switching to this forum?

**OC Richard** · 24th July 16, 05:22 PM

I'm glad that this forum was created! Thanks Mods!

I'm glad because probably half the threads I started over the years belonged in just such a forum. Since it didn't exist (until now) dozens of threads I started are scattered across a variety of unsuitable forums.

Is there any way to tidy up the mess by moving my old threads which ought to be here, here?

Well I know it would create extra work for the Mods which would be most unwelcome.

I would gladly do the work myself if I could be temporarily granted the necessary Moddish powers.

That's all I would want to do, move my old threads which obviously belong here and nowhere else to this forum.

**Steve Ashton** · 24th July 16, 06:29 PM

If you would kindly supply a list of the threads that you would like moved I would be happy to take care of them for you.

**Luke MacGillie** · 25th July 16, 11:16 AM

Any chance the auto locking of threads in this forum could be suspended? My reason for asking is that research is constant, and there are a couple of now locked threads relating to historical topics that I have found here that are locked, had relevant info to add, but couldn't, and also didn't start a totally new thread.

Just something to mull over.

**Steve Ashton** · 25th July 16, 03:44 PM

Threads are locked six months after the last person has posted to the thread. This usually means that the topic has been sufficiently discussed or people are no longer interested in the topic. It would be impractical to open all 69,000 old threads so each one would require someone to contact one of the staff and specify which thread they want opened and for the staff to manually open that specific thread. Do this 25 or 30 times and it becomes cumbersome and ineffective.

While we do know and understand that some topics may have new research may unearth new information, we have found by experience that opening and adding to an old thread may not be the best option to show new research results.

What we have found is, that the most effective method of posting new results of ongoing research, is to simply post your new results as a new thread and reference any old threads by doing a copy and past directly to the URL of the older thread.

This means that we do not have to manually re-open individual threads but that the new information is not lost among long or old threads. Your new information shows up as a new thread and may generate far more interest and response that adding to an old thread that people have seen and may be tired of seeing.

**OC Richard** · 25th July 16, 06:28 PM

I too found, when I first joined this site, the way threads auto-locked offputting.

I understand the logic of it.

However none of the other sites I'm a member of do it that way, and there when threads run out of gas they drop down from view just like they do here. 99% of the old threads drop way down and stay down, never to annoy anyone.

The difference is that when people have something to add to a topic which has been covered in the past, the new contribution appears on the same thread. (It usually begins with "sorry to resurrect this old thread, but...")

That way you don't end up with what you have here oftentimes, a dozen or more threads on the same topic scattered through the entire history of this site, one topic being covered in a large number of small disconnected fragments. This scattering of information is the enemy of somebody wanting to find out as much as they can about the topic in an economic way.

The only way to avoid this, as you say, is for any thread bringing up an oft-covered topic to begin with a preamble of a pile of links to wade through.

The reality is, though, not much different than here, because oftentimes somebody will just start a new thread about an oft-covered topic, because they're a newbie and don't realize how often the same subject has been covered.

It does have the huge advantage of allowing the creation of grassroots stickys, one could say.

Here's an example. Let's say somebody wants to find out about the Isle Of Skye tartan.

Good luck! Using this site's 'advanced search' function for "Isle of Skye" gives 73 matches!

http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/s...archid=2705608

You have to read 73 thread titles to find out which are about the tartan, which about the island itself. Oftentimes there's no clue in the thread title. Then you're down to, what, 50 or so threads! It would take a large amount of time to read through the promising ones.

The good part is that the thread title often gives you a more focused idea of what about Isle Of Skye is being discussed.

The thread-locking is most disappointing to me when I start a thread that's somewhat open-ended, like a collection of photos of a certain thing, which then I can't add to later.