Remove "Deleted By...." from Discussions

[shane_ohara]

This idea has been developed and deployed to Canvas

  Idea open for vote Wed. January 6, 2016 - Wed. April 6, 2016  Learn more about voting...

Hello,

I would like to revisit the archived idea Option to Remove "This Entry Has Been Deleted" in Discussions and open this back up with this new idea, such that the "Deleted by ...." message does not display when a post is deleted by the teacher. Leaving these messages pose an unnecessary clutter to the display esp. when an instructor uses the Student View for testing, unknowingly posts to a discussion, and then needs to clean up their evil doings prior to course activity. Students have no need to see these messages. At a minimum, perhaps the idea can focus on a redesign of the Student View tool so that the reset functionality removes discussions as well....?

Comments from Instructure

For more information, please read through the Canvas Production Release Notes (2017-02-18) 

[Jeff_F]

Just how often are posts be deleted?  I've been using Canvas for more than a year and have had to delete just 2-3 posts in that time.  It seems deleting student posts is a normal process?  How is this so?    ~ Jeff

[loceffmichael]

I teach about 150 online students per quarter, three quarters per year, so I may have more occasion than the average instructor.  Otoh, I've been using CMS for teaching for 20 years and do have some flight time in all the useful functions for my  disciplines (CS and creative writing).    What I find is that I often delete my own posts when either a) I discover that something a student posted elsewhere obviates one of my too-quickly posted note or b) when I am experimenting to see if some tricky post (say, with attachments and special formatting) presents correctly.  Also, I often have to delete student posts when they reveal something that's part of an assignment solution (too much info) or post twice accidentally.  So I'm deleting a post at least once a week.

Since deleting a post is not reversible, then the bread crumb that designates the deletion has no function value. It is like a screenplay in which the line "this character's line was deleted" appearing in the 10th draft and all downstream drafts, or a programming comment /* code deleted, but I'm not going to show you what the code is, nor can you undelete it */  These things just don't happen.  One can save prior versions from the writing software or the programming IDE, but the latest version is not sullied with such notes.

I think it makes sense to remove these breadcrumbs, but I will work around them for the time being (A Canvas survival tactic we all have to embrace, I suppose.)

[Stef_retired]

 @Jeff_F , in Canvas, I have rarely needed to delete students' posts--in fact, offhand, I can't think of a single occasion that I've had to do it, but I can readily envision the use cases for so doing. (I deleted one post in our legacy LMS because the student used profanity.)

On the other hand, as  @loceffmichael ​ points out, I have had to delete my own posts from time to time, almost always because I have to test something about the discussion itself. Deleting the post isn't a big deal, but the "this entry has been deleted..." line bugs. As Michael says, it's "litter."

[Jeff_F]

 @loceffmichael ​ - Thanks for sharing.   A preview capability sure would be useful to help with the experimental formatting you noted.

Regarding a work around, for situations where students post the answer perhaps instead edit the student reply, remove the offending response and insert new text stating something to the tune of: "Be mindful to avoid including assignment answers in discussion responses".  This may serve to communicate the issue to the student, serves as a reminder to others, and also helps avoid the dreaded deleted discussion note.

[Jeff_F]

As for the profanity or possibly vulgar items go, so long as they are not off the charts out of line I leave them be and respond with a cautionary note stating that the discussions are considered to be more formal communications and to write as though the content is being graded.   

[Stef_retired]

I completely agree,  @Jeff_F ; it's a teachable moment. My single deletion was of the "off the charts out of line" variety.

[loceffmichael]

Absolutely, Jeff.  Been doing that kind of edit for 20 years when applicable, since much of the question the students' post are not censurable. [CODE DELETED BY INSTRUCTOR - PLEASE DON'T POST EXACT HW CODE] ... That was one of the simple examples that came to mind, but there are half a dozen others I probably should have used, instead. Everyone in this forum probably has other examples, too.

[loceffmichael]

I apologize for not knowing whether this tightly related issue was reported, but I'll learn my way around these forums soon.

The "Edited by on ..." is equally, if not more, troubling. I would like the ability to fix typos in a post -- sometimes five or six times in a period of 10 minute (e.g.) without having to leave behind this other form of "bread crumb."  All I'm asking is the option, not that we force everyone to not see it.  I personally never need it, but I can understand others wanting it.

Has this topic been brought up yet?  Thanks

[Renee_Carney]

Hi Michael.

I just did a little checking, and I was not able to find a feature idea thread that focuses on the 'edited by' stamp in discussions.

[dlyons]

Just wanted to mention since I haven't seen it in the discussion above that the "deleted" reply stub serves the significant purpose of maintaining discussion structure. Take this discussion for example

PROMPT: What is your favorite ice cream?

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REPLY 1: Rocky Road from Jim's Ice cream Emporium

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|> REPLY TO REPLY 1: I used to go there as a kid!

Now what happens if REPLY 1 is deleted and no record of it ever having existed shows in the discussion? Where does REPLY TO REPLY 1 go? It can't slide up and become a reply to PROMPT because that makes no sense and is not representative of what the author wrote. It doesn't seem right to delete REPLY TO REPLY 1 because REPLY 1 was deleted, and that behavior would have a cascading effect in an active discussion. The "deleted" behavior serves to maintain the structure of the discussion, even when certain individual pieces of content have to be deleted.