when are topics closed?

and most importantly: why?

[muesli]

i noticed that it's not possible to post to threads older than about half a year. why is this?

i just had a question and did the right thing, i searched for existing threads via site search (which, btw, deserves improvement more than anything else on this site..). i didn't find the answer but a similar question and would have liked to add my observation.

unfortunately the thread was some months old and i couldn't post. however, i don't want to open a new one for this, whith all the wisdom of the old one missing.

[trillianjedi]

Just post your question and link to the old thread for reference.

If you have some suggestions for improvement of the search engine on here - you should make them.

I haven't found it that bad, personally. But then it may be that I just didn't realise that I was missing out on some relevant results.

TJ

[muesli]

i still don't like it. in a new thread i'd have to write an entire paragraph to explain the topic, in the old one i just add a line. and: in my case the old thread still deserved discussion, was an open case.

[trillianjedi]

OK, maybe worth sticky mailing the moderator of that forum and ask them to unlock it.

What was the thread out of interest? If you at least post a link, people can go read it, then you can post your question.

I would imagine they get locked after a period of time because in general they just get out of date (things change, SEO moves on).

Maybe the thread you're referring to isn't out of date, but got locked automatically after X months?

TJ

[korkus2000]

Here is the thread that started it.
[webmasterworld.com...]

Moderators are unable to unlock threads. I think they lock after being inactive for 2 months.

[EBear]

Hi

I just came in here to post exactly the same comment. Luckily this thread was not locked :)

I was trying to add to a thread that is two days old, but locked! Could it have been by the thread starter, since their question was answered? If so, they should not preclude someone wanting to add to that answer, for the benefit of the general.

I would feel that one of the rules of posting is "Don't start a new thread unless you are sure that the topic is not already discussed in an older one". That way related information stays in the one place without the need for constant cross linking. (Bad for Brett's theming/PR, but hey?) ;)

[Brett_Tabke]

Spam prevention. Old threads with links, had a surprising way of getting bumped month after month. Once a thread was bumped for over two years - it was time to close it out. Even at two months, we see a great deal of that. I'm probably going to reduce the time out on a per forum specific basis down to a month on some and even two weeks on others.

[muesli]

i agree on the importance of spam prevention, yet the only way todo this efficiently and without hurting convenience and quality IMO is a more active moderation.

take forum3 for example. 70% of new posts would much better fit into maybe five threads covering all those "my site was dropped", "is this spam?" evergreens. a more active moderation would immediatly close such threads and link to one of the five topics.

otherwise it becomes a *webmasters' world of repetition*. my 2 €c.