Similar Topic

[mlawson]

I really like the new 'similar topic' addition at the bottom of each thread, although recently there has been a lot of people opening up long-dead topics, which they probably don't realise, I admit that I almost did this just today.

I'm not sure how you could fix this but i think it is a bit of a problem.

Cheers,
Mike

 

[madgap]

Why is it a problem?
If a topic is relevent, and the thread is available, rather than starting a competely new thread, reserrect the old.
Maybe it is just my opinion, but I like it.

 

[fall-apart-dave]

I agree with madgap... A topic never really dies, does it? Why does it matter if its an old thread? If its relevant, then use it.

 

[mlawson]

Well, sometimes it is someone asking for advice and you're giving them the answer 2 years after, it just seems slightly silly and confusing.

 

[Lateral Line]

In addition, the criteria it uses for picking "similar" is sometimes well suspect. It is a feature I'd like to see go away.

 

[madgap]

A shame. A real shame, indeed

 

[andywg]

The biggest problem is that people are starting to ask the OP for stats without looking to see the OP's problem is 3 years old.

It needs some tweaking before it can be considered to be of any real use.

 

[Bignose]

There was a forum I used to participate on that would pop up a warning-box thingy that would say "by the way, this thread is over a year old, are you sure you want to respond in it?" and you'd have to click yes or no. Maybe something like that could be implemented?

I guess it doesn't bother me too much because I don't ever look down there, but I can see how some people would be annoyed.

 

[n3ont3tra]

It kind of annoys me because there's so many other threads people need to reply to that are current, like mine.

Instead of resurrecting a 3 year old thread with an OP that hasn't been of TFF for two years, they should look at more recent topics.

 

[madgap]

It kind of annoys me because there's so many other threads people need to reply to that are current, like mine.

Instead of resurrecting a 3 year old thread with an OP that hasn't been of TFF for two years, they should look at more recent topics.

I often click on 'View New Posts' and then either visit a different site or find something different to do when I notice what seems like 70% of the posts are in the 'Betta' section.
Each to their own, I'm just not intereted in the same old 'cruel' and 'new betta name' threads.... Yawn.
Fine, you lot don't want to view the long lost posts. Let's do away with them. I know, why not free up space by having them deleted after a six month dorment period? This would stop old threads being reserrected and give back some valuable space. Not to mention spoil a few peoples interest.

 

[steelhealr]

Bignose...great suggestion...I'll bring it to admin's attention. SH

 

[Bignose]

I know, why not free up space by having them deleted after a six month dorment period?

I would be very much against this. There is a lot of very, very good info in some older posts, and it is much easier to link back or search for those old posts than try to recover the information anew every time. Deleting anything that is considered "too old" indiscriminately would be quite a loss of a good depository of information here.

Now if you want to volunteer to dig through and delete all those 3 year old "is this stocking ok?" posts, I'd support that.

Now, as a slight modification, I'd be in favor of automatically locking any thread older than some threshold, say 6 to 12 months. That way, the old threads can't be posted to, and hence won't be bumped to the top of each section, but at the same time, an archive of all the old valuable information is still available for viewing.

 

[andywg]

Now, as a slight modification, I'd be in favor of automatically locking any thread older than some threshold, say 6 to 12 months. That way, the old threads can't be posted to, and hence won't be bumped to the top of each section, but at the same time, an archive of all the old valuable information is still available for viewing.

I'll second this. Also, perhaps have a statement that if you feel the post should be added to a link is provided to the relevant mod. This way, if incorrect information is in a locked thread then that information can be changed.

Mind you, even a whole thread citing science to request the incorrect statement that Ich is present in almost every tank and even that it enters a dormant stage despite all the science suggesting this does not happen in any known variant of Ich (post is here) did not result in any change to the pinned topic in question.

 

[mlawson]

There was a forum I used to participate on that would pop up a warning-box thingy that would say "by the way, this thread is over a year old, are you sure you want to respond in it?" and you'd have to click yes or no. Maybe something like that could be implemented?

That's a great idea, I'm sure this would solve a problem. I'm not against members ressurecting old threads which are of interest but things about advice that everyone has heard a million times is just pointless and I think a lot of the time people are replying to these forgetting they are over 6 months old.

We definitely don't want to lose our old threads they are still relevant. Don't get me wrong, I really like this feature it is very useful if you are looking up one paticualr topic.

 

[pica_nuttalli]

i love the "similar topics" box because it's such a wonderful example of how computers are only as smart as we make them i derive great fun from speculating how some of the suggestions were selected.