An official request to site owners: "auto-lock threads after [say, six weeks]"

There are two clear reasons to request this change of software-enforced policy:

(1) "Spam-bots" will automatically surf for and then reopen 'old threads.'

(2) The Linux environment is inherently "rapidly-changing," which necessarily means that "old(er) threads" very quickly lose their relevance. This can be deceiving(!) to new users who encounter a "necromancy thread" and do not see or understand the impact of the date.

Various other forum sites which I also frequent have addressed this issue with a time-based feature such as [Quote This Thread]. Which automatically inserts a quote-tag which is a hyperlink to the prior, locked, thread.

Originally Posted by sundialsvcs (2) The Linux environment is inherently "rapidly-changing," which necessarily means that "old(er) threads" very quickly lose their relevance. This can be deceiving(!) to new users who encounter a "necromancy thread" and do not see or understand the impact of the date.

(1)I agree with your point about spam bots.

(2) This point is not as clear because not all versions of Linux are rapidly changing (Slackware being a good example of a distro that doesn't change that much). Also your new rule would impact other operating systems like the BSDs.

In my opinion I think we should leave things as they are and let the Moderating team do their job with spam and other irritants. We can continue to assist moderators by reporting rule violations.

I have on a couple of occasions resurrected an old technical thread that I started because there was genuinely new material to add. But I suppose if threads were autolocked, the OP could report the thread to get it reopened.

As this is the zillionth in the latest series of threads asking for this, let me point out that this policy would harm the forum significantly by resulting in zillions of threads on the same topic. Thread itself is a case in point.

Also, six weeks is such a ridiculously short amount of time that it's not worth more than an eyeroll.

I agree with hitest.

I think the current situation, in which someone posting to an old thread (six months old?) receives a pop-up warning before reaching the "compose post" window, is the least-bad alternative.