I see more and more necroposting cases where people bring up something like 5-year old posts to the top. It could be confusing for people. Those who post probably don’t look at the date (which they really should). Also, RouterOS is constantly changing, and some issues that were brought up in such posts could be long fixed.
I think inactive posts should be locked after some period of time, not sure how long, maybe a year?
Why should they look at the date? How the date is related to the problem (or whatever) in the topic? The issue could persist for many years, so if people write to such topic, then it either still not fixed or may be they want to add some details.
Many topics are not necessarily about issues but rather people asking for help. Hijacking others’ threads is also not a good idea even if the ask is about a similar configuration.
I just don’t think it’s right when a topic was dead for 5+ years and then suddenly someone posts there. Most of the time it’s not truly a continuation of the discussion but basically a new thread just appended to the old one.
Look at this as an example: When to Upgrade RouterBOARD Firmware / Bootloader? - #12 by uberdome
Do you think reviving a topic like this is a good idea?
The key is the inactivity period, not the start date. I don’t have any issues with old topics that are still active.
Well, in this case it’s probably not good, I would agree.
But here is, for example, the topic with the Dude issue, that exists for many many years: Dude font upload and disappear after a period of time.
I have added some details, that may help others to reproduce and workaround the described issue. Or may be draw attention of MT, that it’s time to fix the issue after 8 years?
Is it bad? I don’t think so.
Btw, there are multiple topics with this specific issue, not good either. And with thread locking there could be even more.
I saw this post and didn’t realize I was the example.
I think the link you shared is a prime example of a reason not to lock threads. The original thread was partially answered, but not meaningfully resolved. Since that time, I have been updating RouterBOOT for every router and a better solution could have been in place. I could have opened a new thread, but continuing (reviving) an existing thread that clearly shows this has been an issue for many years seems to have merit [to me].
I personally prefer continuations of old topics instead of many topics about the same issue. It helps to keep details easy to find. Hijacking is certainly in poor form, but I submit that continuing unresolved issues may be a better practice than opening a new thread.
Dude is pretty much discontinued. They didn’t kill it officially, but there has been no active development for a very long time.
I know. But anyway, they behave very strange. Every report about Dude issue ends with “we will try to fix … when we’ll be working on Dude … no ETA”.
They don’t say it’s discontinued, but don’t do anything.
At the same time, they were saying that there will be no more fixes for WinBox 3 and … they released 3.42.
How this works? 
Though, it’s offtopic and another story.
One problem is that the original question was before RouterOS 7 was released. And ROS 7 is constantly being updated, making many questions or issues irrelevant. When in the past I was searching for some information and found old posts (on the old forum), at least for me it was an indication of how relevant the information was (often it was not).
If nobody provided a good answer or a fix in 5-8 years, do we really think that keeping the topics open will change that? If anything, creating new topics about the same issue is likely to gain more attention. Short topics like the examples above might be fine, but I personally would not start reading a 400+ topic just to understand what was discussed and what was suggested up to the latest (necro)post.
Anyway, we may all have different opinions. I offered my suggestion, now it’s up to MikroTik admins to decide. Most forums have some sort of locking policy.
This is the answer. I always look at actions, not words. (Reminds of Ubiquiti EdgeRouter situation around 2021, which became clear to me after a few years of no updates. That’s when I started looking for alternatives and found MikroTik).
But I agree, this is off topic.
The example topic was an issue in v6, and is still an issue in v7.
I have seen MikroTik fix problems that are several years old as they are constantly working on improvement of both new and old issues. I do think keeping a topic open or asking a new question about an old topic may help. I don’t know whether a new topic legitimately performs better than a continued topic.
I am of the opinion that keeping topic information in one location is better than having the information spread to several separate topics, even if that means opening old [directly applicable] threads.
I don’t think opening old threads with mildly related topics or new problems is good at all.
I agree that the admins should set the policy.
I would genuinely like to better understand your position. What would have been your preferred method of continuing the old topic used in the example above?
If nobody posted anything about an issue for 1+ years, lock the topic. If someone wants to report a similar or the same issue (the difference is not always obvious as people hijack similar topics all the time) after that much time has passed without any activity, I see no problem with them opening a new topic. Using links to other threads is not prohibited and is widely used.
There is no such thing as “keeping information in one location” when it comes to forum. It is always a fluid discussion with unique subtleties. Otherwise we would have to force everyone to post, say, WireGuard questions and issues into a single topic.
For what it is worth, my two cents are “leave them be”.
Sometimes some moron less experienced user will senselessly post on old threads, often with a very informative post of the “me too” kind.
But, on the other hand, the (hypothetically closed) thread is the actual thread that will come out on a google search (since it has been there forever), and while it may contain some useful info, this info may be outdated or not finalized.
So one should examine the thread and IF it is solved (no matter if marked as such or not) it could (should) be closed as it will work as an easily findable reference, BUT if - like many or most of the threads - it is left open/not fully solved/unsolved it would be better to leave it open so that - thanks to the bump by the new user - one of the more experienced members can (if it exists) add an actual solution or a reference to another similar thread where the issue is actually solved or discussed.
I.e. the thread can become an useful and easily findable redirection to “better” (or at least “newer”) contents.
Since noone will ever go through the hassle of judging if a thread can be closed or not, it is IMHO better to leave them open.
As an option, if moderators don’t mind of course, they could close some topics manually. If they are sure, that these topics are solved or not relevant anymore, then close them, otherwise, leave them opened. But if it’s too much work, just forget my suggestion.
Not a bad suggestion at all.
I’ve been doing that in the past as well.