# A few (probably dumb/simple) questions from a noob **URL:** \ **Category:** Troubleshooting\ **Created:** [March 30, 2016, 3:46pm UTC](https://forum.mattermost.com/t/a-few-probably-dumb-simple-questions-from-a-noob/1187 "2016-03-30T15:46:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jimb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f4b2a3/32.png) [@jimb](https://forum.mattermost.com/u/jimb)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2016, 3:46pm UTC](https://forum.mattermost.com/t/a-few-probably-dumb-simple-questions-from-a-noob/1187/1 "2016-03-30T15:46:33Z")
We are looking at using mattermost in our organization, and have been very impressed with the functionality and polish so far. I’ve poked around the forum and the docs a bit, and I may have missed the answers, but I still have a few questions: - how do you archive / purge old data? maybe I want to clear conversations in specific channels over a year old? Can that be performed? - Manual setting of user status - am I correct that this is not possible? - Additionally It appears there are only 3 statuses right now: online, away, and offline. No other statuses are available, and no way to only appear offline? - Announcement / Read only Channels - there is no way to make a channel that admins can write in, but all other users can only read, correct? is there any facility for system wide announcements then? - We want to restrict team invites to Admins only. I believe that is a feature set to be added in the future, am I correct about that? I hope posting this is not “bad form”, as I say I’m new here. Thank you! ---
**Author:** ![matterbot](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.mattermost.com/matterbot/32/467_2.png) [@matterbot](https://forum.mattermost.com/u/matterbot)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2016, 5:45pm UTC](https://forum.mattermost.com/t/a-few-probably-dumb-simple-questions-from-a-noob/1187/2 "2016-03-30T17:45:03Z")
Thanks @jimb! Very glad to hear. > [@jimb](#): > > how do you archive / purge old data? maybe I want to clear conversations in specific channels over a year old? Can that be performed? Mattermost is designed as a continuous archive, not supported right now. Can you share more about how important this is? Messages from a year ago shouldn’t affect load times. > [@jimb](#): > > Manual setting of user status - am I correct that this is not possible? Not yet, there’s `/online` and `/offline` slash commands proposed in [a design under review](https://forum.mattermost.com/t/accepting-pull-requests-slash-commands/1183), these are feature changes where code contributions are welcome. > [@jimb](#): > > Additionally It appears there are only 3 statuses right now: online, away, and offline. No other statuses are available, and no way to only appear offline? Correct, you can add a [feature idea](http://www.mattermost.org/feature-requests/) to be upvoted on this if there isn’t one already. > [@jimb](#): > > Announcement / Read only Channels - there is no way to make a channel that admins can write in, but all other users can only read, correct? is there any facility for system wide announcements then? No permissions on channels right now, you can add a [feature idea](http://www.mattermost.org/feature-requests/) to be upvoted on this if there isn’t one already. That said, Town Square is typically used for announcements and you can rename the channel to “Announcements Only”. If someone on your team is over posting in the Announcements channel, it’s probably more a people problem than a software problem. > [@jimb](#): > > We want to restrict team invites to Admins only. I believe that is a feature set to be added in the future, am I correct about that? You can add a [feature idea](http://www.mattermost.org/feature-requests/) to be upvoted on this if there isn’t one already. ---
**Author:** ![jimb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f4b2a3/32.png) [@jimb](https://forum.mattermost.com/u/jimb)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2016, 6:17pm UTC](https://forum.mattermost.com/t/a-few-probably-dumb-simple-questions-from-a-noob/1187/3 "2016-03-30T18:17:08Z")
With regards to archive / removal of older data: not a deal breaker, but I can see a time where we would want to purge old discussions. Depending on the nature of some communications, older discussions may have little value, and only be a potential social or legal liability. > If someone on your team is over posting in the Announcements channel, it’s probably more a people problem than a software problem. As I always say, good fences make good neighbors. Even in testing we have seen some slack experienced users who as such are familiar with using these types of systems, accidentally posting in the wrong channel. Thank you for the quick responses!