Auto-Closing Topics

[Amir2090]

It's useful to keep track of the whole archived topics, and not purge them, but sometimes it's silly to have years-old-topics resumed/bumped. Wouldn't it be nice to have them somehow automatically closed (still accessible and readable) after a determined time-lapse where no replies are added?

[123]

why to just not do a trash can for old posts and allow members to see it?

[Wolfie]

There is a trashcan.. But it's for deleted posts.

I actually think this is a good idea so long as you can specify on a per-forum basis how long to let a topic remain open (since it's last post) before auto-closing it.

Auto close old topics how long after last post? [ xx ] (Drop down menu=Hours/Business Days/Days/Weeks/Months) 0 = disable

[Jasonawojo]

It's useful to keep track of the whole archived topics, and not purge them, but sometimes it's silly to have years-old-topics resumed/bumped. Wouldn't it be nice to have them somehow automatically closed (still accessible and readable) after a determined time-lapse where no replies are added?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think that maybe an option to auto lock threads after a certain age, without bumping them, would be a nice feature addition. :)

[Amir2090]

. . . a good idea so long as you can specify on a per-forum basis how long to let a topic remain open (since it's last post) before auto-closing it.

Auto close old topics how long after last post?  [ xx ] (Drop down menu=Hours/Business Days/Days/Weeks/Months)  0 = disable

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

exactly what i mean. :)

[Johnnie]

There is a mod on http://www.invisionize.com/ to do this.

[Why Two Kay]

There is a mod on

http://www.invisionize.com/

to do this.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It would be easier as a feature! :thumbsup:

[Wolfie]

I think the difference between featuers and mods are in relation to the forum directly. ie, arcade/shops/download systems as mods.

Things that help make the forums more powerful, easier to use and automated should be features.

Setting a timer on a topic (or on a forum for the topics in it) should be a feature since it would be a form of self moderation.

Would also be a benefit if the closing status (timer) were to be stored inside of each topic, so that if its blank, its default, but otherwise the admin/moderators could select 1 or more topics and set a closing date/time on it.

Very useful for having some polls and/or discussions that all need to be closed at a certain time.

:)

[Michael_C]

Things that help make the forums more powerful, easier to use and automated should be features.

I agree to an extent but some things are just bloat and should remain as mods. I think this particular suggestion is a good idea. :)

[Wolfie]

I was trying to put things into perspective for what should be seen as a feature and what should be seen as an add-on/mod.

Obviously with every rule (in this case not even a rule, just a point of view), there will be exceptions.

[123]

There is a trashcan..  But it's for deleted posts.

I actually think this is a good idea so long as you can specify on a per-forum basis how long to let a topic remain open (since it's last post) before auto-closing it.

Auto close old topics how long after last post?  [ xx ] (Drop down menu=Hours/Business Days/Days/Weeks/Months)  0 = disable

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

there is a thing that is called: auto delete aftar 30 days

[Wolfie]

there is a thing that is called: [b]auto delete aftar 30 days[/b]

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

What if they don't want the messages to be deleted? There is a such thing as keeping messages for archiving purposes.

[..zapper]

Good idea! Would be nice if it would be a setting per forum. I'd also like to suggest to add a feature setting per forum, to autoclose sequal topics after x posts.

[123]

What if they don't want the messages to be deleted?  There is a such thing as keeping messages for archiving purposes.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

:lol: :lol: :lol:

so just make a forum to the trash-can and enabled archiving purposes

[Wolfie]

Still doesn't accomplish what is being asked for.

[123]

ok, the forum can auto delete the posts aftar 30 days or less and put them in a trash-can forum, and if can enabled members to see it and even guests

[Michael_C]

But they don't stay in the correct forum then and your deleted topics will still go in there as well.

[..zapper]

I don't like the auto-delete feature, it's way different than the auto-close functionality.

[Wolfie]

In a slight reference to the delete feature, I actually think that it would be better to only delete when absolutely necessary. Otherwise just 'hide/unapprove' a post. By hiding a post, it remains in the proper topic but only can be seen by Admins/Moderators.

Anyway...

I think 123 is just being a smart aleck again, trying to joke when it's not the time/place for it.

[Amir2090]

resuming this thread just to add a further suggestion: when a topic is locked (either automatically or manually by a mod), make it no longer possible for users to edit the posts.

[damien245uk]

If you wanted to do this to all topics within a certain forum or something like that I'm sure you could do it via the scheduler thing.

You could easily have the 'state' changed by an SQL statement according to the 'last_post'... all you would need to do is decide how long ago the last post would have to be before the topic is automatically closed, and (optionally) decide which forums you wanted to apply this to (choose these via 'forum_id').

Regarding editing posts, I don't think that is necessary as such - you could just set it so users can't edit posts after 30 days or something (via ACP - already a feature).

In any case, I think this suggestion is already implemented for IPB 2.1 - closing a poll at a certain time is, but I'm roughly sure it is for the whole topic too.

[sjaakie]

A feature we were using was auto close after certain amount of replies, selectable per forum. Is this a feature that can be put in IPB?

[damien245uk]

Again, something you could easily add to the scheduler system - that same 'topics' table I referred to contains a field called 'posts'

Create an SQL statement that considers the 'forum_id' in conjunction with 'posts', and changes the state of that topic to 'closed' if it exceeds a number of posts and is in the right forum.

If you get that to run say every couple of hours (depending on how busy your board gets) it will do exactly as you need.

[sjaakie]

Again, something you could easily add to the scheduler system - that same 'topics' table I referred to contains a field called 'posts'

Create an SQL statement that considers the 'forum_id' in conjunction with 'posts', and changes the state of that topic to 'closed' if it exceeds a number of posts and is in the right forum.

If you get that to run say every couple of hours (depending on how busy your board gets) it will do exactly as you need.

Well, on a board were we have a few follow-up topics which are filled within no time it is better to close it when the last post has been done. Because else you get topics with more posts or you must run the script every few minutes to prevent that with chance on still more posts than allowed.

[damien245uk]

If you run it every few minutes it wouldn't likely be a huge drain on your systems as we're talking about a very simple SQL statement - compared to the 10 required (most likely involving JOINs) to produce this very page.

Whilst there are a number of features IPB *could* add to improve their product, I consider it more important to cover those which cannot be easily achieved by other methods (in particular, the task manager system) as obviously Matt only has a limited amount of time and cannot add every feature requested.

Seriously, I would consider trying my suggestion and see how it goes...

I should also add that, with a little effort, you could even have it automatically post to the topics it closes stating why it was closed etc.

I do think it would be very worthwhile IPS producing more documentation on how to properly take advantage of the task manager system though - e.g. how people should go about adding a few regular queries into the system to do things of this nature, and perhaps examples of the things that can be done.