Further to the discussion we had about switching to a more modern forum software. I have done some work on importing all old messages from the CFD Online forums into vBulletin. Most of the import now seems to be working.

Do you think that all old and archived messages should be imported as open threads that it is possible to reply to. Or should old messages be imported as closed threads for which it is not possible to post any more replies?

In our old forum software a message was autmatically archived and became impossible to reply to after 500 more recent messages had been posted. This was necessary to keep the forum running quickly. With vBulletin this is not necessary and it is no problem to have messages that are more than 10 years old still active and possible to reply to.

I am a bit unsure about what is best. What would you prefer?

I guess keeping the old message as closed thread makes sense. Since most people might not look back at the message that they had posted months ago and in many cases might have forgotten it. Something like archiving every 6 months might be good.

i think only the open threads would be good idea. It will save lot of time too.

I vote for open as well. This will limit the number of new threads answering basically the same question.

open would be nice as long as when a new question/addition to an existing post is added it moves the post to the front/top of the most recent posts - as most modern forums do.

Yes, the new forum software has that functionality, and will by default put the most recently answered thread at the top.

But do we really want 10 year old message threads being moved to the top of the forum if someone replies to them? Remember also that all these old threads are from unregistered users.

I am hesitant if it wouldn't be more clean to only allow new posts in new threads from registered users. One can always quote or link to an old thread anyway.

Old posts tend to grow old. For example, an old software version might have bugs and problems that are not relevant any more.

I agree. I'd let the old posts die. Or maybe keep the last years. I don't know if you could make the old posts searchable, but also have them locked - almost a wiki sort of thing. That way people could at least see if their question has been posted and answered. But, I don't think many people even search before posting. I have seen the same question posted within two weeks of each other.

All posts will of course be searchable and viewable. The question is if old posts should also be open in the sence that anyone can respond to them and if someone responds to them the entire thread will be moved to the top position in the forum.

Why not close all the imported threads, and from now put a system in place where the forum moderator makes the call as to whether the thread should be closed or not.

Could that work?

yeah, I agree..just start fresh. Lock all the old ones and just make them searchable.

That is no problem technically. However, to have moderators close all threads manually will probably be too much work. Then we will have to recruit a much larger team of forum moderators.

Once the new software is running it will be no problem to start using it with all new threads open and then if we see the need for it either manually close threads or automatically close threads after a certain time limit.

i think that there is no need to put old post as open, if someone want to continue he can open new thread and give a link to old one.

also i think that by new forum's tool, you do not be concerned about opennig/closing of threads (no action is required), new-reply/new-post goes automatically up and old one go down

hello, why don't you keep this forum as closed but people can still read the old messages and search the archive like a knowledge reference.

Then use the new forum for new massages

Yes, I agree. Old threads should be automatically closed after a certain period elapses since the last reply in that thread. Posters wanting to continue the topic later can start a new thread, and link to the original thread or post within their post. So the old and archived messages from the current forum software should be imported as closed threads in vBulletin.

A related issue is whether a thread should be closed after a certain period since last reply in that thread, or whether it should be closed when the original post in the thread is displaced by a certain number (say 500, as in the current setup) of newer posts.

Just wanted to say hi to everyone

new to the forums, and i'm glad to meet everyone!