Can we get a new feature here, auto-lock for threads more than a year old? Otherwise you get great things like this: NINE YEAR BUMP!
Why don't you just take the Reply or Quote buttons off of posts over a year old?
Quzah.
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Can we get a new feature here, auto-lock for threads more than a year old? Otherwise you get great things like this: NINE YEAR BUMP!
Why don't you just take the Reply or Quote buttons off of posts over a year old?
Quzah.
If by "more than a year old" you actually mean "threads with no activity for 3 months" I'm all for it...Quote:
Originally Posted by quzah
That's fine by me. I don't care really how long the cut off is, just as long as there is some kind of cut off.Quote:
Originally Posted by CommonTater
Quzah.
Where's your sense of nostalgia?
Seriously, though, I oft wonder why something like this hasn't been implemented. I personally don't mind, it amuses me to see people get worked up over it. I just thought it was a strange oversight for a programming forum.
However, this idea does tread the careful line of legislating good manners. Another sacrifice of freedom for personal comfort. Oh well.
I know I have used the reply button just to resurrect code pieces and stuff. It is easier to extract things when you can see the tags. Still I am rather amazed at the growing trend of bumped threads.
They need to remove the reply button, and make a "link to" button, that gives each post or thread a unique number, so you can just link to it, or even embed that post as a quote in a new thread. Maybe change the quote button to "quote to new thread".
Quzah.
I agree with the auto-lock idea. The forum says two weeks is the cutoff, which seems a little short, but anything a year or older is definitely too far back. Removing the reply link is an okay workaround, but it seems the auto-lock feature should exist (maybe it does and webmaster has it turned off).
As for retaining the ability to quote old threads, I think the forum has such a feature (threads/posts already have unique URLs for linking to). If you multi-quote something from one thread, then navigate to another thread and "Go Advanced", there's a message at the bottom that says "You have selected 1 post that is not part of this thread. Quote this post as well, or deselect this post." Unfortunately, the "Quote this post as well" and "deselect this post" links don't work. Perhaps they're disabled or buggy.
They need to have an "embed as quote", where you simply provide the post number. Make the post number visible next to the time. Then you hit the embed as quote button, and type in "1039340", and it quotes that post. Or even each thread has a thread number at the top, and then you do: "thread#post", so "1234#3" would be the 3rd post in thread 1234.
Quzah.
Agreed.
Moderators make such a deal about it (as per, the administrator's instructions, i guess) - so why even allow it in the first place? I imagine an auto-lock would be relatively easy thing to make.
;)Code:do_reply()
if date > post_date + 3 months
message "this thread is too old, start your own"
else
...reply code...
Quzah.
Discussions that die off after some time usually should be left for dead. However, on occasion, information central to the topic may be wrong, and the thread ends without a correction. In such a case, a post that corrects this misinformation is justified since it would inform a future reader who chances upon the thread. As such, I do not support auto-lock. What I do support is a warning message that the thread is inactive, though knowing some of these users, they would ignore such a warning anyway.
With the exception of some rare circumstances, anything that was discussed a year ago has almost certainly been discussed since. I see no justification for bumping a year old thread, wrong information of not. Only a handful of readers actually look back at posts that far for anything other than simple nostalgia or quoting an old reference... in which case the correction would be made on the quote. So really, who are we benefiting by allowing people to "correct" old threads instead of simply waiting for someone to ask it again? Are we gonna ruin some guy's career cause he got an incorrect answer from a three year old thread about some kid's CS221 homework?Quote:
Originally Posted by laserlight
I was going to post the same thing, but I see Sly got there first. I can't imagine a scenario where I would go back and correct something a year old. If it happened, we would all just yell at them for bumping an ancient thread anyway, so they may as well have just made a new thread on the topic, linking it.
Quzah.
I can't wait to bump this in a year or so. It'll be funny by then.
gg
The whole "post reply creates a link in a new thread" is a great idea.
It would be further enhanced if this link were inserted into the post as it is submitted, just in case they feel like editing the link (or deleting it).
In the rare cases where a bump would have been justified, then the mods can simply merge the new thread onto the end of the old thread.
Otherwise, it just becomes another new thread like any other, save for a link back to the old thread.
> In such a case, a post that corrects this misinformation is justified since it would inform a future reader who chances upon the thread
This is the Internet. It's like the Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy, "it has many omissions and contains much that is apocryphal, or at least wildly inaccurate".
We're not responsible for making sure every thread ends with a complete answer. YMMV and other disclaimers apply.
Just remember, above all....DON'T PANIC
:rolleyes::tongue:
To laserlight's point, it seems in the rare occasion that somebody has something useful and positive to add to an old, incorrect thread that has been auto-locked, that they could request special permission from a moderator. Or make a large post count (in the hundreds) a prerequisite to commenting on old threads if that's somehow possible. Honestly, in the 8 months I've been here, I've seen dozens of threads resurrected, and not a single one of these necromancers has contributed anything useful to the thread. The vast majority of the bumps seem to be "I have this homework too, can you email me your solution", and the rest seem to be new comers who think they can build rep points or something by simply rephrasing the already-more-than-good-enough answers given a year ago.
Right on cue, another typical example
-> http://cboard.cprogramming.com/cplus...ml#post1039479
OTOH, why don't just moderators split replies from old topics they feel is not appropriate there? This is a counter argument against merging new threads into old topics if they feel necessary.
Splitting the topic doesn't prevent or age a bumped thread.
I don't know--I think that depends on the forum software.
I've seen threads be split on here before, so I do know.
This is a good suggestion. The basic "prevent replies to old threads" should be quite doable; I will look into it.
He's got a TOWEL... run away... run away!!Quote:
Originally Posted by AndrewHunter
I've implemented a very simple version of this. Any still-open thread that hasn't been touched in the last 31 days is automatically displayed as "locked" unless you are a moderator or the thread is a sticky.
Technical details: I was able to add this as a custom vBulletin plugin, making upgrades easy. I also didn't really change the "locked" status in the database (for safety). Everything is dynamically computed, but no additional db queries are required.
Please let me know if you run into any weird behavior as a result of this.
Wouldn't the 'Closed' button be the first place anyone(trying to bump) would click?Quote:
Originally Posted by webmaster
I found that, clicking the button is opening the reply page. (Please ignore this, if the 'reply' is prevented after hitting submit on that page).
Quote:
Originally Posted by webmaster
Would "not being able to find any messages older than 31 days" count?
Anything beyond "4 weeks" appears to have vanished...
@manasij7479 Oops, that's a good point! Let me see about that...
@CommonTater I don't think that's the case--your profile likely is set to show only messages within the last month. (I ran into this in my testing.)
Thanks for pointing that out... Handy setting!Quote:
Originally Posted by webmaster
I've updated the display so that there are no longer links to the reply page for closed threads.
Perhaps this has already been noted, but the names of those who "like" a comment are written over the little heart icon. I haven't seen this before, so I don't know if it's just me. It's only an aesthetic detail, but I thought I'd mention it anyway.
@Matticus Thanks for pointing that out--I was tweaking some of the padding settings and broke that accidentally. Should be fixed now.