Who is for closing old threads?

[mjbliemel]

Who is for closing old threads, I mean really old ones?

For instance this poll about which Boxster do you own (currently bumped up again on the site) comes back from the dead -- it was started by JT in May of 2002.

Now, don't get me wrong, I like things like that poll. But when we have these old threads floating to the top again all the time, the forum becomes stagnant. No new ideas, no really fun stuff.

Perhaps we can put things like that into a special place just for polls where you can vote, but not have it float to the top again. Is there a way to do that Jorge?

I'd like to see some fresh things around here on a more regular basis. What do you think? Shall we put something into effect that after say 60 days or whatever, a thread can no longer be brought back from the land of the dead?

Curious to hear your feelings on this.

[Alienz]

Old threads tell the history of the forum. If you want the forum to be very new all the time by closing older threads then you are making a big mistake. What if someone posted a thread about a problem with thier car and someone came to answer it 2 years later? Isn't that worth it?

Old threads bump up because more ppl are coming to this forum and reading it, it doesn't matter whether they are reading old or new threads. I read other forums with threads that are 4 years old.

[mjbliemel]

Well, I think we could archive the really old, old threads as a better solution than having these things float to the top all the time. Just my opinion of course, but that's how I feel about it.

[jfmillr]

Hmmm. Closing the old old threads might not be a bad idea, but I like the idea of addint to an old thread a new problem. That way you can avoid too many multiple threads with the same topic...
My 2 cents....

[donv]

My previous suggestion on this issue was to add the "Original Post Date" to the "Thread Starter" field on the topics display list, much like the "Last Post" information is presented today (with user, date & time). This way, the veterans can decide if they want to read a "Frankenstein" (reawakened from the dead ) thread or just ignore it.

For me, the bigger challenge is finding stuff in the old posts when we (including me) have shifted topics from the starting post (like right here? ) - but we'd need to go to moderated posts to avoid this and that would likely spoil the vibe we have here of free and easy flow...

[Alienz]

vBulletin has something like, you can archive threads that are any number of days old. Maybe this system is what you are looking for. It's a good idea actually, I've seen it done in http://forum.celebworld.ws/ when they started getting really popular.

[Porschefan]

Being new to the forum, I spent about 3 hours last week reading posts all the way back for at least a year. Some info was helpful, some entertaining (especially the pissing contest about the watches and who was worth more..) .. It would be nice to move technical info to a accessible area for future reference. My 2 cents worth.

[mjbliemel]

I was thinking about this and you know what I would like to see if another separate spot on the homepage where all the really old threads could reside. You could still respond to them, but they would not float to the top like the do now in the NEWEST threads.

OK, if you are not clear on what I mean, here goes.

We have the LATEST DISCUSSIONS area there on the homepage.

What I am talking about is creating another box similar to that but it would be titled something like OLDIES BUT GOODIES threads. It would live between the LATEST DISCUSSIONS and ALL FORUM TOPICS on the forum homepage. Replying to a thread in there would bump it within the OLDIES BUT GOODIES area, but not bump it in the LATEST DISCUSSIONS area.

Jorge, you thoughts on this please? Is it even possible to do that? Well, again this is just my own opinion of course, but I thought it has some merit.

Kinda get the idea? Well, just a thought. Keep those happy that are going to reply to the really old stuff here (and I agree it can be useful, etc), but keep the latest and newest stuff uncluttered with these old dinosaurs.

Well,that's how I would do it.

[ehljags]

"oldies but goodies" is good (too many 'goods"). I have no problems archiving old stuff.

[Charlie C]

I don't know what's involved but I've seen a feature on other boards where there's a place where you can click that says "READ FIRST UNREAD" or something like that. I guess it must use cookies or something so that it only appears if you've read that thread before. It's actually kind of cool as it brings you directlly to the first unread message even if it's several pages down.

Charlie

[donv]

You have that feature here, "View New Posts", but new replies to very old threads are treated the same as totally new threads for that filter.