Lack of interest [Suggestion] Old Thread Warning

[Shamil]

I don't know yet how XF functions and as such, however, some board administrators may consider old thread warnings to be useful, i.e, the user is alerted that the thread is old.

One way this could be implemented would be to overlay a div over the post-box with the warning and a button which would dismiss the overlay and allow the user to continue their post into the thread.

 

[feldon30]

or a cobweb graphic.

 

[AndyB]

I would think that this would be a better suited as a plugin. I had such a plugin on my forum, but members got tired of it and ignored it, so I removed it.

 

[James]

I had a similar plugin on my site (we had a rule against bumping old threads) so the warning displayed when the thread was older than the bump date.

It was useful be great to see it as default functionality, but a plugin is fine too.

 

[Brandon_R]

This would be better suited as a plugin.

 

[Dean]

While I cannot think of any forum owner that would argue against having the feature available, I would not consider it highly important and yes a plugin might be best.

Most of our threads which are truly time sensitive (classifieds) are dealt with using other methods so they cannot be bumped.

 

[dutchbb]

Definitely a useful feature, have it as a plugin on vB3.8, bumped up old threads can be very annoying.

 

[Peggy]

I would never use it, simply because I don't mind members bumping old threads.
But I know alot of admins do mind, so yeah, a plugin.

 

[dutchbb]

I would never use it, simply because I don't mind members bumping old threads.
But I know alot of admins do mind, so yeah, a plugin.

Even if it's a 8 year old thread, and some newbie posts 'Yeah, I agree' and the thread then runs completely out of hand?

 

[Peggy]

That is quite a different story, and mods take care of those, of course.

But for the mostpart, in my 6 years of forum experience, I've never minded members bumping old discussions.
New eyes and fresh perspective generates more discussion, and the thread takes on a new life.

 

[Shamil]

I'd personally rather have someone open a new thread on the same topic, than having a 4-5 year old thread be bumped.

 

[Erik]

I've seen forums close threads when they get to a certain age without any replies (like a few weeks or months), which seems to work really well.

 

[Peggy]

I'd personally rather have someone open a new thread on the same topic, than having a 4-5 year old thread be bumped.

Duplicate threads? Naw, get the old one going again is my motto.

 

[dutchbb]

Aren't you always going to get duplicate threads anyway? But to each his own of course, I also encourage making a new thread when we're talking about several years old (unless it's a sticky). But it also depends on the uniqueness of a thread...

 

[jonsidneyb]

I am sure there are some good answers to this but unless it is a classified ad why would there be objections to replying in an old thread?

 

[Peggy]

Aren't you always going to get duplicate threads anyway? But to each his own of course, I also encourage making a new thread when we're talking about several years old (unless it's a sticky). But it also depends on the uniqueness of a thread...

Several years old is, of course, a different story.
But really, how often does that happen?

 

[Carlos]

Several years old is, of course, a different story.
But really, how often does that happen?

Bots/Spammers.

 

[James]

Bots/Spammers.

Spam Cleaner, reCAPTCHA, etc, etc. Bots and spammers are becoming much easier to handle these days

 

[dutchbb]

Several years old is, of course, a different story.
But really, how often does that happen?

I should have said months too, I think 3-4 months after the last post is pretty old to still post in if it's not a sticky. And most of the time nothing interesting is posted, it's often a newbie saying something obvious, and then others start commenting him/her for doing that. Most people just don't like old threads getting bumped.

No it doesn't happen very often, I'm guessing a few times every month or so.

 

[Peggy]

See I don't even consider it an old thread if it's only a few months old.

I'm thinking that our definition of "old", when it comes to threads, differs.