Old and dormant threads

[henrythedog]

I have suggested before locking threads when there has been no activity for a substantial period. That suggestion didn’t fly but - no pun intended - the more than a decade old thread on Iberia cancelling flights to Santiago was resurrected today. It’s not unusual.

Could Ivar consider as part of ongoing development making it much more obvious when a thread has not had a post for more than a year?

I know the date of the last post is shown, but it’s clearly not sufficiently obvious.

 

[jungleboy]

In another forum that I post on, this message appears when you hit reply to a dormant thread. Could something like that be an option here too?

 

[alexwalker]

Very good idea.

 

[trecile]

In another forum that I post on, this message appears when you hit reply to a dormant thread. Could something like that be an option here too?

View attachment 72011

Great idea!

 

[Rebekah Scott]

Good idea. I do not believe in locking old threads. A place like this is not just a forum. It is an archive! History lives on, and wise people can use the richness of the past -- even arcane and mundane threads -- to form the future.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

I am the one who accidently resurrected the old Iberia thread. I knew there was a thread from a couple of weeks ago about canceling flights due to the virus and I'd recalled Iberia being referred to, but couldn't remember the thread title so did a search. Unfortunately "Iberia" popped up so I quickly clicked on it thinking it was the same one I was remembering...but didn't notice in time that it was tagged as "older threads on this subject"...oops.

 

[VNwalking]

Look and think before you post - we can just be more mindful.
That's all it will take.

[Not preaching or pointing fingers, because I have made this mistake too...]

 

[Walking Lover]

I have suggested before locking threads when there has been no activity for a substantial period. That suggestion didn’t fly but - no pun intended - the more than a decade old thread on Iberia cancelling flights to Santiago was resurrected today. It’s not unusual.

Could Ivar consider as part of ongoing development making it much more obvious when a thread has not had a post for more than a year?

I know the date of the last post is shown, but it’s clearly not sufficiently obvious.

I seem to recall that subscribers are deleted if they aren't active for a period of time. I was dropped once.

 

[WGroleau]

Good idea. I do not believe in locking old threads. A place like this is not just a forum. …

In other forums, "locking" refers to not allowing added comments. That might be appropriate here for some threads, but since not all, the warning idea is better. Or a compromise would be a lock that the user can override by responding to "Locked because ___ months old—are you sure you want to reply?"

 

[lt56ny]

In another forum that I post on, this message appears when you hit reply to a dormant thread. Could something like that be an option here too?

View attachment 72011

Just wondering what forum you are referring? No worries Ivar I will remain a loyal member of this site!!

 

[jungleboy]

Just wondering what forum you are referring? No worries Ivar I will remain a loyal member of this site!!

It's a forum about the board game Carcassonne.

 

[wayfarer]

I seem to recall that subscribers are deleted if they aren't active for a period of time. I was dropped once.

No, that doesn't happen, you have to request your account to be deleted and only Ivar can delete an account.

 

[ivar]

I don't think locking threads is the way to go... but I like the little message that inform you that it has been x number of days since the last post this this thread... I just realised that there is a plugin that I can use to make this happen, but I can only install this from the office in Santiago, so I would have to wait until I get back there.

What do we think should be the limit? If the last post in a thread is 180 days (or more ago) then we put up the message?

 

[trecile]

I don't think locking threads is the way to go... but I like the little message that inform you that it has been x number of days since the last post this this thread... I just realised that there is a plugin that I can use to make this happen, but I can only install this from the office in Santiago, so I would have to wait until I get back there.

What do we think should be the limit? If the last post in a thread is 180 days (or more ago) then we put up the message?

I think that 180 days would be a good limit.

 

[wayfarer]

Six months, yes, sounds good.