A warning for waking an idle thread

Maybe. But I personally prefer the continuation of most threads rather than encouraging the creation of new ones. The latter encourages needless duplication and often requires cross-links to the older threads, which I consider inferior.

Maybe a compromise would be to implement some kind of signal (e.g., horizontal rules) when two posts have a long time interval between them.

I "awaken" threads occasionally, when I wish to add something.  I see nothing wrong with that.

But asking the moderators to put a tag in there won't work.  Even the moderators are not thrilled by endless and mindless use of the "reply with quote" button, and yet it remains, subjecting us to multiple copyright violations of others' photos.

@bmoran4 posted:

Suggestion: Disable the "post response" functionality for topic that has not been active (in the past 30/60/90/? days) behind an acknowledgement speed bump. I would hope that it would cause some to pause if they are informed they are waking a topic that has been idle for 648 days. Now, just to be clear, there are legitimate reasons to revisit an idle topic and so I am not advocating for automatic absolute topic closures, just something to highlight the idle age and provoke thought.

Neither advocating for nor against, rather wanting to understand your suggestion better, would you please explain in more detail the benefit(s) you foresee to this?

Also, the suggested implementation is unclear to me, if hypothetically an older post's reply functionality were disabled (either automatically or otherwise), how would you suggest that someone could reply with a "Legitimate" reason?

@SteveH posted:

Also, the suggested implementation is unclear to me, if hypothetically an older post's reply functionality were disabled (either automatically or otherwise), how would you suggest that someone could reply with a "Legitimate" reason?

I think OP was just proposing a simple "This is an old thread, are you sure?" dialog. Not unreasonable. I just disagree with the premise--I think continuing old threads should be encouraged, not discouraged. What harm does it ever do?

@Avanti, you got the the right idea... something maybe like this (but there are many ways to accomplish this):

Once one clicks Acknowledge, it would bring the familiar WYSIWYG editor.

Where would it have beneficial? Possibly for a thread like this: https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/...034-flying-off-track

The initial inquiry was adequately answered over a year ago. Then a extremely tangential question about paint came up which really should have been its own topic "What paint should I use to....". And then you have yet another few followups on the initial year old inquiry that rehash what was already presented.

Now, another place where a similar mechanism could be beneficial is the for sale forum where a brief overview of the rules/suggestions could be highlighted (must have an asking price, don't list your contact information in the public body, ensure you have an email address in your profile....).

Again, let me be clear that I'm not advocating for preventing posting to an aged topic and have already acknowledge there are completely valid reasons for revisiting a topic. I just thought that highlighting a topic is "old news" and not a "current event" may be beneficial in some instances similar to the one pointed out above.

This might also discourage users from searching old posts for their answer to a problem already discussed and solved, which too many posters already do.

@bmoran4 posted:

The initial inquiry was adequately answered over a year ago. Then a extremely tangential question about paint came up which really should have been its own topic "What paint should I use to....". And then you have yet another few followups on the initial year old inquiry that rehash what was already presented.

How would a warning stop this?

In the spirit of so much innovation going on with data analysis currently, I could see a very nice Artificial Intelligence (AI) project coming our of your suggestion, i.e. have a computer analyze the thread to date, decide where it's headed, and not allow any wandering by preventing a follow-on post from being made unless it makes sense.

Now, how do we train it to know accurately and precisely what "Does it make sense?" means?

(I don't think that our staid old hobby is quite ready for this, but who knows?)

Mike

@Mellow Hudson Mike posted:

How would a warning stop this?

In the spirit of so much innovation going on with data analysis currently, I could see a very nice Artificial Intelligence (AI) project coming our of your suggestion, i.e. have a computer analyze the thread to date, decide where it's headed, and not allow any wandering by preventing a follow-on post from being made unless it makes sense.

Now, how do we train it to know accurately and precisely what "Does it make sense?" means?

(I don't think that our staid old hobby is quite ready for this, but who knows?)

Mike

You're speaking my language! I masquerade as a Data Integration Specialist of sorts as part of my salary continuation program and deal with things like that all the time. It is amazing both how "smart" and how "dumb" computers can be, and what some clients assume computers can and can't do!

Getting back on topic, I can't get over how much of a stir my seemingly innocuous suggestion to simply highlight an idle topic has been, especially since status-quo around here is that extremely old threads are permanently locked. Sometimes there isn't a perfect solution, but don't let that get in the way of something even a little bit better.

bmoran4 …….I’m not sure I see the validity in all of this,….if there’s useful information to be added to an old thread, or even an ancient tread, for example, a better repair technique, wouldn’t it be best to all be in one place?….flashing a warning of any type is going to be an instant deterrent for most folks, especially newcomers …….so I have to ask, what exactly is it about an old thread that bothers you?……If I see an old thread that’s been revived for what ever reason, and it contains nothing of value, I just simply scroll on by it,….

Pat

@harmonyards posted:

if there’s useful information to be added to an old thread, or even an ancient tread, for example, a better repair technique, wouldn’t it be best to all be in one place?

Yes, and I first and foremost acknowledge that and similar is a possibility and should be allowed! Just that a high percentage of the time (in my perception), that is not the case and usually an inattentive unvalueable addition and/or repetitive rehashing. Again, this could be used as an alternative to the status quo where ancient topics are permanently locked/closed, which you and others would seemingly be in favor of for all the reasons stated.

@bmoran4 posted:

Yes, and I first and foremost acknowledge that and similar is a possibility and should be allowed! Just that a high percentage of the time (in my perception), that is not the case and usually an inattentive unvalueable addition and/or repetitive rehashing. Again, this could be used as an alternative to the status quo where ancient topics are permanently locked/closed, which you and others would seemingly be in favor of for all the reasons stated.

I’m not in favor of permanently locking or closing threads, unless they have nothing useful in them…..I’d just hate to see a thread of useful material be banished to never never land because of warning labels,…..many useful threads you yourself have posted with valuable part numbers, techniques , etc,….silly stuff , whining , etc,…..yeah,…get rid of it, but for example that thread you started about the rivet binding pin for the horizontal F3’s …..that’s valuable, …heck it’s invaluable,….on another forum, ( automotive ) we have an archive with valuable time saving, money saving tips, tricks, and part numbers,…

Pat

I'm OK with waking old threads.

I look at it this way- someone took the time to search the forum for an answer to a question_______AND_______

Maybe they got close to the answer they were looking for but wanted more/ current info on the topic. This would be particularly relevant with DCS/ Legacy-TMCC info.

Besides, isn't that what we are supposed to do?

Que the "why didn't you search the forum first" comments.

I saw that thread earlier today and after reading the first post realized it was an old thread and skipped to the bottom, read the current post, wasn't interested, and moved on.

The TOS are getting more complicated as it is, let's stick with the KISS method.

@bmoran4 posted:

... Again, this could be used as an alternative to the status quo where ancient topics are permanently locked/closed, which you and others would seemingly be in favor of for all the reasons stated.

Many of those old threads got locked several years ago due to an error in forum maintenance.  The moderators used to unlock those by request if you gave them a link to the thread when making the request.

Well I asked a question regarding some  reproduction Lionel 710's and 712  had a v-w stamped not the familiar  Rich  Art R under it..

  Nobody answered it so I just went back to my post  and instead of posting a reply I   edited my findings so if in the future someone might  want to use the search feature and  want to know something they might of found or wanted to know about these reproduction  cars  the answer is their,

but the problem is no one benefits  from a edit  compared to a post 

Just for everyone's info, the Crowdstack program automatically closes threads after a period of time (not sure about the time frame).  I don't know why.  It is something that we can fix ... all you have to do is to contact me if you want a thread reopened that has been closed by the system but if we closed it for some reason, then it probably won't get re-opened.

Just remember that not everybody visiting the forum is an everyday user of it. Hopefully new people come to the forum every day searching for answers or help to situations that may be very old to us, but not them.

@romiller49 posted:

Just remember that not everybody visiting the forum is an everyday user of it. Hopefully new people come to the forum every day searching for answers or help to situations that may be very old to us, but not them.

True. However, it would also be very nice if most of those "new people" would make use of the SEARCH feature.

I see no issue with awakening an old thread, except, sometimes that thread gets so convoluted that it's better to just start a new one.

I have seen where people complain about starting a new thread when an old one exists, and I have seen people complain about awakening an old thread.  You can't please everyone.

@Hot Water posted:

True. However, it would also be very nice if most of those "new people" would make use of the SEARCH feature.

That's most likely what lead them to the closed thread. Have no problem with making an idle thread alive again, no different than new posts which we have no interest in.

Probably way more of a hassle is guys not deleting old wanted and for sale posts after an item is purchased or sold. Or just adding a new for sale post containing the same item a week later.