1 upvotes, 1 direct replies (showing 1)
View submission: Voting & commenting on archived posts
What's wrong with a 4-year-old recipe?
that's why i said *at best.* nothing wrong with a 4yo recipe, although if i publish a recipe and i still have people coming after me 4 years later going "can i substitute applesauce for butter in this recipe?" i'm likely to end up deleting it myself and slapping it up on some wix site with comments disabled. i don't spend a lot of time thinking about something i thought of 4 years ago, do you?
Archiving old threads is a bigger problem than we've realized
in the example you used here, the problem is that people are looking at outdated sources. if i'm googling a software problem in 2021, i'm not going to rely on a thread from 2015 as my primary source. when i google "how to turn off x feature" or "how to do x in y," i start by skimming the results for the most recent links because i *expect* that older sources are going to have outdated, irrelevant information. archiving those threads is actually a good way of signaling to the user "this information is old and likely irrelevant."
it's important to note that the OP *can* still edit archived threads, so if it's that critical that people coming from google be aware the information in the thread is no longer valid, then edit the post (if it's yours) or PM the OP to ask them to edit it. if OP's gone AWOL, message the mods to remove the thread/incorrect comments so they're not readable anymore. as a bonus, the next time google crawls through that thread, it'll update its archive and will no longer ping keyword searches for that software.
and even if we take your approach and just never archive anything, how is one comment 4 years later on a thread no one else is reading going to make a difference when all the misinformation is still upvoted to the top? is someone supposed to scroll through 147 comments saying "this software has a bug" to get to the one comment at the very bottom saying "this bug has since been resolved"? and if it's that critical to be able to do that, why can't it be opt-IN instead of opt-OUT?
Comment by dandv at 02/12/2021 at 17:41 UTC
2 upvotes, 1 direct replies
i don't spend a lot of time thinking about something i thought of 4 years ago, do you?
I do. My interests are more stable in nature. For example I've been refining an argument for how the world would be better if everyone understood English[1], since 2009.
1: https://medium.com/i-m-h-o/why-we-should-stop-learning-languages-other-than-english-6d84f36dbb4
so if it's that critical that people coming from google be aware the information in the thread is no longer valid, then edit the post (if it's yours) or PM the OP to ask them to edit it
You do realize that the vast majority of people won't bother, yes?
PM-ing the OP is a myopic solution - only the recipient of the PM will learn of the new stuff; nobody else. The point is to help new users who are researching the topic *now*, rather than someone who's already spread outdated information and moved on. I've actually done this (message the OP) and the vast, vast majority never replied. Let alone edit the post. I have fresh new information and motivation to share it, but the OP from a year ago is much less likely to be in that situation.
if OP's gone AWOL, message the mods to remove the thread/incorrect comments so they're not readable anymore
That's again a lot of effort you're asking of people, vs. the simple ability to leave a comment.
Also, removing altogether an entire howto is a very blunt solution, when only one detail needs update.
how is one comment 4 years later on a thread no one else is reading going to make a difference when all the misinformation is still upvoted to the top?
The same way this works on StackExchange, which deals exactly with software that keeps changing. By allowing upvotes in perpetuity, good content does surface up. I've been on StackOverflow since 2008[2] and can attest to this.
2: https://stackoverflow.com/users/1269037/dan-dascalescu
why can't it be opt-IN instead of opt-OUT
Because of the power of defaults[3].