943426 - Give warning when user is about to post in a thread that will be archived in 30 days or less

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(support.mozilla.org :: Questions, task, P3)

Description

[Andrew Truong [:feer56] [:andrewtruong] [:atruong]]

From bug 770136; 

We should produce an error or warning to the user when they are about to post in a thread that is about to be archived due to oldness or if there has been no postings for the past 30 days in the thread. 

According to Alice, this should apply to everybody using the support forum.

Comment 1

[Alice Wyman]

I wrote this in https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=770136#c12 
-----
2013-11-26 03:32:38 PST 
(In reply to Andrew T. [:feer56] from comment #11)
> Threads are locked because of oldness of 90 days? Should we inform users
> when they post in a thread after 30 days no activity in the thread?

Threads used to be auto-locked after 180 days since the original question was posted.  I don't know if that time frame was ever changed to 90 days. Since bug 914266 was fixed, threads are now automatically archived after 180 days since the question was posted. 

Threads are archived regardless of the last reply date and there may be people with recent posts in these threads who are waiting for a reply.  My suggestion was to generate an email message to these people, at the point that the thread is closed or archived because of age.

I like your idea about issuing a "warning" message to users who are about to post in threads that are  over xx days old and soon to be archived (for example, 150 days, which is 30 days from the "drop-dead" date). The message would alert users that, "You are about to post a reply in a thread that is xx days old.  Threads are archived and closed to further replies after 180 days." (or similar). This warning message should also apply moderators and admin who are adding a reply in a thread that's already archived since bug 602990 now allows this.  
-----

I was thinking to make the warning an "are you sure?" type of message, when the person hits the "submit" button.

Kadir later commented in bug 770136 that "We should probably look into closing threads way sooner too." so, whatever the message, it should take into account the the 180-day period is a variable that might be shortened in the future.

Comment 2

[Ricky Rosario [:rrosario, :r1cky]]

Q1 is over. Bring it on, Q2!

Comment 3

[Alice Wyman]

(In reply to Ricky Rosario [:rrosario, :r1cky] from comment #2)
> Q1 is over. Bring it on, Q2!

Could the target date for this bug be updated?

Comment 4

[Ricky Rosario [:rrosario, :r1cky]]

Maybe this should be part of the support forum redesign effort?

Comment 5

[Alice Wyman]

(In reply to Ricky Rosario [:rrosario, :r1cky] from comment #4)
> Maybe this should be part of the support forum redesign effort?

I suppose that's up to Kadir or Madalina?

Comment 6

[madalina]

Indeed, I added it to our user stories etherpad: https://docs.google.com/a/mozilla.com/spreadsheets/d/1CRY62Pqthfc3SVBObQ-mJre1Hdx998IX-XMDhqCjkF4/edit#gid=0, line 20.

Ricky, can we get an estimate on it?

Comment 7

[Ricky Rosario [:rrosario, :r1cky]]

I think this is 1-2 pts. We need a better spec than "about to be archived". We need to actual number of days.

Comment 8

[Ricky Rosario [:rrosario, :r1cky]]

making it a 2pter

Comment 9

[Alice Wyman]

Related discussion, posted August 10, 2016:
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/forums/contributors/712111 [attn: admin] how to unarchive?

Comment 10

[Matt]

Produce a warning!  How about making archive intelligent.  Archive should be for threads that are inactive.  Not threads that are in full voice but some counter has ticked over to a due date.

This is the sort of archiving and computer logic that we put up with when we used Cobol and overnight batch updates.  I think the whole concept of closing something irrevocably that folk are using is in the first instance plainly intrusive without purpose and secondly exceedingly poor design.

Archiving should close inactive threads;  that is those that have seen no action in the last XX months.  Not close threads because it is XX months since they were filed.

It is a pain having users hijack old threads,  but what needs to be addressed is the pain point in asking a question.  We are never going to get away from those that post on every old thread that can find that is similar.

What can be addresses is the convoluted process the user is asked to step through in actually asking a question.

Comment 11

[Alice Wyman]

(In reply to Matt from comment #10)
> 
> Archiving should close inactive threads;  that is those that have seen no
> action in the last XX months.  Not close threads because it is XX months
> since they were filed.
>  
Not archiving active threads was suggested in bug 680924 comment 13 but never acted on. (File a new bug?)
As for this bug:
I edited the summary to clarify the issue, which is that users should get a warning before posting in a thread that is "about to be archived", meaning the thread will be archived in 30 days or less.

Recent discussion:
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/forums/contributors/713306

We should also add a warning to https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/forum-rules-and-guidelines#w_posting-support-requests 
... which I proposed here:  
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/forum-rules-and-guidelines/discuss/7826

Comment 12

[Seburo]

Closed as per https://blog.mozilla.org/sumo/2019/06/07/sumo-platform-roadmap/