Thread Archiving

[Natetheman223]

Does this ever happen to you?

The year is 201X. You post a thread to Fenoxo Forums.

You get a few replies, sure, but then the thread stops getting responses - and for good reason: the issue is solved, the bug is fixed, the question is answered and there is no need for further discussion.

Jump forward 2-6 years and some random dude with a one-day-old account drops a message in the thread, reawakening it from its peaceful grave on page 57 to bring it back to the top, its rotten body full of outdated information. Not only that, but it doesn't look like the new user has read anything about the rules, read the dates of the messages, or even has any common sense.

Surely there's a solution to stop this from happening. Just my 2 cents here, but maybe it would be in everyone's interest to no longer allow replies on threads which have not gotten any responses for, say, maybe 6 months?

I'll be honest - it's ultimately not that big of a deal, but it's still slightly annoying when it happens.

Edit: It hasn't happened to me personally but I see the frustration of the replies on threads that have been brought back from the dead.

 

[Savin]

Yeah it is really annoying.

I wish I knew how to use technology more advanced than a typewriter so I could figure something out.

Fen/Geddy pls...

 

[Paradox01]

The forum might have some function that automatically locks and/or archives threads after a specific amount of time. I've owned/moderated a few forums but they were years ago, and I know one of them did have that functionality.

I can't believe that, years later, it's no longer a thing. Might not be available in every forum server, but worth looking into.

 

[Kesil]

On several of the forums I'm on (and I swear they aren't the ones moderated by Paradox01!) threads get archived after a given amount of time. If you wish to use them, you have to use a button to "tell" the mods what you wish to use them for. If mods are okay with your reasoning, they're brought back to life, often with a mod tagging you to tell you that the thread in question is ready for you to type whatever you wish to contribute with.
I don't know how much of a hassle this could be, but it could be less of a hassle than having to deal with the umpteenth inane commentary that brings nothing to an ancient thread.

Similarly, I suggest a way (for the mods) to merge duplicated threads as well as finding a QoL measure for users to easily find threads with certain words, as the search tool won't work with short ones, being "gay", "yaoi" or "m/m" some of them. I once was on a music forum that had the same problem when it came to bands and artists with a short name. It was fixed by running a sticky thread with links to every main thread discussing said bands and artists.