Expired Threads (Auto Close Threads)
 

Expired Threads v1.0.1

What this does
This will allow you as the admin to set a time limit till a thread is considered expired or in otherwords closed. If the thread happens to be expired, the user will see a error message. But a staff member (ie, mod, sup-mod, and admin) can unexpire the thread by posting in it, then the counter will start over again. (if you enable this in the admincp) This will prevent those anoyying thread digger members we all seem to dislike.

Installation
Read the readme.txt file

Support
Please show your support by clicking the install button.

Features

• Turn whole hack off with one button
• Option to allow mods/sup mods to be able to post
• You can enable/disable for any forum you want
• Set X Days till thread is considered expired for any forum you want
• Optional feature to hide quickreply, show thread closed button and lockedicon on your forumsdisplay. Screenshot should better explaine it all.

To do list...

• Time to install: 3 minutes
• Queries to run: 2
• File Mods: 0
• Templates to edit: 0
• Templates to add: 0
• New Phrases: 3
• New Plugins: 6

Please read carefully and make all the necessary changes as stated. This is will work if installed properly.
PLEASE REMEMBER TO BACKUP BEFORE YOU BEGIN! If you like this hack


Please post bugs and errors here. Hope you like, feedback welcomed!

Nice one. I noticed your installer don't support TABLE_PREFIX on the ALTER statement for the forum table.

Fixed. Thanks Marco

Could this be modified so you can set threads to close either after X days or X replies? (User chooses if they want to time via days or # of replies)

x days yes, x replys no. But i can add that optoin

Very nifty, my forums get very inactive when stargate atlantis goes off TV between seasons, and then out-dated threads are re-posted on several months later, when it is no longer relevant.

* clicks install *

Can I set this for 1 particular forum or does this go for ALL forums?

Yes you can set it up for one forum only.

Is there something like this for 3.0.7 the prson that owns the board I do hackinstalls on is waiting for the stable version of 3.5 to come out before installing it. This is a hack we could use

Yes I originally created this hack for vBulletin 3.0.7. Here you go buddy. Expired Threads for vBulletin Version 3.0.7

where do you set the options for this?

Under the forum manager. See Here. The same place where you would edit the forum title.

hm, sorry i missed that.

it'd be nice if there was a way to turn it on or off globally though- adding the option for every forum is a bit of a pain.

@Live Wire
This Hack can be implemented without File Edits in RC1 by using Hooks forumadmin_add_default and forumadmin_edit_from, so you might want to update it :)

Great! Thanks man, going to check out the new release now.

UPDATED FOR vB 3.5.0 RC1

First post updated with zip. Zip includes readme.txt and product-exthreads.xml.
Please read the readme file before doing anything!

Couple of new features and cleaned up the code. See first post.

Thanks for all your support!

Nice Hack :)

What i'd like to see:
Users can still reply, but if the Thread is expired they will see a Warning (Maybe an Image and some blah blah Text saying that the Thread is pretty old) and have to tick a Checkbox that they are aware of this but still feel that it's necessary to answer.

That's because sometimes it does make sense to bump an old Thread, but in most cases it does not make sense and the Users just don't realize how old the Thread is.

Btw: Moved to Plugins :)

Never thought about that. I suppose I could do that as well. I'll just make it an option to turn on/off. Note to self: Physically lock expired thread would have to be turned off for this option to work.

My setting look like this:

You need to use Import Products and not upload it as a plug-in. ;)

i did, if i did it the way you said i'd have the functions.php error or whatever it was....

Same thing happens to me, let me fix. :)

New UPDATE

There was a small bug in the .xml file that caused some phrases to not to be inserted. This has been fixed.

Current users simply Import the new .xml file by going to Manage Products then click the [Add/Import Product] link. From there you can import the xml file that is included in the zip please click 'yes' to Allow Overwrite. :)

excellent, doing it now

EDIT: working well from what i can tell, many thanks

It works, but I have a blank space here:

** bumpy bump **

Nice hack ........ save's me time. Install is clicked

Only thing is missing text for days till thread expire (see attachment)

@nealparry
Alle other texts are visible at my site.

I have a fix for this. When I get home i'll posted.

Hmm since he hasn't posted the fix for this yet (my co-admin installed this yesterday and it's still not fixed)

Here is the fix (install first, then do this)

Go to your Admincp -> Languages & Phrase -> Phrase Manager -> Add New Phrase

Phrase Type: Control Panel Global
Product: Expired Threads
Varname: how_many_days_till_expire
Text: How many days til thread is considered expired?

I accidentally set an entire forum acting as a category to expire all threads. When I tried to disable the thread expiration feature, the threads are still closed. Is there a faster way of opening them again?

ACK! I loaded this, set the expiration for 90 days, and every thread on the board was promptly locked.

Thats impossiable, that code will not allow something like that. I installed this hack for a client 4 days ago and everything is working fine. Only thing I can think of is the physical close threads is interfearing somehow. Try turning that off, and see if anything changes. If so, I will have a deeper look at the code, but it seems it is working fine for me.

I would like something similar. After X days, the quick reply on the thread would be gone and when the user would click on reply, a warning would be shown saying that this is an old thread, do you want to continue. If the user wants to reply, they would click on OK

Yep! I, too, think this would be a great alternative to just closing the thread. :)

Just a quick question, if i set up the expired date in each catagory forum setting, it will affect all the other forums that's under the catagory forum, even if it's set to no in those forums under the catagory?

Nope, this will only effect the cat where the settin is on. :)

yeah happened to me also

seems if u dont go into each forum and mess with the setting to turn it on it can wreak havoc

it even messed up some threads and added polls or what appeared to be polls but where missing data

took a few hours to clean up the mess manually

trust me, this hack did this - nothing else would have caused this

I've uploaded a new Zip file for current users. Set overright to yes in the manage products area. I've turned off 'Physicaly Close Threads' to review the code when I get home..

A fantasic addition to this would be that the time limit would reset should the poster of the first post in the thread return to post again. This is precisely what we've planned to handle the resurrection of old threads, but where we want the thread starter to have control over the ultimate end date.

It would also be great if moderators could disable the time limit completely for threads or extend it using existing ajax moderator tools without having to post.

I've been looking for a hack to close after a specified amount of replies, could this hack be updated with this feature? I have found a lot of request for a hack of this type while looking myself... It would make a lot of people happy :D


This is a great hack and I would love to see it developed.

~vb