Locking Old Threads (Viewing Only)

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Spitfire
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Locking Old Threads (Viewing Only)

Post by Spitfire »

I'm pretty sure it's been brought up before but is still a no-no by the look of it. Does admin/mods or anyone else have any input on this. Personally, after a certain amount of time with no postings (time length at the discretion of admin) then a topic should become one of viewing status only unless there is a good reason that admin decides otherwise for keeping it open.

Reason is, that when threads get dug up years later then people might have changed their views, softened or hardened their stance on something and it seems totally out-of-sync when a thread re-appears and there is a 5 year gap between the new last post and the penultimate one. Just start a new thread and get current opinions as posters from before shouldn't be constrained by what they said 5 years ago. This happened today with the red plate thread.

It didn't really bother me on the red plate thread that re-appeared today as I'm still good to go with what I said but that might not be the case for everyone all the time.
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Re: Locking Old Threads (Viewing Only)

Post by HHTel »

Also, and quite often, a post of 5 years ago is answered as if it was yesterday!
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Re: Locking Old Threads (Viewing Only)

Post by HHTel »

Sorry, Spitfire, I've pretty much repeated what you'd already said. Must learn to read the whole post before responding.
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Re: Locking Old Threads (Viewing Only)

Post by Big Boy »

From my point of view, and this is not official, it would be a pig of a job having to periodically review old threads, and declaring them closed. Admin might have a simple solution, but I wouldn't hold your breath.
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Re: Locking Old Threads (Viewing Only)

Post by HHTel »

I would have thought it could be done with software but of course, someone needs to write it. A little like 'junk' mail being automatically deleted after a given period.
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Re: Locking Old Threads (Viewing Only)

Post by RCer »

Only problem I see with this idea is someone who asks a question because what they found was in an old thread.

Members of boards like this one tend to pile on the person with comments like, use the search function.
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Re: Locking Old Threads (Viewing Only)

Post by pharvey »

Old threads is a bit of a problem - take the "Caption Competition" for example, it's an old thread but regularly used. SF I'm taking you mean threads not used for a certain period of time? Pretty sure that's easily done BB (sorry, but time consuming - zero offence)?

Personally, I think they should be left open - when I joined a fair few years back (and before visiting HH with the LHG), I gained masses of information from "Old" and ongoing threads, which were a great help. Is it a great advantage to "Lock" them? Memory wise (kB) for the Forum itself?

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Re: Locking Old Threads (Viewing Only)

Post by 404cameljockey »

Of course leave all threads searchable, but why not lock them after a period of inactivity (6 months? A year? I really have no idea what's reasonable). Then you don't have newbies wasting time answering questions that are a year or so old, less confusion until after you check the dates of the posts, and it keeps the new message/latest topics alerts tidier. Just my opinion.

If you do have a good reason to bump a really old one (I think it's rare) you can always ask a mod to unlock it.
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Re: Locking Old Threads (Viewing Only)

Post by pharvey »

404cameljockey wrote: Tue Oct 03, 2017 4:11 pmIf you do have a good reason to bump a really old one (I think it's rare) you can always ask a mod to unlock it.
Fair point - but Mods give their time and effort for free... Do they have the time?

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Re: Locking Old Threads (Viewing Only)

Post by Ralfredo »

404cameljockey wrote: Tue Oct 03, 2017 4:11 pmThen you don't have newbies wasting time answering questions that are a year or so old
But is this really a problem? If someone adds new information to an old thread, this could still be useful information. If not for the thread starter, maybe for others.

I have for example started threads on where to buy a specific item or what kind of services are available in a certain area. Some of these threads are several years old but if someone added new information, at least I would probably find that interesting.
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Re: Locking Old Threads (Viewing Only)

Post by 404cameljockey »

pharvey wrote: Tue Oct 03, 2017 4:39 pm
404cameljockey wrote: Tue Oct 03, 2017 4:11 pmIf you do have a good reason to bump a really old one (I think it's rare) you can always ask a mod to unlock it.
Fair point - but Mods give their time and effort for free... Do they have the time?

:cheers: :cheers:
Someone mentioned that sophisticated forum software might be able just to handle this automatically. If so then we might consider it?
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Re: Locking Old Threads (Viewing Only)

Post by 404cameljockey »

Ralfredo wrote: Tue Oct 03, 2017 8:47 pm
404cameljockey wrote: Tue Oct 03, 2017 4:11 pmThen you don't have newbies wasting time answering questions that are a year or so old
But is this really a problem? If someone adds new information to an old thread, this could still be useful information. If not for the thread starter, maybe for others.

I have for example started threads on where to buy a specific item or what kind of services are available in a certain area. Some of these threads are several years old but if someone added new information, at least I would probably find that interesting.
I agree, some threads can usefully be regularly updated. Or even some old ones could be unlocked and bumped if needed. My point was that only a few threads need to be 'evergreen'. Most situations could be handled perfectly well by starting a new thread, if old information is out of date, and the old ones anyway would be searchable if people are looking for stale info.

When I'm looking for information I find it frustrating to see something that looks useful and then find it's 3 years old. Maybe I'm totally wrong, but these discussions are only to find out who thinks what.:)

I'm not fussed either way, but I just thought it sounds a good idea to keep the forum tidy. No biggie.

I guess only the forum panjandrums can decide what we do. :)
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Re: Locking Old Threads (Viewing Only)

Post by Ralfredo »

404cameljockey wrote: Tue Oct 03, 2017 10:17 pmMost situations could be handled perfectly well by starting a new thread
One of the first threads I started after joining this forum was about supermarkets and restaurants close to Soi 114.

http://huahinforum.com/viewtopic.php?f= ... 23#p243585

Since I regularly visit this area I'm still interested in new information on the subject.

If a new nice restaurants pop up I think the likelihood of this being mentioned is higher if this could be added to the old thread instead of someone having to start a new thread. Unfortunately no one should probably find my old thread so in this case it probably wouldn't matter if it's locked or not... :? :(
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Re: Locking Old Threads (Viewing Only)

Post by 404cameljockey »

Ralfredo wrote: Wed Oct 04, 2017 12:22 pm
404cameljockey wrote: Tue Oct 03, 2017 10:17 pmMost situations could be handled perfectly well by starting a new thread
One of the first threads I started after joining this forum was about supermarkets and restaurants close to Soi 114.

http://huahinforum.com/viewtopic.php?f= ... 23#p243585

Since I regularly visit this area I'm still interested in new information on the subject.

If a new nice restaurants pop up I think the likelihood of this being mentioned is higher if this could be added to the old thread instead of someone having to start a new thread. Unfortunately no one should probably find my old thread so in this case it probably wouldn't matter if it's locked or not... :? :(
There is a thread specifically for restaurant news in the Feeding Time section, where interested people will post and check for news. And any thread that is very useful is regularly contributed to and so will never lock anyway. ;)
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Re: Locking Old Threads (Viewing Only)

Post by Pleng »

I just did a quick search and it seems like there isn't an extension to this forums software to achieve this, despite a few people requesting it, which I found surprising. So it would either require manual intervention from forum admin staff, or investing in custom coding.
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