Automatically Lock Old Threads. (Features)

by Mark, Wednesday, March 18, 2009, 05:09 (5490 days ago)

Hey guys, loving the forum.

I've just installed it & I'm beginning to experiment with the configuration tools & would love to see an "automatically lock old threads" (with a user settable # of days) option. I see that you can do this manually, but doing it automatically would be great!

I have other requests/questions, but I'll post them separately to allow for easy searching later on...

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Automatically Lock Old Threads.

by Alex ⌂, Sunday, March 22, 2009, 10:36 (5486 days ago) @ Mark

"automatically lock old threads" (with a user settable # of days) option.

Good idea, I'll think about it.

Alex

Automatically Lock Old Threads.

by Auge, Sunday, March 22, 2009, 13:04 (5486 days ago) @ Alex

"automatically lock old threads" (with a user settable # of days) option.


Good idea, I'll think about it.

Some thoughts about the case:

Best would be a little script, that is executed by a cronjob. Probelm: some/most(?) operators of the forum has no access to cronjobs. Alternatively you could have a menu point to lock 'all threads older than ...' manually. This is simplier than to choose every thread that should be locked manually and to lock them in a second step. Let's say it is 'half automatic' but it is only one step. Second advantage is to have the code to lock the threads in a separate file. Then you could call the script from a link/button in the admin area manually or you can execute the script from a cronjob.

Tschö, Auge

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Automatically Lock Old Threads.

by Alex ⌂, Sunday, March 22, 2009, 15:46 (5486 days ago) @ Auge

Hi Auge,

lock 'all threads older than ...' manually

This feature is already implemented (→ Manage postings).

Alex

Automatically Lock Old Threads.

by Mark, Sunday, March 22, 2009, 15:51 (5486 days ago) @ Alex

You don't have to set up a cron job, you just need for the thread to check its own age when it loads.

Automatically Lock Old Threads.

by Auge, Monday, March 23, 2009, 10:44 (5485 days ago) @ Mark

You don't have to set up a cron job, you just need for the thread to check its own age when it loads.

Yes, this is the alternative way I meant. No manually selection of outdated threads, only one klick and all outdated (older than ...) threads are locked. Simply "half", ... no, better "semi automatted locking".

But maybe one or some old threads should stay open. Therefore you need further the manually selection.

Tschö, Auge

Automatically Lock Old Threads.

by Mark, Wednesday, March 25, 2009, 06:29 (5483 days ago) @ Auge

To my mind, forums should either bounce or have threads that automatically lock, since you won't see the new posts to them.

Bounce is good because one thread can become the absolute authoritative location for all information on a given subject. Bounce is bad because old subjects never die & it's intimidating to find a forum with an 80 page thread.

Strictly chronological is good because it encourages new conversation & de-emphasizes the need to hoard information in a single thread, it's more conversational & less authoritative. But a strictly chronological thread should automatically lock old threads as they drop off the homepage to prevent spam, or new people finding the thread via google & wondering why they can't get any responses to it, etc.

Automatically Lock Old Threads.

by Mark, Wednesday, March 25, 2009, 06:36 (5483 days ago) @ Mark

And for the record, I prefer to lock when the OP is older than a certain number of days, not the latest post. Otherwise an active spam bot could keep a thread alive forever.

Automatically Lock Old Threads.

by Mark, Wednesday, March 25, 2009, 06:33 (5483 days ago) @ Auge

Yes, this is the alternative way I meant. No manually selection of outdated threads, only one klick and all outdated (older than ...) threads are locked. Simply "half", ... no, better "semi automatted locking".

But maybe one or some old threads should stay open. Therefore you need further the manually selection.

You can already get that functionality. The individual thread lets you lock/unlock it & if you go to Manage Posting, you can lock all threads where the last response is more than X days old.

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