Thread: automatically close old giveaways

SITUATION - noob uses the search function to find the love-of-his-life tracker. now, some of them post their app and some of them just ask whether the giveaway is still valid...but it doesn't really matter when the last post/reply was made months ago. the giveaway is dead i'm telling you!!!



FIX - Threads Auto Close - vBulletin.org Forum or a modded version of it - Threads Auto Close (by Usergroup) - vBulletin.org Forum

SETTINGS - about 2 weeks inactivity time in the giveaway sections, possibly in the open trackers section, and the thread will get locked (like John Locke ). and whenever the OP wakes up from coma, he still would be able to re-open that thread and bump it to life

Surprisingly, this is actually a pretty good idea.
The problem is that a lot of users, mostly less experienced ones, forgot or don't don't care enough close their giveaway once it's over.

If we are at it I think it should be also made mandatory to close posted tutorials. I see a lot of toturials that explain how to install something getting hijacked because someone needs help with the installation, because he/she gets an error.
A one year old tutorial like that is outdated, because software and operating systems get updated. People only get frustrated and angry.

Yes, but i can imagine it is difficult to follow up and close those maga pack giveaway..

I dont think it is just the less experienced ones that are not closing the dead giveaways..

I posted in a few requests to those mega pack giveaway threads and found out most doesn't respond.. As I was automatically subscribed to the thread, I kept seeing notifications of posts in those "dead" thread..

Had much greater success with the lesser experienced mates here in invites giveaway... I think they are a little less complacent...

Long and winding version: Excellent idea IMAGINE!! You always come up with these awesome ideas that reflect the awesomeness that is IMAGINE!! Very good idea. I myself posted in THREE dead GA's for PTN when I was a nooblet (not that long ago actually, around 2 months ago :D) and I was so disappointed when noone replied :(. I think we should save the newbs the heart-break and act on this awesome suggestion by the awesome IMAGINE!! Hahahhahahahahaa, too many awesomes in one post, but that's just how AWESOME IMAGINE is :D :D :D


Short version: Good idea, should be implemented :D

Originally Posted by aikodeclan

Yes, but i can imagine it is difficult to follow up and close those maga pack giveaway..

I dont think it is just the less experienced ones that are not closing the dead giveaways..

I posted in a few requests to those mega pack giveaway threads and found out most doesn't respond.. As I was automatically subscribed to the thread, I kept seeing notifications of posts in those "dead" thread..

Had much greater success with the lesser experienced mates here in invites giveaway... I think they are a little less complacent...

i think i understand what you mean, but i'm certain that there hasn't been made a mod like that. a mod, where the OP has to post to keep the thread from not closing. it's rather disappointing though, would be an awesome plug-in.

anyways, BABY STEPS...

Why not just have it to where you contact a mod and have them close the thread as this is one of the things they are suppose to do. Or lets see if the higher staff members will allow us the ability to lock our own threads, this would be ideal in my opinion because then we would be responsible for our own threads.

Either way i do agree that something needs to be done.

Oh and even vets have made the same mistake situation wise so lets not just generalized that noobs do this (and no I will not name the vet who did this even though it would be fun to torment him lol)

Okay, I voted "yeah!!! (you're awesome IMAGINE)"

But like Enigma78 already said, this auto-close mod wouldn't be needed if the area 51 mods actually did their jobs!

J O K E !

red text is a joke too. Get to work you lazy mods! Take initiative and exercise your authority!

A good idea - but the devil is always in the details. The mods are already diligent in closing threads when it seems appropriate to them. And I'd rather see mods exercising their good judgment, rather than blithely following some inflexible rule. So.. the real question is if and when should an "inactive" GA thread be closed? If you take extreme examples, it's easy to see that this is a good suggestion. If a GA thread has been inactive for months, perhaps it would be better closed until the OP returns to demonstrate that is still alive.

But two weeks is a short time and seems ill fated. I'd be in favour of the proposal if it suggested closing GA threads after a month or two. There are a lot of generous members who go the extra mile to offer invites which is appreciated by many. But I'm not sure that we should be encouraging excessive bumping and promotion or we risk fostering an atmosphere where some might try to pump invites out the door like so much free candy. Is it just me? For instance, I'll offer invites to say waffles. And they will be slow to move because a lot of members will put up "just ask" GAs for waffles, while I'll ask for a ratio proof or two and a speed test.

And that is just fine with me. I have no compulsion to drive my igiver count up as fast as possible. It's more important to me that the invites are available for someone who really wants them or can't find them elsewhere. And since we have a search engine, I don't see any reason to bump those threads daily either. I'd hate to see GA's end up being micromanaged. But at the same time, IMAGINE is certainly right that it would be nice to close GA's that are neglected. Just hard to find a balance here.

I don't believe anyone here is suggesting that the Area 51 Mods are not doing there job first and foremost. Secondly I agree with coppper on the two week time frame mainly because we shouldn't have a time frame it's not hurting anything to let a giveaway go a month.

What would be nice to see is this, all giveaways that are currently open by any user that has not logged in for a month or more should be closed and given a Mod edit stating that if that user wishes to reopen the thread they must contact a Mod via PM.

All giveaways that have an active giver but has not been bumped in over a month or more should have a Mod PM them and ask them the status of that giveaway before closing the thread.

Anyone who is in need of having their giveaway thread(s) closed can simply PM an Are 51 Mod or use the report feature to let any staff member available know that it needs to be closed (provided the higher staff agrees with using the report feature for this). It only takes a few seconds to PM a staff member and provide a link of which giveaway you ahve that needs to be closed.

Personally I would like to have the ability to lock my own threads though, however I don't know if there is any reason as to why we are not allowed to do this to begin with.