Suggestion: Auto close threads

[loves2chat]

I am not entirely sure if this option is already bulit in to the core mybb but this could be helpful when running contests and polls to have the thread automatically close when the closing date and time have been reached. as an example the thread / poll for member of the year would close on 7th January at 11:59pm automaically (after being set when the thread was created). Just thinking this would take away having to remember to come back and close the thread manually. I know with some paid forum software this is possible. It's been a while since I have used the admin control panel of mybb. The cloest I found to doing this was delayed moderation and further details can be found here. The only thing is it doesn't look like you can set a specific date / time, you can only set the number of days. I suppose this could still be useful. Unless there is a plugin that could do this. I suppose what I was looking for was giving members the option to do this (without them needing to be a moderator). Just thought I would post this as food for thought.

[Kyng]

I have to admit, the Delayed Moderation is something I kind of overlooked . However, it does sound like it would be useful for contest and nomination threads. (Indeed, at some point since that guide was written, it's been upgraded to allow a specific date/time to be entered - so, even that isn't an issue !)

However, I'm afraid it don't see any way to give regular members the power to do this on their own threads. And even if I did see a way to accomplish this, I wouldn't do it. I expect the costs would outweigh the benefits: people would start applying this auto-closing to threads which shouldn't be closed, and it'd just create extra work for the staff, who would have to keep undoing it. It's better to just have the staff apply the Delayed Moderation settings themselves, in the handful of threads where it actually would be useful.

Anyway, thanks for the suggestion !

[loves2chat]

I have to admit, the Delayed Moderation is something I kind of overlooked . However, it does sound like it would be useful for contest and nomination threads. (Indeed, at some point since that guide was written, it's been upgraded to allow a specific date/time to be entered - so, even that isn't an issue !)

However, I'm afraid it don't see any way to give regular members the power to do this on their own threads. And even if I did see a way to accomplish this, I wouldn't do it. I expect the costs would outweigh the benefits: people would start applying this auto-closing to threads which shouldn't be closed, and it'd just create extra work for the staff, who would have to keep undoing it. It's better to just have the staff apply the Delayed Moderation settings themselves, in the handful of threads where it actually would be useful.

Anyway, thanks for the suggestion !

Thanks for your input on this and I appreciate what you say about members closing threads that shouldn't be closed. But what I was thinking was when giving it to the members is only in the section for Contests this way it would hopefully not cause the issues you highlight above. But given that there doesnt' appear to be a way then it's a mute suggestion I just wanted to clarify my thoughts on this though. Thanks anyway for considering it and I apologise if it caused you to feel stressed. But delayed moderation is the way to go so should I need it in the future I will contact a staff member to set it for me.

[Kyng]

I have to admit, the Delayed Moderation is something I kind of overlooked . However, it does sound like it would be useful for contest and nomination threads. (Indeed, at some point since that guide was written, it's been upgraded to allow a specific date/time to be entered - so, even that isn't an issue !)

However, I'm afraid it don't see any way to give regular members the power to do this on their own threads. And even if I did see a way to accomplish this, I wouldn't do it. I expect the costs would outweigh the benefits: people would start applying this auto-closing to threads which shouldn't be closed, and it'd just create extra work for the staff, who would have to keep undoing it. It's better to just have the staff apply the Delayed Moderation settings themselves, in the handful of threads where it actually would be useful.

Anyway, thanks for the suggestion !

Thanks for your input on this and I appreciate what you say about members closing threads that shouldn't be closed. But what I was thinking was when giving it to the members is only in the section for Contests this way it would hopefully not cause the issues you highlight above. But given that there doesnt' appear to be a way then it's a mute suggestion I just wanted to clarify my thoughts on this though. Thanks anyway for considering it and I apologise if it caused you to feel stressed. But delayed moderation is the way to go so should I need it in the future I will contact a staff member to set it for me.

You're welcome .

Indeed - I'm not aware of any way to set up delayed moderation by regular members, and I'm certainly not aware of any way to make it apply only to a specific forum. (And it'd also have to be set up so that they can only do it on their own threads, otherwise you'll get members delayed-moderating other members' threads - which we really don't want !)

But, yes - I'll make it a new year's resolution to try and make more use of the Delayed Moderation feature. But, beyond that... I really don't think there's anything else to add (like you say, it's a moot suggestion, since there's no practical way to achieve it), so I'll just close the thread now.

Thanks !