StackOverflow2013

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plurals

PO
primarykey
Id
347164
data
AcceptedAnswerId
0
AnswerCount
0
ClosedDate
CommentCount
1
CommunityOwnedDate
CreationDate
2008-12-07T03:07:33.260
FavoriteCount
0
LastActivityDate
2008-12-08T10:37:20.247
LastEditDate
2008-12-08T10:37:20.247
LastEditorUserId
22088
OwnerUserId
31641
ParentId
347160
PostTypeId
2
Score
22
ViewCount
0
LastEditorDisplayName
Totophil
text
Body
It depends. (But you guessed that already, I'm sure.) In practice, the violation of proper usage here is almost always in the direction of deleting. The main bad consequence of deleting is how often there are dependent records in other tables whose referential integrity is lost when the parent record goes away. One red herring used to defend deletion (which you've already dealt with properly by dismissing the issue of storage capacity), is expecting that it will make any noticeable difference in query efficiency. There are too many cases where user or software issues cause someone to need to hit the big "Undo" button; if you delete, you're out of luck (at least without getting special help and aggravating people you'd rather be nice to.) The terminology I usually use is "Active" and "Inactive". <hr> A few more points to consider (by Totophil): <ol> <li>Deleting a record in some databases will not automatically free up the disk space.</li> <li>Purging any sensitive information that you no longer require helps avoiding security risks.</li> <li>Data protection legislation might require your organisation under certain circumstances to purge any identifiable information about an individual. The legislation differs from country to country, some pointers: <ul> <li>EU <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/justice_home/fsj/privacy/law/index_en.htm" rel="noreferrer">http://ec.europa.eu/justice_home/fsj/privacy/law/index_en.htm</a> </li> <li>UK <a href="http://www.ico.gov.uk/what_we_cover/data_protection.aspx" rel="noreferrer">http://www.ico.gov.uk/what_we_cover/data_protection.aspx</a></li> <li>Estonia <a href="http://www.riigiteataja.ee/ert/act.jsp?id=748829" rel="noreferrer">http://www.riigiteataja.ee/ert/act.jsp?id=748829</a></li> </ul></li> <li>On the other hand you might be required by law to keep certain information.</li> </ol>
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Title
singulars
PostAcceptedAnswerId
1. This table or related slice is empty.
PostParentId
1. POShould I delete or disable a row in a relational database?
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1. PTAnswer
UserLastEditorUserId
1. USVlad Gudim
UserOwnerUserId
1. USdkretz
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2. VO
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Guidance

A row detail

Detail views are divided into sections. All the information in the data section comes from columns in the selected row. The other sections display data from other, related rows.

Related data can be related in a to-one or a to-many fashion. Captions of data related in a to-many fashion link to a list view showing a filtered view of the table.

Try moving around until you find a non-empty to-many entry and click on the label to get to one. You can move back to the root by clicking on the database name in the header.