Admin, can't you stop people from posting on old threads? With the new TER bringing old threads to the top when there is a new post, it is getting ridiculous! I'm not talking about 1 week old threads. I'm talking about 7 year old threads, and 11 year old threads!  

It is especially annoying when people post on the threads on the Self Help Manual. We are happy you pinned that instruction Manusl to the top of the newbie board last year.  That is a good thing, so newbies can find it easily and read it, but they should not be able to post replies to it.  

It was happening before where someone would post a comment to one of those ancient threads, but that one comment would just get lost there. Now if someone posts a comment, it moves the thread to the top of the page, then someone else sees it and posts a comment and so on.  

Is there some kind of software that can automatically lock threads after a certain time period? If not, can you manually do it?  
If neither of those is possible, can you at least just make it a policy that people cant post to threads after a certain time, and post that on the top of all boards, then at least when someone does post and someone else sees it, they can RAP it and you can remove the post.  

As far as the actual time frame that makes a thread too old to post on, that can be debated, or discussed, or you could just come up with a random time. I suggest something like after 2 weeks of no new posts. That way a lively thread could stay active for a while, but once it dies down, someone can't revive it weeks, months, or years later.

-- Modified on 7/21/2017 10:53:51 PM

I can't believe there was a book board?! It clearly didn't become the boomer board. So, was it converted to TEH, P&R, M&G, what happened to it? Also, did anyone ever point out that a lot of baby boomers were over 60, so that would've been redundant?

Became the Media and Erotic Literature board, which is basically the celebrity RIP board. 😊

Sometimes it can be fun to look over an old thread and see if it stood the test of time. The biggest problem is how long the time frame for no new posts should be. I would say 30 days but I don't think you will find a consensus.

The Photo board.  Manually enforced.  

Which demonstrates it can be done. But I don't think we'd want the same time limit used for the Photo board to be used on other boards!

Since some boards still have threads from 2+ weeks ago on the first page, I think 2 weeks is too short.  Maybe 3 months/90 days?

I was just about to go start a thread about what a strange little place the M&EL has become. It's a bunch of short videos, some of which are extremely hot actually, along with the obituaries. I bet ya I pitch a tent the next time I have to go to a funeral. That's going to be fun to explain.

on the newbie board is what caused me to post this. Lol. This subject has been bothering me for a while and I thought about posting  something like this for a few months. Your recent post on the newbie board is what drove me to finally do it. So thanks!

Anyway it is sometimes cool to bring up old topics as you say to see if they stood the test of time, but you can easily do that by starting a new thread, and linking to the original. What is ridiculous, is to post in the original thread years later. Many online forums don't allow that. In some the thread is physically closed, and you can't post. In others you can make a post but it is removed. In others you can make a post, but you get reprimanded by a moderator.  

I knew that but I totally spaced it when starting this thread. With the photo board rules we actually have a precedent, so we know it's doable manually. Also as I mentioned in my reply to OTM above, I have seen an old thread rule enforced in different ways on other forums. It can be done. It's just a matter of if TER chooses to do it, and what method they decide on.  

As far as time to determine what is an old thread, I'm not married to my 2 week number at all. Just something I threw out. Also I mentioned using a "no new posts for x amount of time" vs the date of the OP in the thread. Of course, even that could be circumvented. For example, say it was set at 2 weeks, some ass clown could add a post every 13 days to a thread just to fuck with the system. In that case, maybe an actual date of thread would be better.

-- Modified on 7/23/2017 12:46:57 PM

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finding things!

That does not change the fact that it is ridiculous to post on 11 year old threads.

-- Modified on 7/24/2017 5:25:43 PM

and if you and I can agree on this, maybe there is hope yet? lol

 
The problem with old threads knocking down new ones is that it makes it VERY difficult to find a thread you might be looking for because old threads with recent responses will show up as "newer" than threads that were started much more recently, but without any comments for a few hours or days.

 
I agree with PS (big surprise) that simply linking an old thread is a lot better way of bringing the topic back to rehash than bumping current threads with threads that are years old where the original participants have retired, quit TER, or have even passed away years ago like the OP in the case of the thread you revived.

-- Modified on 7/25/2017 10:16:29 AM

I've noticed smart asses going back MONTHS,  even over a YEARS, and they comment on the old thread and BOOM there it is after all this time. IMO peeps are just doing it for shits and giggles and it's beyond annoying and frustrating! @Admin, please make it stop!

StephXO

-- Modified on 8/1/2017 1:05:19 AM

I agree about the ancient resurrections. I do not think that the programming would be all that difficult.
It could be a conditional check:  
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Someone clicks reply or quote. Software checks date of last post to the parent thread. If greater than (3 months? 6 months? one year?), send error to browser: "This thread is locked to new posts." and permanently lock the thread. Otherwise, post as usual.
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It could be an automatic lock based on a calendar count, based on the date of the last (most recent) post or reply. As soon as the calendar reaches the set point (3 months? ... one year?), the thread is locked and "Thread is locked." is POSTED to the bottom of the thread, similar to the way TER Admins can currently lock topics manually. Except this would be locked by RobotAdmin.  
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TER can start with any amount of dormancy time and wait for feedback: "3 months - too little!", "one year - too long!". Then, just make one small change to that parameter in the code and start again.

When someone posted to it?

That way, people could still use that spygame verification system where someone posts a secret code to an old thread. Plus, it would go unnoticed.

Seems reasonable. A conditional bump.  
If most recent post is older than X, then do not bump.
Else, do bump. Yes! I like the secret code verification suggestion! It's pure genius!

Every post in chronological order according to the OP.  If you wanted to add to an old post you could, and it stayed where is was.  Don't understand why this was changed.

So we know it can be done.