Documentation should address deletion policy more clearly

[amandabee]

There's no documentation at https://antennapod.org/ which makes it hard to point new users in the right direction. In particular I'm trying to figure out what the expected deletion behaviour is. I often find that if I mark an episode as "Played" it stays in my queue and isnt' downloaded. There are a lot of reasons I might mark something played:

• this particular episode was already broadcast on the radio
• I listened to it in the car on someone else's phone
• it's a re-run
• It's a terrible episode and I don't want to keep thinking maybe I should listen to it
• I listened to the end but the closing credits are so long that Antennapod thinks I didn't finish it.

I don't know what is supposed to happen and I can't find documentation to figure out what should happen so I don't know if it's my settings or a bug or a combination. But I would expect that all completed episodes would be treated the same, whether they're completed because they played to the end or because they played halfway and I marked them played. More clear documentation of the default flow and places where changing settings will impact the default flow would help me make the most of Antennapod.

A friend started using Antennapod at my suggestion and they're also confused/frustrated and I'd like to point them to some documentation instead of walking them through what I do and puzzling it out together.

[ByteHamster]

I often find that if I mark an episode as "Played" it stays in my queue and isnt' downloaded.

I am not sure what you expect. Could you please provide step-by-step instructions what you do and what you expect to happen?

The deletion policy is quite messy, currently. I hope that as soon as AntennaPod/AntennaPod#3560 is implemented, it gets more clear.

In general, adding documentation is a lot of work. I am not sure if the developers want to do that (they are busy with improving the app). Additionally, it needs to always be updated, otherwise it's probably more confusing than without documentation.

[amandabee]

Ahh. Sorry, there's a typo. I meant "not deleted" rather than "not downloaded". I would expect played episodes to stop appearing in my queue once they're played or marked as played, unless I explicitly add them back to the queue. The question of whether documentation is useful is a separate one. In my experience, the practice of articulating expected behavior is helpful to developers, too, as a reference point. But it doesn't sound like you're speaking for the development team on that point so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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On November 28, 2019 4:24:51 AM PST, "H. Lehmann" ***@***.***> wrote: > I often find that if I mark an episode as "Played" it stays in my queue and isnt' downloaded. I am not sure what you expect. Could you please provide step-by-step instructions what you do and what you expect to happen? The deletion policy is quite messy, currently. I hope that as soon as #3560 is implemented, it gets more clear. In general, adding documentation is a lot of work. I am not sure if the developers want to do that (they are busy with improving the app). Additionally, it needs to always be updated, otherwise it's probably more confusing than without documentation. -- You are receiving this because you authored the thread. Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub: https://github.com/AntennaPod/AntennaPod/issues/3555#issuecomment-559474892

-- Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.

[ByteHamster]

I would expect played episodes to stop appearing in my queue once they're played or marked as played

Currently, episodes that were actually played are removed from the queue. If you just mark them as played, they are not removed. By default, auto delete only considers episodes that are not in the queue.

But it doesn't sound like you're speaking for the development team on that point so ¯_(ツ)_/¯

I can't speak for all developers because AntennaPod is developed by people from all over the world. I just speak for myself (but I am currently doing around 60% of the development). If there is someone who has the time/motivation to write and maintain a documentation, the person is warmly invited to write one. My feeling is that the developers care more about the features they are adding than about documentation, though.

[comradekingu]

What is the use-case of treating "marked as played" as different from "played"?
@amandabee Are any of your scenarios points where you would expect something different to happen?

A possible solution if there are good reasons is to have different rules in the settings for both.
Hopefully that can be avoided.

[keunes]

There now is documentation and this ticket is 2 years old. I will review when I have the time. Questions/comments on the app should be discussed in the appropriate repo.