Expand "Remove recent messages" functionality to include redacting messages between specified dates or message permalinks

[catscratchedme]

Is your suggestion related to a problem? Please describe.
I will often redact a room's older messages for privacy's sake. However, I still want to be able to view messages in the most recent day or two. When using "Remove recent messages," this will queue all the messages that have been loaded for redaction.

This is inconvenient for two reasons:

1. I have to scroll up to load older messages in order for them to be covered by "Remove recent messages"
2. I can't exclude the most recent messages from redaction

Describe the solution you'd like
Allow the user to more easily specify what range of messages they would like to bulk-redact.

Ideally, the user could input two different dates, or two message permalinks, and all the messages in between those timeframes would be redacted, even if they haven't already been loaded (so that the user doesn't have to scroll up to load older messages).

Describe alternatives you've considered
If it's any simpler, an alternative would be to modify the current "Remove recent messages" feature to allow the user to choose not to redact the most recent messages. Users would have the option to specify a final message or date, past which no other messages would be redacted.

And users would also have the option to not specify an endpoint, which would lead to the current "Remove recent messages" behavior.

[t3chguy]

https://github.com/vector-im/riot-web/issues/3800 sounds like what you might want

[Mikaela]

We have 50 minutes of spam and 178 lines (counted through IRC log before bridge crash(?)) from Discord through Matterbridge at https://view.matrix.org/room/!VNKfmSucoOfcjSEfzw:privacytools.io/?anchor=$cwfaVIX135jMGGvZPqn8UMukHtoGWh8BjJGWIr5KQuQ&offset=210. Is there currently any method of removing those messages other than going through three clicks, total 534 clicks, and long waiting periods for high number of times? I think this issue could provide that feature assuming dates also includes hours and minutes.