How long will threads be kept for

cwoodham

Apologies if this has been asked before but does anyone know how long threads will be kept for? I know that when forum software is upgraded the older threads may be put in an archive, but I just wondered if there was a policy to archive (or delete) threads after a certain number of years, or after a certain number of threads had accumulated. Presumably the servers and software can only cope with so much data.

It was really in connection with the Techie Forum that I'm asking. That forum has a huge resource of useful information. Admittedly some of it becomes less useful as people upgrade say from Windows XP to Vista and dont need to refer back to old XP queries. Having said that I'm sure many people will continue to run XP for a good number of years.

I tend to make a note of all useful threads I come across for future reference, but wondered if there was much point if there was a policy to delete material after a certain time. Will all the older stuff eventually be archived or just deleted?

Labman_2

Excellent question! You never know when you will need something you have a vague recollection of reading about months ago!

Edinburghlass_2

If you check the bottom of each page on the forums you'll find an archive link to each board. If you look at page one for each board you'll find the oldest threads for MSE.

The only time some threads were lost was as we moved to Vbulletin and some threads from the Arms and DT were deleted. Martin's policy is to keep every thread for reference and the archive is the best place to look if you need to find an old thread, provided you can remember the thread title.

Spendless

Edinburghlass wrote:

The only time some threads were lost was as we moved to Vbulletin and some threads from the Arms and DT were deleted. Martin's policy is to keep every thread for reference and the archive is the best place to look if you need to find an old thread, provided you can remember the thread title.

oohh was it only from the Arms and DT that went missing. MSE Sue was wanting some info on the DFW board about a post she can't find and I mentioned it might have gone missing when the site moved.

jo_b_2

Spendless wrote:

oohh was it only from the Arms and DT that went missing. MSE Sue was wanting some info on the DFW board about a post she can't find and I mentioned it might have gone missing when the site moved.

No - older threads from other boards were removed as well when the forum switched a couple of years ago, including Freebies and Grabbit. Not too sure if all the boards were affected at the time but those two definitely were.

Edinburghlass_2

Spendless wrote:

oohh was it only from the Arms and DT that went missing. MSE Sue was wanting some info on the DFW board about a post she can't find and I mentioned it might have gone missing when the site moved.

In fact the DFW board started after we moved to Vbulletin, its difficult to believe its more than two years now :eek:

But jo_b is right, I remember a load of Grabbit threads ended up in the Techie board but all the original Pure Money type threads will be saved for posterity!

sra

jo_b wrote:

No - older threads from other boards were removed as well when the forum switched a couple of years ago, including Freebies and Grabbit. Not too sure if all the boards were affected at the time but those two definitely were.

Some time before the move to Vbulletin there was a removal of all threads that hadn't been posted on in the previous 6 months in an attempt to improve the perfomance of the Yabb software.

So some threads started years ago were kept because there had been a recent reply while newer threads went because there had been no reply.

...that's assuming the removed threads weren't re-integrated before the Vbulletin upgrade

cwoodham

Edinburghlass wrote:

Martin's policy is to keep every thread for reference and the archive is the best place to look if you need to find an old thread, provided you can remember the thread title.

Great, that's what I wanted to hear. However, it just occurred to me that some time in the future there might just be too much information for the software/servers to deal with.
But we dont seem to have reached that point yet. I wonder when we will?

cwoodham

sra wrote:

Some time before the move to Vbulletin there was a removal of all threads that hadn't been posted on in the previous 6 months in an attempt to improve the perfomance of the Yabb software.

Thats what I would be afraid of for the Techie board. Just because there hasnt been a post on a Techie thread for 6 months doesnt mean the thread isnt worth keeping. It may completely answer a very good technical point and not require further posts, i.e. a problem solved, and the thread may be very useful in a search. Hopefully the powers that be may treat the Techie board differently if the time comes for a cull again.