Disabling converter or uninstalling

[Sonya*]

The most tables in my converter applications are empty. E. g. those have 0 records:

• conv_link
• conv_link_pms 
• conv_link_posts
• conv_link_topics

I wanted to disable converter app, but it is locked. Looks like disabling is not possible. Is it safe just to uninstall Converter? I do not need to convert anything in the near future and it seems that there is no need to keep the app. Or is there something I have overlooked? 

[Ryan Ashbrook]

If you haven’t converted in the past and don’t plan to, then yes.

[Sonya*]

I have converted years ago. But all link tables are empty, so there is no redirect any more. I just wanted to be sure that if the tables with conversion links are empty then there is no need to keep the application. Also no need for old logins or something like this...

[Ryan Ashbrook]

Old logins may be a concern, however that depends on how long ago it was and how many have logged in since.

[bfarber]

Just for posterity...

Generally speaking, when you convert we retain a mapping of old ids to new ids which allows the old URLs to be redirected to the new location. You would want to keep the converter application installed so that these redirects will continue to occur. Additionally, the converter application is responsible for maintaining login details once you convert (i.e. to allow users to continue using their previous password when possible).

If these use cases don't apply to you (the first will not if your map tables are empty now) then you can uninstall the application. When you uninstall it, however, the link tables will be removed so you cannot simply reinstall down the road to get the previous links working.

[Black Tiger]

On 6/24/2019 at 3:41 PM, bfarber said:

When you uninstall it, however, the link tables will be removed so you cannot simply reinstall down the road to get the previous links working.

I'm curious about this too. I didn't know one should keep the converter app installed so I'm lucky I did not uninstall it yet. I thought they would really be converted to new url's.

But according to these link tables... when removing the old url redirections will be lost is that correct?

But new links to these older posts will be generated by search engines after some time, especially when using a sitemap. Are there still disadvantages then if the old redirects dissapear?

[bfarber]

Over time search engines will indeed update their indexes to include the new URLs. You would ideally want to leave the redirects in place for a very good period of time while that happens, however (in the order of a year or longer I would suggest).

That said, there could be other links besides Google's index to worry about. If someone linked to a topic on your community from some other community, or from Facebook, for instance, (before you converted) the link tables can redirect those old requests to the new location. Unless you have some legitimate reason I would generally say just leave the converter app installed - it doesn't harm anything.