Sticky Auto-Closing of Old Threads

[Uwe]

Having gotten tired people necro-posting in really old threads, we recently installed a new add-on in the forum that automatically closes threads that haven't had any activity for a specified period of time (currently set to 365 days). In other words, any thread that hasn't had any activity in the past year will automatically be closed. Since we didn't want it to choke performance, we restricted it to processing 1000 threads every night. It has finally caught up.

If you see an old thread that's closed, and you think you have something of value to add to it, you can contact us directly and we can re-open it, or you can post a new thread and ask to have it merged into the old one.

-Uwe-

 

[NZDubNurd]

Typo in title... just FYI
(please burn after reading! )

 

[Crasher]

That will stop people giving ye olde threads CPR.

 

[Uwe]

ypo in title... just FYI

Fixed, thanks!

(please burn after reading! )

-Uwe-

 

[Uwe]

That will stop people giving ye olde threads CPR.

-Uwe-

 

[brundozg]

I had to google why necro-posting is bad and I found a schism between:
a) having condensed information in less threads and therefore easier searching of the forum (I remember this was popular cca 20 years ago). Idea is also that necro-ing a thread means the topic is still actual.
b) notifying users still following old threads is bad, necro-ing is messing up search function by putting results of an old thread in front of the newer one, five monkeys principle - necro-ing is simply bad because everyone says so

If you see an old thread that's closed, and you think you have something of value to add to it, you can contact us directly and we can re-open it, or you can post a new thread and ask to have it merged into the old one.

I know this will work perfectly, as for similar requests I never had to wait longer than sunrise in the USA , but out of curiosity - what are your reasons why necro-posting is bad?

P.S. adding a post without any value to an old thread I intentionally did not mention, as useless post is always an useless post, no matter how old the thread is

 

[Uwe]

I know this will work perfectly, as for similar requests I never had to wait longer than sunrise in the USA ,

Well, at this time of year, when the sun rises quite early, I'm usually not at my desk until a few hours after sunrise.

what are your reasons why necro-posting is bad?

People post barely related stuff. Sometimes they'll find a particular fault code via a web-search, but it's in a totally different car, and really doesn't belong in that thread. Other times they will come along and ask the OP of a thread whether they ever fixed the problem, without bothering to look at the OP's member page and noticing that he hasn't been here in years, which makes the post pointless.

Like I said, if there's a good reason to re-open an old thread, I'll be more than happy to do it.

-Uwe-