Original post date - thoughts

[BobB]

This is not a high priority but something I've thought about from time to time. It might be nice to see the original post date of a thread alongside the original poster's name in the list of titles. It would be even nicer if that date were somehow marked (larger, smaller, different color, highlighted) to indicate that it's beyond a certain threshold - say, more than a year old.

The reason I suggest this is that it's not uncommon for someone to unwittingly reply to a very old post that has lost its relevance. I've done this myself on occasion.

I realize there are often very good reasons to revive old posts, and have nothing against that at all, I'm just trying to come up with a mechanism that would ensure that anyone doing so does it intentionally, not accidentally.

[Karen_Schaffer]

Here's the solution I'd love to see: when you click 'reply' to an old post, you'd first get a question saying, "This post is older than one year. Do you still want to post a reply?" and only after saying yes to that could you post a response. That would make darn sure it was intentional instead of accidental.

[Gio]

I understand what you're proposing Bob, but in the case of the resurfacing of Eat Nopal's 2007 thread regarding tacos and their variations the information/description of the different tacos is valuable and not likely to be out of date. Except for, perhaps, the restaurants or taco trucks no longer in existence. JMO.....

[BobB]

I agree, but this was another case where I myself responded before realizing the age of the thread. I might not have been so quick to jump in on what appeared to be a lively back-and-forth on a loosely related subtopic had I noticed that it was two years old.

[Gio]

Yes, I know.... I've been caught many times in the past so that now, when I open an unfamiliar thread with 1001 responses, I look at the date ot the OP first.
Live & learn....

[Bill Hunt]

Bob,

I agree with you on this. On the Adobe forums, the original date is listed on the main forum page and it's quite easy to see the chronology, especially as CH has a nice feature of bringing up old posts, with new replies to the main page.

I've been lobbying for Adobe to do that, plus also add the poster's screen name to the article subject. I also like the way that CH collapses a thread, but they are still readily available. On Adobe, the threads just run from page to page, but only the new ones (with a "NEW" marker) will show, until on hits "First," which is sort of like the "Expand All."

A little bit from one forum and a little bit from another.

Hunt

PS as for bringing the "zombies" back to life, I think that the New Orleans board sees more than their share. It's common to see 4-5 recent replies, and about the time you go to respond, you happen to notice the little date in the OP - 2004. Then, there will be a half-dozen posts along the line of, "hey, you know that you posted to an article from '04?!?"

[vvvindaloo]

I have wished for this many times, myself. Not that participating in the revival of an old thread is such a terrible thing, but I would like to be able to discern how current a thread is, and therefore, perhaps, how helpful, before opening it.

[Bill Hunt]

You are correct here. Some courteous posters acknowledge that they are reviving an old thread - Wine board and Saran Wrap™ to "treat" TCA-contaminated wine was a recent one.

In many, however the OP will be similar to what small_h described. Out of almost no where, there will appear a dozen suggestions for venues for the rehersal dinner. Heck, the OP was 5 years ago. Do you think they are still married?

Many threads can stay evergreen for years, and will still often serve a purpose to others.

Hunt

[KaimukiMan]

it has been suggested a few times. perhaps after a few more it will seem like a better and better idea. with twelve dozen threads on maintaining cast iron and almost as many on the best place for tacos in Los Angeles or family dinner issues at the holidays, an original post date would be really helpful to me.

[applehome]

They considered it then, too (or not...).

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/494376

[meatn3]

I have wished for this feature a number of times...

[Jacquilynne]

It's an interesting idea, thanks!

I'm not sure it would actually help tremendously much, though. The person who bumps the thread usually does so because they googled or searched and found the old thread -- they never even saw the board index it was listed on. It might help keep other people from replying to the older thread, though.

[greygarious]

Agreed - it would help prevent a revived thread from lingering on life support! So many people do not read the previous responses before posting their own (and often redundant) ones. I recently posted on a thread that was initially entitled "urgent", to point out that it was several years old. Within the next few hours, several more responses were added; it was obvious that these posters were unaware that the question was moot.

[small h]

I think it might help a lot in the case greygarious describes, and in the "where to have my rehearsal dinner?" posts as well.