Bumping Old Threads

SNGX1275

SNGX1275

Posts: 10,615   +467
I've seen this breifly discussed somewhere before around here, but I think it got glossed over compared to the other content in the thread.

But I was wondering if there is any sort of built in function or hack to vB that can implemented that will inform a user upon clicking reply (probably wouldn't work with quick reply, but might if they quote..) if the last post is more than a year old?

I'll admit it is a bit amusing sometimes to see someone bump a thread up and then watch people get into an argument/discussion about something that hasn't been talked about in 3 years, but after the amusement wears off I don't like seeing it. Just today I saw a 1 year and 2 month old thread get resurrected and 3 replies have happened and nobody has realized that the original poster likely doesn't care anymore. I know sometimes having new input to a thread with a problem in it can help people in the future, but in reality I don't think that happens very often.

A potential 'problem' with this is the quick reply, that happens without loading anything new, so if you don't inform that the thread is x years old until after they've typed a reply it likely won't make a difference because they'll just submit anyway. So it would need to be done in such a way that they are given some indication it is an old thread before they spend 5 minutes typing a reply.

Thoughts?
 
Good point.

Using JavaScript, you could configure it so that when the Quick Reply box is clicked, it displays a message that informs the user of the thread's age.
 
If you set up another email account specifically for TechSpot, you can select the email notification options, and check every once in a while :) . Also, I'm not sure if there's such a hack available, but if there is, it would be located here. If I come across one while looking for other mods, I'll post it in here :D ! There is a hack for bumping a thread, but that's a little different.
 
I know a forum that automatically closes threads after a month or so of inactivity.

Oh, did I bump a old thread? :haha:
 
poertner_1274 said:
Quick reply is always available. You don't have to click on anything to be able to type into it.
Click to expand...

Not necessarily. I have basically all he little boxes below the actual thread's replies minimized to make the page shorter, and i don't really use them anyway, so if you were to click the button to make quick reply come up, then the script would tell you about the age of the thread.
 
I don't see anything in the Posting Guidelines about resurrecting old threads. I know that it is generally frowned upon in forums, but I personally prefer it if new relevant content is posted in the same thread, no matter how old it is (unless the field of discussion has changed with time, as with a topic like "What's the best CPU out right now?") Before implementing a script to warn posters about resurrecting old threads, I think we should determine TechSpot's views on the matter.
 
A Solved label might help this, if there were one that users could make on older threads
By the way this thread is also old !
 
VvWolverinevV - I think you missed the entire point, I was advocating a notification system that will alert people that are posting a reply that the thread is OLD. So we don't have people bumping an old thread with a 'solution' that the original poster doesn't care about anymore. In many cases the original guy isn't even active on the boards anymore.

Also, this thread was started June 28th, 2007. So if we were 'determining' techspot's views on it, that would have (and did) already happened.

kimsland - solved isn't going to help this at all, you also seemed to have missed my original point. This isn't to keep people from bringing back an old thread that is the same problem they have, that is fine, marking it solved wouldn't even matter, because if it was solved, the new guy wouldn't be posting in that thread with the same problem.

Now if we want to re-discuss this, or perhaps bring this to light for people that didn't see it before that is fine. But please don't come into a thread with a reply that seemingly misses the intent of the original post.
 
SNGX1275 said:
I was advocating a notification system that will alert people that are posting a reply that the thread is OLD. So we don't have people bumping an old thread with a 'solution' that the original poster doesn't care about anymore. In many cases the original guy isn't even active on the boards anymore.
Click to expand...
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think there is value in answering a question even if the OP no longer cares or is active on TS. Other members or (more likely) people searching the web in general may benefit.
 
While there is value in that, I would argue it is better to create a new thread rather than bringing back an old one. The reason I say that is many people don't look at the dates of the post, they just see a thread lit up as unread posts are in it, so they can end up replying to another person in the thread, and not the new guy's post about his same problem that is at the bottom of the thread.

So to avoid confusion and re-reading of a bunch of stuff its cleaner to just post a new thread. In a perfect world the person posting now (not the OP) would create a new thread, and link to the old one, but I think we all know that won't ever happen.

So basically what I'm saying is, if a thread is over 6 months or 12 months old a person get a notification that they are bringing back an old thread, maybe suggest in the notification what I said in the previous paragraph.

I can see accepting if someone posts in the old thread with their similar problem if there are few or no replies, but its becomes more of a problem if there are 15 or more replies (worse when multiple pages are involved) and someone brings it back.
 
For a good example of where my argument for some sort of notification would have been handy.
S3 drivers somewhere?

Brought back after 4 years of being dead, then brought back again after nearly 2 years of silence.
 
There's always pros/cons. *IF* the symptoms of the O.P. are identical to that
of the latest addition, then the history of what was reported and attempted
can be meaningful. This would shorten the time to resolution and avoid
wasted repeated efforts and lost time to all parties.

The big problem is the assumption of identical symptoms.
 
You could make the date stamp more noticable?
Or make it change colour with age. I know thats not a direct solution but it would maybe assist in end
 
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