Is it possible to archive threads older than say 3 years?

[raisedfist]

The revival of 10 year old threads by certain somebodies is quite annoying. On other forums like Reddit you can't post on threads older than a certain time. I wonder how the code works.

[zonker]

The revival of 10 year old threads by certain somebodies is quite annoying. On other forums like Reddit you can't post on threads older than a certain time. I wonder how the code works.

now, this is an excellent idea!

however, someone came in the other day to shame us all about griping about zombie threads. they kind of had a point. the thread came up in a google search.

i'm an idiot in such things-would archiving the thread affect that google search?

oh! how about locking the thread?

eta: this is a zombie thread that actually helped someone, just today-
viewtopic/t84186/Chipmunk-cheeks-and-mo ... egone.html

so, i don't know what to think?

[Pugsy]

I have been here over 10 years.
This has been brought up more times than I can count or remember.
I don't know if there is a way to change old threads to read only (no posting to revive them) but if archiving means no reading....it won't ever be done.
Johnny doesn't believe that just because a post is old that it isn't potentially useful or worthwhile to someone some where.

Johnny really doesn't care if someone posts in an old thread or not. He has always said he wants to make it as easy as possible for anyone to get help if they need it or want it. Trust me...it was a huge thing when he made the change to no longer allow guest posting.

I would be for making old posts read only though.... Needs to be a blanket policy though and not a locking of the thread after someone has revived a long dead thread.
Mainly because "me too" comments aren't particularly helpful and "I need help with this" kind of comment needs a thread devoted to them anyway.

[raisedfist]

Search ability of old topics is perfectly fine...posting in them is what brings them to the front page. If people want to search for stuff from 2007 or whatever...go for it!

[Wulfman...]

The revival of 10 year old threads by certain somebodies is quite annoying. On other forums like Reddit you can't post on threads older than a certain time. I wonder how the code works.

Why?
Personally, it doesn't bother me a bit as long as the subject matter is relevant to the question being asked. Having been here since near the beginning of the forum, I find reading some of those old threads somewhat nostalgic. I often wonder what happened to many of those forum members/posters from the past.
There's really nothing (or very little) "new" on the forum, so if some of those old discussions answer current questions.....what does it hurt?


Den

.

[Pugsy]

Often people search, read and post and never even bother to look at the dates involved.
Or hell...they don't even bother to read sometimes...like the "where to do I get ResScan/Encore" threads that are 25 pages long and someone comes along and posts "where can I get so and so" and the answer is immediately above their post. They don't bother to read and look for potential solutions that might have been posted.....Lazy comes to my mind and it is a pet peeve of mine.

It's not the end of the world if a zombie thread gets resurrected. It annoys some people more than others and some don't give a rats behind either way.

If I had a dime for every time I got annoyed here....I would have a free new truck clear and paid for in a really short time.

[raisedfist]

Yeah not the end of the world is true. I just get a bit more annoyed on a board designed to help people...when you see clutter from 2009 about a machine that basically no one owns anymore.

[Wulfman...]

Another question........
How did you come up with an arbitrary "3 years"?
Both the Philips/Respironics System One and ResMed S9 machines are roughly nine years old (about 2010 and later). Many of those machines may still be in use or are still available on the "previously owned" market and therefore those questions may still be relevant.
Heck, there are even questions that come up about 20 year-old machines from time to time. ResMed/Sullivan V, S6 and S7 machines along with Respironics Solo, Tranquility, Choice, LX and and others come to mind from some recent discussions.

When you think about it, EVERYTHING is in the past. Whether it's three minutes, three days, three years or much older.

To quote Dr. Emmett Brown ("Back to the Future") “Your future hasn’t been written yet. No one’s has. Your future is whatever you make it. So make it a good one.”

Den

.

[Pugsy]

People who are annoyed by topics that have some age to them and get resurrected can go in their user control panel and edit the display preferences in board preferences section.

I just changed mine to 1 year to see what happens...anything dated prior to 1 year doesn't seem to show up.
1 year is as far back as I can go though.

display options.JPG

[zonker]

People who are annoyed by topics that have some age to them and get resurrected can go in their user control panel and edit the display preferences in board preferences section.

I just changed mine to 1 year to see what happens...anything dated prior to 1 year doesn't seem to show up.
1 year is as far back as I can go though.

display options.JPG

hmmm, i'm going to have to test this out.

i'm wondering, though...i wouldn't see a post more than a year old. but when someone responds to a post over a year old, i think i'd see the whole post, no?

[Pugsy]

i'm wondering, though...i wouldn't see a post more than a year old. but when someone responds to a post over a year old, i think i'd see the whole post, no?

I don't think you would see it even if it has a new post in it.
Change it and I will go dig up something and post in it and then later I can delete my post and send the old topic back into the archives.

[Dog Slobber]

I just did some testing:

If you set the Topic Display to 1 year, and somebody necro-bumps it, the post will show, because the most recent post is less than one year.

If you also set the Post Display to 1 year, and somebody necro-bumps it, the topic will still display on your feed, but the oiler posts within the topic won't be visible.

[Pugsy]

Yeah....I thought that the topic itself would be hidden but I guess not. Darn it.....for at least the guys who get annoyed.

Me...I am of the "I don't give a rat's behind" except for the yahoos that ask for something and how to get it is right there in front of them already in the thread and often immediately above their post.

If I can think of another way I will let you all know.

[Dog Slobber]

While I don't administrative experience with phpBB forum software, I do have experience with other types of forum software. Typically specially request like this (and a whole lot more) are not available within the stock software. However, requests such as these are often available through third party mods. The more popular your forum software the more mod options are available.

Having said that, I and a lot of others do not like to install third party mods. They sound good at the moment, but it's not unusual to pay the price later when it's time to update the forum software. Then it's not unusual for the mod to be incompatible and/or abandoned.

This can create a lot of work at a time where you want as few hassles as possible. Generally, unless your business is the forum, instead of having a forum to support business needs, third party mods should be avoided.

[zonker]

While I don't administrative experience with phpBB forum software, I do have experience with other types of forum software.

thanks for taking the time to explain that AND for testing out what pugsy suggested.

in the end, it's not that big of a deal for me. it just momentarily irks me when a newbie comes on and directly asks someone in the post a question and that person they are asking hasn't been on here for over a year.

WHOMSOVER, it's easier for me to change my ways than to change the ways of the forum software.