[Ladybbird]

I simply cannot understand this. I donated to this site when I originally joined it years ago, but I stopped posting or asking for help, when no-one replied to my previous new threads asking for help....
This site used to be so excellent and the staff keen to help all members, donators or not, now it doesnt seem to be the case

Thank you for reading my post.

[1002richards]

Hi,
I'm not quite sure which threads you're referring to? I can see some of yours from 2009 have been 'timed out' 'cos of their age and that's the same for everyone.
You've posted two new threads (plus this) in the past hour and as on all volunteer supported sites it's a matter of patience 'til someone who knows the answer logs on and spots your question.

Does that info help at all?

Richard

[pyritechips]

Hello and thank you for voicing your concerns.

From your posting history I see that you started a thread ( http://forums.techguy.org/all-other-...er-better.html ) 22 minutes ago and another ( http://forums.techguy.org/all-other-...ggestions.html ) 31 minutes ago. Neither have existed long enough to attract a response as of yet.

Previous to that you started a thread ( http://forums.techguy.org/hardware/8...gook-help.html ) 3 years ago, which timed out and a duplicate ( http://forums.techguy.org/windows-xp...gook-help.html ) which was closed, as being against forum rules. There are several older threads but I fail to understand why, if you were dissatisfied at the time, you have waited 3 years to lodge a complaint? There are other threads from 2008 and 2009 that have either timed our or were abandoned.

[pyritechips]

Sorry, Richard. I did not see your post.

[1002richards]

Originally Posted by pyritechips

Sorry, Richard. I did not see your post.

That's OK

[Ent]

To explain the "why" part of your question, they close if they go too long (The exact length of time varies from forum to forum, but it's normally on the order of months) without a new post. That does mean that if no-one ever replied to a thread it would automatically close. Likewise if a volunteer asks for more information or gives the first step in a fix, and the thread starter (OP) never came back the thread would close. And indeed if a thread had 2 dozen replies, but then they dried up it would eventually close.

In general if someone has ignored a thread for that long, it means one of two things. Either they've found their own solution, or they've decided to forget about it. They don't really want someone in 2 years coming back with a half-baked answer, an "I'm having the same problem" post, or even worse a bunch of questions about the affected machine.

Of course there are always exceptions to the general rule, and the Moderators have the ability to reopen timed out threads if necessary. You can also avoid that fate for yourself; "Bump" posts reset the time out counter as well as pushing your thread to the top of the forum and telling people that you're still interested in the solution.

Threads are closed by the moderators because they break the rules are different, and normally pretty self-explanatory. Generally the Moderator in question posts an explanation, such as "Please do not ask for help bypassing passwords". Again if there's been a massive misunderstanding you can get them reopened with a PM to the moderator concerned, but normally those closures are for a very good reason.

[Phantom010]

While the answers above are all true, I have to admit there's not as much action as there used to be when I first joined this forum, or even before that.

There's a lot of competition out there and we've lost quite a few excellent helpers in the past couple of years. Now, answers seem to mostly come from the same group of members, so we need to be a little more patient. The peak days are from Tuesday through Thursday. The rest of the week is pretty quiet (by my standards anyway... ). So, you may expect to have a better chance in the middle of the week. However, I surely would like to see weekends come alive on TSG!

This may not apply to you, but it does for A LOT of members looking for help on TSG. Don't post and disappear for three days when you need help! Stick around! Sometimes, I can post a reply within a minute after a new thread has been started! Depending on the issue, if you stick around, you'll have a much better chance of solving it in a jiffy!

I believe we have the best computer help forum on the Web, but people need to know about it! Hopefully, the solutions suggested a few months ago from our brainstorming, right here in this section, have or will be taken into account, and will start paying off...

I think we're still working on attracting more members (and importantly, more good helpers) and keeping the ones we have, but it's not easy... Mike is certainly working on it, but he's got a day job as well.

The goal is to make TSG as busy as the Virus & Other Malware Removal forum.