Unlock a tutorial thread

[hafniumzinc (T)]

One of my tutorial threads is locked. Can it be permanently unlocked, like my other tutorial threads?

Monitor and control zigbee2mqtt and zigbee dongle (CC2531)

Inspired by a recent post from @tv-arnd, here is a simple method to: See if the zigbee dongle (CC2531 in my case) is online or offline Switch zigbee2mqtt permit_join on or off Change the level of zigbee2mqtt logging things files bridge.things I use a separate things file for my Mosquitto bridge: Bridge mqtt:broker:MosquittoMqttBroker "Mosquitto MQTT Broker" [ host="192.168.1.92", secure=false, port=1883, clientID="OpenHAB2" ] zigbee.things Thing mqtt:topic:bridge "CC2531" (mqtt:broker:Mo…

[Bruce_Osborne]

Why if it is a complete solution?

That change was made to prevent people from randomly injecting comments into long dead issue threads.

[hafniumzinc (T)]

But not for tutorial threads, as I understand it. And also as evidenced by some of my other older tutorial threads still being open…

[Bruce_Osborne]

That change was made a few months ago only for new threads after that time.
Here is the discussion thread.

Posting Message Idea

We have many users jumping on to an existing thread saying they have the same problem but the thread discussion has not helped them. Most times the new user has the same symptoms but a different problem. It is very confusing trying to handle many users & problems in the same thread. If the forum detected “same problem” or “same issue” could it pop up a message suggesting or offering to start a new thread? I do not know the capabilities of the forum software.

[hafniumzinc (T)]

Last post in your linked thread is February. I only started posting anything from end-March. So in theory then I should have quite a few more locked threads…

[Bruce_Osborne]

OK it would depend on how active the thread is. Any reply would reset the timer.

[hafniumzinc (T)]

Yep. Again, I have open threads which have older replies than the one that is locked.

[mstormi (Markus Storm)]

@hafniumzinc

I have open threads which have older replies than the one that is locked.

… but started earlier than this locking was introduced so it does not apply there.

I’ve unlocked your thread (but you should have been able to edit your post, no ?)

[hafniumzinc (T)]

@mstormi

… but started earlier than this locking was introduced so it does not apply there.

Can you confirm exactly when this locking started, and which exact categories it applies to? If it was when Kai announced it, then that predates any of my threads.

@mstormi

I’ve unlocked your thread (but you should have been able to edit your post, no ?)

Cheers!

Yes, but I want others to be able to ask questions about the tutorial. Unlike issues, which are immediate, tutorials are longer lasting - we get new users all the time who may want to ask a question. This also allows me to update the tutorials based on up to date feedback. Keeping queries about the tutorial within the tutorial thread seems a lot cleaner than requiring a new thread to be started.

[rlkoshak (Rich Koshak)]

@hafniumzinc

Can you confirm exactly when this locking started, and which exact categories it applies to? If it was when Kai announced it, then that predates any of my threads.

It started the day that Kai announced it. It applies to all threads created after that time unless something is not working as expected.

[hafniumzinc (T)]

@rlkoshak

It started the day that Kai announced it

Great, so 17th February 2020!

@rlkoshak

It applies to all threads created after that time unless something is not working as expected.

I think something is not working as expected:

• 1000 hours ago is 17th July 2020

• I have started 18 threads in total. They are currently all unlocked.

  • My first ever thread was on 31st March 2020 - so after Kai’s action date
  • Seven out of the 18 threads have had no activity since well before 17th July - so presumably they should have been locked by now.
  • 17 of those threads are in sub-categories
  • 1 thread (this one) is in a main category

Only this thread, in a main category, has this warning at the bottom of the thread. None of the sub-category threads have the warning.

I will say that this suits me fine. I’m generally for keeping threads open, and especially keeping tutorial threads open as these are relevant over a long period of time. I know others disagree.

The only reason I can think of that the thread in my original request was marked to be locked was because I may have originally started it in the main Tutorials & Examples category, before moving it into the Solutions sub-category.

[rpwong (Russ)]

I’m jumping in on this conversation late. I meant to comment earlier, but I’ve been super busy for the past two months so haven’t had time for OH.

@hafniumzinc

I will say that this suits me fine. I’m generally for keeping threads open, and especially keeping tutorial threads open as these are relevant over a long period of time. I know others disagree.

I’m in favour of threads closing, as there are still too many occasions of people responding to conversations that ended over a year ago. It’s better for them to start new threads and reference the old ones, because then people who were not involved in the original thread see a new conversation and are more likely to help them. If I see a thread that has many responses and I didn’t look at it before, I’m probably not going to look at it now.

I’d hold the same logic for tutorials. We have some tutorial threads that are just miles deep in responses, and that can be overwhelming for new users who feel like they have to read everything. And again, people who didn’t participate in the tutorial conversation won’t be inclined to jump in and help. So after the initial commentary about a tutorial, I think it’s better for people to start new threads and reference the tutorials (which will alert the tutorial owner).

If anything, we should probably start adding “start a new thread and reference this one” to our tutorials to promote the change.

All that being said, I think closing threads after one month is probably too short. Now that we’ve had it in place for awhile, I think two or three months would be better.