Old thread warning

@Rory I see ppl might take a dislike to old threads being revived unintentionally ... any chance that we can get an old thread warning on TASA - maybe something like ... http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=255581



Oh and while you are at it - A TASA plugin that will do my WC for me while I am browsing TASA would be great - ok maybe not :blink1:

Later Ferdie

 

+1 f-fish! would help!

 

Hi Ferdie and Tracy,

We have had some awakenings of old threads in the past weeks and I actually do not mind this, I have decided, the last ones were quite to the point. If an issue has changed and needs to be re-addressed then why not?

What I get frustrated about, is that I give a lot of advice on this forum as you know, and then someone new gets onto the forum and asks the same question again that we debated just a few months before, just because they do not search for a certain topic. Then I end up trying to find the thread myself. I think that more of the threads on which we have had a considerable discussion should be made sticky, but then I do not quite know, if a folder is full of sticky threads, how we would cope with the latest mail coming in. Any suggestions, mods?

Kind regards,

Dirk

 

Maybe a topic can have a small subsection with all the stickies. So you still have recent topics on top and then a colapsable sticky header of sort?

 

Unfortunately we need to appreciate the fact that if you are new to the forum you are unaware of the format, and it can be a bit daunting. I recall when I started on the forum I posted my beginner questions in the beginner sub-forum, as well as in the Ask the Professor sub forum. We need to cut a little bit of slack on the new guys... rather guide them to the search bar, or if you have the time and patience, do the search yourself and post the link. We were all there once.

 

I think i know what the problem is.

From what I know about coding, if you dont add tags to your threads - Then it makes it difficult for the search engine to find that specific request. So tagging must be exercised, as well as for Newb's, searching is a initial must.

Seek and ye will Find.
Ask everyone and they'll get frustrated and close the door.

 

The challenge when new to a forum (I have seen and experienced this often over the years) is that the "newby/newbie":

1. Does not know what has been discussed
2. When searching for answers on the forum does not use the best keywords (doesn't know what the common terminology is) and therefore does not find a thread that may contain the required answer
3. The forumite is a rank beginner and doesn't even know what he wants/needs to know.

I find forums, for all their wealth of information, to be very disorganised in the sense of being able to find what you're looking for.

Obviously we have stickies for the most common questions, but maybe we need a sub-folder containing all stickies, with only a single sticky in the remaining folders containing a list of links (and single line description of each link.) to the stickies relevant to that section. This then allows for many more stickies as well as order within the normal section.

Maybe TASA needs a Wiki for all the common Q&A, instead of a whole bunch of stickies?

 

Second that DeserConvert! Right on! I was also very confused when i came here (last year), had to look around, go here go there go back to find all info related to starting off.

 

Nice post! +1

 

I've seen on some forums that old threads are closed so that you can't post to them. You can still read and search them.

 

this would be an excellent idea!! i think it would also draw much more interest from international people, as i doubt a tropical fish wiki exists currently anywhere else in the world. besides the wealth of knowledge to draw from here on TASA, we could invite experts from all over the world to contribute.


it would probably start out small, but the information base would grow rapidly i think.

+1 @DesertConvert

 

Good one. But it is a helluva job, if not automated. Maybe Rory can source a plugin? Maybe the feature is built in?

 

What is so wrong about reviving an old thread?especially if it saves opening a whole new thread and has some good info on it.i have been going through the old threads and im guilty of reviving a few but if one goes back especially in the general topics one will see many different threads dealing with the same issues.

 

I liked ferdies idea of an old thread warning exactly because it would alert users, who might not otherwise understand. Such a plug-in would help prevent new users possible embarrassment, whilst still permitting revival of an existing thread dealing with relevant updating/new queries etc. Kindof best of both?

 

I don't think there is anything wrong with old threads, especially with regards to information that is widely applicable. Sometimes, however, you will have threads that contain outdated info on prices & products, or even specific techniques and best practices that change over time when better techniques appear. We wouldn't want a newbie (like me) reading up on a concept which has been outdated for 3 years or so, and then complaining & losing faith in the forums because fish died or something.

A balanced approach is probably best, where some older threads are locked and others remain open (and are marked as old?), and old yet unchanging info can be moved to a Wiki? . This is probably a significant workload for the admins, so it's really up to them to decide on whether such an approach would be beneficial (relative to the input that is needed).

 

@DesertConvert case-in-point http://www.tropicalaquarium.co.za/showthread.php?3902-This-forum-is-not-a-hammer&p=58990#post58990 indeed an old sentiment - should we revive that thread?
@tracyp - you got it - just a pop-up saying that 1) it is ok to revive old threads 2) the people who posted it originally may not be able to respond 3) are you sure you want to continue with your post.

How do you search the forum ? You don't - use google some examples:
Look for posts about slate caves
slate caves site:tropicalaquarium.co.za
Look for posts about CFL but ignore anyhting that f-fish has posted in
CFL -f-fish site:tropicalaquarium.co.za
Look for a post about a planted 6 ft tank
planted "6 ft" site:tropicalaquarium.co.za
or a planted 6 foot /ft
planted 6ft OR 6-ft OR "6 foot" site:tropicalaquarium.co.za


If you are willing to click on the advanced button you can even specify a time frame and some other interesting options.

Later Ferdie

 

@f-fish: point taken. We're starting to regurgitate what was already discussed in the other thread. As I said, it all depends on the admins (@Rory) - a Wiki does require significant effort so I'll now discard that idea , but maybe we can still go with the 'Article' functionality?

+1 for the Google search tips

 

I appreciate being able to access and deliberately post on old posts and topics and cannot see why it is an issue.....

Even if it just for reference purposes like for instance a recent question by Rooivlerkie on How to breed Danios...... I could copy a shortcut link to a very old topic of mine explaining the details rather than re-writing the whole article.....

Another example would be, if I want to post an update on progress with a project started a long time ago..... I do not have to start a new topic (and loose all the build-up info).........

Nah!.... leave it as is... Old topics are valuable for reference purposes etc. etc.

 

I agree 100% with @Cheetah on this one. Old threads are there to be accessed, and commented on. Sometimes another person commenting on an old thread reminds us that we all look at things differently.

I agree that the for-sale threads that get revived is a waste of time. It is however the responsibility of the seller to CLOSE HIS OWN for sale thread. (All members have the power to close their own for sale thread).

 

Hey
Sorry I haven't responded much, been a hectic week.
I'll install that warning plugin on the first page. Downloaded it but got sidetracked.

We tried a Wiki on MASA but only 1 or 2 people contributed. I think the main reason is because most people on a forum are looking at the new posts all the time and don't really explore the addon sections much. Also a Wiki article requires you to sit down and think about it a bit more than a general post.

I like the articles idea though.
Zooms asked for a section but also got sidetracked there