Guidelines How do you handle the lifecycle of older content within your community?

[InMyOpinion]

Hello lovely members of Administrata!

Most of you probably already know that I am a huge necroposter (someone who replies to old threads that have died down)

But, I've been thinking a lot about how to manage older content in a way that keeps things fresh and useful without losing valuable discussions. Currently I'm working on a brand new forum with help of course and so I don't have this issue at the moment. But I have been curious as to how a forum administrator would manage older content on their forum. Do you archive old threads, revive them with updates, or let them naturally fade into the background?

I’ve seen some communities lock older posts to encourage new discussions, while others keep them open so people can add fresh insights over time. Personally, I love when older topics resurface with new perspectives, but I know it can also clutter things up if not managed well.

My question is, how do you approach it in your community? Do you have any strategies that have worked well?

 

[Matthew]

Personally, I'm not against old content being revived if new discussion ensues. I'm also not against an old thread being linked in a new thread to continue a previously concluded discussion. Either method is fine but I doubt I'd implement a rule in either direction so as to not alienate solid discussion from continuing.

My issue is if the necroposting is an obvious attempt at spam. At that point, I'd handle it on a case by case basis.

 

[InMyOpinion]

Personally, I'm not against old content being revived if new discussion ensues. I'm also not against an old thread being linked in a new thread to continue a previously concluded discussion. Either method is fine but I doubt I'd implement a rule in either direction so as to not alienate solid discussion from continuing.

My issue is if the necroposting is an obvious attempt at spam. At that point, I'd handle it on a case by case basis.

I would agree that if the necroposting is span then of course it would be an issue. However, I also agree with you that it's a good idea to keep the topics open for discussion and linking an old thread to a new thread so people can still feel like it's newer without getting rid of any of the older conversations.

 

[Cpvr]

Hello lovely members of Administrata!

Most of you probably already know that I am a huge necroposter (someone who replies to old threads that have died down)

But, I've been thinking a lot about how to manage older content in a way that keeps things fresh and useful without losing valuable discussions. Currently I'm working on a brand new forum with help of course and so I don't have this issue at the moment. But I have been curious as to how a forum administrator would manage older content on their forum. Do you archive old threads, revive them with updates, or let them naturally fade into the background?

I’ve seen some communities lock older posts to encourage new discussions, while others keep them open so people can add fresh insights over time. Personally, I love when older topics resurface with new perspectives, but I know it can also clutter things up if not managed well.

My question is, how do you approach it in your community? Do you have any strategies that have worked well?

I'd honestly say the best thing to do with older content is link to it. Especially when you have newer content that's similar to it. That way everything is overlapped to say the least. It'll help your members to discover the older content and it helps with content discovery. It'll keep users on your community as well. Content discovery is vital and its important, especially in this day in age. I don't believe in archiving content as it's a core part of your community and its the backbone. What's old to us, may be new to an upcoming member.

Content discovery is something that plays a huge role in users finding content and discussing it. If it's to find on your forum without using the search feature, it may or not get more discussion. You want that, you want a chance for your content to continue to have more discussion, even if it's older.

Reviving it is also a good idea, especially if you want to add new points to it, something new, or a fresh idea to it. That's a good approach as well.