I feel that old threads should not be able to be added on to after three months. What do you think of asking for this change?

[whateg01]

I'm siding with the leave it as it is crowd. I've been looking for lighting options for my new to me Ford edge. Most of the threads I see say that LED upgrades are awful, not as bright, etc. But those are all 5 or 6 years old and technology has improved since then. Being able to update a thread with new info is a good thing.

 

[southalabama]

A lot of members here will simply reply to new posts by citing old threads.

I don’t mind them being open. It increases the amount of collective data and knowledge.

 

[JRC3]

Nap, leave it be. More solution are posted and things are more easily searchable when looking for specifics. Boo-hoo that you might click on a resurrected TGJF thread between your FB and Taylor Swift Googling. lol

 

[PugetDude]

"Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it"
~George Santayana or Winston Churchill...

 

[bubinga]

All the time I find myself answering questions on threads that I later find out are five years old. By that time who cares as the original poster has either solved his problem or died. I'm not saying that these threads should be deleted I'm saying that they should not be able to be resurrected by new responses to them. If you have a new problem make a new post.

No sometimes I revive an old thread as it's pertinent information to my question or a permanent comment to a thread if someone is researching it is good information for them.

 

[bubinga]

Nap, leave it be. More solution are posted and things are more easily searchable when looking for specifics. Boo-hoo that you might click on a resurrected TGJF thread between your FB and Taylor Swift Googling. lol

Right that's what I said above it's valuable sometimes for someone researching something.

 

[rharman]

I think a beneficial add-on would be showing the date the thread was started under the thread title. If people could see a thread was started in 2005, they may not necropost it.

I suggested that some time ago when the forum was running under the old software. Never happened.

@Ryan - Is this a more viable option with XenForo?

 

[rharman]

"Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it"
~George Santayana or Winston Churchill...

Dang... Beat me to it. That was my very first thought.

 

[mrbill55]

As a 'Global Moderator" of an automotive web forum (since 2000 on that site), I wrote a FAQ entitled "newbies read this". Number three (out of 10) on that post is the following:

"3: As a newbie, you sometimes forget to look at the date of the last post in a thread you are interested in. Dates are located above a user name and are in the following format "05-30-2015, 09:04 AM" You click on the reply/respond button and inadvertently resurrect threads that are 5-15 years old. Most with outdated information, or asking for information from a specific end user, who may no longer be on the site, or in a worst case scenario, has passed away."

Since posting that, it cut down the number of such archival resurrection by 90%.

Bill

 

[Wrench97]

As a 'Global Moderator" of an automotive web forum (since 2000 on that site), I wrote a FAQ entitled "newbies read this". Number three (out of 10) on that post is the following:

"3: As a newbie, you sometimes forget to look at the date of the last post in a thread you are interested in. Dates are located above a user name and are in the following format "05-30-2015, 09:04 AM" You click on the reply/respond button and inadvertently resurrect threads that are 5-15 years old. Most with outdated information, or asking for information from a specific end user, who may no longer be on the site, or in a worst case scenario, has passed away."

Since posting that, it cut down the number of such archival resurrection by 90%.

Bill

You have members that actually read the FAQ?

 

[G-ManBart]

I'm in the leave it alone camp. One thing that I've seen drive off some of the most experienced, and helpful posters on other sites was the task of answering the same questions over and over and over. That's somewhat due to the nature of people not using the search function, but also because the culture on those forums wasn't to keep information on a particular topic limited to just a couple of threads. In the end you wind up with a lot of great information spread out over 20 threads and that really isn't best for anybody.

Not only that, but sometimes you'll see the evolution of a technique over time, or as new information is gathered. Five years ago the consensus was that X is the best way to do something and then we learn about Y, but it's in a different thread. Someone does a search and only see the X thread and goes that path when they may have gone Y if everything was consolidated.

 

[mrbill55]

You have members that actually read the FAQ?

Surprisingly, yes.


Bill S.

 

[CGarage]

Seriously:


What is the issue with reviving old threads if there is good information to contribute????????

Why does the age of the thread matter?????

 

[lilredex]

I would very much *prefer* information be consolidated to one thread.

Sometimes, brilliant members will take a break or find other hobbies. Unless a search is done, their past contributions are lost.

Consolidating the information and keeping old threads alive is essential.

Yes, leave it be. It is good to have all the subject matter in one place. Here is a good example...

Beach Toolbox is back!

Hello Garage Journal fans, I’m sure many of you remember the popular Beach brand toolboxes that were made here in Smiths Falls at Beach Industries. Well, it's an exciting day - G.H. Metals is pleased to announce that we're expanding to offer the Beach Toolbox line! We often hear that many...

www.garagejournal.com

 

[driftpin]

Why add another layer of oversight? The Beatles had it right.

 

[Kurt4440]

Seriously:


What is the issue with reviving old threads if there is good information to contribute????????

Why does the age of the thread matter?????

Yeah
I'm old and have lots of good information. I don't think we should support old thread discrimination.

 

[PugetDude]

All the time I find myself answering questions on threads that I later find out are five years old. By that time who cares as the original poster has either solved his problem or died. I'm not saying that these threads should be deleted I'm saying that they should not be able to be resurrected by new responses to them. If you have a new problem make a new post.

Yeah, let’s lock down Jack Olsen’s 12 Gauge Garage thread- after all it’s 13+ years old. Great idea.
“ Nothing more to see here, let’s all move on….”
(Now, where’s that damn sarcasm emoji I am always looking for?)

 

[CGarage]

As a 'Global Moderator" of an automotive web forum (since 2000 on that site), I wrote a FAQ entitled "newbies read this". Number three (out of 10) on that post is the following:

"3: As a newbie, you sometimes forget to look at the date of the last post in a thread you are interested in. Dates are located above a user name and are in the following format "05-30-2015, 09:04 AM" You click on the reply/respond button and inadvertently resurrect threads that are 5-15 years old. Most with outdated information, or asking for information from a specific end user, who may no longer be on the site, or in a worst case scenario, has passed away."

Since posting that, it cut down the number of such archival resurrection by 90%.

Bill

This is dumb.

How often does the information get outdated?
I’d wager not very often.


Some of the most valuable members who are knowledgeable die off (life happens) or become interested in other hobbies.

 

[mrbill55]

This is dumb.

How often does the information get outdated?
I’d wager not very often.


Some of the most valuable members who are knowledgeable die off (life happens) or become interested in other hobbies.

Dumb because you disagree, in which case, you should just say that instead of calling it dumb without explanation. Or, because you have never run across such a situation where the original thread start and topic was no longer accurate vs today? Again, you'd be quite surprised how many times a day this happens, on multitudes of forums.

In the automotive field, let's say you have a question about an early EFI conversion, which was bleeding edge in 2002, which you needed to program yourself, but has been updated and upgraded, or outright replaced with something else by 2023. Someone reads an old thread and has a question in regards to the new systems, but resurrects a thread started in 2003. Not only is the original content irrelevant, but the original poster, the one with the knowledge of the old system and how to custom program and tweak it, has been deceased for 10+ years. Thus making the new question posted to the old thread irrelevant. Yet, the newbie only saw the letters "EFI", and did not dig further into the original thread content to see he was better off starting a new thread altogether.

Plenty of similar examples, in all sorts of online forums, for this one here, it would be asking about pricing on a thread started before Covid, then expecting the pricing to be the same todays..........Or a 5 year old thread about which corded drill was best for building a deck, when, by todays standards, a cordless drill with rechargable batteries have superseded the corded drills of several years ago.

Bill S.

 

[CGarage]

Dumb because you disagree, in which case, you should just say that instead of calling it dumb without explanation. Or, because you have never run across such a situation where the original thread start and topic was no longer accurate vs today? Again, you'd be quite surprised how many times a day this happens, on multitudes of forums.

In the automotive field, let's say you have a question about an early EFI conversion, which was bleeding edge in 2002, which you needed to program yourself, but has been updated and upgraded, or outright replaced with something else by 2023. Someone reads an old thread and has a question in regards to the new systems, but resurrects a thread started in 2003. Not only is the original content irrelevant, but the original poster, the one with the knowledge of the old system and how to custom program and tweak it, has been deceased for 10+ years. Thus making the new question posted to the old thread irrelevant. Yet, the newbie only saw the letters "EFI", and did not dig further into the original thread content to see he was better off starting a new thread altogether.

Plenty of similar examples, in all sorts of online forums, for this one here, it would be asking about pricing on a thread started before Covid, then expecting the pricing to be the same todays..........Or a 5 year old thread about which corded drill was best for building a deck, when, by todays standards, a cordless drill with rechargable batteries have superseded the corded drills of several years ago.

Bill S.

I will respectfully disagree with you.

Having information consolidated in the thread including updates to what was done in the past is extremely useful.

Rather than having to waste time trying to hunt for said information across multiple threads.
And, of course, being at the mercy of the search function.

 

[whateg01]

Dumb because you disagree, in which case, you should just say that instead of calling it dumb without explanation. Or, because you have never run across such a situation where the original thread start and topic was no longer accurate vs today? Again, you'd be quite surprised how many times a day this happens, on multitudes of forums.

In the automotive field, let's say you have a question about an early EFI conversion, which was bleeding edge in 2002, which you needed to program yourself, but has been updated and upgraded, or outright replaced with something else by 2023. Someone reads an old thread and has a question in regards to the new systems, but resurrects a thread started in 2003. Not only is the original content irrelevant, but the original poster, the one with the knowledge of the old system and how to custom program and tweak it, has been deceased for 10+ years. Thus making the new question posted to the old thread irrelevant. Yet, the newbie only saw the letters "EFI", and did not dig further into the original thread content to see he was better off starting a new thread altogether.

Plenty of similar examples, in all sorts of online forums, for this one here, it would be asking about pricing on a thread started before Covid, then expecting the pricing to be the same todays..........Or a 5 year old thread about which corded drill was best for building a deck, when, by todays standards, a cordless drill with rechargable batteries have superseded the corded drills of several years ago.

Bill S.

Yeah there's nothing better than 20 pages of hits all discussing only the price of drills that year. Even if the tech changes, it's helpful often to see the evolution or maybe I read about a feature last year's drill had that this year's doesn't and I want that instead.

 

[mrbill55]

I will respectfully disagree with you.

Having information consolidated in the thread including updates to what was done in the past is extremely useful.

Rather than having to waste time trying to hunt for said information across multiple threads.
And, of course, being at the mercy of the search function.

I appreciate a more level headed response as this....Yet, I will still continue to disagree, as I've a bit more experience with the subject, dating all the way back to the day of UUNET and newsgroups, some of which I moderated, some of which I started back in the day of dial up, or modem to modem communication via teletype machine with dot matrix printers. Actually, even before that while in grade school, HS, and college, as the early technology changed from month to month, sometimes day to day. Am I old, to some, yes, to others, no.

Bill S.

 

[mrbill55]

Yeah there's nothing better than 20 pages of hits all discussing only the price of drills that year. Even if the tech changes, it's helpful often to see the evolution or maybe I read about a feature last year's drill had that this year's doesn't and I want that instead.

My favorites these days are "how much does it cost to build a 20x20 garage", and having people quote their costs from 10 years ago

Bill S.

 

[dchawk81]

My favorites these days are "how much does it cost to build a 20x20 garage", and having people quote their costs from 10 years ago

Bill S.

Or the great deal they got on a car pre-covid.

Yep, 2019 prices are still valid for anything, bruh.

 

[threeputt]

Leave them as they are now.

 

[Steve from Socal]

I appreciate a more level headed response as this....Yet, I will still continue to disagree, as I've a bit more experience with the subject, dating all the way back to the day of UUNET and newsgroups, some of which I moderated, some of which I started back in the day of dial up, or modem to modem communication via teletype machine with dot matrix printers. Actually, even before that while in grade school, HS, and college, as the early technology changed from month to month, sometimes day to day. Am I old, to some, yes, to others, no.

Bill S.

While I understand your point, the idea that old threads are irrelevant is not black and white.

There are threads on forums by folks who have passed that are still useful and up to date in the subject matter. The old thread are dead idea is subjective at best. While electronics and technology DO change, plenty of mechanics, physics and, many other endevors remain constant. You sound like a DIY engine management guy, I agree the stuff a few years old is a dead end but, that is but a small aspect of a forum like the Garage Journal.

A lot of things change over time, a lot of things remain the same. Arbitrarily purging by date is a loss to folks searching for subject matter that may not be current but useful to their needs. It aslo distroys commentary by folks that may have had unique and relevent information on a vast array of subject matter.

Steve

 

[Jswain]

No problem here with reviving old threads, not all issues are solved in x amount of months. Sometimes you also think an issue is solved and it comes back x amount of months later.

Pretty much ANY question ever asked on any busy forum was answered with "have you ever searched bro?!?!" Old threads with many pages of info over years are so much more valuable then 3 post threads over and over

 

[rd65]

I really dont see the harm in resurrecting an old thread. What's the big deal? If you aren't interested in the topid/thread you don't have to read it correct?

 

[jar944]

You make it sound like we don't keep rambling regardless.

This.

75% of the replys are off topic any way so what's the difference when the thread was last updated or started.

 

[driftpin]

Seen the McLaren F1 pricing lately? Jay Leno has one, it's been clickbait recently. The McLaren F1 used an obsolete computer to run the diagnostics, I'm sure that someone will find the article about it and post it. There is a place for old info, and a purpose. No new rules, what happened to 'less?'

 

[CGarage]

My favorites these days are "how much does it cost to build a 20x20 garage", and having people quote their costs from 10 years ago

Bill S.

My favorite as well. One example, I keep old Snap On price lists as references for what I should reasonably expect to pay for something when it comes up for sale second hand……..rough order of magnitude costs are critical to keep track of.

In fact, I memorize prices for nearly everything I buy and have a minimum and maximum price levels set in my mind mentally as to what I am willing to pay for said items.

 

[Bad Eye Bill]

I think a beneficial add-on would be showing the date the thread was started under the thread title. If people could see a thread was started in 2005, they may not necropost it.

The date is already shown under the title.

 

[LWB]

Seriously:


What is the issue with reviving old threads if there is good information to contribute????????

Why does the age of the thread matter?????

I think we should close down the threads with unnecessary punctuation.

Seriously, it doesn't matter. There's good info in old threads by members who have moved on. Juts don't respond if you don't like it. It's the same on every forum.

 

[Black300zx]

While I understand your point, the idea that old threads are irrelevant is not black and white.

Agreed - a lot of what works (and what doesn't) can be forum specific and dependent on whether the userbase actually reads through long threads, or if they jump right to asking a question if they can't find it in the first few posts they read.

An example was given about an old thread containing what at the time was cutting edge tech. I've been on some forums where the userbase would skim/read through a decade of posts in a thread to see if the early posts were still relevant to today before adding onto the thread. Conversely, I've seen resurrected threads where a user doesn't read past the first page and adds a post on page 35 asking about a product that hasn't been available for a decade. Goes both way, and there isn't a one-size-fits-all solution for every forum.

My 0.02 - I find it more frustrating not being able to appropriately resurrect an old thread that's still relevant than it is to see an old thread revived unnecessarily. Easy enough to just skip over old junk.

I do admit though - I'm wondering if anyone has this thread bookmarked to resurect in 4 months

 

[CGarage]

I think we should close down the threads with unnecessary punctuation.

I have not seen many threads with unnecessary punctuation.

I certainly overused punctuation as a means of expressing my incredulousness over the fact that some members believe old threads should not be revived or contributed to. All posts are clearly dated, it’s easy to see how fresh or ancient the information is.

I think threads that are not clearly titled by the original poster, often for the purposes of “click bait”, should be closed, deleted, or otherwise terminated. Examples of these useless and offending thread titles would be:

“Hey, look at this”

“Does anybody know?”

“Scored this today”

 

[mrbill55]

I think we should close down the threads with unnecessary punctuation.

(insert William Shatner voice here):

I'm, Not, Sure, What, You, Are, Talking, About.

Promise

 

[whateg01]

(insert William Shatner voice here):

I'm, Not, Sure, What, You, Are, Talking, About.

Promise

Really???????

 

[BlakeTheCarGuy]

Leave it as is. I like old threads. Some threads I stumble across and think man I want to post on this thread but I know if I do I’ll take heat cause it’s old. I encourage people to bump old threads personally.

 

[Briancapecoral]

I just made a note in my calendar to post again in this thread on 6/4/2028.

 

[larry_g]

I have not seen many threads with unnecessary punctuation.

I certainly overused punctuation as a means of expressing my incredulousness over the fact that some members believe old threads should not be revived or contributed to. All posts are clearly dated, it’s easy to see how fresh or ancient the information is.

I think threads that are not clearly titled by the original poster, often for the purposes of “click bait”, should be closed, deleted, or otherwise terminated. Examples of these useless and offending thread titles would be:

“Hey, look at this”

“Does anybody know?”

“Scored this today”

I also do not open posts with RANT in the title.

That said I will often link to an old thread to answer a repeat question, such as compressor questions, and the monthly Bit questions.

lg
no neat sig line