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Closing "Problem Solved Threads"

Hello! I have a proposal that once a thread has a "Problem Solved" label attached, the thread should be automatically closed from further postings. This is really the very first forum I've seen where that's NOT the case. I've created a ton of similar web forums via "phpbb" & "vBulletin" for myself and others whom I've built web sites for in the past. Threads that are deemed done or resolution resolved almost always have automatic closing of the thread.

Continuing the posts should be deemed unnecessary if in fact a satisfactory resolution has been provided. Members can always renew an issue with a new thread if a "different" question needs to be addressed. I've been amazed that I have been ABLE to post things to a thread that has already been deemed "resolved" . . . lol.

Comments

CharlesH

Sometimes they are not the solutions or not the FULL solutions so other's may add more information to the thread. It happens frequently.

DarkCobra1

LOL . . . well, I guess the only response to that would be people shouldn't hit the Solution Accepted button if there really isn't a "solution" achieved. It's like they say in e-mailing . . . "Be careful in hitting the send button if you really don't want to send that message!".

The whole reason behind the Originial Poster being the only one in the thread having the ability to accept a solution is to give that one person who started the whole thing the ability to end it. Except in this forum . . . it NEVER ends LOL, it keeps right on going which really gives the use of that button no real purpose. The thread can still remain visible in the forum but would lock and end posting since the person who started it has gotten their solution.

Continuing to beat the dead horse is a waste of bandwidth as often the subsequent responses are merely redundant restatements of the already accepted solution. As I stated, anyone coming along later and having a new twist to that topic is certainly free to start their own new thread that is specific to their new twist of the subject.

Message Edited by DarkCobra on 05-16-2009 05:43 AM

CharlesH

I personally think each thread should work like a poll...for each individual post in a thread...so people can RATE or VOTE the solution (or something along those lines) or such so the actual person who created the thread doesnt need to do anything...this is a forum, not a trouble ticket...you know what I mean?

DarkCobra1

That's an interesting idea. Maybe everyone in the thread should be able to cast a vote or have a say in whether or not a solution has been arrived upon. Certainly, an idea worth consideration. I know exactly what you mean when you say the forum is not a trouble ticket. Part of the problem though is that is exactly how a lot of people view it . . . they come here and post things that ARE giving them trouble and they are hoping another Verizon member might have a solution. Sometimes we do and sometimes we don't. Your idea has some merit and maybe they can experiment with that as a way of bringing some kind of closure to a thread, because honestly some (not most) go on forever beating the same dead horse over and over. There has to be some kind of way to end it LOL.

I got another question that maybe you might have a solution . . . I see a lot of initial posts where somebody poses a question or a problem and within no time somebody else literally hi-jacks the thread by posting something almost entirely different and barely related and suddenly everybody is talking about THAT topic and the original poster is left wondering . . . what the heck happened? LOL.

It would be good if we had some way of preventing an original poster's issue from being "hi-jacked" by a subsequent poster changing the subject to something else. What do you think?

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