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Sometimes it happens that an owner that wants to troll the channel unpins an important message from a chat list.

It happened at least two times in total now, for the C++ Channel. This is frustrating, because an owner that previously pinned a message can't pin it again, apparently.

Please show who unpinned or pinned a message, so that such users can be identified and the reason can be discussed. It's not like unpinning is an act like voting. Unpinning messages has a global effect to the whole channel; not showing the unpinner is a major present for trolls.

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  • For anyone confused: Since the C++ chat room started out with the original owners gone, so a moderator had to step in and transfer ownership to the actual users, it now has a policy of always having enough owners around to not to let this happen again. And I'm still believing that one of them did this accidentally not to "troll".
    – sbi
    Commented Jan 28, 2011 at 17:49
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    Just twice?! :) (Let me explain this remark: Chacha messes with pins all the time... and I do on the Bridge too.)
    – badp
    Commented Jan 28, 2011 at 17:49
  • @badp: We had three users today who were surprised they were made owners. When that happened to me back then, I set up a feed that drowned everybody, not knowing that my actions would be inflicted on all users pf the room.
    – sbi
    Commented Jan 28, 2011 at 17:50
  • @sbi We're all human. The person that did this accidentally should come up and say so, so to avoid any speculation about trolls. He/She/They's quiet, making it look like it's an act of troll. I'm sure anybody will understand if it was an accident.
    – Johannes Schaub - litb
    Commented Jan 28, 2011 at 17:53
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    On IRC if someone changes the topic or some flag, everyone knows "Ah, that's the guy who changed it". Actually, we do already know who changed the topic in the SO chat too. Why not do the same for pinned messages? I can't determine a real difference between the topic and pinned messages.
    – Johannes Schaub - litb
    Commented Jan 28, 2011 at 17:57
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    The topic is what the room is about in general. Pinned messages are messages of import that people think would be extra useful for people to be aware of when they are in the room. One describes what should be talked about, the other is what has been talked about.
    – Grace Note StaffMod
    Commented Jan 28, 2011 at 18:00
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    @Grace: By that logic, the C++ room should be named "Pretty Much Anything Except C++ Most of the Time"!
    – James McNellis
    Commented Jan 28, 2011 at 18:21
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    brb, going to go pintrolling
    – user1228
    Commented Jan 28, 2011 at 18:22

2 Answers 2

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I haven't checked the specific issue, but be aware that pins are auto-removed after 14 days, because we found this feature to be abused too much.

If you feel so strongly about a particular message, why don't you just post it again and pin the new one?

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  • 6
    Oh boy. And I've been shouting at people when this happened the first time...
    – sbi
    Commented Jan 28, 2011 at 20:32
  • Um, is this auto removal a feature that's been added lately (less than four weeks ago)?
    – sbi
    Commented Jan 28, 2011 at 20:34
  • @sbi: yeah, two or three weeks maybe
    – balpha StaffMod
    Commented Jan 28, 2011 at 20:34
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    @balpha: <sigh/> Is there a list I could monitor where chat features are added? Because I haven't seen this on meta.stackexchange.com/questions/59445/….
    – sbi
    Commented Jan 28, 2011 at 20:37
  • @sbi: Major stuff like this gets immediately added to the FAQ. I guess it's not in the unofficial change log because no-one added it.
    – balpha StaffMod
    Commented Jan 28, 2011 at 20:40
  • @balpha: I'm not happy with these features creeping in unnoticed (and I'm not talking about the chat only here). Would it be so hard to have a "Recent Changes" menu item at the top that signals whenever something is changed/added/fixed just like the notification I get when I have a comment response?
    – sbi
    Commented Jan 28, 2011 at 20:47
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    Oh, and the messages we were concerned with were chat.stackoverflow.com/transcript/message/124922#124922, which by now has 14 stars (which puts quite some weight to it) and chat.stackoverflow.com/transcript/10?m=106675#106675 (which had even more stars, but lost them in the confusion after it was unpinned last time), both of which the regulars in the room felt quite fond about and would like to stay pinned.
    – sbi
    Commented Jan 28, 2011 at 20:48
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    I suppose it would thwart the idea of automagically unpinning if doing so would reset the "user is allowed to pin this" flag? Also, as badp wrote, there's a bug where the menu annoyingly always says "unpin" for a once-pinned message, no matter what the message's status is and whether I can actually perform this action. For example, the currently unpinned chat.stackoverflow.com/transcript/10?m=106675#106675 shows the "unpin this message" link for me. (I think there's something fishy with the stars, too, but I'm not as sure about this now.)
    – sbi
    Commented Jan 28, 2011 at 20:53
  • @balpha the problem is that if we post it again and pin it then again, it will take away tribute from the original poster of the message. We would like to keep that guy who originally posted the message in mind.
    – Johannes Schaub - litb
    Commented Jan 28, 2011 at 20:59
  • @sbi interestingly, if you click "unstar" at that message, then it updates the pin text and says "pin this message". But clicking that link won't help showing it as pinned -.-
    – Johannes Schaub - litb
    Commented Jan 28, 2011 at 21:04
  • What if pins issued by moderators, and moderators only, didn't automatically expire? If I feel strongly enough about a message, I can flag it for attention.
    – badp
    Commented Jan 28, 2011 at 21:32
  • @badp: Last time I looked, only moderators were allowed to pin anyway. Did that change, too??
    – sbi
    Commented Jan 29, 2011 at 0:39
  • @sbi I'm not a moderator and i can still pin. And you can pin too and am not a moderator for all I know. I suspect he means community moderators?
    – Johannes Schaub - litb
    Commented Jan 29, 2011 at 8:23
  • @Johannes: I meant to say "room owners", not moderators. Sorry.
    – sbi
    Commented Jan 29, 2011 at 12:10
  • @Johannes, @balpha: I've posted a feature request because I find it a nuisance that I constantly miss the addition of features.
    – sbi
    Commented Jan 29, 2011 at 17:31
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As an owner, I do find it annoying that we can't undo unpins -- every time somebody unpins a message I want to keep pinned, I have to rewrite it. The transcript unhelpfully and incorrectly shows "Unpin this message" for these messages.

In reply to your question, this is mitigated by the simple fact only owners can mess with pins. Thus, it must be one of the, uh, ten owners your room has. :)

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  • You know I'm always around, so you could always, say, shoot off a missile flare or something to catch my attention if the "login troubles" post gets unpinned.
    – Grace Note StaffMod
    Commented Jan 28, 2011 at 18:15
  • @Grace If I can get something done without bothering you I'll try to :)
    – badp
    Commented Jan 28, 2011 at 18:41
  • badp: you don't have to rewrite a message you want to have re-pinned, when you find someone else to pin it for you.
    – sbi
    Commented Jan 28, 2011 at 20:51
  • this is rather wrong. "only owners can mess with pins". No, the system auto-unpins everything after 14 days.
    – Jeff Atwood
    Commented Jan 29, 2011 at 6:13
  • @Jeff You can see the surprise for this particular feature in the comments on the other feature. I also didn't know about it.
    – badp
    Commented Jan 29, 2011 at 6:27

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