- Apr 23, 2012
- 2,577
- 5,396
Hey guys,
Happy Monday!
The Problem
So I love participating in the forum, explaining things, quelling unnecessary FUD, or just taking part in normal everyday logical discussions.
I use the customized feeds a lot and try to participate in threads as they show up on the feed and catch my interest.
However, it's a little disappointing when you start answering the OPs question, only to halfway realize that the question was asked in 2017 and the OP has since then faded into oblivion, and the discussion is long dead. The only reason it appeared on the "New Post" page was because a new user somehow discovered the search function and has bumped an old thread without looking at the date, with a response that DOES NOT at all contribute.
I am talking about responses like this - where the user bumped a year old thread only to ask the OP to go run a Google search. Or this - where the user just asked "What happened to them?" on a thread from 2020
Suggestion
Now a lot of forums, auto-close old threads. But given the extremely active nature of this community, it's not possible. I also understand that often times a bump is completely legit. Maybe during an update to a situation, or maybe an answer to a question asked that wasn't answered previously.
My suggested solution is to add a notice to the reply box, if the last reply to the thread in question is beyond {x} days old. {x} being a value the management here can decide.
Something as simple as below -
This would require a new user to acknowledge that they are responding to a very old thread and prevent a lot of unnecessary spam and pointless thread bumps.
Just my $0.02
Cheers
(Yes, I use the white theme)
Happy Monday!
The Problem
So I love participating in the forum, explaining things, quelling unnecessary FUD, or just taking part in normal everyday logical discussions.
I use the customized feeds a lot and try to participate in threads as they show up on the feed and catch my interest.
However, it's a little disappointing when you start answering the OPs question, only to halfway realize that the question was asked in 2017 and the OP has since then faded into oblivion, and the discussion is long dead. The only reason it appeared on the "New Post" page was because a new user somehow discovered the search function and has bumped an old thread without looking at the date, with a response that DOES NOT at all contribute.
I am talking about responses like this - where the user bumped a year old thread only to ask the OP to go run a Google search. Or this - where the user just asked "What happened to them?" on a thread from 2020
Suggestion
Now a lot of forums, auto-close old threads. But given the extremely active nature of this community, it's not possible. I also understand that often times a bump is completely legit. Maybe during an update to a situation, or maybe an answer to a question asked that wasn't answered previously.
My suggested solution is to add a notice to the reply box, if the last reply to the thread in question is beyond {x} days old. {x} being a value the management here can decide.
Something as simple as below -

This would require a new user to acknowledge that they are responding to a very old thread and prevent a lot of unnecessary spam and pointless thread bumps.
Just my $0.02
Cheers
(Yes, I use the white theme)