www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk

I don't know if this is something new or I just haven't noticed it before, but is a topic automatically locked if there has not been a reply for a certain time? I noticed that all topics where the last post is 15 Feb 2010 or earlier have been locked.

I am not complaining, in fact I think it is a good idea as it stops someone piggy-backing a new topic on one which is similar (presumably as a result of a search), but now dead and buried.

The mods will explain it, but I think any thread that has been inactive for 8 to 10 weeks is locked, for the reason that you stated.

dave

Guilty Dave, I lock all the posts after 6-8 weeks, of inactivity.

thescruff wrote:Guilty Dave, I lock all the posts after 6-8 weeks, of inactivity.

What a sensible idea! I wish other forums would do the same. Then you would not have four year old topics suddenly rearing their head, either with a reply "answering" the problem - it's amazing how many people do not read through a topic, they just read and answer the OP's original problem - or when someone says that they have a similar problem.

That and the Op still gets email notification which can be a pain after several months/years, we try to stop hi-jacking threads for the same reason. Apart from it gets very confusing if you have two or more posters asking questions.

D Hailsham wrote:

thescruff wrote:Guilty Dave, I lock all the posts after 6-8 weeks, of inactivity.

What a sensible idea! I wish other forums would do the same. Then you would not have four year old topics suddenly rearing their head, either with a reply "answering" the problem - it's amazing how many people do not read through a topic, they just read and answer the OP's original problem - or when someone says that they have a similar problem.

That is exactly why it is done.

There is nothing worse than someone digging up an old post, which used to happen frequently.

Scruff has had an hard job locking the posts in the past, but it is a little easier now with the new forum software.

You wouldn't believe how much easier and quicker UHM. I can do the whole lot now in the time it took to do one forum before.