Automatic "Close Thread" Function After A Time

[RDN]

Well, I've read all the posts on this subject, and I am still convinced that closing (CLOSING, not DELETING) old threads is a good idea.

After 6 months, whatever was posted before will probably be out of date and so a new fresh thread on whatever subject would be preferable to an old topic reappearing on page 1 of the forum and making a lot of posters read all the out of date stuff before they get to the current stuff.

It will also stop the type of thread that I originally quoted - which I guess most of you didn't bother reading - being restarted when it was written 8 months ago by some guy who joined TV, posted for 2 (TWO) days and then disappeared back under his shell, leaving the topic about his love life open for some newbie to reply to, not noticing that it was 8 months old, and not knowing that this guy would never read it, and inadvertently fooling other members to add their comments.

I've half a mind to go back over this topic and delete all the posts that talk about "deleting" when that is not what I said. I wonder how many would be left?

//rant finished.

P.S. Nothing wrong with the date format.

[snowleopard]

Surely many of the old threads are revived by newbies that come across them via search engine results?

If they then wanted to post on them thinking they were current but could not as they were closed, they would not understand why they were closed and go elsewhere rather than signing up on the board and joining in?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Good point! No thread is ever closed to an open mind.

If people have something to say,let them say it whenever they want.

All suggestions that hamper communication...NO!

No closing time ever...

[penzman]

I have just discovered that this old buried treasure has been closed. This particular one brought tears to my eyes.

[RDN]

I have just discovered that this old buried treasure has been closed.   This particular one brought tears to my eyes.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I knew it would be that one! "Here I am, young and artful, Got in free, and did a cartfull"

What's that saying? "The exception proves the rule"?

PS. I don't know who closed it. Maybe I could move it to "Hong Khlaay Khriat" and re-open it?

[RDN]

Good point! No thread is ever closed to an open mind.

If people have something to say,let them say it whenever they want.

All suggestions that hamper communication...NO!

No closing time ever...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Just to clarify further...

I'm NOT saying the subject should be closed, I'm not saying that the subject cannot be discussed again. I am saying that if a topic hasn't had a new post added for a period of time, it should be closed.

If someone wants to raise the very same subject again, they can, but it will be in a new thread with new and updated material.

If it is the type of subject where the old closed thread contained useful information, then the old thread could be merged with the new one.

But I would guess that 95% of the time, that would not be the case.

[bkkmadness]

This is really keeping you awake at night isn't it RDN.

[RDN]

This is really keeping you awake at night isn't it RDN.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Sometimes I think if I posted a topic "I really hate the colour green" there will be twenty replies: "But blue is a really nice colour. Why do you hate it?"

[Jai Dee]

I have just discovered that this old buried treasure has been closed.   This particular one brought tears to my eyes.

:D

That thread was a &lt;deleted&gt; classic!!!

Top marks to Cheeky Ferang for his posting on dunny humour.

[Darknight]

"Here I am, young and artful, Got in free, and did a cartfull"

Sounds like a motto for scampy

Serious now

another board i frequent use an added message to the date stamp to notify users that the content might be old.

like this

Buzz1167

Status: Senior Heliman

Registered: Jul 2002

Location: Somewhere over the Rainbow Whrer can I buy/stare at one of these, the 3DNT hompage guys aren't responding.

Thanks

Buzz1167

Jon N

07-29-2002 - Over year old. 

[lampard10]

There are times when keeping them open is advantageous. Take my thread (maybe first thread) from last year' Beware flight deals to Surin' where if you clicked on the Surin option you were given the on-line form for booking a flight to Phuket, even though you had entered Elephant festival Surin. Not a single reply for 8months,then suddenly it's active again with punters wanting info on this years extraveganza. It might be an idea to archive them, so they don't actually appear, but members can access them by typing in a key word.

[mpdkorat]

Old threads are sometimes resurrected - typically by Newbies browsing through all posts - and other members respond thinking that they a "current". This one here for example:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?sh...ndpost&p=364505

I was wondering if threads could be closed automatically after a time period without  new posts being added.

Or do we want them always to be open? 

This would need a software change by Invision for sure.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

My fault will not do it again. Just didn't check the date of the previous post.

[Insight]

The international standard date notation ISO 8601  is

YYYY-MM-DD

where YYYY is the year in the usual Gregorian calendar, MM is the month of the year between 01 (January) and 12 (December), and DD is the day of the month between 01 and 31.

For example, the fourth day of February in the year 1995 is written in the standard notation as

1995-02-04

<snip>

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Understood geez - I use a similar format (YYYYMMDD) myself, mainly when storing log files to disk.

My point being that to fellow humans out there, it just isn't that readable. A textual representation of the date will give users an immediate indication of just how old a post is. With the date in the ISO format it's in now, I personally feel I have to read it 'backwards' and then decipher.

And so on and so forth...

/Edit - Shall we do a poll?

[Jai Dee]

Shall we do a poll?

Good idea!

[RDN]

My fault will not do it again. Just didn't check the date of the previous post.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It wasn't you mpdkorat, not in the thread I linked to as the example. It was somebody called "Sturbuc".

He's only done three posts and look at all this trouble he's caused!