gistfile1.php

<?php

/* Example of a base model, which uses 0 instead of null value of the deleted_at as the deleted state when using soft-delete */

class BaseModel extends \Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model
{
    /**
     * Get a new query builder for the model's table.
     *
     * @param  bool  $excludeDeleted
     * @return \Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Builder|static
     */
    public function newQuery($excludeDeleted = true)
    {
        $builder = new Builder($this->newBaseQueryBuilder());

        // Once we have the query builders, we will set the model instances so the
        // builder can easily access any information it may need from the model
        // while it is constructing and executing various queries against it.
        $builder->setModel($this)->with($this->with);

        if ($excludeDeleted && $this->softDelete)
        {
            $builder->where($this->getQualifiedDeletedAtColumn(), 0);
        }

        return $builder;
    }

    /**
     * Determine if the model instance has been soft-deleted.
     *
     * @return bool
     */
    public function trashed()
    {
        return $this->softDelete && $this->attributes[static::DELETED_AT] != '0000-00-00 00:00:00';
    }

    /**
     * Restore a soft-deleted model instance.
     *
     * @return bool|null
     */
    public function restore()
    {
        if ($this->softDelete)
        {
            // If the restoring event does not return false, we will proceed with this
            // restore operation. Otherwise, we bail out so the developer will stop
            // the restore totally. We will clear the deleted timestamp and save.
            if ($this->fireModelEvent('restoring') === false)
            {
                return false;
            }

            $this->{static::DELETED_AT} = 0;

            // Once we have saved the model, we will fire the "restored" event so this
            // developer will do anything they need to after a restore operation is
            // totally finished. Then we will return the result of the save call.
            $result = $this->save();

            $this->fireModelEvent('restored', false);

            return $result;
        }
    }
}

Much needed feature but why 0? i know it's intuitive and almost always sufficient but wouldn't minimum value of datetime (1000-01-01 00:00:00.000000) make more sense?