topic Re: @ Moderators: Locking Old Threads in Suggestion Box

@ Moderators: Locking Old Threads

Venezia — Mon, 28 Mar 2016 16:13:26 GMT

Having just started to read yet another resurrected thread that is more than two years old...

Isn't it possible to lock threads that are so old? Perhaps that have had no activity for at least a year? I can't imagine why anyone takes the time to hunt these out and bring them back, but it gets irritating.

If someone wants to research a particular topic, he or she could still read the information, if it's locked, just not post to bring it back to the "current" threads.

Re: @ Moderators: Locking Old Threads

Perkup — Mon, 28 Mar 2016 16:24:42 GMT

I have to agree. I noticed a thread this morning where I had posted, saying that I was 79 years old. I'm 81 now, going on 82, so that is at least two years old.

Maybe some topics could be recycled from time to time, but definitely not all. Locking them up after a while would be a good choice IMHO.

Re: @ Moderators: Locking Old Threads

sam96 — Mon, 28 Mar 2016 16:31:05 GMT

New posters don't know the difference. When they start typing a title into "New Message" a list of suggested threads come up for them to post on instead of starting a new one. The date of these threads isn't given at that point!

We shouldn't berate these brand new posters over this, they're just doing what appears intuitive. They're not experienced, daily posters.

Why can't we just gently guide them instead of giving them a hard time about "dredging" up old threads? Is it really that much of a nuisance? 😢

Re: @ Moderators: Locking Old Threads

qualitygal — Mon, 28 Mar 2016 17:36:46 GMT

Is there a possibility they have to leave those open in case someone looks something up in a search? I have no idea, the thought just came to me that maybe that's why.

Re: @ Moderators: Locking Old Threads

GCR18 — Mon, 28 Mar 2016 23:24:17 GMT

The q would need to hire more mods to lock the threads. I can only guess how many new threads get started everyday.

Re: @ Moderators: Locking Old Threads

Venezia — Tue, 29 Mar 2016 03:34:54 GMT

@sam96 wrote:
New posters don't know the difference. When they start typing a title into "New Message" a list of suggested threads come up for them to post on instead of starting a new one. The date of these threads isn't given at that point!

We shouldn't berate these brand new posters over this, they're just doing what appears intuitive. They're not experienced, daily posters.

Why can't we just gently guide them instead of giving them a hard time about "dredging" up old threads? Is it really that much of a nuisance? 😢

There are posters who routinely register under a new nic just to "dredge up" old threads. It happens all the time and you'll see lots of old threads suddenly being pushed to the top. It was a much bigger problem before the moderators came on the boards and can now intervene.

Locking old threads that haven't had any activity for at least a year would prevent that and also help genuine new posters. I don't see it as giving anyone a hard time. It used to be a common practice on other boards I've used.

(And personally - yes, it is a nuisance, if I start to read a thread that I think is current only to suddenly realize I'm reading "old news". It doesn't bother you and that's great. It bothers me. We each have a right to our opinion and I have a right to suggest this to the moderators. Then it's up to them.)

BTW: @sam96 When you do a search and it pulls up a list of topics, the date of the original post, author, hearts, etc. is shown. Look to the right of the list and there's the date!

Re: @ Moderators: Locking Old Threads

sam96 — Tue, 29 Mar 2016 04:03:28 GMT

@Venezia wrote:
@sam96 wrote:
New posters don't know the difference. When they start typing a title into "New Message" a list of suggested threads come up for them to post on instead of starting a new one. The date of these threads isn't given at that point!

We shouldn't berate these brand new posters over this, they're just doing what appears intuitive. They're not experienced, daily posters.

Why can't we just gently guide them instead of giving them a hard time about "dredging" up old threads? Is it really that much of a nuisance? 😢
There are posters who routinely register under a new nic just to "dredge up" old threads. It happens all the time and you'll see lots of old threads suddenly being pushed to the top. It was a much bigger problem before the moderators came on the boards and can now intervene.

Locking old threads that haven't had any activity for at least a year would prevent that and also help genuine new posters. I don't see it as giving anyone a hard time. It used to be a common practice on other boards I've used.

(And personally - yes, it is a nuisance, if I start to read a thread that I think is current only to suddenly realize I'm reading "old news". It doesn't bother you and that's great. It bothers me. We each have a right to our opinion and I have a right to suggest this to the moderators. Then it's up to them.)

BTW: @sam96 When you do a search and it pulls up a list of topics, the date of the original post, author, hearts, etc. is shown. Look to the right of the list and there's the date!

@Venezia ... This isn't at all what I referenced. If you go back and read my post you will see that what I said was when someone starts typing something into the title when using "New Message", and the suggested list comes up, the dates aren't given, and that's still accurate.

Clearly we are all free to our opinions, I just find it odd that, with the date so prominently displayed on every post, anyone could be so troubled by any poster seeking help on any thread regardless of how old it is? 😕

Re: @ Moderators: Locking Old Threads

NC Bandwagon — Tue, 29 Mar 2016 04:40:08 GMT

Hello, Venezia.

I think it might be an accident. If you look at the date on posts and threads, it's kind of greyed-out and might be hard to see for a new time poster.

There was also a bit of debate a year or so ago between the posters on this forum about whether or not long standing threads should locked.

Some said yes, because it's annoying when old threads get bumped. Some said no, because some of the long standing threads meant a lot to them. Others were neutral about it and didn't care whether the old threads got bumped or not.

I think the QVC moderators may be leaving this one alone and will only lock a thread where there's arguing or if the thread is about to go south.

Re: @ Moderators: Locking Old Threads

Venezia — Tue, 29 Mar 2016 16:19:47 GMT

@sam96 wrote:

Clearly we are all free to our opinions, I just find it odd that, with the date so prominently displayed on every post, anyone could be so troubled by any poster seeking help on any thread regardless of how old it is? 😕

LOL - please don't blow this out of proportion! I'm not "troubled" by any of it. I've made what I think is a reasonable suggestion to improve these boards, that's all.

Seriously, I'm not losing any sleep over this and hope you aren't either. You've taken the time to reply to my posts on two different threads and we've each said our piece, so we should leave it at that.

--------

But FYI: This is what the poster on the other thread said and this does pull up threads with the dates to the right :

‎03-28-2016 12:53 PM

LOL, I was just looking at all topics under returns and which one would best fit my dilemma!!

Re: @ Moderators: Locking Old Threads

Venezia — Tue, 29 Mar 2016 16:03:17 GMT

@NC Bandwagon - Thank you for the information without making it personal. I appreciate that. You're probably right that the moderators are leaving it alone unless a thread becomes argumentative. Although, I have seen them lock threads that are bumped up from "long ago".

Re: @ Moderators: Locking Old Threads

dooBdoo — Thu, 31 Mar 2016 13:32:04 GMT

I can see why they leave old threads for reference -- we're able to use the search feature and find information we might want to use.

But I do see a benefit to locking really old threads to avoid the confusion which arises when they're bumped up (whether the "bump" is innocent or otherwise -- there was a real problem in the past with "new" nicknames showing up and pushing very old threads up to the top of the forums). It's one thing for someone to add an update to a thread from a couple of months ago, for example... entirely different for a 3- or 4-year-old thread to be moved up, especially if the OP of that thread isn't especially interested in seeing it appear like a ghost from the past.

It's not a difficult process, it's simple software programming, so the moderators wouldn't make this change manually. The tech folks would only have to choose a date for closing old threads to comments and then loop through the software and mark ancient threads closed.

Re: @ Moderators: Locking Old Threads

Venezia — Fri, 01 Apr 2016 03:59:07 GMT

@dooBdoo - Exactly. Well said.

Re: @ Moderators: Locking Old Threads

dooBdoo — Fri, 01 Apr 2016 18:49:17 GMT

@Venezia wrote:
@dooBdoo - Exactly. Well said.

Thanks, @Venezia! It's probably just me, but when I see a really ancient thread pop up I feel uncomfortable for the original poster of that thread... many of the old threads were closed for comment and the new platform opened all of them back up for responses (as far as I can tell, anyway). In a way, it seems inconsiderate to reopen those years-old discussions, at least in some cases, though I'm not meaning to say that's the intent of someone who bumps them up.

Re: @ Moderators: Locking Old Threads

wildcat fan — Fri, 01 Apr 2016 18:58:01 GMT

I recently noticed a moderator deleted a post and the reason was bumping/bringing up an old thread. IMO the moderator should have locked the thread at that time so no one else could comment on it. It just seemed odd that the resurrection post was deleted, but it was left open for anyone else to come along and post in it. It may be difficult to lock all old posts, but it shouldn't be too difficult to lock them as they pop up.

Re: @ Moderators: Locking Old Threads

dooBdoo — Fri, 01 Apr 2016 19:01:12 GMT

wildcat fan wrote:
I recently noticed a moderator deleted a post and the reason was bumping/bringing up an old thread. IMO the moderator should have locked the thread at that time so no one else could comment on it. It just seemed odd that the resurrection post was deleted, but it was left open for anyone else to come along and post in it. It may be difficult to lock all old posts, but it shouldn't be too difficult to lock them as they pop up.

I've noticed the same thing, @wildcat fan, and I agree with you. If the thread was old and shouldn't have been bumped up in the first place (and "bumping" specifically is listed in the Standards for Participation as a violation)... then why leave it there, open for additional responses? Doesn't make sense to me.