Originally Posted by
num1bearsfan
I mean, sometimes you gotta just let some threads die.. I mean I don't know about you guys, but when I participate in a thread, I like to read the whole thing first so I can sort of understand where the conversation is going. I also sort of have an expectation for others to do the same as well. But with these super old massive threads, it's just not possible.
You make some good points.
I agree that massive threads are hard to navigate but let me give you a different perspective and also tell you how I read the massive, historical threads.
In the Travel Safety/Security Forum, for example, there is a subject called CLEAR which is the registered traveller program that works with the TSA.
We've got a merged thread that contains, I'll guess, the remnants of 20 individual threads that were started on the topic. If folks would scan the first couple pages of thread topics before starting a new topic perhaps we wouldn't have so many dupe threads to merge. But I digress.
IMO, we have to collect information on a specific topic into a single thread so that folks can find the info they are seeking without having to search for and through two dozen individual threads. Now not every thread about CLEAR is merged into the master thread. We still have a dozen or more floating around that discuss CLEAR at a specific airport or that discuss CLEAR from a unique viewpoint. But the general CLEAR threads get merged into the master thread.
What I personally do when looking through a large, merged thread is to read it backwards, i.e, start with the most recent posts and read back to a point in time where I don't feel the info is any longer relevant.
To merge or not to merge, that is the question.
I'll look forward to additional input on this subject.