Dead Thread Rule

When I came onto Anime Online, I was quite intrigued by the 2-week dead thread rule.

The rules state:

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Inactive threads, which have not been posted in for 2 weeks or more, should not be revived. They are considered dead.

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I have never seen this rule in other forums and wonder if it is really required here at AO. If there is a thread where a member has something important to say, then they cannot if the thread has passed the 2-week rule.

Should this rule be abolished? It certainly would make the Moderators job easier.

This rule does intrigue me as well. Part of me says it's useless, the other part of me says it should stay although it can't put its finger on "why."

Thinking about it... In the end, I do kind of understand why we have it in place. I can't speak for the staff who've made the rule for whatever the reason they did, as this is my own interpretation... But I see it like this... Imagine some of the current Debate threads we have now. Some of them are a 100+ posts long, and excede 15-20 pages. So, it dies, people have moved on from the discussion. Imagine some - usually new - person that comes along and re-opens the discussion. It'll be like hell. First, you'd have a 25 page thread that's been discussed. Secondly, most of the people originally posting on it have moved on from the thread, leaving it seemingly empty of discussion despite being put back on top of the thread list. Thirdly, the people who have never seen the thread before, will probably skip reading anything, and go straight into posting. Whatever they post will most likely be the same crap that's been said 3 and 4 times in the original 25 pages. It'll go on nonstop. Every 3 weeks some guy will come in, look at older threads and bump them.

So, from that perspective, my own, I can see why we have the rule in place. And, as I was posting, I convinced 100% of me to keep it. Thus, I vote "No" to abolishment.

Grumble Grumble Grumble

With a Forum with as much traffic as Anime Online, the problem that we've found in the past is that if 'dead' threads are allowed to be brought active (like zombies raising from the grave...) the number of 'revived' threads quickly bury the current (and new) topic to the bottom of the pile, 3 or 4 web view pages from the top. Trying to arrange page views differently (such as sorting based on the thread start date instead of the most current posts) results in the long duration active topics being buried pages deep...

Even with the current '2 week & it's expired' rule, members always have the options of restarting a new thread with the same topic, and see if members want to contribute to it. Reviving a old dead thread (particularly if it has a large post count) gives the outward appearence of being actively participated in when in reality the previous post was made weeks or months ago...

Good point silverskater145, especially about the Debate forums. So the dead thread rule does benefit the debate forums, but wouldn't benefit some of the other forums.

Wouldn't it be better to close certain threads so they can no longer be posted in? If a thread is not closed and the 2-week dead thread rule applies, then every now and then someone will come and post in the thread - resulting in work for the moderators to correct it. So if the thread was initially closed, then no longer does it need monitoring for new posts.

Perhaps we should make it that all threads in the Debate forum are closed after 2 weeks of inactivity, and then we can safely abolish the dead-thread rule.

I hate the rule. The anime sections are a huge pain to post in. Adopt a rule that says you can bump something as long as you add real content to it and as long as the topic isn't dated (like so and so anime is coming out this spring, etc)?

Also, it would be nice it you could increase the number of threads shown on a page...

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Originally Posted by Laharl ex

I hate the rule. The anime sections are a huge pain to post in. Adopt a rule that says you can bump something as long as you add real content to it and as long as the topic isn't dated (like so and so anime is coming out this spring, etc)?

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Another good point. Perhaps the dead thread rule should only apply to certain forums. The new Anime Series forum has no dead thread rule! ;)

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Originally Posted by Laharl ex

Also, it would be nice it you could increase the number of threads shown on a page...

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Increased from 10 to 12 posts per page.

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Originally Posted by LenMiyata

Even with the current '2 week & it's expired) rule, members always have the options of restarting a new thread with the same topic, and see if members want to contribute to it. Reviving a old dead thread (particularly if it has a large post count) gives the outward appearence of being actively participated in when in reality the previous post was made weeks or months ago...

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Very good point!

Dragon Ball, I would say that the rule is useless if people oftenhave something good to add, but unfortunately that is never the case. If we truly wanna lessen the load of the staff, we should have these threads automatically close themselves.

Often times we have new members, or people that want to just access the gallery quickly, and ends up posting stuff that is not interesting content. And my last point is, most of our REAL members (even if they're busy with work and school) will at least come in once every week and will not miss a thread. So the two week thing is reasonable.

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Originally Posted by Dragon Ball

Good point silverskater145, especially about the Debate forums. So the dead thread rule does benefit the debate forums, but wouldn't benefit some of the other forums.

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Well, while the Debate forum is a good example, I don't know if it'd be right to limit it to that. Although, I see where you are coming from.

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Originally Posted by Dragon Ball

Wouldn't it be better to close certain threads so they can no longer be posted in? If a thread is not closed and the 2-week dead thread rule applies, then every now and then someone will come and post in the thread - resulting in work for the moderators to correct it. So if the thread was initially closed, then no longer does it need monitoring for new posts.

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It seems to me that picking only certain threads to close is not only more complicated, but it would actually result in more work for mods.

As for closing dead threads, well, that's what they are here for. They're the staff, it's their job. They wouldn't be working if it didn't suit them to. And you could always pick up more staff members if need be. It is a 50,000 website, after all. ;)

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Originally Posted by Dragon Ball

Perhaps we should make it that all threads in the Debate forum are closed after 2 weeks of inactivity, and then we can safely abolish the dead-thread rule.

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Again, restating my reply to the first part of your post that was quoted... I don't know if it is right to limit it to only the Debate thread. Although it is especially effective for longer threads in terms of posts and pages, and most long pages are found in the Debate forum... I still find the rule effective for other threads in other areas.

Imagine a thread on an generally unkown anime. It only gains maybe 10 posts and dies quickly. A month later a guy comes in and finds it, and re-opens it. That's problamatic. For what Len said, it burys the current topics down, while it opens up a seemingly useless dicussion that is still predominately dead.

Do I make sense?


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Originally Posted by Dragon Ball

Another good point. Perhaps the dead thread rule should only apply to certain forums. The new Anime Series forum has no dead thread rule!

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Well, that is just because it works with the Anime Series forum. ;)