[attachment deleted by admin due to age]

[Calahan]

Attachments are automatically deleted after a certain period of time to keep the server space requirements in check and to prevent them from infinitely expanding. Or at least I assume that's the reason, since it's the reason given on every other forum site I know of that automatically deletes old attachments (I haven't seen or heard of the official reason it's done on this site, but I think my assumption is a pretty safe one).

I'm guessing the reason this is suddenly being noticed is due to a very recent change (reduction) to the duration. It was previously (I think) 6 months, but it now appears to be down to 2 months. Or at least that's my own best estimate based on the following two support threads:

Post from 23rd July where attachment has been auto-deleted: https://ludeon.com/forums/index.php?topic=34604.0
Post from 4th August where it hasn't yet: https://ludeon.com/forums/index.php?topic=34835.0

Word from above is that that this change was due to running out of (server) space. But I don't know (and haven't heard) any more than that, neither do I know if this is a permanent change or just a temporary one (until more space is added or freed). Nor do I know if the forum software allows for fine-tuning of this duration between sub-forums. I'm guessing not because this change appears to have deleted the attachments on several open bug threads, so I assume if there was a fine tune option then it would have (at least) been used so as to not apply it to bugs forum (and so avoid losing the attachments that might have specifically been needed to fix the bug being reported).

If I hear anything more about this I'll post an update, but otherwise it seems that going forward the time limit for attachments is a lot shorter than it previously was (read my post below for an update on this).

[Klitri]

Okay I understand the politics behind it but is it unreasonable to suggest that maybe mods be excluded from deletion like this because the GitHub repository links tend to lead to 404s and I have to use a mirror like the attachment which sucks the mod in particular being the one that adds chemfuel generators to the game I would really really like that but uh, the attachment is down and -- there is a steam link -- I missed that there's a steam link but I have seen ones without any links so for those mods my original statement holds question ("can we have those links back"?) I understand the politics and the risk behind it with small obscure mods with no shots and misspelled titles, but I'll be honest about it, with screenshots and a history mods like chemfuel should have their attachment link still.

[maculator]

because the GitHub repository links tend to lead to 404s

Never had a github 404 in my live.
Files should be hosted via a filehoster, not a forum.
A release should include a license and a source, and that alone would cause problems with the size limitation of attachments.

But a warning would've been nice. Something like "btw. from now on attachments get deleted after 6 weeks".

[Bozobub]

@Klitri:  If you're getting a lot of 404s to GitHub links, there's another problem present that isn't Ludeon's fault; like maculator, it hasn't happened to me even once with a GitHub link, that I can recall o.O'.  Nor is GitHub remotely the only file hosting solution.  I also agree that a lot more notice would have been a very good thing but the situation at hand is what it is, and isn't rare or unreasonable on Ludeon's part.

Actual drive space and bandwidth limitations aren't "politics", they're called "hard limits".  And if space is suddenly at a premium, what, exactly, do you think takes more space than mods..?  You're also not likely to get those links back, unless the policy is changed AND the original posters re-up the attachments in question; "deleted" is generally pretty final.

[Calahan]

If I hear anything more about this I'll post an update...

Further word from above. The recent attachment deletion was done due to the server space having almost run out. ie. A short term measure rather than a permanent change to the time limit for attachments. So going forward it seems attachments will remain available for the same duration as they always have been (which I think is ~6 months).

I'm not sure if the recent purge was strictly a one-off, but my take is that if the server space does run low like this again, and if any sort of attachment deletion is needed as a result, then it will be more selective next time rather than the "delete all" operation that was recently performed.

Hhhhmmm, I think that's all there is to know now. Or at least I can't think of anything further to add.

[Canute]

Thanks for the update.
Could you ask maybe if there is possible to do a more specific setting ?
Like a no delete for the 1. posting of a thread at the release forum ?
When the thread moved then to the outdated subfolder, i can be deleted then.

[gipothegip]

Interesting. I've noticed this too.

Other forums I've used that allow such attachments set a quota.

I can see why they would have to remove old attachments though, the space consumption only adds up otherwise.