@11dustyattic wrote:How exactly does it affect you if people reply to old posts? You seem to have a real issue with it?
A few years ago when an eBay rep came to the boards she agreed that old posts with outdated information should be locked, and not be able to be bumped.
That happened with a few posts but them Lithium decided it was too much trouble to implement, so it was stopped.
@padi*0409 wrote:
@11dustyattic wrote:How exactly does it affect you if people reply to old posts? You seem to have a real issue with it?
A few years ago when an eBay rep came to the boards she agreed that old posts with outdated information should be locked, and not be able to be bumped.
That happened with a few posts but them Lithium decided it was too much trouble to implement, so it was stopped.
And despite a million promises on that closed forum, absolutely nothing changed. Not to mention her disappearing into the ether. She probably got sacked for wanting to improve things. Remind me again what the "chat with eBay staff" forum was about? It just sits there locked, doing absolutely nothing.
I have been so tempted to post screenshots of that closed forum, but we were sworn to secrecy and I have to respect that.
hey tippy, found the posts of mine on that other thread. I didn’t post screengrabs, I posted C&P of those private group michelleoz posts.
@k1ooo-slr-sales wrote:
@*tippy*toes* wrote:
@davewil1964 wrote:@ all the moderators -
If a thread has been on a different board for TWO YEARS, and been dormant for that time, maybe there is no need to move it!
Read a book or something if you're bored.
Or spend the time locking old threads, instead of going through 15 steps to move a dead thread to a new forum.
I agree with both the posts quoted above.
It is frustrating enough that threads don’t get locked after being dormant for a year, but to have old (read dead) threads moved is just messing with us.
If you like, I can direct you to a thread by the absent Australian Community manager where she posted that dormant thread would be locked. That post was over two years ago, and nothing has changed.
Dear Moderators: Here are some links (not sure if everyone can click the link so relevant info is in spoilers)
These links show that michelleoz posted that old threads would be locked.
michelleoz says YES to locking threads:
https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/eBay-Community-Discussion/Welcome/m-p/2065475#M147
Spoilerrelevant text from michelloz@ebay.com post:
in reply to k1ooo-slr-sales
Michelle, I get that there will be structural changes to the way the boards will be presented and function, but following the posts made on this thread I would like some simple yes/no answers to the following please:
- Buying and Selling boards threads locked after 12 months? (but still searchable and readable) Y/N
- (all other questions I posted removed for clarity)
------------------------------------------------------------
Hi Chris,
Sure - not always as straight forward as y/n so I'm sure there will be follow up questions but here's your answers - as simple as I can keep them:
Buying and Selling boards threads locked after 12 months? (but still searchable and readable) Yes - This will be a manual process though so I can't guarantee it'll be 12 months exactly but we'll do a review once a month perhaps and lock old threads.
michelleoz started locking threads:
https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/eBay-Community-Discussion/Welcome/m-p/2073697#M176
Spoilerrelevant text from michelloz@ebay.com:
michelleoz@ebay.com wrote:
@k1ooo-slr-saleswrote:
michelleoz@ebay.comwrote:
Buying and Selling boards threads locked after 12 months? (but still searchable and readable) Yes - This will be a manual process though so I can't guarantee it'll be 12 months exactly but we'll do a review once a month perhaps and lock old threads.Michelle, another day another dragged up old thread.
If threads are going to have to be locked manually then can you, as the eBay Community Manager, give lithium a direction to start locking threads immediately?
On the buying board there are currently 34 pages of threads, and once you get half way down page 5 the threads have been idle for more than 12 months.
On the selling board there are currently 66 pages of threads, and once you get half way down page 9 the threads have been, you guessed it, idle for the last 12 months.
Mods already have the ability to lock threads manually, so all they need is a memo from the eBay Community Manager (that would be you michelleoz) to start locking threads.
If the mods are too busy then give me mod privileges for just one day and I'll lock all threads that have been idle for the last 12 months. My eBay ID could be terminatoroz
OR, in keeping with lithium mods IDs, I could be li.terminator
I really think I could do it in less than 24 hours, but I get power hungry and might do something to sly.
Thanks, Chris Mac
Just an FYI on this, I am in the process of locking old threads. It is unfortunately a manual process and I've started with the selling board, working my way from oldest to newest, locking them in batches.
It will take some time but we're doing it. I'll start a new thread in here and perhaps you can post old ones that have been bumped and we'll look at whether we can lock them.
Michelle
A suggested quick way to lock dormant threads!
https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/eBay-Community-Discussion/Welcome/m-p/2075262#M180
Spoilerpost by me in reply to michelleoz:@k1ooo-slr-sales wrote:michelleoz@ebay.com wrote:
Just an FYI on this, I am in the process of locking old threads. It is unfortunately a manual process and I've started with the selling board, working my way from oldest to newest, locking them in batches.
It will take some time but we're doing it. I'll start a new thread in here and perhaps you can post old ones that have been bumped and we'll look at whether we can lock them.
Michelle
Michelle, I took a look at the selling boards thread list tonight. I can see that you have made some progress in locking threads on page 66 of the thread list (my settings show the maximum number of threads per page so there are 66 pages of threads on my view).
Seeing as threads that have not been posted on in a year are on pages 9 to 66, I have a suggestion on how locking old threads could be done much quicker. It would take a concerted effort by eBay and/or Lithium staff, and may need to be carried out in the wee small hours, but it would take 1/8 th the time it will take you if you continue the way your are now.
This is how I think it could be done quicker . . . . . start by locking EVERY SINGLE THREAD . . . . . . then unlock threads, starting at page 1 and continuing to half way down page 9. This would be so much faster, and more effective than starting at page 66 and working your way down to 9.
Now, in the posts I have quoted michelleoz said she’d start a thread where we could alert her/mods about dragged up old threads. She never did start that thread, but I did. However, once we got to 100 threads we stopped posting them.
AND
@k1ooo-slr-sales wrote:Dear Moderators: Here are some links (not sure if everyone can click the link so relevant info is in spoilers)
Just as I thought, the links are not available to everyone as the thread was by ‘invitation only’. Those who were party to that thread will be able to click the link, but most others won’t be able to see the thread. The relevant info is in the spoilers so everyone can see the posts I was referring to.
Same goes for the thread I started to report old threads that had been dragged up except that I did not do a spoiler for that.
Moderators should be able to click the links.
@*tippy*toes* wrote:
@padi*0409 wrote:
@11dustyattic wrote:How exactly does it affect you if people reply to old posts? You seem to have a real issue with it?
A few years ago when an eBay rep came to the boards she agreed that old posts with outdated information should be locked, and not be able to be bumped.
That happened with a few posts but them Lithium decided it was too much trouble to implement, so it was stopped.
And despite a million promises on that closed forum, absolutely nothing changed. Not to mention her disappearing into the ether. She probably got sacked for wanting to improve things. Remind me again what the "chat with eBay staff" forum was about? It just sits there locked, doing absolutely nothing.
I have been so tempted to post screenshots of that closed forum, but we were sworn to secrecy and I have to respect that.
I am not very tech savvy, but I can't see how it would be that difficult for them to lock old threads or make old threads read only.
It might take a little bit of work to set it up initially but after that, couldn't a computer program take care of it?
Or if that is too hard, surely a computer program could just delete all posts when they get to eg the 2 year mark.
I am not sure why anyone needs to access posts more than 2 years old on boards such as Buying/Selling as the info might change over time anyway.
The conclusion: They are not that interested in implementing it.
As for a mod disappearing into the ether. I think what it proves is a different mind set. To the mod, this was a work task, nothing but a work task. They don't come on here for fun or information or to relax or anything else. It's a job of work only so as soon as a task is completed or the boss says the job is completed, they are on to the next task.
I saw this sort of thing happen time & again when I was working & it frustrated me no end actually. I worked in a school so obviously our jobs weren't ebay related but I still recall how some new initiative would start with a bang, a group would be set up to implement it, we'd hear back from them, then the following year it was on to a new thing and the other initiative sort of faded away, because the group in charge of it had dispersed, had been allocated into new groups. You can only work on so many things at once, attend so many meetings etc, so unless a new initiative is made ongoing, it will die a death.
It can also depend on staff interests. If someone with a passion for something is on staff, there's a much better chance it will stay a focus.
My guess is the message boards are pretty low down the totem pole of ebay priorities or interests. And basically, for the mods, this is an exercise in proof reading, which I might add can be mega boring, having done a lot of it in the past. Just clean it up, delete abuse, save the site from litigation, job done as far as they are concerned.
