SUGGESTION: Automatically lock dormant threads

[#1]

@jelv, it would be based upon the last reply.

Further to this, I wouldn't have it happen on the entire forum. I would probably only apply the auto lock to the 'help with my Plusnet services' and 'Feedback' category. That would mean that the general chat, gaming, tech help and others will be unaffected.

[#2]

I think I should create a poll for the timeframe. Let the votes decide

[#3]

It hadn't occurred to me to make it board specific, but you are right - it's newbs wanting to raise an issue that are the problem and assuming that just because one or two words in the topic subject match (probably without reading ANY of the previous posts in the topic) it must be the same issue!

Here's an off the wall thought following on from that: Only allow posting on the old topic if they have used the "View discussion in a pop-up" link?

[#4]

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@jelv wrote:

Here's an off the wall thought following on from that: Only allow posting on the old topic if they have used the "View discussion in a pop-up" link?

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I don't think that can be done unfortunately.

[#5]

A poll has been created and is available to vote on.

https://community.plus.net/t5/Community-Site-Feedback/bd-p/Community

It will only appear within this board. I look forward to seeing the votes.

[#6]

Why doesn't the poll have an option for NEVER lock stale topics ?

[#7]

I could add that option if that is what you would like to vote for.

Edit: added the option to the poll to dismiss everything discussed in this thread and carry on as normal.

[#8]

@jaread83 The poll question doesn't indicate that the age is based on the date of the last post in the topic.

Suggest: How long after the last post in a topic on Community should it be before it is considered stale and replies locked?

[#9]

No worries @jelv, I have amended the text slightly to make that more clear.

[#10]

I may be a bit late to the party but @jaread83, if you can read the last post date and it is over the X days (or greater) are you able to suggest to the user via a modal popup “This thread is over X days old, would you like to start a new one with the same subject and include a link to it?”

If the user says yes then maybe you could create a new post in the forum using the same title as the one selected but with (Update) after it and auto paste a link to the topic in question as the first line in the editor.

If they say no then close the dialog and allow them to post as normal.

Just a thought.

[#11]

Maybe my notification on the reply page is not enough... I don't know how effective it is because we still get users posting new replies to very old threads, mostly spammers and new users.

I like the idea but it is not possible to manipulate the content editor in this way as the compose page (not the reply page) only accepts the board ID as a parameter.

A modal box is a nice idea but that could be more of a nuisance as it obscures a users view and some may see it as annoying and close it without actually reading the content (even more so if they never initiated the modal to popup). When discussing this with my team the other day, we considered utilising the popup on the bottom right corner for this so it doesn't obscure what you're reading.

It is possible to direct a user to the compose page for the board they are currently in though. I will put this on the list of things to consider.

[#12]

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@jaread83 wrote:

Maybe my notification on the reply page is not enough... I don't know how effective it is because we still get users posting new replies to very old threads, mostly spammers and new users.

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I think the reaction of most users would be "what notification?". They don't see it, it's scrolled off the top of the screen automatically.

Why not just fix that bug and see how it goes before doing anything more radical!

[#13]

@jelv, I have, it is currently on our staging site waiting to go live amonst other things.

[#14]

I guess they may well close the dialog without reading as they’re evidently not paying attention already!

If you can’t manipulate the editor then fair enough but a dialog box is more in your face, so could it still be an option when placed over the editor, even it the only option was OK, and the content was a repeat or replacement for the x Days warning banner above it.

[#15]

I had seen you say that was waiting to go live.

So why prolong the discussions around other more complicated and radical ideas. If after the fix goes live there's only one or two posts a month which are an issue would that be such a problem that you needed to do anything else?