Suggestion locking for threads without activity in a long time

[eri0o]

Hey, there have been some newcomer/bot/weird people digging some threads where the last post has been +5yr old.

I think when the thread itself (first post), it's alright to keep going, and maybe either some exception or update to the pinned posts. But for the rest, there is usually little sense to digging these really old threads - the moderator could be able to unlock, since we have some people that come back to their game after a long time.

Most of the time I have seen some post in these old threads it has been the spam bots that make some random post with a single link to whatever the website they are spamming. Maybe this could reduce being targeted by these boys a bit?

[Snarky]

Perhaps, but I feel it would be a shame to take away regular members' ability to revive old threads if appropriate.

I don't really think locking old threads would stop spambots from joining, and currently it serves as a fairly easy way to identify them, so I'd rather have this than something more sneaky.

AGA has talked about bringing back the forum registration quiz, which seems to have been more effective at keeping out the spambots than any of the off-the-shelf protections. IMO that would be a good idea, as long as it doesn't keep bonafide new members from signing up.

[Stupot]

Perhaps any new posts in inactive threads could be automatically sent for approval. That way the spam will never see the light of day and genuine posts can be approved without the author having to ask for the thread to be unlocked first.

[cat]

On a side note: We know that there is a lot of spam coming up recently. We (i.e. mostly Snarky) do our best to remove it, but it might take a few hours. Sometimes it's also hard because bots might only come back later and edit their posts with spam.
Thanks to all the people who report those posts!