annoying trend in forums - locking threads - Community Building and User Generated Content forum at WebmasterWorld

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annoying trend in forums - locking threads

roshaoar

1:09 pm on Jan 7, 2015 (gmt 0)

{small rant}

One thing I see more and more of is forums all over the web either locking threads after X months automatically, or mods locking them. Is it just me that finds this annoying? For example I looked up something in google and there's a thread about it here, but it's too old to respond. But it's still completely valid. The byte size of 403 responses really havn't changed that much in 1 yr.

So I'm wondering, is this some way to get more threads for a forum, or more probably a way to keep content timely? What's the thinking behind it?

I more or less stopped posting at another forum because I just couldn't be doing with the mods there locking stuff after a month or so. I do appreciate open threads might attract spammers, but as a user and someone who googles a lot I'd rather see content concentrated in one decent thread than in various all over the place. Not my fault the forum software isn't modded well enough or doesn't catch spammers well.

{small rant over}

martinibuster

3:12 pm on Jan 7, 2015 (gmt 0)

I'm not a fan of locking threads based on time. Some people might have something good to add. However most times it's a mix of spammers and newbs completely changing the topic by asking a "related" question.

But that's a job for moderators to keep an eye out for topic drift and split off the posts. So in a way it can be said that locking threads based on time is a lazy way to moderate and misses the opportunities for cultivating a new posts as well as having additional quality contributions to the old discussion.

Most importantly, locked threads may discourage member signups because it removes a motivation for signing up (to contribute to an ongoing discussion).

engine

4:29 pm on Jan 7, 2015 (gmt 0)

I've seen the opposite at many forums where threads are left unlocked and I can see follow-ups that have drifted off the original topic. It's a bit of a fine line, but topics and solutions change over time, and it's relatively easy to start a new topic on an old theme. here at WebmasterWorld we leave topic open for a reasonable time.

I prefer to find current topics, with links to earlier topics on the matter.

I just wish that the search at Google and Bing was better for forum topics in chronological order.

martinibuster

4:33 pm on Jan 7, 2015 (gmt 0)

I can see follow-ups that have drifted off the original topic.

Right, and that's a job for moderators to split off into new discussions, plus they act as honeypots for gaining new members.

...but topics and solutions change over time...

That's a good point that hasn't been considered. You're right. Some topics aren't evergreen.

lucy24

8:27 pm on Jan 7, 2015 (gmt 0)

It depends entirely on the forum. I know one site that instituted auto-locking because some new member would periodically come along and dump "me too" posts on the last few hundred threads, going back many months ... and then your "New posts" list got so clogged, you couldn't tell which threads had genuinely new content.

In php/bb2 you could override auto-locking by adding a "survey" to the thread. I did this on a few threads that were meant to be open-ended-- and then the forum upgraded to php/bb3 and it stopped working so I had to manually unlock the thread every month or so.

Here at WebmasterWorld you periodically see threads where someone asks a question that leads to a few days of heated discussion, ending up with some kind of resolution to the problem. And then months later someone drifts by and adds a post, long after the original asker has either solved or forgotten about the problem.

martinibuster

10:21 pm on Jan 7, 2015 (gmt 0)

I'm fairly certain that auto-locking topics by age is not a default function in PHPBB. An admin has to install a mod to enable that behavior.

piatkow

11:10 pm on Jan 7, 2015 (gmt 0)

Generally I think that thread locking is beneficial when it stops threads that have been open for years from being resurected as the world has moved on. You don't want a thread at the top of the board telling people to use deprecated html or on a business site referencing legislation that has been changed.

On the other hand it is infuriating to get an interesting thread locked when it is only a few months old.

mack

12:37 am on Jan 8, 2015 (gmt 0)

I don�t think there is a right and a wrong answer to this one, it's a fine balance, and no matter what way you go, there will always be some users who aren�t happy with the way it has been handled.

In this industry things change a lot in a fairly short period of time. Old threads whilst still of value may not have the most current answers. In many cases posting a new question will result in better answers and replies.

Another aspect is usability. If we think back to the late nineties when Google did it's dance once a month and we had a huge "update" thread, they where close to being unusable. You need to read an entire thread to be sure the solution hasn't already been provided and that your post is adding some value. Imagine we had a system full of monster threads like those? It's unlikely it would get that bad, but in this case I feel fresh is best.

Mack.

creeking

1:08 am on Jan 8, 2015 (gmt 0)

would be nice if there was an option to moderate (review) a new post on an old thread. if it was a good post, a moderator approves it and the post is completed and the old thread is bumped.

tangor

2:52 am on Jan 8, 2015 (gmt 0)

Instead of old thread bumped, I (and I do this on my forums), a new post is created with a LINK to the old thread. If it lives, great, if it doesn't... old news is not back at the top. This is, of course, moderated. "If you would like to update this locked thread click here."

lucy24

4:44 am on Jan 8, 2015 (gmt 0)

it is infuriating to get an interesting thread locked when it is only a few months old

Anything date-based should absolutely go by time since the most recent post, not the first. As long as people keep pitching in, the thread stays alive. At least until they start getting into slanging matches and fistfights and a mod has to lock down regardless of age.

I'm fairly certain that auto-locking topics by age is not a default function in PHPBB. An admin has to install a mod

Probably so-- at least in php/bb2. (There are mountains of features that were mods in /2 but got incorporated into the core of /3.) The poll exception may simply have been an unplanned glitch, but it was a useful one while it lasted.

thecoalman

1:39 pm on Jan 30, 2015 (gmt 0)

In php/bb2 you could override auto-locking by adding a "survey" to the thread. I did this on a few threads that were meant to be open-ended-- and then the forum upgraded to php/bb3 and it stopped working so I had to manually unlock the thread every month or so.

There is no auto locking functionality in either phpBB2 or 3. You would need a mod for that. The only thing that can be automatically time barred is edits to posts.

martinibuster

1:53 pm on Jan 30, 2015 (gmt 0)

thecoalman is correct. There is no default thread locking in phpBB3.

lucy24

7:20 pm on Jan 30, 2015 (gmt 0)

Please, everyone. I never said that time-based locking was, or was not, an inherent feature of php/bb-any-number. I was only pointing out an interesting exception to locking that would otherwise have happened.

Regardless of cause, the exception only worked in php/bb2.