Posted by Thread Age - Auto. Deletion

Axel (#6627)

Pervert
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Posted on
2014-07-03 18:14:57
Well, I have been looking around some forum sections and found that they are flooded with threads that arent even used anymore. I am sure they also use server space, yet all they do is just.... existing.
Plus, recently one of my rant threads were necroed... It was dead for more than a year and a half, then people started posting into it...

Idea:I think threads in certain forum sections should have some kind of an age, counting from when the last post was submitted. And once they reach half a year or a year, they would be automatically deleted.

Why?
Because they are abandoned for half a year or a year, which means that they are either invalid already (like rant threads) or they simply will not be revived anymore.
They use server space.
There is a chance for post necroing, especially in the rant threads.

Let us see how many pages we have per forum section (not counting locked ones):
Watering Hole: 90 pages!
Free for All: 107 pages!
Sharpen your Claws: 86 pages!
Stockpile: 156 pages!
Tree Carvings: 89 pages!
Roleplaying: 125 pages!
I'm Lost: 131 pages!
Bug Board: 50 pages!
Grown Up Lions: 11 pages.

And most of these were replied to last 1-2 years ago. I dont think they would be of any use to anyone. Bugs from years ago were surely fixed by now, questions from years back are surely outdated, not helping anyone anymore.

Yes, there is the case where people would say to put our own threads up for deletion, but seriously... I am sure you have thread there about which you forgot as well. It is easy to just skip over them, and let them keep server space. And let us not forget about people who quit by now or are taking a break.

Exceptions:
Of course, there would be exceptions.
Game Development.
Because ideas are always valid and to be considered by the staff.
(Perhaps Stockpile and Roleplay because of the sales and stories, but I am not sure. Abandoned ones really shouldnt keep server space)
News
People surely want to look at past ones too.

But what about Roleplays and Trade threads in the Stockpile and Tree Carvings?
Active threads are replied to regularly and surely dont lay around for a year or half a year without replies. Abandoned threads are useless and only keep server space.
If you wish to keep your old roleplay, then just... save it onto your computer, or onto an online document site.
Although, it will be up to the staff if they wish to keep these.

But I know I will not post into my thread anymore, but I still want to keep it...
I guess 'bumping' the thread could reset the 'age' of the topic, so no need to spam the thread you wish to keep with posts. - Idea by Kraft

Thank you for reading.



This suggestion has 107 supports and 32 NO supports.



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Edited on 27/07/14 by Axel (#6627)

NightMother (#8653)

Mean
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Posted on
2014-07-13 22:06:15
I don't support.

As an RP-er I write a lot and sometimes stories go into the dead zones. However that thread contains a lot of information that no one really wants to copy paste onto a document.

Characters and Plots would be lost. I know in my experience I love my old RP threads. They hold some of my favorite characters and I can always go back and read the whole story like a novel. I love the fact I can go snooping on many other sites and find my threads untouched and unharmed.

This also applies to a lot of various thread information I like to look over repeatedly. Just because someones not posting on it doesn't mean it's inactive.

Also a lot of threads are personal. Even if only 3 people post on your rant thread. It's allowed to exist. Your allowed on a personal level to go find it and reread it. If it's deleted it's lost forever and the day you go looking for it. It's no longer there!

I can think of a lot of scenarios where I had to go dig up information from old ghostly threads on sites. Someone said this, someone said that. Oh look I found it where it was :D. This person told me about this great thing to do! This is a great topic! I'll save it on my bookmarks!

Etc If this was implemented I wouldn't be able to do that. Also I doubt deleting so many threads actually improves the sever. It's like deleting my picture section on my computer. Smallest bit of improvement nothing great to note. It wouldn't be worth it in my eyes. There are plenty of other sites that are just as big as this. That do fine with all there threads Locked and Not Deleted.

They hardly lag on a daily basis. If anything is clogging up the sever it's all the lions being born and generated constantly. xD

~~~~

Though I purpose an Only Time Thread Locker. After a few months of inactivity it can be auto locked. Stops players from posting and stops allowing old threads to be grave digging. It solves the mess without harming people.



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Axel (#6627)

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Posted on
2014-07-13 22:51:28
I have been thinking about this aspect, NightMother, however please note that there are a lot of dead rps/rant threads which will never be looked at, yet there are hundreds of pages of them just so laying around without any activity. Those are simply not needed. If you wish to keep your threads, all you need to do is post into it something to keep it alive.

However, the fact that you like to go back to them is sadly not a valid enough reason. You can screenshot or copy the text, either store it on your computer or onto an online storage site. They dont need to keep whatever server space they need just because you cherish its content. It useful only to you. Not for the forum itself or the server.

And despite the space they fill is not all too enormous, every tiny data counts when it comes to lag or site speed. It does count that there are ancient dead topics, even if a little. And they really are not needed any longer. They are not active, and what is not active is dead on a forum. No other way to go about it.

As for auto-locking it, sadly that will not solve the main problem, which is freeing space and reducing the count of inactive threads on the forum. They need to be deleted in order to free that small space they fill.

And this idea hardly harms people. Normally, people forget that they had threads in here. If they wish to keep the information, post into it or copy the information to somewhere. No problem arises, no one is harmed.



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NightMother (#8653)

Mean
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Posted on
2014-07-14 10:06:00
You don't realize a lot of forums create Traffic. Traffic as in people coming to visit the site. Each forum is another free press release the site never had to create. This is a type of free marketing for forum sites. The forum's age doesn't amount it's worth in this case.

"Blogging
It has been alluded to in other methods, but one of the best ways to generate free traffic to your site is to have a blog.

I can tell you first hand, that out of all the websites I’ve built for other people, the ones with blogs have generated FAR more traffic than the ones without them.

By doing nothing but blogging regularly, you are almost guaranteed to generate free traffic from Google."

~Quoted From : http://www.thomasdigital.com/2013/05/25/14-ways-to-generate-free-traffic-to-your-website/

Basically the more people posting and creating the more free traffic for the site. The more players will google and see nothing but sub links for forums and guides to the game. This would hinder that as a lot of old forums actually have a lot of activity and will catch google's eye in there search engine. The thing that you mostly see is old forums in google searches. New forums haven't gained enough views to be note worthy.

The relevance of the contents aren't the hindrance. A lot of people have clicked on these useless forums and gained access into the site. Creating a lot of free advertisement.

I searched Lioden Forums and received these

A forum game dated back to 2013-09-14
http://www.lioden.com/topic.php?id=16915

I searched lioden colors, I always got a old forum 2013-04-01
http://www.lioden.com/topic.php?id=4033

Every little useless forum has the potential to have free site trafficking to the site. This is why so many pet site don't delete there forums. I don't see marketed advertisement for the site. I only have seen user created banners for advertisement. The site needs more and more traffic opportunities to be successful.



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Kraft (#1105)

Sinister
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Posted on
2014-07-14 10:14:52
In terms of roleplaying and other threads that you no longer want to post in but still want to keep around - why not make the 'bump' option another form of resetting the time period?
If the time period was (example) 6 months, all you'd have to do is bump it 2 - 3 times a year to ensure it can stay there.



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Axel (#6627)

Pervert
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Posted on
2014-07-14 17:12:37
NightMother:
Lioden has plenty forum topics that can generate traffic. I am playing other games, even adoptable sites which have new members almost every second, yet they delete their old topics about in half a year. They know they dont need the old threads to keep going. They are sitting there with no activity and they know it does not help them advertising themselves to potential new members.

Because dont you think, that if people are already specifically searching for Lioden stuff, they already know about the game? No need to have the forum topics 'advertise'. They will not pop up at random searches.

For example: if you just search for lion colors, no forum topic from Lioden will be displayed. The Lioden topics only appear if you search for them specifically. And in this case, 'advertising' is not needed because the searching person already knows.

And not all old Lioden topics had a lot of activity. I see a lot of first posts without replies, or just with a few posts in them. An old thread doesnt automatically mean it had activity. If it has activity, then it is still active.

Kraft:
That is a good idea. I guess bumping a topic could also reset the age of the thread.



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Edited on 15/07/14 by Axel (#6627)

StarrieSkye *DDA* (#18637)

Sinister
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Posted on
2014-08-01 18:08:22
so much support o.o








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Challor {VV}{OC} (#28957)

Prince of the Savannah
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Posted on
2014-08-06 18:01:52
I'm kind of in two minds about this.

Pros:
like you said, free up server space etc etc (you made very good points!)

cons:
when I'm bored, I like to flick through the old threads to see some of liodens "history"
I get to see what coats used to be popular
I get to see what was the "big problem" with lioden eg 8 months ago
Sometimes I just like to read the arguments in the old locked threads for purely entertainment purposes
etc etc


so While I wouldn't be upset if this was implemented, I'm not going to personally push for it by supporting



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Kingdom of Avanti (#22650)

Ill-Natured
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Posted on
2014-08-06 18:10:02
I don't support because I have quite afew old threads that I still use but are not technically 'posted' in. My Avanti Biographies are one of them.



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Sweeft (#26885)

Ruthless
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Posted on
2014-08-07 03:04:52
Sorry, no support :c I agree with what other people like me added. I think it's interesting to see the 'old' lioden. It's like going in a time machine (well, sorta, and don't you dare judge meh x3) ! Also, when I see that some of y topics are old and I don't need them anymore, I put 'DELETE PLEASE' in the topic's name and bump it until the mods find it. Though what WOULD be a good solution to this problem (in my opinion), is a delete button o topics, because a lot of new people don't know how to close them, and only find out like a month or two after they joined. And it would just be easier if one could click the delete button and save the servers AND lioden's staff from sleepless nights deleting old topics.



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Densai (#22807)

Notable Lion
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Posted on
2014-08-31 02:16:01
Sorry, no support for reasons listed above. :c I think deleting all the old topics and such; it'd be like destroying all the history books. Or that's what it'd be like to me. D:

Challor, that's EXACTLY what I do when I'm bored. What was that 'big problem' 8 months ago? Sounds interesting... 0.o



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Sainler (#11215)

Sapphic
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Posted on
2014-09-20 14:12:09
This in giveaways would be amazing.

I did a massive giveaway last year, like in June, and someone went and dug it up in February. I have like 4 extra pages of people begging and getting angry for not getting anything when I hadn't even touched the thread or my account for MONTHS.

Also, sharpening your claws section could use this.
I mean, rants and vents from 2 years ago, meh, do we need them?



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Kraft (#738)

Aztec Knight
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Posted on
2016-02-03 20:57:17
Older thread is old but I think the idea is still valid. Especially since those figures from 2014 have exploded.

Coming back to it in 2016, my thoughts.

A thread should automatically be flagged for deletion after 6 months if NONE of the following has occurred:
Locking - Locked Threads will not be flagged.
Bumping - Resets the timer back to 6 months upon bumping.
Comment - Resets the timer back to 6 months upon commenting.
Edited - Resets the timer back to 6 months upon editing.
Stuck - Sticky threads will not be flagged.

A safety measure put in place in flagging means should anything go wrong the moderators have overall control of deletion and can check the thread material to ensure it's appropriate for deletion. It could be an older guide which they still want to keep around.

Another safety measure that could be put in place is the owner receiving a Game Notification 5 months after no activity stating that their thread will be flagged in a month. Should the owner decide it is worth keeping all they need to do is edit the topic. This is very simple to save a thread you'd rather keep around. I feel that 90% of threads after 6 months of no activity are redundant and no longer relevant to the game.



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Seranner (#75113)

Aztec Knight
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Posted on
2016-02-04 07:28:22
I think that it should depend on what kind of post. Maybe if they added a "Game" thread where you can get all the games like TPAMGA without worrying about deletion. Maybe if they were 2 or 3 years because at that point, every game gets old..? I mean, I've seen some pretty old game posts that are still used. Support anyways.



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Kraft (#738)

Aztec Knight
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Posted on
2016-02-04 07:30:53
"I mean, I've seen some pretty old game posts that are still used."

That's the point with what I was saying :) If they're still using it, still active, their timers will be constantly reset and won't be flagged until no one has touched it for 6 months. By that point it's most likely forgotten or people don't want to play again.



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Dez (#66551)

Confused
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Posted on
2016-02-04 07:30:56
I support if the exception includes RP posts as well. It's nice to still have them around to look back on for reference if a new thread has been started, or say it's a character thread, but there's been no new characters in a year but the RP is still active.



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