How to prevent revival of old threads from the dead

At occasion it happens that an old thread gets revived. However, recently there seems to be a huge increase in this.

I suggest that we try to find a solution for this. One possible way is inform the new poster that the last post in a tread is e.g. over a month old.

The last post in this thread is over one month old; if you feel that your reply helps to solve the problem or that the starter of the thread will still benefit from your reply, feel free to post.

To make posting to an old thread a little bit more difficult, the quick reply can be disabled for those threads.

The conditions can be finetuned (e.g. solved threads do not allow posting at all after the expiry period and threads over a year old also do not allow posting).

Sometimes a solution for an unsolved problem is found a long time after the last post in a thread. In that event it is helpful to post the solution otherwise someone netsearching a problem may find the old thread and wrongly believe there is no solution.

IIRC the quick reply box is removed for threads older than n months. Posting solutions in dormant threads is acceptable, unfortunately some people revive threads just to ask questions as easily. Since closing petrified, mummified, dead or geriatric threads isn't an option and if people don't take quick reply box removal as cue I wonder if they will notice any added warning signs even if in bold 31 pt font size text with blink tags ;-p

catkin, I'm not in favour of closing threads (it's also not what I suggested) for the same reason

unSpawn, some moderators close old threads that are revived. And I think that an informational message will work.

I offered the "close thread" option because it is often offered as a "solution" but not acceptable to LQ. And while closing threads is a last resort option strictly guided by rules, yes, sometimes there are good reasons for doing that. Me wondering if adding a text warning will work is not based on my personal subjective opinion of doing that but on seeing how people deal with reading text in general and in the context of LQ. But let's see what Jeremy will say...

Originally Posted by Wim Sturkenboom catkin, I'm not in favour of closing threads (it's also not what I suggested) for the same reason

Sorry for misunderstanding; I re-read your post and it is perfectly clear. I guess I read the title and then skimmed the body

Originally Posted by Wim Sturkenboom The conditions can be finetuned (e.g. solved threads do not allow posting at all after the expiry period and threads over a year old also do not allow posting).

While I agree that the aforementioned message may be helpful in reducing unnecessary thread revival, I don't believe disallowing appendages with updated info would be helpful at all. One can find outdated, useless information anywhere.

My

And re-reading my post I see that I indeed mention closing (in different wording) in the finetuning part.

For the solved threads I still consider that OK; although many roads lead to Rome, one way is enough (after that period). Reconsidering the second example, I'm no longer behind that.

I remember the time I revived a zombie... "huh. quick reply must be broken. oh well, click through to 'reply'" later: "ooh, there is a thread here muttering *braaaains*"

Maybe when the quick reply box is removed, a note explaining why it has been removed might help.

titanium_geek

Originally Posted by titanium_geek Maybe when the quick reply box is removed, a note explaining why it has been removed might help.

That might help for some (most?), but I don't even look for the Quick Reply box. I use Quote or Post Reply, as I prefer the advanced editor.

unSpawn is partly right, too... Even a popup box will be ignored by a few (some people click OK without actually reading the message), however, I do still feel that it would be more effective.

Cheers

I blame that "ok ok, I know what I'm doing" click without reading thing on two things: this impatient micro-wave generation, and windows (even before Vista.)

heh: maybe a question that the user has to answer before continuing: (easily found in the text.) Ie: posting in this thread would mean what kind of thread? (answer: zombie) after explaining what the old post is. (Not a serious suggestion.)

/end tangent

titanium_geek

It might be as hard to stop as stopping people using "HELP!" and "URGENT!" as thread titles.

I think a bit of data validation will make that more difficult. I'm not sure if that's already implemented as I never post threads with a title like that

Titles consisting of a single word can be prevented and maybe 'forbidden' keywords.

The following now appears at the top of the New Reply page for older threads:

Please note that this thread has not been replied to in over 6 months. Please ensure your reply is still relevant and timely.

--jeremy

Yes, that should help...fingers crossed.