What do you do with dead topics?
- Thread starter Adz
- Start date
I just leave them be.
Sometimes people may want to go back to them for whatever reason.
I know I've gone back to topics that have been a year old to revive them. Like for example, a topic about a game that had just been announced might get revived a year later when that game gets released. Or maybe a topic about an upcoming movie gets made, then 6 months later it gets revived to discuss things about it.
(And it can be interesting to see how thoughts about something pre-release matches up with what you might think after viewing or playing that same media.)
Othertimes I go back to old posts because they contain some good information to be quoted/linked to (or re-posted). Which, in cases of re-linking, sometimes also leads to that topic getting new replies.
Sometimes people may want to go back to them for whatever reason.
I know I've gone back to topics that have been a year old to revive them. Like for example, a topic about a game that had just been announced might get revived a year later when that game gets released. Or maybe a topic about an upcoming movie gets made, then 6 months later it gets revived to discuss things about it.
(And it can be interesting to see how thoughts about something pre-release matches up with what you might think after viewing or playing that same media.)
Othertimes I go back to old posts because they contain some good information to be quoted/linked to (or re-posted). Which, in cases of re-linking, sometimes also leads to that topic getting new replies.
ForumSource
Resident
Yeah, just leave them be unless you don't like users bringing back really old threads to life.
Sometimes, when a new member joins a forum, they'll start posting in a load of topics including the ones which haven't had activity for a very long time.
I've seen this happen many times on some forums that I've owned or administrated.
I've seen this happen many times on some forums that I've owned or administrated.
I used to delete old topics that weren't getting traffic so there wasn't so much "junk" on the forum and so that the SEO value in the site wasn't diluted among so many worthless pages. I figured that less pages = more link juice to each of those pages.
I have never deleted old topics on my site I simply created a forum labeled archives and put them in there. If my members wanted to continue with the topic at some point then a member of staff could simply put the topic back in the forum it originated from!!
I usually let them be. However, I tend to take their original ideas and make new topics from them... Kind of like recycling ideas but without making duplicate content! Its a good tactic to use if you are running out of new topic ideas 🙂
fantanoice
Madly Diligent
I keep them open and let people respond to them, but only if they're providing some new information. I also use them to merge with new threads about the same topic because I don't liking having multiple threads for the same purpose.
Techie said:
That's quite a new thing for me. Usually the more topics you can cover, as long as the content is not spam, it will be okay.
You shouldn't delete old topics just because it is possible that someone may reply to it. If it doesn't have any reply, you can poke your staff members to write one or two things about it. XD Or yes, merge it to similar topics when a new one is posted. Or bump it once in a while to get members' attention to it, maybe they just missed it.
Unless really extraordinary circumstances persuade me otherwise I simply let them be. I think that it is not always easy to predict what may pick up people attention and I know the frustration of finding a topic you have your ideas to share and turns out to be locked or you're afraid of the possible punishment even if you had a valid point. I've also had them warning me for creating a duplicate when the old one had been archived... how could I know that?
That is why I let them be. From those experiences I know members can find attractive a topic I didn't consider to have potential and turn it into a great discussion many months after its creation.
That is why I let them be. From those experiences I know members can find attractive a topic I didn't consider to have potential and turn it into a great discussion many months after its creation.
I leave such topics alone. On my forum we actually allow necro-posting...the act of bumping up old topics, as long as a person has something to reply to the topic that relates to the discussion at hand, even if a topic is 5 years old, I have no problem with it being bumped up, as long as you have something relavent to add to the discussion. Topics I'll usually lock or archive are topics like software updates, stuff like that.
I think it will be better to close the discussion if the topic is dead and leave the thread as it is for Google optimization. It will also help member with similar discussions to avoid opening new topics for the same reasons. This can also help in reducing spam.
That is a bit off topic but I'll go ahead and address it anyway. You are right, Techie. But the thing is that game topic like this are done with no regard at all about SEO. Different admins have different priorities.Techie said:
Furthermore these counting threads are rarely dead so I don't think they'd close them in a whim without deleting the whole spammy zone altogether.
We have an unfinished threads archive if the thread really can't be finished. But it goes there only if one of the writing partners vanishes and another can't be invited to give another twist to the thread, or if the last poster can't edit the last post to give it a proper ending.
Nothing gets deleted though.
Nothing gets deleted though.
I leave them all alone. I only close the topic if it's about a subject that can never be revived, such as an old E3 topic or a birthday topic. Otherwise, I leave them all open because I have no restrictions on my board for what people can post in. As long as someone is contributing something worthwhile, I don't mind how old the topic is that they're bumping. I'd rather someone bump an older topic and revive that one than make a duplicate of it.
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