So i have been noticing “This topic will close 2 months after the last reply” in posts.
So whats the mindset for adding this?
Also, I just noticed that there is no longer “General” in the pulldown list??
It’s mostly a way to prevent old, old topics from being resurrected way after they’re suppose to be dead. More than once have topics received replies 3 years(!) after the last reply, by which point it really isn’t relevant any longer and you’re better off opening a new topic (possibly linking to the old one if you feel it’s relevant still).
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I buy the argument that an auto-close horizon has value, but two months is far too short. More harm than good is done by aggressively closing topics, as it fragments knowledge and makes it hard to ask a question which is somewhat off the beaten path.
Consider this topic, Requesting Complete Example using build.mk. It was very helpful to be able to unite the question and the feedback. Otherwise, in order to document my findings I would have had to open a new topic, which only says "In reference to ..., here's something good to know". Obviously that's not good because on a long-enough horizon the search results become noisy to the point of meaninglessness.
Do you know who's in charge of setting the topic life? I'd like to pitch that person on dramatically extending it. If the goal is to keep 3-year-old convos from resurrecting, then maybe 1-2 years should be the horizon.
I see where you’re coming from. That said, the amount of topics that receive meaningful replies, two months+, after the last reply are few. Usually there’s new information available then that prompted a search of old topics, at which point it makes sense to create a new topic. Referencing then is fine, though the mods can always merge the topics if we feel its warranted, and/or re-open said topic.
I’ll relay this post to the powers that be so they see the feedback. Personally, since this is a recently activated feature, I’d be inclined to “let’s see how it goes, and adjust if/when needed”. The 3 years was an example, but resurrecting a 1-2 year old topics still feels like necromancy. A lot can happen in 1-2 years 
That makes sense, but can I advocate for seeing how it goes by starting conservatively and then becoming more aggressive, instead of the other way around? Two months is def. appropriate for a social website, but when more than two months can pass between deviceOS releases it's not unreasonable to think our stuff takes longer to become stale.
This will be esp. relevant once mesh and Xenons are removed from deviceOS. I predict there will still be a contingent of users using 1.6.x, mesh, and Xenons. Pruning their questions in a two month window sounds brutal.
P.S. Thanks for relaying this feedback!
We’ve done the ‘conservative’ option for about 6 years before enabling this feature
Like I said, there are few topics so far that would have been impacted by this, but those that would have were usually years old, and the replied definitely not relevant any longer.
We’ll keep an eye on it, as always, and changing the limit is a quick change if need be.
“Healthy” and active topics will stay open for as long as there are replies within 2 months of last one. Each new reply resets the 2 month timer, so things would have to get at least a bit stale, and less relevant if it goes not-replied for that period.
I think I agree with @seulater, 2 Months seems short. Especially since some topics - like the Boron Solar charging issue can take far longer to get resolved. Setting too short a limit will cause fragmentation of threads - maybe 6 months? Just my two cents.
Thanks, Chip
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Thanks for listening and I trust you guys to do the best. Changes of over an order of magnitude (6 yrs -> 0.1667 yrs) generally will produce results!
I would just reiterate that two months old is not very stale at all when the underlying system evolves at a cadence of 6-months or longer.
Reading the title thread at a glance I thought it was a genius way of encouraging people to continue posting random things. I clicked into it thinking it would be a bunch of people posting random but interesting thoughts so as not to let the thread die.
Imagine my disappointment …
Aside from that- I see the point in closing off threads - it is particularly annoying having old threads when you are looking for a solution to a problem, think you have found it then realise there has been an update on the product meaning it is no longer relevant. That being said it would be equally annoying when the problem is resolved but you can’t find the solution because the thread is gone.
So maybe we just need to encourage perpetual commenting on useful threads
I’ve changed it to 6 months! 
These threads are not disappearing forever, they are just closing out the possibility of future comments. That way, when you search for a solution to a problem, more recent solutions will naturally float to the top.
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Thanks for the feedback, everyone! As @marekparticle said, we’ve implemented the change from two months to six.
I really do appreciate the thoughts & recommendations - feel free to keep 'em coming if you have any new ideas
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