Topic: Forum Clean Up

Hello fellow Push Squarers

Just wanted to let you know that I did a little forum thread spring cleaning tonight. In case you haven't noticed I went and moved most of the locked threads to the archive section of the forums for a couple of reasons.

1. It looked tacky to see alot of locked threads in a forums section and to new users that can be a bit intimidating when going to post a new thread. While all of them they were just cause for locking them like spam to a new user or a guest visiting us they dont see that just a bunch of locked threads. We want this place to look inviting and nice for all who come here whether they are new or old, which brings me to my next reason.

2. To make it easier to navigate through the forums without having to sift through a bunch of locked threads. Yes we now have a search function as well as a watch topic option but some people just like to surf through the threads and now it will be easier to do so without locked topics cluttering up the forums.

So what does this mean to a thread I have locked? Well if for whatever reason you have a thread of yours locked (most likely its a repeat thread) I will always put down a reason for it being locked. For example if its a repeat thread I will always put a link to the current ongoing thread of that kind before locking it that way you are directed to it. If its thread that gets out of control like something that turns into a huge fight or flame war I will state that and lock it.

As for you thread that is locked it will be in the section you posted it for two weeks that way in case you don't visit the site regularly you have a chance to see why it was locked along with any warnings that may have been given to you before I archive it.

If by some chance you miss that two week period or for some reason you want to read locked threads you can view all archived threads by clicking on the word archive on the main forum page.

Thanks all for being a great community and as always any question on the subject at hand feel free to ask here.

Tasuki

Good to see. Maybe that can be done automatically come time.

Hey Tasuki, good work on the clean up. I get the reasons for keeping most locked topics available for a certain length of time before archiving, but in some cases (specifically cases such as this morning, where a thread was created specifically to complain publicly about a member of the community) might it not be appropriate to archive these straight away, or even remove the topic altogether, as a sort of damage control? I just think that personally, locked or not, I wouldn't like to log on and see a topic defaming me sat on the front page of the site, particularly where the targeted user hasn't really done anything wrong beyond being opinionated.

This is the second such post that I've noticed recently, which I think is a shame as generally there is a great community here, and I feel like leaving these posts publicly visible when their sole purpose is to put down another member isn't good for the community. Obviously hopefully this situation won't arise again, but if it does then perhaps instead would it be possible to remove the topic entirely and then provide a warning to the creator via direct email to ensure that a warning is still received?

Sorry for rambling a bit, and no worries if the process can't be changed. I just think we've got a generally pretty sweet community here, and seeing posts like that floating around leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Hope you see where I'm coming from!

EDIT: sorry if this is the wrong place for this, as the offending topic was locked I figured this was the next best thing due to the mention of the process/timescales for the archiving of locked topics.

@SteveButler2210: Nope this is't the wrong place and I understand your concern. The thing with archive the thread won't make it disappear from the front page unfortunately. I agree that it should be deleted if for nothing more then damage control. I will take this under consideration and like I said see your point.