Replying to old posts

[zathras]

I notice a few threads have been replied to of late that are well out of date.

Usually the poster is chastised for doing so, and it possibly is not their fault.
I suspect they may be responding to a "similar thread" suggestion at the bottom of each thread.

I noticed this morning on the thread about galvanised nuts and bolts started by Sir Stinky that there were 5 suggested similar posts, most were dated around the 2001 mark!

So in reality, don't jump on the person who responded to these threads when they are thrown up by the Bulletin Board software as seemingly "useful" links....

[Andy Mac]

Sheesh, I didn't realise there was a protocol about this! :eek: Not having been involved in a forum before, I sort of thought that any old postings that were of interest were fair game. For a start it may open up info for fellow new comers...but I guess its more polite to do a search yourself:confused:
If they are really 'well out of date' why aren't they simply deleted?

My 2c worth.

[dan_tom]

Good Point Zathras and Andy.
You can find some interesting stuff in the old threads so maybe not deleting the thread but converting to a read only format without the option of posting a reply. Something for the IT types to ponder.
Cheers
Tom

[doug the slug]

.......I sort of thought that any old postings that were of interest were fair game.........

Andy, i agree with you, and some resurrections have been justified. some you just have to wonder about, like resurrecting the capital punishment thread when it had been dormant for a month and everyone was sick of it. or yet another way to overcome a specific situation with a router when the job was probably finished 2 years ago.

If its good info with some current relevance i dont mind seeing an old thread come up but the majority of them imho should remain buried if dormant for over a month or two.

[zenwood]

vBulletin forums are essentially non-real-time communications. A legitimate role is as a knowledge archive.

If you've got something to new to contribute, who cares how old the thread is. (Unless it's just one more "me too" or "i like that" post. -Even then, what the heck? Life's too short.

Actually I have benefitted from old threads being renewed. Maybe an old WIP or pics post showing a technique, an idea. That's what it's all all about: benefitting from the community.

[Clinton1]

who cares either way?
If I stumble into a 2 year old post that has been re-opened for good or bad reasons, it only takes a flick of the mouse and 0.005% of my bandwidth and time to get out of it.

Far be it from me to critisise anyone for their lack of social skills.... guilty of that myself

[bitingmidge]

How old is old??

I've got a couple of what I consider to be current threads running, that I kicked off years ago:

There's one about dust connection to machinery that I'll add to when I (oh forget it!)

My Eureka Canoe thread is going on for two....

and as for Midge's Playroom......

Maybe it's just me...

P

[Daddles]

It does pay to keep an eye on the dates though. I've had a couple of experiences where people have given me advice about a problem ... that I solved a couple of years before (literally). The intent is nice but ...

Ahh, it's like the old 'do a search' routine. If some galah does the wrong or lazy thing, one of the resident grumps will have a say. If the grump is out of line, the rest of us will jump on him. If you start making rules to cover the innocent newchum, you'll make life harder for the vetrans. Run the site for the vetrans and the new bloke will be dog paddling so hard to survive that he might just lose interest. Rather than expecting Neil, et al to sort out the problem, just keep working as a community, a community with the blessed advantage that you lot don't have to look at my ugly mug

Richard

[silentC]

Amen

[zathras]

I was certainly not saying that replying to old posts is bad, it just seems that way when you see some replies from others when somebody does dredge up an oldie.

Nor was I suggesting old posts should be purged - that would be a huge loss.

I was just commenting upon how easy it is for an old thread to be resurrected by the "indirect" search brought up front by the similar posts feature.

[Sprog]

Perhaps if there was a solution to the original question then maybe a follow up post saying "thank you, I have solved the problem, this is how I did it", would save later posts, there again, maybe not

[doug the slug]

Perhaps if there was a solution to the original question then maybe a follow up post saying "thank you, I have solved the problem, this is how I did it", would save later posts, there again, maybe not

Would more likely start another round of "why didnt you do it like this?"

[RETIRED]

Neil and I had decided to close off the old posts HOWEVER vBulletin doesn't allow you to do it.

We can delete all old posts but at the moment we think that would desrroy an accumulated amount of knowledge that would be irreplaceable.

Sooooooooooo the bottom line is it stays.

[bitingmidge]

Deleting the old posts would upset Google's search engines too!! :eek: :eek: :eek:

and we can't have that happening...

P

[ozwinner]

Neil and I had decided to close off the old posts HOWEVER vBulletin doesn't allow you to do it.

We can delete all old posts but at the moment we think that would desrroy an accumulated amount of knowledge that would be irreplaceable.

Sooooooooooo the bottom line is it stays.

Come on , just go through the threads and lock the old ones.
Shouldnt take too long.

Al