Deleting missions
Recently I put a question in another topic. Now I suggest a new topic regarding the question - deleting of missions.
Thank you for the answers you gave me in the Maximum height topic.
I made a plan in a new repository. After flying the plan I delete the plan and the repository but is still there under the Missions tab. There are no dots near the name. If I open again the mission, I can find a Delete button at the components, but it suggests to make a copy and not delete... There are some aborted missions I want to delete... Their plans are not present, they were deleted, just the mission is there...
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32 comments
You are trying to delete the history of a mission that was previously executed - correct?
I'm not aware of a way to do this at the moment.
Zoltán Imecs
This was asked about not long ago. Jim had to remove the delete option from flown missions. Apparently some pilots were using for Business purposes while only having a Hobbyist account. So now they can’t fly a mission and delete it afterwards to hide their usage. Unfortunately there are always people who won’t abide by any rules, laws, regs or contracts. I went through my missions from time to time and deleted the ones which failed or I stopped due to a plan issue. Now I can’t. Doesn’t matter if there all there I just like everything to be nice and tidy. OCD. Lol….🤪
Thank you for the answers!
I have a Hobbyist Premium account. I work with students for research purposes, no business. Barry is correct, I just want to remove things that are useless, that`s all. Thank you again!
Some issuing are planned wrong or don’t work the way you want. We need to be able clean that junk out. Takeoff locations get crowded when you try again. Please restore the ability to delete missions
I think maybe a better compromise would be an archive or remove/hide from this list option.
That would be good :)
Sounds like a good option Jim. 👍🏼 Always thinking.
Frank Aebly
The plans purple reference pin will only show up if you haven’t deleted the plan. So if you delete those failed plans then they should not be there with all the clutter as you say at same location. Previously flown missions will still be there but not visible unless you want to try using it again and copy it. It will then place the purple reference back at that take-off location and can be used. Two separate things.
This all seems kind of silly, that a paid for account cannot delete their own missions, because some freeloaders are cheating the software system.
Why punish the people that pay?
Change the hobbyist plan so they cannot delete their missions, or limit the ability to what mission types they have access to.
You can always delete any plan, component, repository, etc, but what is the purpose of deleting items from the mission history? From a usability standpoint, the list is filterable and searchable already. From a cost standpoint, Dronelink is the one that incurs the minuscule storage fees.
If you are worried that Dronelink is hanging on to your data after you stop using your account, you can always send us a delete account / all data request and we will happily comply.
Hey Jim,
Now this makes more sense. After watching a couple of older videos on your Youtube channel, I see the value of the mission history, plus there is no need to create a hide feature either, since you can use the filter options to do that, basically.
For some reason though, I am not seeing anything I have created in the last month?
Do you mean plans, components, repositories, etc, or do you mean missions that you have flown?
I am aware that I am rehashing an old discussion. I have the Premium/Hobbist version installed and had to fly a lot of trial and error missions to get familiar with the software logic. (I'm probably too stupid for not understanding waypoint planning straight away.)
Now I have the data garbage of useless missions in front of my eyes and I'm having difficulty finding the good flights I've currently recorded. I don't know of any program that prevents deleting junk data. I also can't understand dronelink's logic that blocks this. A year ago Jim McAndrew wrote: " . . . you can always send us a delete account / all data request and we will happily comply."
I urgently ask for a hint on how to execute this "delete all data request". This dedicated deletion should affect all missions marked as "abort". Many thanks
Wolfgang Ernst
I use a lot of trial and error too - it's a great way to learn.
But what you need is already there.
If you are in the history tab and only want to see missions that completed, just go to the top and click on the button marked Succeeded. It will filter and show only those missions.
Thanks, Barry.
Many of my first missions were "succeeded", which just means they have been completed. But many of them are still rubbish because they didn't go the way I actually planned, so they're useless for repeated missions. Succeeded doesn't always mean successful.
Meanwhile I found a poor man's workaround. You can set a filter "add data range" and there you can hide your first mission attempts in the past. But this way means that all missions in a given time frame are deleted - both, the successful ones and the useless attempts. Therefore it's an unsatisfactory workaround.
For me it's not acceptable if I cannot delete junk data which I have generated myself.
I'm waiting for dronelink's reply to my "delete all data request:"
Deleting all data means just that, deleting all data, which is surely not what you want as it means destroying your entire account. As I stated previously, I think a better compromise would be an archive or remove/hide from this list option. We haven’t implemented this feature yet, and it is not currently prioritized. In the meantime, you might consider saving the missions you care about when they are fresh in your mind, and relying on your list of repositories and plans to maintain the truth about what you care about as opposed to your mission history.
Jim, believe it or not, currently deleting all mission data is the preferred solution.
. . . as it means destroying your entire account. Would a requested deleting procedure delete my whole account? Which means I would have no account anymore and would have to pay for a new memberhsip? That would even be more strange - all or nothing, is it that way?
During the learning phase I learned just as much as I accumulated practice rubbish. I wanted to start fresh with my newly acquired experience so that I could finally use the complex software effectively from scratch. In the future, as a result, there will be very little to no data waste.
I'm pondering and wondering what's stopping dronelink from implementing an everyday and simple delete function like every day's software has? Why doesn't dronelink give it to its users who have paid for the software?
Before I bought the software, I could never have imagined that I would never be able to delete my experimental practice junk.
If you are fine with destroying the account then we can, of course, create a new one for you free of charge, but that is missing the point.
I think there may be a misunderstanding of the purpose of the mission history tab. The idea is to provide a complete history of all the missions that have been flown in the account - that is, both pre-planned missions (flown from plans that users manually create and edit in repositories), and on-the-fly missions (created by “planning” things in the field by flying the drone around and marking points). After we released the mission history tab, we enabled the functionality of both saving particular missions from the list as plans in a specified repository (so the user could edit them later) and also running a given mission again, using the snapshot of the plan as it was when the specified mission was run previously.
Both of these are advanced use cases and the normal case is this: 1) you plan a mission by creating a plan in a repository 2) you run that mission and see if you like it 3) if you don’t like the results, you edit the plan and run it again 4) rinse and repeat until you get the results you like and you are left with the final copy of the plan in the repository where you put it. From there, you can re-use it as often as you like, move it to another repository, or copy it and effectively create a branch so as to compare the results from two different approaches.
The list of missions that record the history of this process do not affect your ability to use the system in this way, and the desire to remove them, at least for some, boils down to trying to hide their usage from the Dronelink commercial usage license validation code, or just being OCD. With regards to the second case, I am sympathetic as I have OCD tendencies myself, which is why we are proposing a hide option, but the reality is people like us are a vanishingly small minority of Dronelink users, and we are focused on other features and bug fixes that more people care about at this time.
Your detailed explanations of how to use the mission planning software show me that I have to think the way the code writer wants it. Nope. Can you imagine that the inexperienced user uses the software as intuitively as the various software tools offer? Software is optimally written when a newcomer can immediately work with the software toolbox. If one nail is crooked, the next one will be straight. If a latte is broken, a new one is taken. I think you understand what I mean. Full stop.
Jim, I'll end my comments here about missing features and issues I have with it.
Final question: What is OCD?
My perhaps stupid question shows that I am not a software expert at all, just a user who uses any application straightforwardly. As a consequence, I do miss what common sense expects as a minimum of feature sets in the world of everyday software. Would you accept that your text writing program doesn't allow any file deleting?
I totally understand and accept that we may have blind spots, and users are welcome to use the software in any way that makes sense to them, regardless of how it was designed to be used, assuming the usage is allowed by the license agreement.
The majority of users never click the mission history tab (advanced), and are instead content to use the home tab (basic, default) to create plans and repositories, both of which can be deleted.
OCD means obsessive-compulsive - they say it is a disorder by I think in some cases it can also be a super power lol.
Sorry, a very final comment (promised !) on the main issue.
I would like to complete my raised metaphor about the use of tools, so that my concern becomes more understandable. For everyone, even for code writers, who think they should know what users must like:
If one nail is crooked, the next one will be straight. If a latte is broken, a new one is taken . . . .
. . . .and in the evening I will clean up my workbench thoroughly, remove all the rubbish I have created over the day, so that I can resume my work the next day with a clean workbench. That makes my tasks of the new day efficient and motivating, because I no longer have to see the failures of the previous day.
Just to add my own $0.02
We have a situation where the Dronelink team think the software should (and usually is) used one way - as they have said (and I know from my own experience talking to many of their clients) the majority of users don't ever access the history feature.
Unfortunately for you, that doesn't line up with the way you work. Dronelink has a solution that has been proposed for the future, but you want that feature now and, as is often the case, there are bigger priorities for the teams limited resources (resources are always limited).
I was a developer for many years and learned the hard way that the way that the way I thought the software should be used didn't always line up with how the users thought it should work.
This was always trickiest when there were many users (usually different companies) all wanting the system to work the way their company worked, or they wanted features that they were more interested in being prioritized over other ones.
The way we solved that when I was working on Wall St. was that clients were invited to put money into a pool each year. That money funded development that the contributing companies got to vote on. Basically, they funded a side pool of developers that the group had control over. That way, they could decide which features to prioritize.
I'm sure if you were willing to pay for the feature it could be moved up the order. I'm not suggesting you do that as I am sure it would not be cheap. But, assuming that you do not want to fund it, the other option is to wait until the proposed archive feature becomes more important than other features that will benefit the majority of users.
That is how business works. You spend money to benefit the majority of your customers.
How you use the system makes sense for you, and I can see why you would want this. But they have to look after everyone.
Barry, just to make sure I understand it correctly. Do you think, that a software update that allows the deletion of old data is a complex matter, that needs to be commercially prioritized by the development department? Nope. It's not something that has to be coded in a complex and expensive way. You just have to want it. If necessary, I could write the 50 lines of code myself, for free.
I still don't understand what the reasons are for not implementing a software feature that is essential in any normal software. Maybe my imagination isn't enough to imagine a scenario, where deleting old data by any dronelink user could harm and cause financial damage to the software company. All of dronelink's attempts at explanation are vague and unconvincing. What damage can cause deleting my private junk data to the dronelink business model? I'm still thinking but my imagination is limited . . . which is maybe the real problem.
Disregarding this annoying detail, I can say that dronelink did a good job. The software is near perfection for my hobbyist use. And that's why it annoys me even more because I miss the last percent of perfection.
This was already answered above:
To clarify further, people would purchase hobbyist accounts with the intention of using it for business, which is against the terms of use. For example, a user would fly a map at a construction site over and over again, and our license validator would detect this and suspend their account, requiring them to upgrade to a professional account. Deleting missions from the mission history is a way to try to trick the system and violate the license agreement. This is why we are proposing a middle ground, where the history is never actually removed (so Dronelink can still validate licenses and usage) but users can de-clutter their lists to their heart's content.
Having said that, this "middle ground" feature has not been prioritized at the moment because this is not what most users are currently asking for - in fact most don't even care about the mission history or even know that it exists.
Thanks Jim,
I finally understand what, how and why. It's all because of license validation, which is often tricked. I understand that even grudgingly. The only thing I don't understand is how can dronelink tell from the users' collected, saved missions whether the mission was for business or for hobbyist fun? I'm going to Spain shortly where we rented a holiday home. I would like to record this with my Air2s from different perspectives for my private film "Our Spain vacation 2024" later. But that could also be an image film from a commercial real estate agent, right? And here is your and my problem.
In short: I can live with the non-existent delete function but I think dronlink is over-reacting on this point. As I already said, I would like to end my grumbling and complaining, dronelink is the best waypoint alternative for DJI drones that do not have any of these features implemented.
Have a good time and success, I'm waiting for further updates.
We work with users on a case by case basis and if you are not flying the same map everyday at the same location you are generally never going to hear from us.
OMG, it seems to me we already have a serious problem. Seriously.
I plan to record our holiday beach, the beach bar and our holiday home from distance and near - not only once but several times, like "the same map every day". With my Mini 3 Pro and the Air2s. Because, as I've said earlier, I want to use the software and practice how I can capture the best shot. Learning by doing it, you remember? I'm starting to understand that doing so I could well fall into the license validation trap. If that can be the case, then I ask dronelink to delete my account as soon as my premium fee has been refunded.
I think it's not just me who has a problem here. I began to realize that I'm not dealing with a simple software feature issue. The problem is dronelink, a software company, that doesn't want to implement standard software features because of sheer mistrust. Sorry, but that's sick. I had no idea before purchasing that it could escalate like this. In this sense, dronelink is unique in this market segment. A pity.
I would like to request a definitive confirmation from dronelink that I can take numerous, repeated video clips of the beach, surroundings and our holiday home from our Spanish holiday destination - without being charged with license violation, e.g. "flying the same map everyday at the same location". If I do not receive this confirmation, I ask dronelink herewith to delete my account as soon as my premium fee has been refunded.
Be sure that I will communicate my future experiences with dronelink in detail online. It's crazy, what started as a simple software feature request ends in serious trouble. Just because dronelink doesn't trust their users and as consequence limits their software capabilities, unbelievable.
Wolfgang, I appreciate your concern for both yourself and other users, but I can assure you, your usage, and the usage of most people never get anywhere close to the volume of actual commercial users. You will be fine and never hear from us.
I’ve been using DL since December 2020 with my MA2 and have roughly 900 missions with 40 hours of flights as a Hobbyist only. I’ve never been worried about any of my flown missions because I don’t use for commercial purposes. I’ve never been contacted by DL or had my account suspended. Enjoy.
Lucky you, Mike !
I don't think my holiday clips will cause any trouble either. But the whole intention of having to seal oneself off from suspected enemies and thereby limiting the properties of one's product is, I'm sorry to say, more than self-limiting and quite a bit paranoid.
I therefore began to look for alternatives, that offer less rigid but similarly effective waypoint software. And I found what I was looking for, but I won't advertise it here. Just saying, there is definitely competition to dronelink, with attractive prices and a feature set, that is little or not worse than dronelink's offering. You can practice as much as you want and then dispose of your excess waste. Some features are different, some are less good, others are even better.
Shortly. I immediately liked the dronlink concept, but was just as quickly negatively surprised that a more than normal function was not implemented. Not because this function required complex programming, no. The function was even previously available, but was removed again, because dronelink feared abuse of its pricing model.
I learned from the pricing model of alternative software, that free and open use of the software does not reduce the success of the product at all. Even any extensive usage of commercial users seems to fit with their budget calculation.
I'm afraid dronelink is protecting their product like a mother overprotecting her child. As a result, the child will not cope well in life. Good luck and success to dronelink.
To be clear, we didn’t implement this out of paranoia. People were abusing the license agreement, so we reacted to the situation so that people could not continue to steal from us. There is not a single user that is using the system legitimately that has lost access to their account (since we have the ability to manually review / approve usage after appeals). Many users that were abusing the license have even come clean and done the right thing and upgraded to professional accounts. It is sad that people do such things and we wish the honor system would work, but here we are.
Glad to hear that you found what you were looking for and wish you all the best.
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