Banned from Fedora Forums

[Michael Schwendt]

On Tue, 9 Sep 2008 10:56:04 -0800, Jeff Spaleta wrote:

> On Tue, Sep 9, 2008 at 10:37 AM, Michael Schwendt wrote:
> > In forums like that it is tried to keep open only a single thread for the
> > same [or similar] topic. To avoid that the same issue is discussed in many
> > different threads (or in different sub-forums). "Multiple postings" is if
> > the same reply is posted in multiple threads, and especially if multiple
> > similar [and possibly old] threads are refreshed by posting to them.
> 
> Is that codified in fedoraforum's guidelines? I'm not sure I see that
> communicated in a way that is obvious to me.

I specifically wrote "in forums like that" referring to how it's handled in
many web-based message boards. It's typically not put into policies, because
hardly anybody would read them anyway. I dunno how it is done at fedoraforum.

> As to "old threads"  it would be good to have some basic rule of thumb
> as to when a thread is "too old" to reply to. Can the forum be
> configured to automatically close the threads if they are inactive for
> long enough?

That's not easy to enforce. In a good forum, where people put common sense
to good use, after years there still could be only single thread for each
unique topic, and you could refresh it any time it is appropriate.
Unfortunately, the more popular a forum gets, the less people search
before they post. And the less people search, the more duplicate [or
similar] threads are created. In turn, the search results are flooded,
stuff becomes less easy to find. If threads are closed, users are forced
to open new ones. Valuable details in old closed threads gets buried.