Recently I happened to peek into a thread that was two years old, and had been resurrected by someone who apparently didn't realize it. I wonder if it would be possible to implement a feature whereby, when you open a thread that has been inactive for some long length of time (precise time to be determined by Danny and/or the mods) a prominent notice will appear, which would say something along the lines of: "This thread has been inactive for X years. Please be aware, before posting to this thread, that the topic might no longer be of interest." I am not suggesting that thread resurrection necessarily be banned. Just that posters should be asked to reconsider first.
What I find irritating is when someone reopens an old thread and asks a question that isn't even on topic. It happens a lot on another forum that I have been on for several years. There are times when it is good to resurrect an old thread, but I think you are correct that many times it is done by accident.
I agree that some sort of pop-up would be nice. Nothing that would stop you from reopening an old thread, but something to clue you in on the age. I think a lot of times people do what we tell them to do...use the search function. They do, they get a hit, but fail to notice the original date then post and all hell breaks loose! This is a good thought.
I'd rather see a new post in an old thread instead of the 7 threads about the inaccuracy of the fuel consumption display, or the 11 threads about the Gen III not having a gas tank bladder, or the 17 threads about turning off the reverse beep.
I found something I think will work and forwarded it to Danny. Prevent bumping old Threads - vBulletin.org Forum
At ecomodder.com there is the date the thread was started next to the title of the thread. While it still may be an active thread (or not) the user at least knows when the thread was started.
