Feature Request -- to stop the dead from coming back

PLEASE!

I think this will be simple to do:

If a user replies to a thread where the last post on that thread is older than say 6months
they get a warning and an option to "start a related discussion"
but no option to reply to the end of an old / really old / aincient from the dawn of time thread.
this way *if* someone has a valid need to refer to an old post they can. but they cant bring back a whole long dead thread.

also dump the techoff, it sucks for asking and answering technical questions.. I've been using stackoverflow a lot recently, if you ignore those with large egos reputation and just care about asking and answering questions.. its pretty good.

Figured I might as well go off topic since the posts here are futile.

Duncanma said:

It is an interesting idea, we could just lock posts older than a certain date... I know that many blog engines do that. Perhaps a warning and a suggestion to create a new thread would be enough though. Thanks for the suggestions!

Another idea could be to hide the Reply button from visitors who aren't authenticated. This would mean that people who land here from a search engine (the largest source of necromancy, I think) have to make an account before even being given the option to add a comment.

It might not eliminate the problem but it would certainly reduce the number of people that create an account for the purpose of making a single post.

Duncanma said:

It is an interesting idea, we could just lock posts older than a certain date... I know that many blog engines do that. Perhaps a warning and a suggestion to create a new thread would be enough though. Thanks for the suggestions!

Glad to offer them, just look at tech off right now another one has risen from the grave / dead thread pool with some remark about "updating" the thread as if it needed it.

makes me want to go find the old "Evil Dead" flicks and make Duke Nukem references.
Come Get Some!

This is my BOOM STICK! 

No more Zombie Dead !!

Duncanma said:

It is an interesting idea, we could just lock posts older than a certain date... I know that many blog engines do that. Perhaps a warning and a suggestion to create a new thread would be enough though. Thanks for the suggestions!

I like the system this website uses: http://www.casualcollective.com/

Before you can post a topic in their forum you must have played the games until you reach a certain amount of points. More points = more privileges: blog, reply, create new topic, shout.

But instead of playing games you could require new users to watch the videos before they can reply, create a new topic or edit the wiki. My suggestion:
> 1 hour of video - Create a reply
> 2 hours of video - Create a new topic
> 3 hours of video - Edit the wiki
> 4 hours of video - Necro an old topic

This would also be a good anti-spam measure.

ZippyV said:

Duncanma said:

*snip*

I like the system this website uses: http://www.casualcollective.com/

Before you can post a topic in their forum you must have played the games until you reach a certain amount of points. More points = more privileges: blog, reply, create new topic, shout.

But instead of playing games you could require new users to watch the videos before they can reply, create a new topic or edit the wiki. My suggestion:
> 1 hour of video - Create a reply
> 2 hours of video - Create a new topic
> 3 hours of video - Edit the wiki
> 4 hours of video - Necro an old topic

This would also be a good anti-spam measure.

I like that idea, but how would you track people watching the videos? Personally, I prefer using the RSS feeds to download and watch the videos when they're done downloading. I'm not so fond of the website player.

Duncanma said:

It is an interesting idea, we could just lock posts older than a certain date... I know that many blog engines do that. Perhaps a warning and a suggestion to create a new thread would be enough though. Thanks for the suggestions!

another one of the new "threads from the graveyard"

http://channel9.msdn.com/Niners/fmusa/

this guy signs up just to bring back a two year old thread from corona / beer

can we please get a necro-lock going ?

figuerres said:

Duncanma said:

*snip*

another one of the new "threads from the graveyard"

http://channel9.msdn.com/Niners/fmusa/

this guy signs up just to bring back a two year old thread from corona / beer

can we please get a necro-lock going ?

Create an option whereby a user could exclude a thread from showing up ever again on his version of the main page? There may be times when it is a nice thing to resurrect an old thread. The user could also just see the old post, have the ahaaa moment, and just not click on it... :o)

TradingSmiles said:

figuerres said:

*snip*

Create an option whereby a user could exclude a thread from showing up ever again on his version of the main page? There may be times when it is a nice thing to resurrect an old thread. The user could also just see the old post, have the ahaaa moment, and just not click on it... :o)

well i did ask for the option to "start a related thread" -- that way you can refer to the old thread.
and not pull a 2 or 3 or more years old thread back.

notice that this happens where the person posting registers and posts on a really old thread.
also they tend to never again show up and post anything else, often they ask us to email them.

several of the "niners" have all asked for this to stop.

Duncanma said:

It is an interesting idea, we could just lock posts older than a certain date... I know that many blog engines do that. Perhaps a warning and a suggestion to create a new thread would be enough though. Thanks for the suggestions!

another example of why this should be done:

http://channel9.msdn.com/forums/TechOff/258310-Poor-performance-of-NET-Regex/

at the end a post was added that is just a spam for some guys site and software, i would not mind a post about stuff but...

hijacking an old thread just to promote your stuff is not so great.

and I don't want to report an old thread as spam when the spam is some joker at the tail end.