old threads are locked and it's bad for the forum.

3 réponses [Dernière contribution]
bambam
Hors ligne
A rejoint: 12/10/2020

I came here from a search engine and I registered here just to write a message in this thread.
https://trisquel.info/en/forum/no-open-fsfgnu-forum

But when I got my account set up I see that the thread is locked.
I never understood why threads are locked for no reason just because of age.
The topic is just as relevant today as it was when it was created.
Imo it's important for a forums life and ability to grow that it allows all topics to be discussed at any time except spam and abused threads of course.

Another problem that is even worse that happens with this kind of time lock is that help threads cannot get a solution later after lockdown.

Many times I have had problems and errors and by searching for a solution in a search engine I found many threads about the matter ranking high in the search return, some times several pages long and without a solution to the problem or false solutions by inexperienced users guessing.
No doubt many others with the same problem end up in that thread looking for a solution.
When I finally solve the issue and want to help everyone else by posting solution and the details about why the error happens I have at several occasions not been able to post it because thread was locked for no reason because it was a few years or months old.
So everyone who end up there by search engine link will not find the solution because I could not post it.

It looks like all threads in this forum are locked after 1 year.
I suggest this should be changed to no time lock at all.
I also want to know why this system is in effect? What is the idea that it's good to do like this?

chaosmonk

I am a member!

I am a translator!

Hors ligne
A rejoint: 07/07/2017

It is generally considered bad etiquette to necro a forum thread. That's true of most forums, not just ours.

I personally agree with you that this is bad. Unsolved threads should either be left open until they are solved, or deleted entirely. An anti-necroing policy, combined with not deleting unsolved threads, pollutes search results and wastes people's time.

However, this is not a popular opinion. Most forums seem to either lock threads to prevent necroing, or leave them open and then scold anyone who replies.

bambam
Hors ligne
A rejoint: 12/10/2020

I seen the "necro" posts sometimes in other forums when trolls bump an old discussion with an irrelevant one liner just to annoy people or bump something they just want others to read, and I see how it can be an annoyance.
It's just as bad etiquette as posting trash it in a two week old thread imo.

The timestamps are just timestamps, the posts themselves is what matters most.
Relevant messages should always be taken for what they are and it's never bad etiquette to post them imo.
I like to see older topics live on for years and years.

I always seen forums that autolock threads as inferior in configuration compared to those who allow free discussion without time restraints on topics.

Another problem that arise with lockdown is duplicated topics that fracture information into different threads.

I don't know for sure but I think one possible reason lockdown system is active is sometimes on request by moderators that want to read everything and keep threads in their headspace get thrown off if too many old threads are juggled around with the newer ones. Their time is limited and it can get harder to moderate they way they wanna do it. Am I right?

Btw I don't think threads should ever be deleted unless it's on request by posters to protect personal information or similar.
All information could be valuable for someone or important in unexpected ways in the future. It's very good to let it be accessible at all times just in case.

I think anti-necro policy is good, don't bump old threads unnecessarily. Make your post worth reading for someone interested in the topic if you gonna bump. :)

lutes
Hors ligne
A rejoint: 09/04/2020

> duplicated topics that fracture information into different threads.

To the contrary, nothing prevents a user from linking to a previous thread for reference, as you did yourself here, which avoids both unearthing of old content and burial of new posts in the middle of already lengthy threads. In rare cases this might also be necessary because auto-locking is arbitrary and a thread might get locked in the middle of a renewed conversation.

By the way, if the reason why you created your account here is to reply to that locked thread, you can still create a new thread referencing it. I am not sure why you have not done it yet.

It seems that the vast majority of the threads on this forum are allowed to deservedly RIP. If it was bad for the forum, many users would have already mentioned it, which does not seem to be the case.

> I think one possible reason lockdown system is active is sometimes on request by moderators that want to read everything and keep threads in their headspace get thrown off if too many old threads are juggled around with the newer ones. Their time is limited and it can get harder to moderate they way they wanna do it. Am I right?

I think not. Auto-locking avoids the painstaking manual job of deciding what is still to be left open and what is closed and in around 99% of cases gives appropriate results.

Again, I have only seen less than a couple of trolls raging here about auto-locking preventing them from keeping endless and fruitless monologues going. In all other cases I can remember, users simply linked to the locked thread for reference and the discussion went on. The system also avoids losing time reading loads of deprecated material before coming to the actual problem at stake, or to the nonexistence thereof. Most content ages fast. Archiving threads in a way or another could mitigate the search problem mentioned by chaosmonk. Nothing would actually be lost since posts are already duplicated in the mailing list archive.