But you can't 😥 24 March 2021 at 10:12AM in Compers chat corner 4 replies 241 views

203846930

Game Over
Old competitions live here. If you want to discuss them this is the place.

All the threads seem to get locked when transfered to Game Over so there is no way to discuss them any more

thingamaBob

They aren't closed when they they are they are transferred over, they are closed so that they can be transferred over.
After moving to the new forum, it became extremely difficult for the BG's to move the expired comps to GO. Where they had previously been able to bulk move all expired comps this was not possible with the new forum and they had to find and transfer each one individually. So the Sort function was devised whereby every new comp posted had to have the new Closing Date field completed in the format dd/mm/yyyy.  At 23:59 on the Closing Date entered, the comps are automatically closed. The BG's can then use the Sort function to find all of the Closed threads and move them to GO.

This system is not without problems. The first and most obvious problem is, as you say, that they can no longer be commented on, which used to be quite useful for several reasons. 
Another problem is that the Closing Date field should be absolutely mandatory and should only accept future dates but, somehow, people are able to enter past dates and some even seem able to force the post through without any date and the system defaults to a 00/00/0000 date. The 00/00/0000 date is a valid date for long running, once only entry, comps. Also, it is fairly common for people to select the wrong month when posting. (Can be spotted fairly easily if the board is sorted by Closing Date and the usually correct end date in the title is showing up in the wrong place)
On the thread here: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6252970/e-05-04-win-a-packet-of-hotties-chocolate-rafflecopter#latest, although the poster shows the End Date as 05/04 in the title, they have messed up/missed out the Closing Date so the comp has "closed" early and been moved to GO.

It would make much more sense if the Closing Date field was made visible (and searchable) in a prominent position on the main board list, so the End Date in the title was no longer necessary and the "closing" was automatically removed after the thread arrived in Game Over. The Closing Date would also need an additional space added for a ? where the date was guessed when it was not specified and also for a time for when it ended during the last day rather than at midnight.
@Rahven Should this be added to the list of needs?

203846930

That covers it well but really it is the description on the board heading that bothers me more than anything else.

If all the threads are closed for a good reason then the description should not say - "If you want to discuss them this is the place."

Rahven

thingamaBob said:

@Rahven Should this be added to the list of needs?

Sounds like it yes. This would certainly be a very sensible change that would save time for posters and prevent mismatch issues. I'll add this to our list in the sticky.

We have an issue that's already been submitted about not being able to respond to closed threads and also one about comp-liments disappearing from them. I think it's worth tagging the incompatible board description onto that one too. 

Blulu

All good thoughts Guys. Fingers crossed that MSE will be able, and willing, to act on the suggestions.

Blu XXX