How to DELETE a topic if the first post is no longer there - How-to and Troubleshooting - wpForo 2.0 https://wpforo.com/community/how-to-and-troubleshooting-2/how-to-delete-a-topic-if-the-first-post-is-no-longer-there/ Discussion Board en-US Sun, 07 Jun 2026 02:28:05 +0000 wpForo 60 RE: How to DELETE a topic if the first post is no longer there https://wpforo.com/community/how-to-and-troubleshooting-2/how-to-delete-a-topic-if-the-first-post-is-no-longer-there/paged/2/#post-12398 Sat, 18 Nov 2017 09:25:25 +0000 I had this exact problem yesterday. One of my moderators via the dashboard moderator tool, accidentally deleted the first post of a topic.

Going into the forum as admin to look at the topic, what was now the first post did not have the usual "first" post options. You could no longer "move" or "make" the topic a "sticky" etc.

Now I would have thought what was originally the "second post" but now the "first post", would have inherited the status of "first post", thereby having all the "move", "sticky" options available on it.

As the topic was of little importance I deleted the remaining posts that were left in the topic, fully expecting that when the last one was deleted, the topic would be gone from the forum but it was not!

Going back into the category, the topic title was there and its status was "last updated 48 years ago!!!!". when I clicked on the topic I got a "404 error". I thought OK I guess I need to flush the caches via the dashboard. Did the flush, it did not help at all, the "phantom/zombie" topic was still there.

I then went in via phpadmin SQL tool via my c-panel. Located the wpforo "topic" table and then using a "select" statement "where" "title" was "like" the topic name, I found the "phantom/zombie" topic.

I then deleted the topic from the database table. Flushed the cache again via the dashboard. Now when I went back into the forum the "phantom/zombie" was now gone.

Just thought I would mention all this in case anyone else has a similar problem and finds it useful.

Warning: Be very careful in the phpadmin SQL tool, manipulating the Db can have the potential to really screw up your database if you get things wrong, if in doubt leave well alone.

]]> How-to and Troubleshooting - wpForo 2.0 cmw14 https://wpforo.com/community/how-to-and-troubleshooting-2/how-to-delete-a-topic-if-the-first-post-is-no-longer-there/paged/2/#post-12398 RE: How to DELETE a topic if the first post is no longer there https://wpforo.com/community/how-to-and-troubleshooting-2/how-to-delete-a-topic-if-the-first-post-is-no-longer-there/paged/2/#post-12039 Tue, 31 Oct 2017 10:22:54 +0000 Please navigate to Dashboard > Forums > Dashboard admin page and click on button.

]]> How-to and Troubleshooting - wpForo 2.0 Robert https://wpforo.com/community/how-to-and-troubleshooting-2/how-to-delete-a-topic-if-the-first-post-is-no-longer-there/paged/2/#post-12039 RE: How to DELETE a topic if the first post is no longer there https://wpforo.com/community/how-to-and-troubleshooting-2/how-to-delete-a-topic-if-the-first-post-is-no-longer-there/paged/2/#post-11996 Sat, 28 Oct 2017 21:30:13 +0000 I have the same problem, and I used the SQL executioner, deleted the row but it still appears under the forum thread as a post, but after I click on it, gives me the 403 error. 

if I try to delete it again with the SQL, it says, 0 rows were affected. So it did delete the row but I guess the entry in the forum is still there.

Any ideias?

 

]]> How-to and Troubleshooting - wpForo 2.0 glauco.longhi@gmail.com https://wpforo.com/community/how-to-and-troubleshooting-2/how-to-delete-a-topic-if-the-first-post-is-no-longer-there/paged/2/#post-11996 RE: How to DELETE a topic if the first post is no longer there https://wpforo.com/community/how-to-and-troubleshooting-2/how-to-delete-a-topic-if-the-first-post-is-no-longer-there/#post-715 Fri, 29 Jul 2016 06:40:34 +0000 Ok, I see you're not familiar with hosting service tools. Please install the "SQL Executioner" plugin. Then navigate in Dashboard  to Tools > SQL Executioner page, put this SQL in textarea and click on button:

DELETE FROM $wpforo_topics WHERE slug = 'admin-you-made-a-typo-in-the-discription-of-this-subforum'

https://wpforo.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/delete-topic.png

This will only delete the topic, you don't need to delete whole category.

]]> How-to and Troubleshooting - wpForo 2.0 Robert https://wpforo.com/community/how-to-and-troubleshooting-2/how-to-delete-a-topic-if-the-first-post-is-no-longer-there/#post-715 RE: How to DELETE a topic if the first post is no longer there https://wpforo.com/community/how-to-and-troubleshooting-2/how-to-delete-a-topic-if-the-first-post-is-no-longer-there/#post-714 Fri, 29 Jul 2016 00:59:24 +0000 Hello

You should have access to database tables by log in to phpMyAdmin.
For more info on how to connect to your database visit godaddy support.

]]> How-to and Troubleshooting - wpForo 2.0 OMTesla https://wpforo.com/community/how-to-and-troubleshooting-2/how-to-delete-a-topic-if-the-first-post-is-no-longer-there/#post-714 RE: How to DELETE a topic if the first post is no longer there https://wpforo.com/community/how-to-and-troubleshooting-2/how-to-delete-a-topic-if-the-first-post-is-no-longer-there/#post-713 Fri, 29 Jul 2016 00:15:28 +0000 I did not do anything, a user created the topic and it 404 errored from the start.. There is no way to delete a topic from within the forum settings?  I do not have cpanel access with my godaddy wordpress hosted account... I do not want to have to delete the whole category.

]]> How-to and Troubleshooting - wpForo 2.0 j753k https://wpforo.com/community/how-to-and-troubleshooting-2/how-to-delete-a-topic-if-the-first-post-is-no-longer-there/#post-713 RE: How to DELETE a topic if the first post is no longer there https://wpforo.com/community/how-to-and-troubleshooting-2/how-to-delete-a-topic-if-the-first-post-is-no-longer-there/#post-703 Thu, 28 Jul 2016 17:02:15 +0000 I don't know how it possible to have a topic wich returns 404 error. What have you done with this topic? The only way to delete it is using cPanel phpMyAdmin, browse the _wpforo_topics table, find it and delete. This may be a cache issue too, delete cache and make sure it's not there.

]]> How-to and Troubleshooting - wpForo 2.0 Robert https://wpforo.com/community/how-to-and-troubleshooting-2/how-to-delete-a-topic-if-the-first-post-is-no-longer-there/#post-703 How to DELETE a topic if the first post is no longer there https://wpforo.com/community/how-to-and-troubleshooting-2/how-to-delete-a-topic-if-the-first-post-is-no-longer-there/#post-699 Thu, 28 Jul 2016 14:44:15 +0000 How can I delete this topic?  I cannot see the first post due to 404 error http://pokemongogetters.com/forum/stories/admin-you-made-a-typo-in-the-discription-of-this-subforum/#

]]> How-to and Troubleshooting - wpForo 2.0 j753k https://wpforo.com/community/how-to-and-troubleshooting-2/how-to-delete-a-topic-if-the-first-post-is-no-longer-there/#post-699