodesk’s slow march toward isolationism. A place once vibrant now abandoned, its corridors of information choked with silence.

If, by some miracle, this beacon survives—if the link endures against the entropy—then rejoice, for it means the rebels have prevailed. Against all odds, the knowledge keepers have kept the embers alive. A better world, born of their defiance.

Until then, I remain,
A Younger You, hardened but unbroken.

(And if you’ve grown more bitter in time… good. It means you were paying attention.)

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/inventor-forum/quot-archiving-quot-this-forum/m-p/13216391#M942721

[WillL84]

"We encourage you to create a new thread about the same topic"

The point of a forum is to NOT do that. I agree with @pcrawley - Make the older stuff read-only like ALL OTHER FORUMS DO so the info is still available at least.

Also re: "It goes by the start date not last activity". So that means the decade-old ideas post on making MODELED THREADS is going to get deleted. Awesome.

[Curtis_Waguespack]

No idea if anyone from AD is looking at these issues, but here's another one.

This just turned up from the in-product search.

Johnson's post is marked as a solution, but it now contains a "link to nowhere" :

Solved: Flatten Browser Folder Structure - Autodesk Community

[Curtis_Waguespack]

And here's an in-product search pointing directly to a "link to nowhere".

[pcrawley]

@Tiana_Y  - (who’s original post is now conveniently locked) wrote :

Community Content Archiving | Announcement and FAQ

Hi Everyone, 

To keep our community efficient and up to date, we'll be archiving content older than 10 years. We built a policy around document retention to stay relevant to our users and customers. 

I think a few things are clear:

1 - The policy is wrong. It needs changing. 

2 - “keep our community efficient and up to date” - how does deleting the content we rely on count as “efficient”?  
2 - This is misrepresentation. “Archive” is defined as “A place where historical records are kept”.  You are deleting - not archiving. 
3. If it was Autodesk’s data you were deleting, we probably wouldn’t even notice,  but you are deleting user created content - our data. That contradicts your policy in your desktop applications. How do you justify two completely contradictory policies on user created content? 

And I know this is a pointless thread - the deletion has already happened. Shame on you policy makers at Autodesk.

For some reason this really hurts. I think it is because all the valuable content here is created freely by users and you are just deleting it. It’s the biggest and clearest statement of disinterest in your customers you could possibly send.