Suggestion Thread Revival Limits

[261311]

Love Scubaboard but one thing that makes me boil is going into threads with new posts, reading all the way through them only to find out that the thread was started 4 years ago and someone revived it by essentially bumping it with summary advice for someone who no longer browses the forum. While I have no doubt the archive of posts that we have on this forum are invaluable, can we add an auto-lock system for inactive threads dated a year or longer? Adding to some threads is an important process which I understand but there's a good few I read through and can't help but think "why was this revived".

 

[robertarak]

DUDE, you have been here less then three months and have under 25 dives. You have countelss posts offering diving advise and now want to offer your opinion on how the board should be run and how members conduct themselves. Chill out.

---------- Post added March 22nd, 2013 at 06:16 PM ----------

( I may need a time out )

 

[Tortuga68]

...and people complain about the "nanny state"

 

[261311]

DUDE, you have been here less then three months and have under 25 dives. You have countelss posts offering diving advise and now want to offer your opinion on how the board should be run and how members conduct themselves. Chill out.

---------- Post added March 22nd, 2013 at 06:16 PM ----------

( I may need a time out )

Just because I'm new to diving doesn't mean I don't have experience and opinions, same goes for an internet forum I've grown to love. Why, did you have something to add or did you come here to just make sure we had your name included in this? Thanks for your thoughts, I'm sure they were more than helpful to someone.

 

[gcarter]

Love Scubaboard but one thing that makes me boil is going into threads with new posts, reading all the way through them only to find out that the thread was started 4 years ago and someone revived it by essentially bumping it with summary advice for someone who no longer browses the forum. While I have no doubt the archive of posts that we have on this forum are invaluable, can we add an auto-lock system for inactive threads dated a year or longer? Adding to some threads is an important process which I understand but there's a good few I read through and can't help but think "why was this revived".

If you are starting at the beginning of a thread, it should be immediately obvious that it is an old thread... not sure what the problem is...

 

[Quero]

If this thread doesn't get closed, in a year, somebody will inevitably revive it with something like "I agree, way too many old threads get revived".Sometimes I wonder how people even come across (ridiculously) old threads to revive them, often with a comment that doesn't really add to the discussion. I agree that a "this thread is old" warning might be useful, because from what I've noticed, threads seem to be most often revived by new members or infrequent posters.

There's a list at the bottom of the page titled "Similar Threads."The list I can now see at the bottom of my window includes the following:

Revival of Old Threads
By bleeb in forum Suggestions Replies: 9 Last Post:August 27th, 2009, 09:25 PM

Revival of old threads
By spacemanspiff1974 in forum Suggestions Replies: 17 Last Post: June 14th, 2008, 04:32 AM

Idea to limit old threads
By GrumpyOldGuy in forum Suggestions Replies:23 Last Post: October 5th, 2007, 10:54 AM

Anybody up for resurrecting one of those?

 

[driftwood]

Personally, I love to see the work of a good Necromancer in reviving a long dead thread. The best I have seen was someone giving advice on for a honeymoon 8 years past.

 

[BluewaterSail]

I don't see what the big deal is.

Sometimes it is useless, but if someone had a problem that they were looking for advice for on scuba issues, good chance that someone somewhere is having a similar problem and might find value in the revived thread.

I am a firm believer that the people who get up the guts to ask a question are the tip of the iceberg. There are many folks out there who just read, and learn alot. Look at that BettyRubble weighting thread. It has served a generation.

And personally, I find the little meaningless posts to be just as meaningless if they are on today's threads or one that is years old.

 

[bowlofpetunias]

Some old threads deserve to be reactivated. Things change and adding those changes to the threads is often a worthwhile exercise. When a person is posting in a thread they may be responding to the OP or giving information for the sake of members who read the thread in the future. This may trigger further appropriate discussions.

In libraries around the world people blow the dust off old books in archives and find information of great value. At SB our archives don't have dust but they do have valuable information that can be applied to current knowledge to achieve new insights.

 

[261311]

If you are starting at the beginning of a thread, it should be immediately obvious that it is an old thread... not sure what the problem is...

There are 20 page threads people can read through and be either current, or old. That's why reading the date is as helpless as it is in new threads, unless you propose myself and countless others skim every page for a date before I even bother reading about the topic? That's not a very realistic expectation.

And personally, I find the little meaningless posts to be just as meaningless if they are on today's threads or one that is years old.

No argument there, seems like a waste though no? At least the other topics at hand that are active are already on the first page.

In libraries around the world people blow the dust off old books in archives and find information of great value. At SB our archives don't have dust but they do have valuable information that can be applied to current knowledge to achieve new insights.

Correct, they don't scribble in the books.

I think driftwood's example is one of the best, people are constantly searching old threads, spending time reading through them (some threads can be quite extensive), want to weigh in and give their opinion only to find out or be told how truly useless it was by admins because the user no longer visits. If admins are of this opinion, may be useful to lock threads. While flagging topics that are inactive are important, people still may not see them and it just adds to extra clutter around the forum.

 

[Hawkwood]

......

I think driftwood's example is one of the best, people are constantly searching old threads, spending time reading through them (some threads can be quite extensive), want to weigh in and give their opinion only to find out or be told how truly useless it was by admins because the user no longer visits. If admins are of this opinion, may be useful to lock threads. While flagging topics that are inactive are important, people still may not see them and it just adds to extra clutter around the forum.

You could be referring to this thread: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ne...ering-diving/325531-fail-weekend-certify.html

If so, you might also look at Post #239:

Ha, ha....happens to the best of us. You see an interesting topic, have a quick peek at the preview screen, and then you are hooked. Even after putzing around here for a few years I still get caught occasionally.

In reality, sometimes an "accidentally" resurrected post can be very informative if someone has not seen it, is looking for similar information, or has not thought of the subject matter. It's not a "rerun" to you if you haven't seen the episode before.