A few discussions have me thinking lately. Maybe it is time to close down some sections of the site: The sketch card contest that has no post since 2011. Ask the manufacturer section that has had no post since 2012. Move the retailer Advertising forum into the Advertising section.
Close out the little used set building or merge it into the regular trade section. Also, at the end of each open that box session close it off and start a new one after a few month after it is over.
I think it would greatly improve the look of the site. Save a few dollars on bandwidth and maybe getting more eyes on the active sections.
Just a suggestion.

I only look at about half of the categories on this site, so I would have to agree with your suggestion. It's only logical.

That's was pretty much the same suggestion as in my Removing Old Threads post in this section. There's a lot of stale topics on Card Talk that are just hanging out way after anyone is posting or even reading.

I would just toss out any thread that hasn't had any added comments in a year's time. If anyone is interested in revisiting the subject later, they could just start a new thread. The only problem, beside investing the time to clean up the house, might be with the member post counts. If whole threads were deleted, would that also mean post numbers would be reduced for those members who left comments in the threads removed?

If so, no one would want that to happen.

Are post counts really that important? I think that the content of posts are far more important than quantity and in the end, it's just a number.

I wonder if it is possible to remove inactive members as well.

I think it would be harder to remove inactive members. I know of members who just don't post unless they have something to trade which is rare. They are active in they look at the site but don't log in.

quote:

Originally posted by Obi Wan Chrisobi:
Are post counts really that important? I think that the content of posts are far more important than quantity and in the end, it's just a number.

It is a measure of your contribution to Card Talk, so I think some members would say its important, others might not care.

I know if you removed the post card of a certain cardtalker, it would likely shatter his entire self worth!

Personally,never even look at post count, just the content of the posts.

I wouldn't remove any threads from the public categories even if they are seven years old. Some of those threads contain interesting information, things that might be half-remembered now. I have looked at them just to see what's back there and have added a comment or a scan if I have something to say or see a broken link especially if I think there is still some interest in the particular card(s) - anything like an oddball promo or rare card.

I would remove at least some old trade or giveaway offers that are at least three years old. Either those deals have completed or they didn't happen.

Jess

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
That's was pretty much the same suggestion as in my Removing Old Threads post in this section. There's a lot of stale topics on Card Talk that are just hanging out way after anyone is posting or even reading.

I would just toss out any thread that hasn't had any added comments in a year's time. If anyone is interested in revisiting the subject later, they could just start a new thread. The only problem, beside investing the time to clean up the house, might be with the member post counts. If whole threads were deleted, would that also mean post numbers would be reduced for those members who left comments in the threads removed?

If so, no one would want that to happen.

quote:

Originally posted by barobehere:
Personally,never even look at post count, just the content of the posts.

I used to post only long, intelligent, and insightful material to (usually gently) keep the world safe for collectors. But my promo promised I'd make Card Talk Gold, so I'm padding the count through 'only member logged in'. And this post.

I think if there was any problem with bandwidth etc due to the amount of posts or threads Becket would let us know and do something about it.

I don't think anyone would have any objection to something being done about it if it was necessary but as has been pointed out it would have to be done carefully so as not to delete a lot of useful information.

Deleting old posts that no one reads doesn't affect bandwidth. And storage of text is so incredibly cheap that it probably costs more to pay someone to think about and delete old posts than it costs to keep them.

Its like Google, you do a search and you look down a few pages at most. Who knows what's coming up on page 263?

The only section where things seem to get lost is in the Breakdowns, which was set up with an alpha listing, not a date listing. Otherwise there are a lot of off topic conversations that can get hard to find, but nothing can prevent that when the subject evolves to something else. Invariably someone will create new, but similar threads to update old/existing threads and the same type of comments are made, often by the same posters.

There's nothing wrong with that. It brings that topic back up to top of the viewed page instead of being buried and it keeps posting at least looking fresh.

As long as Beckett doesn't care about old history taking up space, best to just ignore those sections. It sounds easy to say clean it up, until the experts crash the wholw website.