Who and what decides the death of a thread

Subject: Obit: Who and what decides the death of a thre
From: Peter Woodruff
Date: 24 Feb 04 - 05:24 PM

Just wondering who and what decides the end of a thread. Near dead threads go to a place where I have found them and can resurrect them...Thread purgatory?

Peter

Subject: RE: Obit: Who and what decides the death of a thre
From: Burke
Date: 24 Feb 04 - 05:27 PM

They die a natural death when no one decides to add more to it.

Old threads don't die they fall off the list. (I know someone else can do better)

Subject: RE: Obit: Who and what decides the death of a thre
From: wysiwyg
Date: 24 Feb 04 - 05:37 PM

Better asked in the Help Forum, also answered in the FAQ. Easily found if you glance around the page a bit.

~S~

Subject: RE: Obit: Who and what decides the death of a thre
From: Allan C.
Date: 24 Feb 04 - 05:39 PM

B'cept ya can't get to the Help Forum right now for some reason.

Subject: RE: Who and what decides the death of a thread
From: Santa
Date: 24 Feb 04 - 06:52 PM

I was going to say "lack of interest" but I couldn't be bothered.

Subject: RE: Who and what decides the death of a thread
From: Deckman
Date: 24 Feb 04 - 07:26 PM

Kinda reminds me of the way I used to treat some ladies! ... IN MY SINGLE YEARS! (Oh my GAWD, Bob! What have you said! Now the people of MUDCAT will know what you are really like ... SSHHEEEUH!).

Subject: RE: Who and what decides the death of a thread
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 24 Feb 04 - 07:49 PM

Threads are interred in above-ground crypts after being paraded down Magazine Street in New Orleans in horse-drawn hearses while accompanied by raucous Dixieland jazz bands. It's true! I've seen it myself. Just before the final interment, the casket was opened so those who wanted to have a last look could do so, and there was our old friend "Why Do Men Wear Socks With Sandals?" looking almost as good as he looked while alive.

It's da troot! If I'm lyin', I'm dyin!

Subject: RE: Who and what decides the death of a thread
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 24 Feb 04 - 08:14 PM

Threads? I thought u wuz talkin' bout clothes, Man!

I give mine to Goodwill

Jerry

Subject: RE: Who and what decides the death of a thread
From: Bill D
Date: 24 Feb 04 - 09:04 PM

big difference between "die", meaning fall off the bottom, and being 'closed' which is an editorial decision...or even 'deleted' which is a more serious editorial decision.

Threads can be closed because of duplication or because of excessive bickering...etc...they can also be combined when 2-3 threads are about the same thing. (breaking news often initiates multiple threads)

Subject: RE: Who and what decides the death of a thread
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 24 Feb 04 - 10:09 PM

I could tell you the answer to this secret - but then I'd have to kill you.

Robin

Subject: RE: Who and what decides the death of a thread
From: GUEST,Atropos, sister of the other two
Date: 25 Feb 04 - 03:20 AM

I   decide the death of all threads!

Now where did I put my scissors?....

Subject: RE: Who and what decides the death of a thread
From: Art Thieme
Date: 25 Feb 04 - 02:36 PM

Not me !!

But did I hear someone say that dead threads are in-turd in a crypt somewhere???

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: Who and what decides the death of a thread
From: Don Firth
Date: 25 Feb 04 - 02:46 PM

They fade like wraiths into the mists of antiquity and are woven into the variegated tapestry of history. . . .

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Who and what decides the death of a thread
From: GUEST,MMario
Date: 25 Feb 04 - 02:57 PM

Rigor Mortis and a complete lack of brain activity are one good indication -though some threads are like that most of their entire life - and some are concieved that way.

I would say no new post in 18 months is a pretty good sign of a "dead" thread. but not always.

Subject: RE: Who and what decides the death of a thread
From: Joe Offer
Date: 25 Feb 04 - 04:16 PM

It's not a tech or Help Forum question - it's a sociological phenomenon. It's like when you're at a party and everybody is talking and laughing and having a good time, and you say something that you think is terribly witty, and then nobody says anything at all, and then they start making excuses for why they have to go home, and then you're left standing there all by yourself, wondering what happened.

It's happened to me. It's a horrible feeling. If there's a lively thread going and you post something, and nobody posts after you, you've killed it. Jeff and I decided to give dead BS threads a decent burial by setting them to close automatically if nobody posts to them for a given period of time - I think it's 6 months. We're generally happy to reopen closed threads if people ask us to, but it's usually pretty hard to resurrect a thread after it has been killed.

Now, if nobody posts after I've posted this message, I'm going to feel really bad....

-Joe Offer-

Say, does anybody know how I can hasten the death of the Help Joe On'er thread???

Subject: RE: Who and what decides the death of a thread
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 25 Feb 04 - 05:25 PM

Joe, you can help hasten its death by posting links like the one above which does not open the "Help Joe On'er" thread, but, instead, opens one called "Lyr Req: John Reilly". Nobody can post to the thread if you keep sending them to the wrong place.

Bruce

---

Hey, Bruce, did you think I wanted you to post to the "Joe" thread? [grin]
Actually, I goofed - but maybe it was a fortuitous goof.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Who and what decides the death of a thread
From: Little Hawk
Date: 25 Feb 04 - 06:18 PM

Shatner. William Shatner. When he decides that a thread is over...it's OVER.

Subject: RE: Who and what decides the death of a thread
From: Deckman
Date: 25 Feb 04 - 06:22 PM

Hey Joe ... I remember YOU! You're that jerk that told that really HORRIBLE joke about the ten year old camp fire girl and the Police Chief. Remember? After you quit laughing I slugged you and then we all went home. Remember? (Oh well, maybe it was someone else at some other party). >>>BG<<< Bob

Subject: RE: Who and what decides the death of a thread
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 25 Feb 04 - 06:26 PM

Well Joe,

You could always try linking problem threads at the top, say like this one to say, this one & vice versa... :-)

Robin

Subject: RE: Who and what decides the death of a thread
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 26 Feb 04 - 04:10 PM

Joe-
How come the "Spanish is the Loving Tongue" thread was closed (I re-opened it?) It had had some recent activity.

Subject: RE: Who and what decides the death of a thread
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 Feb 04 - 04:43 PM

Today a right-wing malcontent guest has been peppering the place with new threads, all prefaced with lengthy journalistic-style diatribes. He's been keeping Joe busy, I see. Kind of like the last guy in the horse parade, the one with the shovel and wheelbarrow.

Subject: RE: Who and what decides the death of a thread
From: Pene Azul
Date: 26 Feb 04 - 05:13 PM

Dick, you closed it, obviously accidentally, a few hours before you re-opened it.

Jeff

Subject: RE: Who and what decides the death of a thread
From: Joe Offer
Date: 26 Feb 04 - 11:27 PM

I do close a lot of music threads if they're just requests that are responded to by directions on how to search Mudcat for the requested information. If there's just request/search information, and the primary discussion is in another thread, I'd prefer to close the new request thread and direct the discussion to the old thread so it doesn't get splintered. That's not a hard-and-fast rule, but that's what I try to do.

-Joe Offer-