Solved Can people stop responding to 10 year old threads?

[Painted Calls]

I haven't read through all 9 pages, so forgive me if this has been said..

The only time I really have an issue with it is when someone (most of the time new people trying to learn) replies to an ancient thread with something like an emergency. Some of us won't click on threads we remember being solved, or we may see the date and not go through to the end. In that case, that person may not get the answers or help they need in a timely manner.

I've been trying to at least click on any revived threads, and go to the last page to make sure it's not an emergency. If it is, I usually direct them to making their own thread where there will be more traffic.

The old sexing threads being drug up to be sexed a few years later are a bit irritating, but meh. Easy enough to skip over. I get both sides of this discussion.

 

[AmeliaBedelia]

I’ll probably be in the minority but as I have said before I don’t mind the old threads popping up. What’s wrong with new people reviving old discussions. This is a recreational and educational site. Every post and every page viewed I assume boost advertising and viewership for the site owner. We also see info that we might not find searching. Anyway, not to ramble, but I don’t mind it.

I don't mind it except when it's something like "help, my chick is sick!" ...and someone offers their advice 3 years later. It would be nice if there was some sort of alert like "This thread hasn't been active in more than 6 months. You sure you want to post?"

 

[casportpony]

I've been trying to at least click on any revived threads, and go to the last page to make sure it's not an emergency. If it is, I usually direct them to making their own thread where there will be more traffic.

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

We appreciate the feedback!

I've made a few tweaks to the similar threads feature to give more weight to the more recent threads, and I also excluded the emergencies section to see how / if that changes things.

 

[Lemon-Drop]

I haven’t read through the pages but sometimes it happens if you click on the similar threads. It’s really easy to do.

 

[ColtHandorf]

I didn't read through everything but I did visit the linked threads some moderators provided as anecdotal evidence for why it's never been done, but...

Is there a way that a thread could be "locked" for further replies after a certain period of time, but should the OP or another user feel the need to post in the thread, that particular post is sent to the mods for review? If the new post is deemed relevant then the mod could allow the post to be visible which would then unlock the thread for another year?

I've seen quite a few dinosaurs in the What Breed or the Sexing areas, where a new member is asking someone who hasn't been active in six years if the bird ended up being a pullet or cockerel because their bird looks just like it.

I do see the importance of older threads, but sometimes in breed popularity threads for instance, when really old stuff gets resurrected from back when we all used PhotoBucket to host our images, none of those images are viewable as the links are long broken. That's not beneficial when pages and pages of a thread devoted to the appreciation of a breed where breeders are showing examples of well-bred birds are filled with broken image links.

That's just my two cents and I think if the work of "approving" those initial bump posts doesn't outweigh the benefits, then that could be quite useful.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Noooo!!!!
I have been on forums where this is a feature and uhg. You get a LOT of people asking a question, getting ONE answer and going "Thx. Locked!" without ever considering that the first person might not be the best person and may, in fact, be horribly wrong.

You also get people getting wildly territorial over their threads and locking them because other people asked questions and that can easily cross the line to downright rude.

It just shuts down conversation (literally) and gives some people way too much of a power trip. Was anyone around for the Homesteading Today forum debacle, where one mod went mad with power, locked threads and banned folks left and right and they lost like 40% of the long-term members in a matter of weeks?

Hmmm...maybe, when was it @RiverOtter ?
I know they've lost a lot with their upgrades the past couple-three years,
not the forum it used to be 6-7 years ago.

It was right around the time it got sold. I don't know if it was the new owners or the old ones that promoted A___, but I remember with the sale there was not enough oversight and MANY people - even other mods, were driven from the forum before anyone who could do something about it realized. Some of the new upgrades were a desperate bid to get people back.

What year was that?

Oh, heck if I remember ... 4 years, or 5??

That's when I remember it taking a dive.
Not sure it was 'sold' they just upgraded to new software.

Is this the one??? Seems they were taking people’s posts and posting them on their other sites under different names, without OPs knowledge, and also posting canned replies from fake accounts to make it look active, and all sorts of other shady stuff who knew there could be such drama on homesteading forums haha I’m glad BYC isn’t like this.

https://www.managingcommunities.com...w-to-quickly-turn-your-community-against-you/

 

[ShrekDawg]

And they were indeed sold btw to some big company that got a whole package of websites including that one

 

[RiverOtter]

Yup @TheDawg , that's the one!

 

[ShrekDawg]

Yup @TheDawg , that's the one!

I hadn’t heard of it or realized it was so bad!