VBForums should inform members if a thread and it's replies are years old when reply

[Peter Porter]

I see it every once in a while where a new member replies to a thread or comment that's extremely old. Right now on VBForums home page, members can click a reply to a 2004 comment that launched a thread. It's under Projects.

Anyway, I think a pop-up to inform these members of old threads and comments would be helpful. This pop-up would display when they click "Post Quick Reply" or "Go Advanced", but only if this threads last comment is older than say 6 months. Under the warning it would ask if they wish to continue with their reply.

Example pop-up:



What do you all think?

[Steve R Jones]

Odds are real good that this new member found the thread via a Google Search....

They are either excited because they have the same problem or that they can help the person.... AND they don't pay attention.

Often times they point out that they see it's a 12 year old thread and they post anyway.

The only sure fire solution is to auto close any thread older than X number of days/weeks/months.... I personally don't like this idea... On most forums a CLOSED threads means a BAD thread.

Members here should just Report the thread... We'll either zap the new post and or close the thread.

[Peter Porter]

Still a warning would help prevent this problem. I edited my comment above, showing what this pop-up could look like.

[Steve R Jones]

In theory it COULD help.... But if 9 out of 10 are "crazy like that" it would serve next to no purpose.

Bringing up old posts is a common problem that has been around for decades... Until we start getting flooded with them, we'll stick to the current method.

Thanks for you input.

[wqweto]

IMO the query better be something in the lines of "Do you want to start a new thread?" with default Yes.

cheers,
</wqw>

[Peter Porter]

IMO the query better be something in the lines of "Do you want to start a new thread?" with default Yes.

cheers,
</wqw>

Clicking "Yes" would open the new thread composer for the same forum where the old thread was found.

Clicking "Cancel" would make them leave Advanced reply mode, and "Quick Reply" wont go through, but they'll remain in the old thread which would be available for reading.

Bringing up old posts is a common problem that has been around for decades... Until we start getting flooded with them, we'll stick to the current method.

Thanks for you input.

Just had some time on my hands.

[Eduardo-]

I see it every once in a while where a new member replies to a thread or comment that's extremely old. Right now on VBForums home page, members can click a reply to a 2004 comment that launched a thread. It's under Projects.

Anyway, I think a pop-up to inform these members of old threads and comments would be helpful. This pop-up would display when they click "Post Quick Reply" or "Go Advanced", but only if this threads last comment is older than say 6 months. Under the warning it would ask if they wish to continue with their reply.

Example pop-up:



What do you all think?

I second this idea.
I would say in the message "The users who participaed in this thread won't probably read your message. Still, if you consider that what you have to add could be useful to other people, you can go on and reply.

[Shaggy Hiker]

I agree with what Steve said in #2. Many of these posts are clearly cases of people doing a Google search, finding something, and adding to the thread. They aren't browsing the ancient past on the forum (though I've done that myself, at least once) and deciding to revive an old thread.

As to what happens to those, that's harder to say. I've seen some recent cases where the thread in question was left hanging, with no sound or suitable solution provided, and the gravedig provided a reasonable solution. Those simply make the forum better. I've often gone searching for things and found several threads, none of which provided a solution. Those are just annoying. All they do is confirm that others have had the same problem, which really doesn't help. So, if a person adds a solution to a stray thread, even if it's old, I'm not going to remove it because it takes the thread from being a red herring to being a kippered snack, which is an improvement.

In other cases, the grave dig is more suspicious, or misleading, or misguided. Those would be handled in other ways. However, I don't think that in any of those cases, a warning about the age of the thread would make a bit of difference to the person posting, though it may dissuade people from posting a useful reply. It certainly wouldn't dissuade a person intent on posting a spam reply.

[Peter Porter]

Shaggy is right. If someone by chance comes across an old post and offers a solution, it will help others in the future.

I started this thread after discovering a response in the Support Images forum's main thread. Just looks weird seeing a new member question Brad Jones' 2004 starting comment:

http://www.vbforums.com/showthread.p...-of-this-Forum

[brad jones]

Just looks weird seeing a new member question Brad Jones' 2004 starting comment:

<removed>

I'm used to things I said over a decade ago being questioned.....


Being serious for a moment, what would it hurt to add the pop-up/message if there is a site feature or existing add-in to the forum software that does this? (Yeah, I know how hard it is to get changes, but if it is simple, you might get it pushed through).

Brad!
(I detest posting to this forum when half the time for no reason you get the something went wrong error. This is my second attempt at responding to this as a result....)

[FunkyDexter]

I'm used to things I said over a decade ago being questioned.....

Are you sure...?

I'd view the pop up as a "nice to have" if it was easy to implement but I doubt it'd have much effect. New members never seem to read the "your post has been sent to a moderation queue" message so I doubt they'd read this one either.

[Steve R Jones]

We added a "Note" on an Old Sister Site called WebDev.... There is no real telling just how effective it is... We still get people posting to Old Threads.

The box is inside the REPLY Box.

[brad jones]

We added a "Note" on an Old Sister Site called WebDev.... There is no real telling just how effective it is... We still get people posting to Old Threads.

The box is inside the REPLY Box.

My thought was more "if it is easy, why not?" After all, a popup would annoy them a little - kind of like they are annoying everyone else a little with their post on an old thread......

[brad jones]

Are you sure...?

Such a comedian....

[dclamp]

(I detest posting to this forum when half the time for no reason you get the something went wrong error. This is my second attempt at responding to this as a result....)

You're still alive!

[dclamp]

(I detest posting to this forum when half the time for no reason you get the something went wrong error. This is my second attempt at responding to this as a result....)

You're still alive!

(funny enough, I got an error message when trying to respond to you... "This forum requires that you wait 30 seconds between posts. Please try again in 29 seconds.". Yike... probably took it as a double post for no reason.

[dclamp]

Oh good, it did double post even though I only clicked once.

Time to upgrade!!!!!

edit - every single one of my posts is attempting to double post....