Forum Pruning

[deeplist]

Hello,

Does anybody know if these forums are pruned? I have noticed alot of old threads that nobody even posts to anymore. There are a few new people (Juniors) that post in these threads not knowing if they are still active or not. I think they should at least be locked to avoid confusion. I have iKonBoard on my website and it has an option that alows you to "Prune" the forum and remove all the outdated posts and threads. Does anybody know? :confused:

[Bruce]

These forums are not pruned. All the posts right from the beginning are still available. Perhaps locking them after a certain period of time would be an idea, but it wouldn'tbe a good idea to delete them as they contain a lot of useful information.

[deeplist]

That is a good idea. I also believe they should be locked so people can still read the info. I have rarely seen a locked thread on this forum though. :rolleyes:

[Bruce]

Partly because it would be too time consuming to go through locking all the threads after a certain number of days or weeks or whatever.

Most of the time it does no harm leaving them the way they are except when someone doesn't notice the date or they purposely dig it up to increase their post count.

[deeplist]

That is very true. I have found a few times where people will find old threads and post nothing but nonsence just to up their post count, and there will be lots of them. They just want to get an avatar. :p lol

[Dusty]

Locking could be automated. It may not be a feature of the script but it would be an easy modification. I, for one, think it's a wonderful idea. I thought so when I first suggest it too. ;)

[deeplist]

I am sure it couldn't be too hard to throw together a date code and add it to the script to automaticly lock the old posts. Perhaps we should ask the board owner and see what he thinks of it? :confused:

[Jan]

Locking them after a certain date is still not a good idea.

For instance if someone does a search for a certain merchant program and finds one say three months old and wants info on that particular program, they should be able to access it to ask questions on the suitability, if they do actually pay etc.

This could also apply in some other forums as well.

:classic2:

[Dusty]

If they come across a three month old thread chances are its discussion has come to a close and t'would be best to start a new thread for the question.

[deeplist]

They will still be able to see the info, just not add anymore posts to the thread.

[Jan]

I see nothing wrong with adding to it, as long as they have an honest query, but those that bring up old threads just to make a 'wisecrack' should be discouraged.

It also brings it to the attention of others who might be interested in trying out that merchant/host.

[Dusty]

I don't see how replying to a long-dead three month old thread makes anymore sense than starting a new one. It wouldn't add anything to the question, if anything it would distract those reading it once they figure out it's not a new thread going eerily along the same lines as one they read three months ago... but in fact is the one they read three months ago.

You know those people, the ones when you have a conversion with one day, then days later they'll out of the blue add something else to it? It's like that, it would make more sense to start the topic afresh than try to rekindle ashes.

[Jan]

I was more referring to people who may have recently joined, (not those from 3 months back), it would be new to them.

[Dusty]

Wouldn't make any difference. New or old member, it would make more sense to start a new thread if you have a question and the last thread dealing with it is three months old.

[deeplist]

It wouldn't do much good to post to an old thread anyway when hardly anybody will even look at it. They should just start a new one, and more people will look and respond to it, than even bothering with a three month old one.

[The Red Guy]

Originally posted by DeepList.com
It wouldn't do much good to post to an old thread anyway when hardly anybody will even look at it. They should just start a new one, and more people will look and respond to it, than even bothering with a three month old one. And not really many appreciates old threads being brought up. :classic2:

[Dusty]

And not really many appreciates old threads being brought up.Exactly, which is why I think all threads over a month old should be locked. It would solve all thread-digging problems without making a disruption in the ordinary progression of things.

[deeplist]

Has anybody presented this idea to Peo?

[Jan]

I am confident Peo has seen this thread ;)

[deeplist]

I bet your right, Jan.

There is one thing we can finally agree on. :p

[The Red Guy]

Originally posted by Dusty
Exactly, which is why I think all threads over a month old should be locked. It would solve all thread-digging problems without making a disruption in the ordinary progression of things. Agreed. But no action from Peo yet, maybe he hasn't seen the thread or something?

[Jan]

Did it occur to you that he may not want to take action???

It is his BB, he can run it the way he wants. I am unaware of any BB that locks or deletes threads unnecessarily.

Certainly not the three high profile ones I am a member of. :)

[The Red Guy]

But it really is a good idea, so it should be implemented.

[Peo]

Locking all old threads would take forever. There are 14,400 threads now and about 50 new per day... :tired2:

But if vBulletin implements an automatic closing of threads after a certain time, we can do it.

[gyrbo]

Write an auto processing script and run it once a week to lock all after a date, shouldn't be to hard.

[conkermaniac]

I don't think it's a good idea. I strongly discourage against this. If someone has a legitimate response to a thread, what's wrong with letting them do so? I mean, many times I can't start a NEW thread (or I would be banned for spamming), so I look for similar threads where I can reply. It's very useful.

[Dusty]

I don't think it's a good idea. I strongly discourage against this. If someone has a legitimate response to a thread, what's wrong with letting them do so? I mean, many times I can't start a NEW thread (or I would be banned for spamming), so I look for similar threads where I can reply. It's very useful.No, that time you replied to a nine month old thread on EZ-Board was not useful and you shouldn't of posted to it. Just like when people reply to year old threads with "Sorry for digging up this old thread, but I thought it was funny" isn't useful either. If you've something to say that no one has talked about in the past few weeks, then start a new thread. If you fear your new thread might be considered spam, don't worry, your post to an old thread would still be considered spam. It's best you make neither of them.

[conkermaniac]

I was just notifying people that there were better services than ezBoard. What's wrong with that? The thread is continuing to go on, despite me bumping it up. That must mean that other people are interested in discussing that as well.

[Dusty]

You suggested a member who was in search of a remotely-hosted message board nine months ago check your website's list of good ones, ignoring the fact that he had probably already found one he likes and that he hasn't posted here for these last six months. I don't think your assistance was all that helpful in his making a decision on whether EZ-Board was the best.

"Continuing to go on"? Someone asked you what made you a self-appointed bulletin board expert, that had nothing at all to do with the topic of that thread. That thread was long over.

[The Red Guy]

Maybe Peo should state in the rules for each forums that digging up old threads is not allowed?

[Ben]

Originally posted by Infection
Maybe Peo should state in the rules for each forums that digging up old threads is not allowed?

Peo should also post one of those sticky-announcements to each forum, notifying everyone of the adition to the rules if he adds that to the rules.

[deeplist]

Originally posted by HTML-Guru


Peo should also post one of those sticky-announcements to each forum, notifying everyone of the adition to the rules if he adds that to the rules.

I also agree strongly on that!

[conkermaniac]

Originally posted by HTML-Guru


Peo should also post one of those sticky-announcements to each forum, notifying everyone of the adition to the rules if he adds that to the rules.

I agree.

[Jan]

A better idea would be to the lock the threads in this forum once an issue is resolved, so it doesn't get abused unnecessarily!

Peo has spoken on the locking of threads and on the increase of Private message boxes.

So be it!

[conkermaniac]

Locking threads manually would mean A LOT of work for the moderators...They would have to hire even more.

[deeplist]

Originally posted by conkermaniac
Locking threads manually would mean A LOT of work for the moderators...They would have to hire even more.

conkermaniac, you are stupid. There are scripts that can be made to automaticly lock them! There won't have to be any more mderators at all.

[The Red Guy]

Originally posted by DeepList.com


conkermaniac, you are stupid. There are scripts that can be made to automaticly lock them! There won't have to be any more mderators at all. Is there such a script? Maybe they will make one in the coming future.

[Peo]

We always announce it if we make any changes to our rules.

The other posts after my reply to this thread has already been answered in my reply. This forum is not intended for general chat. Thread closed.

Here is my reply again:


Locking all old threads would take forever. There are 14,400 threads now and about 50 new per day... :tired2:

But if vBulletin implements an automatic closing of threads after a certain time, we can do it.