Forum best tips and practices

[Parksy]

Recently a few old topics are being resurrected because when they appear in the new Similar Threads section, new replies are being added.
From Forum Best Tips and Practices:

"Check the date of the last post in a thread before replying. If the most recent post is more than 3 months old, create a new thread on the same topic. You can link to the previous thread as reference, but we want to avoid “necro” posts that attempt to resuscitate old threads"

 

[Buckman]

Recently a few old topics are being resurrected because when they appear in the new Similar Threads section, new replies are being added.
From Forum Best Tips and Practices:

"Check the date of the last post in a thread before replying. If the most recent post is more than 3 months old, create a new thread on the same topic. You can link to the previous thread as reference, but we want to avoid “necro” posts that attempt to resuscitate old threads"

Nothing wrong with that, but when you do create the new post on something that has been mentione din the past, someone will invariably gleefully state that the subject has been "done to death" on an earlier thread. Either way the poster loses out.

 

[Parksy]

Nothing wrong with that, but when you do create the new post on something that has been mentione din the past, someone will invariably gleefully state that the subject has been "done to death" on an earlier thread. Either way the poster loses out.

New topics or posts on things that have been mentioned in the past are not the problem in this case Buckman.
The problem is that replies are being added to topics which are months or years old because they're appearing in this new Similar Posts section.

 

[Buckman]

New topics or posts on things that have been mentioned in the past are not the problem in this case Buckman.
The problem is that replies are being added to topics which are months or years old because they're appearing in this new Similar Posts section.

Regarding the lawnmower thread which I think I may have started sometime last year, I was really posting an update. The vacuum post I was responding to BB new post albeit late and then adding a comment or update.

I have no issues with the dictate regarding old posts being resurrected as the last thing we need to happen is where the moderators spend hours looking for old threads to tag a new thread onto like with one of the clubs.

The end result was a thread raised several years ago with over a thousand posts. Who is going to read all those posts to see if their question has been answered?

 

[Parksy]

The end result was a thread raised several years ago with over a thousand posts. Who is going to read all those posts to see if their question has been answered?

Not me! ☺️

 

[RogerL]

One of the problems when old threads are resurrected is that some contributors post their opinion or information but forget they posted the same thing some months or years before - I'm certainly guilty of that because I don't read old threads right through again, just the original and latest posts.

Perhaps Admin and the moderators could consider having threads automatically closed when dormant for, say, 3 months.

 

[Buckman]

One of the problems when old threads are resurrected is that some contributors post their opinion or information but forget they posted the same thing some months or years before - I'm certainly guilty of that because I don't read old threads right through again, just the original and latest posts.

Perhaps Admin and the moderators could consider having threads automatically closed when dormant for, say, 3 months.

I think that perhaps the cut off or locked ate should be a bit longer than 3 months. Some people go away for more than 3 months at a time.