Strange Notifications

[XFool]

Funny. I have current Notifications of being "Quoted" on 10 Dec and "Received thank" on Dec 11 in posts "Re: Julian Assange"
Clicking on these shows "The requested topic does not exist". I can't recollect making any recent such post.

Google Search reveals two threads on Assange:

US Extradition in Legal Issues (Practical) in which I have never posted

What happened to Julian Assange? in Beerpig's Snug in which I can only see two posts of mine:
post April 12th, 2019 2:47 pm (total recs 1)
posr April 12th, 2019,2:53 pm (total recs 1) - I which I quote somebody else! The person notified as quoting me on Assange never posted on this thread.

Is this a case of site changes and moving threads, or have I finally started to lose my marbles?

[TUK020]

But I responded to your 'marbles' post.....

[XFool]

...Which one?

[Gengulphus]

Funny. I have current Notifications of being "Quoted" on 10 Dec and "Received thank" on Dec 11 in posts "Re: Julian Assange"
Clicking on these shows "The requested topic does not exist". I can't recollect making any recent such post.

Google Search reveals two threads on Assange:

US Extradition in Legal Issues (Practical) in which I have never posted

What happened to Julian Assange? in Beerpig's Snug in which I can only see two posts of mine:
post April 12th, 2019 2:47 pm (total recs 1)
posr April 12th, 2019,2:53 pm (total recs 1) - I which I quote somebody else! The person notified as quoting me on Assange never posted on this thread.

Is this a case of site changes and moving threads, or have I finally started to lose my marbles?

About the "quoted" notification, I've just tried out a test that I think ought to result in you getting such a notification, but getting "The requested topic does not exist" when you click on it. Not being able to see your notifications, though, I don't know whether it's succeeded. If it has, though, there's a third possible explanation for that notification: someone is trying to wind you up!

I haven't thought of any similar way of producing a baseless "Received thanks" notification, though - so this is only an aside about what you've seen, not an explanation of it.

Gengulphus

[XFool]

Funny. I have current Notifications of being "Quoted" on 10 Dec and "Received thank" on Dec 11 in posts "Re: Julian Assange"
Clicking on these shows "The requested topic does not exist". I can't recollect making any recent such post.

Google Search reveals two threads on Assange:

US Extradition in Legal Issues (Practical) in which I have never posted

What happened to Julian Assange? in Beerpig's Snug in which I can only see two posts of mine:
post April 12th, 2019 2:47 pm (total recs 1)
posr April 12th, 2019,2:53 pm (total recs 1) - I which I quote somebody else! The person notified as quoting me on Assange never posted on this thread.

Is this a case of site changes and moving threads, or have I finally started to lose my marbles?

About the "quoted" notification, I've just tried out a test that I think ought to result in you getting such a notification, but getting "The requested topic does not exist" when you click on it. Not being able to see your notifications, though, I don't know whether it's succeeded. If it has, though there's a third possible explanation for that notification: someone is trying to wind you up!

Yes... Here is/was going to be my reaction to your test, presumably.

"Quoted by Gengulphus in:
"Re: Julian Assange"
December 11th, 2021, 4:40 pm"

Great! A Notification for a post that doesn't (now) exist (but it did!*), in a thread that doesn't exist, in a board that doesn't exist.

The plot thickens...

* In "Testing 123" in "Any Other Business" - Is TLF experimenting with SnapChat technology?

I haven't thought of any similar way of producing a baseless "Received thanks" notification, though - so this is only an aside about what you've seen, not an explanation of it.

Gengulphus

OK. Thanks.

I could post the notifications from the other two TLF posters, if they didn't mind...

Straightaway I see the 'quoting' poster in my Notification appears not to have posted any posts on the day in question. According to a search of their posts.


PS. Of course I see that Any Other Business does exist as the forum/board(?) in which Testing 123 is the usual temporary board/thread.

[XFool]

Straightaway I see the 'quoting' poster in my Notification appears not to have posted any posts on the day in question. According to a search of their posts.

No, that's not correct. Sorry! My mistake, becoming confused between the two records. Both posters were posting on TLF close to the date and time of the notifications, but no record of any such post about Assange. Could this be a since deleted post? But then it seems to have been deleted from my brain as well...

This is confusing.

[XFool]

About the "quoted" notification, I've just tried out a test that I think ought to result in you getting such a notification, but getting "The requested topic does not exist" when you click on it. Not being able to see your notifications, though, I don't know whether it's succeeded. If it has, though, there's a third possible explanation for that notification: someone is trying to wind you up!

OK...

So can you reveal how you did this? My guess a temporary post in Testing 123 (I saw yours ONCE) of a quoted post (Hence the "Re"?) with a false attribution: Posted by XFool. I know this works, from past innocent mistakes of others!

But your Notification isn't for a falsely quoted post, at least there is no "Re" - though I saw your trick post was simply my OP here, quoted.

I saw your post once - was it deleted by you or automatically? If so how?

[Lootman]

There was a topic yesterday about Assange, which has since vanished. Presumably any notifications that you received because of your participation in that topic are not deleted when the topic itself is deleted.

As I recall you did post to that topic, to suggest that the word "murder" might be a bit strong in the given context. That allegation might well be what got the topic pulled. And since the allegation was in the top post, the entire topic vanished, as opposed to where a reply to it was at fault, in which case the topic would presumably remain and just the offending reply removed.

I do not want to write any more about what was in that topic since then I would risk recreating the problem for which it was disappeared.

[XFool]

There was a topic yesterday about Assange, which has since vanished. Presumably any notifications that you received because of your participation in that topic are not deleted when the topic itself is deleted.

As I recall you did post to that topic, to suggest that the word "murder" might be a bit strong in the given context. That allegation might well be what got the topic pulled.

Oh yes! Thanks Lootman, that was about Harry Dunn and the American women Anne Sacoolas. Now I remember.

As I have pointed out previously wrt Disappearing Posts/Threads this can cause serious confusion, particularly to people whose memory has definitely lost its edge - assuming it ever had one in the first place.

Mystery solved.

[Gengulphus]

About the "quoted" notification, I've just tried out a test that I think ought to result in you getting such a notification, but getting "The requested topic does not exist" when you click on it. Not being able to see your notifications, though, I don't know whether it's succeeded. If it has, though, there's a third possible explanation for that notification: someone is trying to wind you up!

OK...

So can you reveal how you did this? My guess a temporary post in Testing 123 (I saw yours ONCE) of a quoted post (Hence the "Re"?) with a false attribution: Posted by XFool. ...

Clicked on the “ button in your OP to start a reply quoting it, took a copy of the contents of the editing window to the clipboard (ctrl-A, ctrl-C), abandoned that reply, went to the "Testing 123..." board, started a new post, copied the clipboard into the editing window (ctrl-V), gave it the subject "Re: Julian Assange" (a false statement about what it was replying to), and submitted it - as it quoted you (a true attribution - you wrote your OP's words!), that triggered the notification. Then clicked the "x" button about 5 seconds later to delete the post... It will have been around for more than those ~5 seconds, because I gave a brief explanation to the moderators of why I was deleting it, but not all that much longer.

I saw your post once - was it deleted by you or automatically? If so how?

Deleted by me, using the "x" button - which allows one to delete a post within 15 minutes of posting it (basically the same as the 15-minute 'window' for editing a post). You must have struck it fairly lucky to have seen it even once!

Basically, I can easily create and delete short-lived posts that quote you, but not ones that are authored by you, so I could create a mysterious-looking "Quoted" notification that way - but a mysterious-looking "Received thanks" notification is beyond my powers... However, Lootman's recollection of a moderator-deleted "Julian Assange" thread fits both of them and is doubtless the explanation.

One final cautionary note - not to you specifically, but to anyone reading this thread who thinks they'd like to try winding people up with mysterious-looking notifications: don't! Moderators can see almost all deleted posts, so they'll easily see what you've been up to, and there is the site rule "Wilful and disruptive behaviour is unacceptable"...

Gengulphus