I'm curious because I see lots of boards that have places to archive posts but I don't know how the procedure actually works. I've seen rules that say that they're archived at the end of the week/month or whenever the thread is finished, but I rarely see this happen.

So how often do you actually archive your threads?

Um, I could actually check three of those boxes... I never said I'd archive old posts, though I do have a section for old threads, and I shift threads there once they are declared finished. There are some unfinished threads I am thinking about moving, but I'm not sure whether I should or not, just in case the players decide they actually need to post further in them to make something clear for later.

Though I could shift them and add a note asking them to PM me if they want those threads re-opened... (Thinking aloud here, as it were!)

I know some sites archive posts, but I've never done this. I was just wondering what the pros were of doing this? Personally, I'm not sure if it really matters or makes a diffeence whether or not you do or don't archive threads. I guess if you want to clean out your forum, it's a good idea, but it's not saving space or anything because you're just moving them to another place. I like leaving them in place so you can see the history of that RP location.

Just my belief though, I'd like to hear why people archive! ^_^

I said "other" because at the moment I don't even have an archives section on my board, nor do I need one, though I usually do have one which i archive them as soon as I see a topic is finished or as soon as someone PMs me saying their thread is done.

I archive every three or four months. I'll archive finished threads no matter when they were finished and unfinished threads if they haven't been posted to in (I think) two months.

I archive because it looks neater than having heaps of unfinished or old threads lying around. I get confused sometimes if I look at an open thread and want to reply and then realise it's months old. I also operate on the belief that people might think the site's new if there aren't any old threads hanging around so they might join rather than think the site's dead ^_^

I don't think I have a rule saying I archive threads. I don't really think it's necessary. The forum that I archive threads to is viewable by all and my forum description says I can be PMed to restore threads if I archived them too soon.

At 'Souls, we archive posts that have not received a reply in one month. Our threads can go by pretty quickly, so we need to keep on top of this-- some take four months to be wrapped up, but receive consistent replies all the way through, and other threads hit two pages in three days. #__#;

We archive the posts since it shows how active each forum is. You can see the thread and post count on each forum so you know which is more popular at a glance. We archive all in character threads in our Dead Topics forum. We have a separate forum for dead joining threads-- all in character and out of character joining threads go in there. We also archive all our dead contests and dead player profiles. If a member leaves 'Souls, we move the profile into the dead profile section, that way the only profiles in the profile section are those of characters currently played.

Why do this? It keeps the board clean and tidy, and most of the Admins (myself included) and mods like to see things neat and tidy. :3

For in character places, it's important so if you're searching through the forum for a recent thread, you won't find any dead ones that have been forgotten.

The only forum we don't delete anything from (well, not anymore) is the out of character forum and art/ talents forum. We used to delete the threads once we hit three pages, or after they were three months old, but we decided not to anymore. There was no point, haha. P: And a lot of people liked going back to see old ooc posts.

On my site, we archive when a thread is done, or if it's not been posted in for a month plus.

Old ads get cleared out every 3 months.

I archive finished/abandoned threads but people can pick them up again/expand them in the archives if they suddenly get the urge.

I try to archive to keep the board neat, but like to leave finished threads up for a week or two so I know people will have read 'em before I move them. I like a board that isn't drowning in threads in every category and that means the board reflects the number of active threads as accurately as possible.

I wouldn't do anything with them, but I'd encourage members to download any threads they really want to keep, just because I've been on sites that have crashed before and you never know if that's going to happen.

Pretty much never. xD

The only thing I'm gonna start archiving is old joining forms/profiles of people who are no longer around, just to make those sections tidy. But I see no point in archiving IC threads or anything.

I don't say when threads are archived, just that they will be. I tell my mods to clean out the boards every couple of months, but I also tell them that if a particular forum is quiet (ie, only has one or two threads) then just to lock those threads and leave them there rather than archiving. I hate seeing empty boards and would rather have a couple of old threads in there to show the kind of rp that can happen in those areas than have "no posts" on the forum index.

I clean out the OOC boards, especially character journals, much more frequently than the IC boards because to my mind it's more important that those areas (not the fun and games boards but the ones that track character activity and profiles) be kept up to date.

So I guess, basically, we do it on a casebycase basis rather having a set point where we think, yeah, that thread needs archiving. :)

When I archive IC threads, it's because I'm deleting the forum that they were in. I have yet to actually prune an IC forum and move really old threads out. As for OOC, I archive the threads that were funny or overtly silly or that people have asked me to archive. Same goes for the IC - if someone wants it archived, I'll do it.

I archive old posts when the thread is finished and the plot has moved on to a point where nobody's likely to need to reference the old thread. In practice, that generally means the next game day.

I archive all old posts before a revamp of the entire forum, including location, characters and plot (generally) or when a term ends on my HP rpg.

Anything else, the topic just stays there. The newer topics are always at the top anyways, why move it when people can find the topic easy by location of the board for reference instead of having to sift through the archives files.

I do have an archive section, but thus far, the only threads I've shifted there have been from deleted characters, and only people who have deleted themselves, since I haven't had a member cleanout yet. I do believe in archiving old threads, but only do it about once every 3-4 months, though since my board is a university, I may decide to do it by the semester.

Never. An episode of the plot of our game generally takes between a month (if we really fly through it) to six months (about average pace) to play through. We had one last for two years. We have one that's still going after three years. And we're also finding that in one of our games, plot points from episodes we played three years ago are turning out to be much more relevant than we thought at the time.

So archiving things would just hinder the game more than help it.

I'll be honest and say I hate to see RP threads archived. I archive OOC threads sometimes, but I don't like RP threads archived unless you are totally changing the board around. I like them to still be there so I can refer to them and find them more easily in their original forum. I especially hate when people archive stuff immediately after it's 'finished' or they think it is.

I also tend to turn away from sites that have a huge archive forum and not many posts in their main forums.