Forum Moderators: rogerd
I see WebmasterWorld doing it, locking the thread after x days on inactivity with following message
status: error : Post is older than system operator has set to allow.
No Replies Allowed. The thread has been closed.
I was wondering how it helps the community? For one of our forums I am planning to do this to reduce spammers activities. I will like to know your experience with this topic as a forum user and also as a forum admin.
Thanks,
AjiNIMC
However, from a user point of view, it probably depends on the type of forum - is it a current affairs time sensitive forum, or a tech help archive for example?
From a search engine point of view, perhaps it may have the advantage of - once the thread has established itself as being about a specific subject - that this subject does not then become 'diluted' later down the line if the discussion takes a different route.
For example, if the thread is about "Finding Blue Widgets in Spain", the discussion may contain lots of useful advice and keyword rich discussion about the "Spanish Blue Widget Industry". If the topic lies 'fallow' for a few weeks and is then picked up again, it may be that the discussion takes a detour into other territory, such as Widgets in other countries and perhaps even - shock horror - red widgets.
Of course locking an older thread also requires users to start new topics on the subject, with different titles - perhaps this time about Red Widgets. Which is also good.
Just my 2C though. I'd be fascinated to hear other people's thoughts.
A less important issue is that some percentage of users are oblivious to post dates, and will say things like, "I'm going to that conference, too, hope we can meet" without realizing that the previous post was two years ago. :)
