Do not forget to close old FS listings...

The revised FS guidelines allow items that have not sold after 30 days to be re-listed in a fresh thread. However, the original FS thread should be closed when you do this - there should not be more than one open thread at a time for a given item.

Also, FS listings should be closed when the item is sold, so that members can see at a glance in the thread listing which items are no longer active.

For those who are closing large numbers of older threads, please use the "close thread" option in the thread administration pull down menu at the top of each thread, so that the new posts view is not flooded with entries for threads that have long been inactive.

Thanks!

So closing a thread is simply stopping the thread, but the thread remains as historical documentation of items?

In other words it is not thread annihilation nor deletion. :)

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Originally Posted by Randy Moe

So closing a thread is simply stopping the thread, but the thread remains as historical documentation of items?

In other words it is not thread annihilation nor deletion. :)

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Correct.

So how do you close a thread?

Roger

On threads that you have started, tick the "Close this thread" box, and press the "Post Quick Reply" button. You'll need to write at least 3 characters, otherwise you get a warning.

Kumar

Got it, thanks Kumar!

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Originally Posted by B.S.Kumar

On threads that you have started, tick the "Close this thread" box, and press the "Post Quick Reply" button. You'll need to write at least 3 characters, otherwise you get a warning.

Kumar

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Did a coupe and it works fine.

Many members are closing FS threads that were started and whose sales ended satisfactorily years ago - 2008, as I last saw. When you click New Posts at the top of a page, all these old posts that are being closed today show up, making it difficult to separate them from new threads. I know that there is a locked thread symbol, but is it possible to change the color to say red?

Kumar

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Originally Posted by B.S.Kumar

Many members are closing FS threads that were started and whose sales ended satisfactorily years ago - 2008, as I last saw. When you click New Posts at the top of a page, all these old posts that are being closed today show up, making it difficult to separate them from new threads. I know that there is a locked thread symbol, but is it possible to change the color to say red?

Kumar

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I agree this could become a nightmare if everybody hunts down the distant past and closes the now irrelevant FS threads. I checked mine I have 20 in a combination of FS or WTB. I didn't close them.

I think it's unnecessary to close years old FS threads.

What say the Mods?

It's possible for the moderators to close old threads without needing to add new posts and thus without affecting the "new posts" view. Depending on the criterion for identifying the threads to be closed, often this can be done efficiently, in large blocks at one time.

Members who would like to tidy up large numbers of older threads are welcome to contact us with a message "please close all of my FS/WTB listings prior to [DATE]", and we can take care of those in blocks, as time allows.

I was able to close several threads without posting some sort of reply via the thread administration drop-down menu (only available in the classifieds).

Thanks, Bryan! Although that option is always available to the moderators, I couldn't tell whether it would be visible to everyone else. I will add that to the opening post of this discussion.

Thanks for sharing:cool:

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Originally Posted by Oren Grad

Thanks, Bryan! Although that option is always available to the moderators, I couldn't tell whether it would be visible to everyone else. I will add that to the opening post of this discussion.

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I always close the sale by indicating that the item has been . . .

SOLD.

Is this sufficient for Forum purposes?

I will go through and "close" listings where the item wasn't sold.

To elaborate on what I wrote in the initial post in this thread, the benefit of using the vBulletin "close" function rather than simply saying "closed" or "sold" within the thread is that the thread gets flagged with a padlock in the subforum index, so that people browsing the FS (or WTB) subforum can see at a glance which threads are still active and don't need to waste time opening inactive threads to find the live ones. Think of it as a courtesy to fellow members. Of course, those who would like to browse closed threads to see what was offered and at what price are still able to do so.

I, too, was able to close a FS thread from last month without entering any sort of "reply".

I've yet to find a way to search the FS forum and bring up a listing of all my un-closed threads from way back, so I can close them. Is this not possible?

It's on your profile, a list of started topics:

http://www.largeformatphotography.in...archid=7382744

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Originally Posted by Corran

It's on your profile, a list of started topics:

http://www.largeformatphotography.in...archid=7382744

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I was hoping for a list of just the ones in FS subforum. But I think, since the total list that shows up under "Latest Threads Started" is not too long I can work with that. Thanks, Bryan.

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Originally Posted by Jerry Bodine

I was hoping for a list of just the ones in FS subforum.

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I think this makes more sense than the list of started topics. Why not do whatever is needed so a seller can quickly check anything they have listed in the Classified section? Would make it easier to track them and bring to final resolution.

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Originally Posted by Jerry Bodine

I was hoping for a list of just the ones in FS subforum. But I think, since the total list that shows up under "Latest Threads Started" is not too long I can work with that. Thanks, Bryan.

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Actually you can, it's just a bit more involved. Go to Advanced Search, click "Single Content Type," put your User Name in and select only the F/S Forum underneath that. Click search and you come up with this:

http://www.largeformatphotography.in...archid=7382786

Unless you make a ton of threads regularly though, the other way is quicker and easier.

Each sub-forum has a "Search Forum" box. Enter your name and you'll get a list. Open each listing in a new tab and close whichever you want.

Kumar

Neat, didn't notice that function.

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Originally Posted by B.S.Kumar

Each sub-forum has a "Search Forum" box. Enter your name and you'll get a list. Open each listing in a new tab and close whichever you want.

Kumar

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I tried that Kumar, but I got "Sorry - no matches. Please try some different terms." It's asking for key words (which I left blank), so that won't list my FS threads. Thanks, but I'll stick with Bryan's suggestion, since my list isn't too long.

I typed in your name and got this result: http://www.largeformatphotography.in...archid=7382863

You started only three threads, of which one is closed.

Kumar

That link also gave me no matches, and Jerry has apparently made 56 threads so something is wonky with your search.

Yes, that is indeed odd. This time, I went to Advanced Search within the Buy/Sell forum>Search Posts>User Name (his full name, and then clicked the yellow box that pops up>Find Threads Started by User>Exact Name and got 25 hits. Selecting "Latest Posts by User" got 56 hits, not all of which were started by him.

Kumar

If you go into the FS subforum and click on "Thread Starter" (upper left) the index will be rearranged according to the first letter of the username. You can then use the "Page" menu at the lower right to hop, skip and jump various intervals to find your way to the listings associated with a given username. It can take a few moments if you're well into the alphabet, but then you get a clean, contiguous view of everything posted with that username.

Guys, I think we can put this to bed now. I went to my profile and clicked on the link to all my latest started threads. Up came 37 hits and I was able to close all my old FS threads that needed to be closed. It was a bit labor intensive, though, because each time I closed a thread I had to go back to profile and regenerate the list of threads. When a thread was closed it hold me to that thread, rather than let me backspace to the list. Glad I only to do this one time, but it's done now. Thanks for your help.

That works, Oren. Thanks.

Kumar

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Originally Posted by Jerry Bodine

Guys, I think we can put this to bed now. I went to my profile and clicked on the link to all my latest started threads. Up came 37 hits and I was able to close all my old FS threads that needed to be closed. It was a bit labor intensive, though, because each time I closed a thread I had to go back to profile and regenerate the list of threads. When a thread was closed it hold me to that thread, rather than let me backspace to the list. Glad I only to do this one time, but it's done now. Thanks for your help.

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If you had opened each listing in a new pane/tab/window, you wouldn't have to regenerate the list each time.

Kumar

Jerry, thanks for going to the trouble to tidy up. Wish our software weren't so klunky... < sigh >

At last I remembered the need to close a week old FS listing - only to discover that it had already been closed! I suppose this was due to "housekeeping" by our hard-working mods - or has some automatic function been conjured up? Made me feel somewhat guilty.

Further stupidity for the near dead “community” area here.

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Originally Posted by Steven Tribe

At last I remembered the need to close a week old FS listing - only to discover that it had already been closed! I suppose this was due to "housekeeping" by our hard-working mods - or has some automatic function been conjured up? Made me feel somewhat guilty.

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Steven -

No automatic function, alas. We do tidy up if we happen to spot something, but we really appreciate it if people clean up after themselves - saves us some hassle, minimizes moderator crankitude. :)

In other words it is not thread annihilation nor deletion

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Originally Posted by Alex95

In other words it is not thread annihilation nor deletion

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Exactly. The thread is simply marked "closed," but the historical value is preserved.