Necro Thread Eliminator

Why not copy the raspberrypi forum which seems to lock all threads over a certain age? Lock, them or close them, it's much the same

This saves people resurrecting necro threads and half a dozen people replying before someone twigs that the thread is decades old.

Occasionally a necrobump can be useful. I once asked a question about libraries that no one found an answer to, but I was able unexpectedly to clear it up a couple of years later. I bumped the thread because I thought that people who had given me advice would like to learn the actual solution. Could locking the post still allow the OP to reopen it?

Seems like a good idea. I saw one that was nero'd twice, but locking it so only the OP can reply after 6 months or so would be good.

Originally Posted by hazel Occasionally a necrobump can be useful. I once asked a question about libraries that no one found an answer to, but I was able unexpectedly to clear it up a couple of years later. I bumped the thread because I thought that people who had given me advice would like to learn the actual solution. Could locking the post still allow the OP to reopen it?

Occasionally someone who is not the OP comes up with a solution (or an improved one) years later. Here's an example of what I would consider a "good" non-OP necrobump that I just happened to notice today.

Currently there is a warning that shows before you post to an old thread. "Please note that this thread has not been replied to in over 6 months. Please ensure your reply is still relevant and timely." However, the warning disappears once the necrobump happens; maybe it's possible to keep that warning up for a bit longer? (I guess the wording would have to be tweaked a bit)

it was discussed several times and the answer was always the same, it is against the rules.
If you are interested, look for similar threads, actually here is another one: https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...rd-4175524433/ (with an additional twist).

Never mind. I seem to have a 0% success record with my "helpful suggestions." I'll mark this solved because it's clearly not going to happen, but don't let me stop any of you voicing opinions.

Technically, it'd be great if the account age was taken into consideration when posing in old threads.
Just to get rid of bots, as they are sometimes used to bump ads.
But it would then require periodic pruning of account database, and all the complications that would bring, like mass email notification warnings abut the inevitable purge.
Going to stay neutral about it, since it's a lot of work. But I don't like to see 20 y/o threads bumped to top (for no reason) any more than you do.
If only the OP could bump, that would prevent new solutions for old problem from being brought up, and would result in too many duplicates.

Personally, I have always felt that this was a good idea. Beyond a few months or so, you can no longer "reply to" a thread and thus "bring it back to life." Instead, you must create a new thread, which might hyperlink to the other entries as you please.

In the intended subject-matter of this forum, "time marches on" extremely quickly. The technology that is being discussed is quite temporal in its technical relevance ... such that it could be quite misleading(!) to "resuscitate" a thread from even a fairly-short time ago. This wrongly suggests to the new follower – who probably has not noticed the post-dates – that the ("necro") content is still relevant. For a site devoted to "Linux Questions," this is actually a very serious concern. It is a source of "noise," and confusion.

I'm inclined to think that OP's suggestion is a good idea, as long as the old thread can still be viewed in a search or otherwise. And perhaps the "old thread" warning could include a suggestion to start a new thread if the issue is of sufficient moment.

But it's not a matter about which I have strong feelings.

Marked 'unsolved' because discussion is continuing.

I think we should revisit this thread in a few years after thinking it over.

The reason I suggested it is that more than once I have tried to contribute to a thread, reading back perhaps 3 or 4 posts, only to discover that someone resurrected it 6 or so posts back. A lot of people have wasted valuable effort replying which could be given to current threads. Let's face it - good replies are what keeps LQ thriving.

Originally Posted by business_kid Why not copy the raspberrypi forum which seems to lock all threads over a certain age? Lock, them or close them, it's much the same This saves people resurrecting necro threads and half a dozen people replying before someone twigs that the thread is decades old.

So that we can have a proliferation of the same questions being asked over and over, with a separate thread for each? You do realize that with the stable nature of this open source platform, it's very possible for discussions to stay current for decades, right?

Originally Posted by dugan So that we can have a proliferation of the same questions being asked over and over, with a separate thread for each?

Yeah, just like the proliferation of threads asking for auto-closing of threads, at least it's self-consistent

https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...ty-4175694694/
https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...hreads-656669/
https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...me-4175609241/
https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...se-4175598175/
https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...-years-889032/
https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...hreads-848914/
https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...hreads-569297/

(these are just the ones I found by searching for "auto" or "close" in the title, there's probably a bunch more)

Originally Posted by elcore Just to get rid of bots, as they are sometimes used to bump ads.

I suspect that this is what actually motivated this thread. Obviously, this would not be a good way to solve the problem.